Messianic Perspectives

Liz Aiello: Shalom and welcome to Messianic Perspectives, a daily program where we look into the scriptures from a distinguished first-century Jewish point of view. This is Liz Aiello. Today our Bible teacher is Dr. Gary Hedrick, and he's talking about the coming restoration of national Israel, a restoration in fact that has already begun. I'll be back a little later with information about a special offer, so have your pencil and paper ready. And now with today's installment, here is Gary Hedrick.

Dr. Gary Hedrick: All right, thank you, and welcome listening friend to another edition of the program. It's good to have you with us again today as we continue this series on Israel's coming restoration. We're talking about that great dry bones prophecy in Ezekiel chapter 37. It's a wonderful prophecy of Israel's great end-time restoration.

In chapter 36 of Ezekiel, the prophet announced the restoration, and now in chapter 37, he explains the restoration. He shows that it will happen systematically in phases. In chapter 37, the nation Israel is symbolized by a valley of dry bones. And what happens? First, there is a shaking or a rattling of the bones. Then the bones come together, bone to bone, it says. Then the tendons and the muscles come upon them, and then the skin covers them.

But it says there was no breath in them (verse eight). These bones have tendons and muscles and skin, but there's no life in them. And that's what we see in Israel today. There's a nation with bones and muscles and tendons and skin. They've got a government, they've got a Knesset, they've got leaders, they've got a military, but spiritually she's dead. There's no life in her. The spirit is not in her.

So what happens next? (Verse nine). Then said he to me, "Prophesy to the wind. Prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, 'Thus saith the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.'" And again, the Lord is involving Ezekiel in what he's doing. First, he told him to prophesy to the bones. Now he's telling Ezekiel to prophesy to the wind.

This wind is literally the breath that makes the nation live again. What happened in Genesis when God breathed into Adam? It says he became a living soul. And now in Ezekiel 37, God is going to breathe the breath of life into his people Israel. (Verse ten). Ezekiel says, "So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, that is into the bones, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army."

Now the restoration is complete. They're alive, and they stand up on their feet, an exceeding great army, he says. And then here's the explanation (verse eleven). Then he said to me, "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, 'Our bones are dried and our hope is lost; we are cut off on our part.'" Now that's the key. He says these bones are the whole house of Israel, "Kol beit Yisrael", or the whole house of Israel.

Now what about this name, Israel or Yisrael? Where does it come from? Well, first of all, the name Israel comes from Jacob, or Ya'akov. Yisrael comes from two root words: "Sara", which means to have power or to prevail, and "El", which means God. So it's Sara-El, or Yisrael, prevailing with God. God gave Jacob that name after he spent the night wrestling with the Angel of Yahweh. Jacob wouldn't give up until the Lord had given him the blessing.

And that was always the thing about Jacob that was so amazing. For some reason, this man Jacob, from whom Israel got its name, had more of a sense of what was important than anyone else in his time. He had many faults and many character flaws. He lied, he was conniving, he was a mama's boy. He was even deceptive at times. He conspired with his mother Rebekah and deceived his father Isaac into thinking he was his brother Esau.

Remember that? I mean, this man was not a paragon of virtue by any means. But there was one thing about Jacob that never wavered from the beginning of his life to the end of his life, and that was Jacob had the right priorities. He knew what was important. More than anything else in his life, Jacob wanted the blessing of Almighty God. Nothing else mattered to him. From the very day he was born, holding onto his brother Esau's heel, Jacob went after the blessing.

You see, technically, although they were twins, Esau was born before Jacob. Can't you imagine that midwife's surprise as she was helping to deliver Esau? She finally got him out, and he was still stuck. And she was pulling, and she looked down, and there was a little hand holding onto his brother's foot. So Esau was the firstborn, but Jacob came right behind him.

And in ancient Israel, the firstborn son received a double portion of the father's inheritance. He was also the one who would become the priest in family worship, and he would become the elder of that family. The National Council of Israel, which later became the Sanhedrin, was made up of 70 elders from the various families of Israel. So by being the firstborn, Esau was in line to become one of those elders. And there was something else.

Remember, the blessing of Abraham was tied to the Messianic promises. We've talked about this before. At the time of the creation, God blessed the world and said that everything he had made was very good. But then sin entered the world, and death by sin, and the whole world came under the Adamic curse. But God made a promise, didn't he? He said, "I will send a deliverer, someone who will have the power to break the curse and restore my blessing to the world."

And so from that point on, it was every woman's hope and dream that she would become the mother of the Messiah. Remember not long ago we were talking about the fact that when Seth was born, Eve thought he was the Messiah? She said, "This is the promised seed, the seed of the woman from Genesis 3:15. This is the Messiah." And generations later, when Noah was born, his father Lamech thought he was the Messiah.

