Our Word for Today
“and He said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, You know (Ezek. 37:3).
During World War II, some six million Jews died at the hands of the Nazi butchers. It was Satan’s effort to destroy these ancient people, because he knew that the time had come for the beginning of their restoration. He did not succeed, but it was not for lack of trying.
Out of that funeral pyre, the death camps of Nazi Germany and Poland, the question asked some 2,500 years ago by the Lord of the Prophet Ezekiel now takes on meaning, “Can these bones live?” In 1948, the nation of Israel was reborn, one might say, thereby beginning the fulfillment of the Thirty-seventh Chapter of Ezekiel.
Within themselves, it was not possible, and is not possible, for them to live again.
Within themselves, there is no hope, as should be overly obvious!
However, listen to what the Lord told the Prophet some 2,500 years ago:
“Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O My people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel” (Ezek. 37:12).
And that’s exactly what the Lord did. Out of the holocaust, He brought vagabond Jews from all over the world in order to establish the nation of Israel once again.
Concerning Israel and her restoration, some 500 years after the Prophecy of Ezekiel, the Apostle Paul said, “And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, there shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
“For this is My Covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins” (Rom. 11:26-27).
Actually, Paul was quoting both Isaiah and Jeremiah (Isa. 27:9; Jer. 31:31).
Israel is God’s prophetic time clock. In other words, one can look at Israel and tell just how late the time actually is. To be sure, it is late. Israel is about to enter into the worst time of her existence, called the “Great Tribulation” (Mat. 24:21).
Zechariah prophesied that two-thirds of the people of Israel will die at that time (Zech. 13:8-9). Then, and only then, actually during the Battle of Armageddon, when it seems as if Israel will be completely destroyed, will they then begin to call upon the Lord. He will answer that cry. That is the Second Coming, the time that Israel will finally accept the Lord Jesus Christ.
It’s a shame that Israel will have to undergo such sorrow; however, millions in their own way have had to undergo trouble before they finally would say, “Yes,” to Jesus Christ.”
—Donnie Swaggart (taken from the “Word for Every Day”)
Donnie Swaggart