The Valley of Dry Bones
The hand of the Lord was upon Ezekiel, and He took him out in the Spirit of the Lord and set him down in the middle of the valley that was full of bones.
The Lord asked him if those bones could live, and Ezekiel replied by saying, “O Lord God, you know.” The Lord told Ezekiel to prophecy over the bones so that the bones would have breath enter them and they would live. Sinews would be laid upon them and skin would cover them, as breath would enter them and they would live.
Ezekiel prophesied as he was commanded, and as he did there was a sound of rattling, as the bones went together bone to bone. As Ezekiel looked, he saw that there were sinews on them and flesh had gone upon them, but there was no breath in them.
The Lord told him to prophesy to the breath, and say, “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” He did as he was told and breath went into them and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.
Those bones were the whole house of Israel, and they said, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’ The Lord would open their graves and raise them up from them, and bring them into the land of Israel, and they would know the Lord.
I Will Be Their God, They Shall Be My People
Ezekiel was to take a stick and write on it, ‘For Judah, and the people of Israel associated with him;’ then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph (the stick of Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with him.’
Then he was to join the two together into one stick in his hand and explain to the people what this meant. The Lord would take the people of Israel from which they had gone, and would gather them from all around, and bring them back to their own land.
There would be one nation in the land, and on the mountains of Israel. One king would be king over them, and there would no longer be two nations, nor divided into two kingdoms.
They would not defile themselves anymore with their idols and detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. The Lord would save them from all of their backslidings in which they had sinned, and would cleanse them. They would be His people, and He would be their God.
“My servant David shall be king over them, and they shall have one shepherd. They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes. They shall dwell in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children’s children shall dwell there forever, and David my servant shall be their prince forever.”
-Ezekiel 37:24-25
The Lord would make an everlasting covenant of peace with them, and they would be set in their own land and multiply. The Lord would set His sanctuary in their midst forevermore. The Lord’s dwelling place would be with them, and the nations would know that He was their God who sanctified Israel, and they were His people.
Prophecy Against Gog
Ezekiel was told to prophesy against Gog and say that the Lord was against them. They would come from their places up north with many people with them; a host, a mighty army. They would come up against the people of Israel, like a cloud covering the land.
The Lord would bring them against the land, so that the nations would know Him, when through Gog, the Lord would vindicate His holiness before their eyes.
On the day that Gog would go against the land of Israel, His wrath would be roused in His anger. For God’s jealousy and blazing wrath would declare a great earthquake in the land of Israel.
“The fish of the sea and the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the field and all the creeping things that creep on the ground, and all the people who are on the face of the earth, shall quake at my presence. And the mountains shall be thrown down, and the cliffs shall fall, and every wall shall tumble to the ground.” -Ezekiel 38:20
The Lord would summon a sword against Gog and every man’s sword would be against his brother. With pestilence and bloodshed, the Lord would judge them. The Lord would send torrential rain and hailstones, and fire and sulfur upon them.
“So I will show my greatness and my holiness and make myself known in the eyes of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.” -Ezekiel 38:23
“And my holy name I will make known in the midst of my people Israel, and I will not let my holy name be profaned anymore. And the nations shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel. Behold, it is coming and it will be brought about, declares the Lord God. That is the day of which I have spoken.” -Ezekiel 39:7-8
The Lord would give Gog a place for burial in Israel, the Valley of Travelers, east of the sea. It will block the travelers, for there Gog and all his multitude would be buried. It would be called the Valley of Hamon-gog.
For seven months the house of Israel would be burying them in order to cleanse the land. They would travel through the land and whenever they saw a human bone, they would set up a sign by it, till the buriers had buried it in the Valley of Hamon-gog.
Ezekiel was to speak to the birds and beasts to assemble to the sacrificial feast on the mountains of Israel, and they would eat flesh and drink blood.
“And I will set my glory among the nations, and all the nations shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid on them. The house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God, from that day forward. And the nations shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity, because they dealt so treacherously with me that I hid my face from them and gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and they all fell by the sword. I dealt with them according to their uncleanness and their transgressions, and hid my face from them.” -Ezekiel 39:21-24
The Lord Will Restore Israel
Then the Lord said that He would restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel. They would forget their shame and all their treachery they practiced against the Lord, and they would dwell securely in the land.
There would be none to be afraid of anymore, as they were brought back from their enemies’ lands. They would know the Lord because He had sent them into exile and then brought them back into their own land. There would be none remaining among the nations anymore.
“And I will not hide my face anymore from them, when I pour out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, declares the Lord God.” -Ezekiel 39:29