Lamech named him Noah, which means rest in Hebrew, because he thought he would be the one who would give the world rest from the Adamic curse. So that's why in Judaism the Messiah came to be known as the Desire of Women, because from generation to generation, it was every Jewish woman's dream and desire to become the mother of this great deliverer who would break the power of the curse and restore God's blessing to the creation.

So this blessing of the firstborn was more than just a matter of a double inheritance and more than just being in line to become the elder of the family. In this family, it also involved the Messianic promise. So it's not just the blessing of the firstborn, but also the Messianic blessing. You see, God put something in Jacob's heart that made him want that blessing more than anything else in the world.

Jacob was a man who was more interested in eternal things than he was in temporal things. And he wanted to be the one through whom the Messianic promises would be fulfilled. And that's where Jacob got the name Israel when he wrestled that Angel of Yahweh at Peniel. He wouldn't let go. He wrestled all night, and finally the Angel said, "What do you want, Jacob?" And Jacob said, "I want your blessing."

So the Angel reached down and touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh and crippled him. So now Jacob is not only exhausted from wrestling all night, but now he's got an injured leg. Most men would have given up, but not Jacob. So finally the Angel said, "Daylight is coming; let go of me, Jacob. I've got to go." And what did Jacob say? "I will not let thee go until you bless me."

And by this time, Jacob's not even wrestling anymore; he's just holding on for dear life. But he won't let go until he gets the blessing. And that's when God named Jacob Israel, "Sara-El", one who prevails with God. And later this name Israel comes to denote the nation Israel. Jacob, you see, had 12 sons, and their descendants became the 12 tribes of Israel.

So when we talk about Israel collectively, we're talking about the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jacob's 12 sons. That's the nation Israel. So what did the Lord tell Ezekiel here in chapter 37, verse 11? "Then he said to me, 'Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, "Our bones are dried and our hope is lost; we are cut off on our part."'"

So how did the children of Israel come to such a sad state of affairs? Well, again, Ezekiel was prophesying from Babylon where the Southern Kingdom of Judah had been taken into captivity in 586 BC. The Northern Kingdom of Samaria or Ephraim had been destroyed in 722 BC by the Assyrians. So part of the Jewish nation had been taken to Assyria, part of the nation had been taken to Babylon, and the rest were scattered all over the known world in what came to be known as the Diaspora or the dispersion.

Now Ezekiel didn't know this because it hadn't happened yet, but after 70 years in Babylonian captivity, some of the Jewish people returned to Palestine and began rebuilding Jerusalem. But the monarchy was never re-established, and the Davidic throne remained empty even up until the time of Christ. And then in AD 70, the Romans destroyed Jerusalem, and the Jewish people were scattered to the four winds yet again.

So the fulfillment of Ezekiel's prophecy must be yet future. Well, we're out of time again. How the time flies! It's unbelievable how quickly it goes when we're here on the air. We'll continue with this on the next program. Until then, this is your friend Gary Hedrick saying God bless you. Take care. Bye-bye.

Liz Aiello: Thank you, Gary. And thank you, listening friend, for tuning in today. We've been listening to Dr. Gary Hedrick discuss Israel's coming restoration from the prophecy in Ezekiel chapter 37. Isn't it exciting to think that our generation is beginning to see the fulfillment of prophecies that previous generations could only dream about or read about in the Bible?

As we hear those bones rattling in the Middle East, we are reminded that the stage is being set for the end-time scenario described by the ancient prophets. If you found today's program especially helpful and insightful, you'll be glad to know that we have placed the entire series of programs on compact disc. The title is "Israel's Coming Restoration".

It's available for your gift of just six dollars or more to help us keep this program here on your station. Just visit our secure online store at messianicspecialties.com to place your order. If you would prefer to order by mail, just address your request to Messianic Perspectives, P.O. Box 345, San Antonio, Texas, 78292.

To order by phone, use our toll-free order line. The number is 1-800-926-5397. Have you enjoyed this edition of Messianic Perspectives? Why not continue to learn about the Jewish roots of your Christian faith by inviting a speaker from CJF Ministries? Call our toll-free number, 1-800-926-5397, and we'll be happy to handle all of the details.

And as always, when you're in touch with us, please mention the call letters of this station. If you're listening to our webcast or podcast, we need to know that too. I'm Liz Aiello. Join us next time, won't you? As Dr. Gary Hedrick continues our series of studies on Israel's coming restoration right here on Messianic Perspectives.