We have been reading about the many ways God spoke to his people and how they steadily persisted in their sinful ways. Their sins took a toll on them and the land they lived in. God’s own reputation was profaned among the nations, and their corruption also had an impact on God’s prophets.

The prophet Jeremiah lived in Jerusalem and preached while Judah and Jerusalem fell to Babylon. He warned kings and military leaders that disaster was coming, but they didn’t believe him. He was in Jerusalem during the two-year Babylonian siege and was an eyewitness to famine and diseases as they decimated the population.

After the fall, Jeremiah was captured with the rest of the Judeans and force-marched toward Babylon before Nebuchadnezzar decided to set him free. He was not far from Jerusalem, staying in Mizpah, when the Babylonians tore Jerusalem’s walls down and burned the city up. Jeremiah was among the people the king of Ammon sent Ishmael to capture at Mizpah and he was with them when Johanan killed Ishmael and turned the remnant toward Egypt.

Jeremiah didn’t want to disobey God by going to Egypt, but he was forced to go anyway. His people broke his heart by rejecting the Lord and choosing a Canaanite goddess instead. We don’t know exactly how Jeremiah died, but he almost certainly died in Egypt.

I wonder if Jeremiah left this world feeling completely hopeless about the Israelites.

Ezekiel in the Valley of Dry Bones

Ezekiel was another prophet who saw Israel at its worst. He had lots of prophetic visions about what would happen in Jerusalem and why. He saw the Judeans’ practicing detestable idol worship, their priests honoring other gods inside the temple, and their women weeping passionately over Canaanite deities.

No sooner did Jerusalem fall than Ezekiel heard that the people of Judah were going back to their sin and greed. He continued to prophesy to the exiles, but the people treated him like an entertainer instead of a prophet. He might have felt like giving up . . . but then God gave Ezekiel another stunning vision.

The prophet found himself in the middle of a valley full of human bones. God led him back and forth through the scattered bones and he saw that they were completely dry, like they had been picked clean and bleached in the sun.

The Lord asked Ezekiel, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

The apparent answer was “no,” but Ezekiel replied instead, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.” Ezekiel 27:3

Prophesying to the Bones

“Then he said to me, ‘Prophesy to the bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’” Ezekiel 37:4-6

As Ezekiel preached he heard the rattling of bones joining together. He watched as tendons and muscles appeared on the bones and skin covered them. Before him were bodies where there had been dry bones – but there was no life in the bodies.

“Then he said to me, ‘Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’

“So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet – a vast army.” Ezekiel 37:9-10

God told Ezekiel that the bones represented the people of Israel who thought their lives were over and their nation past saving. He wanted them to know that he could bring the nation back to life, and even bring people out of their graves if he chose. He planned to bring his people back and settle them in the Promised Land again.

A Personal Observation

I have felt quite pessimistic about people as I read through the Bible this year. God was always so good to people, but they continually broke his heart, offended him, and damaged his creation. So few seem to have loved and obeyed him that I wondered why he bothered to keep the world going at all.

Then I read about the dry bones in Ezekiel 37.

If God was able to breathe life into dead people – the way he showed Ezekiel – why wouldn’t he want to do that again and again? Why wouldn’t he be thrilled to see people who were condemned for their sins made whole and restored by his forgiveness? This is how he builds his family; he gives new life to people who were dead because of sin.

And apparently it’s enough for God that there are people in every generation who choose him, love him, and obey him. He is willing to work with all of the people in order to win some of the people and that satisfies him. In fact, winning people’s hearts is so important to God that Jesus actually died for the cause.

“Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.

“After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.” Isaiah 53:11

God truly rejoices in giving life to anyone who is willing to receive it.

Bringing Israel and Judah Back Together

The ten northern tribes of Israel fell to Assyria 135 years before Judah fell to Babylon. They appeared to be lost forever, but God kept track of them because he was going to bundle the remnant of Israel with the remnant of Judah someday and bring them all home. God, who can pull dead bones together and form a living body, could certainly gather his scattered people and form them into one nation someday.

His plan is that in a time to come they will live by his laws under the rule of good King David. The Lord’s sanctuary will be rebuilt and he will dwell among his people again. Then the nations will know that God alone is the Lord.

A Message for Gog

Ezekiel 38 and 39 are full of mysterious prophecies that are yet to be fulfilled. God speaks to nations that were not known in Ezekiel’s time and are still not known today. Many scholars have tried to match the names Gog, Magog, Meshek and Tubal to nations that have appeared either in the past or in the present, but there is no perfect fit for them.

We know that a huge, multi-nation invasion will take place in the land of Israel. Armies will come from the north, south, east, and west and God will go to war with them.

“This is what will happen in that day: When Gog attacks the land of Israel, my hot anger will be aroused, declares the Sovereign Lord.” Ezekiel 38:18

God will use earthquakes, plagues, rain, hailstones and burning sulfur to fight his enemies. There is no mention of Israel fighting in this battle; this battle belongs to the Lord.

“On that day I will give Gog a burial place in Israel, in the valley of those who travel east of the sea. It will block the way of travelers, because Gog and all his hordes will be buried there.” Ezekiel 39:11

God will call the birds of the air and wild animals to feast on the dead bodies. He says it will take seven months for the people of Israel to collect and bury all the bones that are left behind.

This tremendous event hasn’t come to pass yet, and, so far, no one knows when it will.

Egypt’s Fall to Babylon

Ezekiel 32 is part of a four-chapter prophecy (Ezekiel 29-32) about Babylon defeating Egypt. We don’t have a biblical record, and scant archeological proof of it happening, but God was so explicit about it that it must have come to pass.

God tried to win Egypt for many centuries, beginning with Israel’s Exodus under Moses’s leadership. He was so concerned for the Egyptians that he kept sending prophets to them, but when they continued in their sins, he finally punished them.

The purpose of God’s discipline is always to turn people away from sin. He lets people suffer this way in order to save their souls for eternity.

Wrath against sin is part of God’s strategy to warn and save from sin all who are willing to repent. And it works – for those who are willing.