And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these?
The question is the people asking the prophet to explain the meaning of the sign he has shown them. The two sticks are the divided houses of Israel, Judah and the ten tribes scattered among the nations, and their joining is God's purpose to make His children one nation again under David's seed. The promises of restoration from Ezekiel 36 onward were conditional on Israel's faith, obedience and wholehearted return to God, and because Israel did not fully repent and return they were not carried out literally and in full. They will be fulfilled in a more glorious way under the new covenant at Christ's second coming, when David as king is Christ the second David reigning over spiritual Israel of faith from all peoples, Jews and Gentiles united in one fold. The vision of the dry bones is the literal bodily resurrection, when bones receive sinews and flesh and breath and stand alive as a great army, testifying that the righteous dead who sleep will rise to everlasting life and immortality at Christ's coming.
Question and Historical Setting
The verse records the children of the prophet's people speaking to him and asking him to show them what he means by the sign he has set before them, the inquiry covering both the vision of the valley of dry bones and the figure of the joined sticks. It is the people's request to learn the meaning of what has been shown, anticipating the explanation that follows. That explanation identifies the bones as the whole house of Israel.
The vision to which the question belongs was given about 587 B.C. among the Jewish captives by the river Chebar, after the fall of Jerusalem. The two sticks about which the people ask symbolize the divided houses of Israel, Judah on the one hand and the ten tribes on the other, in their divided and scattered condition among the nations. Their joining is a sign of the Lord's purpose to unite His children again in one fold, to make scattered Israel and Judah one nation under David's seed.
The dry bones likewise represent the whole house of Israel, the captive nation. The promise joined to them is to make them alive again, to revive the people, to clothe the bones with flesh and give them life, to gather the scattered people and restore the nation and bring them back to their own land. In this way the vision sets forth restoration of the nation, revival of its people, and return to their land.
Conditional Restoration Prophecy
The promises running from Ezekiel 36 to the end of the book, including chapters 37 to 39 and the sanctuary vision of chapters 37 to 48, were conditional on Israel's faith and obedience, on wholehearted return to God and turning from wickedness, under the universal principle of Jeremiah 18:8-10. They belonged to what God was prepared to do for Israel after the return from Babylon, including the resurrection promised in that chapter, offered on condition that the people returned to God with all their heart and became ashamed of iniquities. What He would have done if they had yielded was to gather those from the scattered tribes who would come, with the dry bones clothed with flesh and given life representing the whole house of Israel, the captive nation made alive again, and to join scattered Israel and Judah as one nation under David's seed. He would have raised the righteous and faithful dead who slept, with that resurrection occurring under those conditions as part of Israel's promised restoration. He would have defeated all enemies far and near, made Jerusalem a praise in the earth, and rebuilt a glorious temple with the sanctuary promised in the closing chapters.
Because Israel did not repent fully, become ashamed of iniquities, heed God's words or return wholeheartedly, with only about forty thousand returning from Babylon, and was rejected, the promised restoration was not carried out literally, exactly, in fullness or in all its described details. It was fulfilled only in small part, and what remains are faint types of what God will do for His people, not predictions to be fulfilled in every detail or in original detail. The promises concerning true Israel will therefore be fulfilled in the future in a more glorious way in the new dispensation, in the earth made new with glory and immortal inheritance for the faithful. Their full realization belongs to the greater glory of Christ's second coming and related events, under different, broader, stronger and more glorious conditions in the last days, not to literal local conditions such as burning weapons for seven years or cleansing the land by human hands.
This fulfillment belongs to the new covenant, not the first, for David as king and one shepherd is Christ, the second David, reigning over the second Israel. The second Israel is spiritual Israel of faith, made up of Christians from all kindreds, tongues and peoples, Jews and Gentiles alike who prevail by faith, Israel in the highest sense; the first Israel of natural descent and the first David belong entirely to the old covenant, so the reign of the second David cannot be joined to the first Israel of natural descent but belongs with the second Israel under the new covenant. The joined sticks illustrate that future unity of God's people, united through Christ the one Shepherd to become one fold, with Christ as the center of their union. The reunion is the restoration of spiritual Israel in Christ's coming Messianic kingdom, with Christ ruling as His servant David, having no fulfillment before the second advent. The two sticks represent that restoration of spiritual Israel, not a joining of the Book of Mormon and the Bible.
The sanctuary promised in the closing chapters was never built because Israel never yielded to God's plan, the prophecy of Ezekiel 37 to 48 being conditional upon Israel's acceptance or rejection. It never will be built and never can be built because God cannot return to typical sacrifices pointing forward to Jesus Christ, since Christ Himself suffered and fulfilled all types. The gathering is not a national return of the Jews to Palestine but the resurrection of the true Israel, when the whole house of Israel as dry bones is brought up from graves, clothed with flesh and filled with spirit into their own land. The land belongs to Christ and His saints, and Abraham and all his seed together will receive it for an everlasting possession, which cannot happen while death reigns. It is fulfilled when Israel enters the land of the covenant of peace with a new spirit placed within at the time of deliverance before the resurrection of the righteous, and in the earth made new where God's saints serve in His temple and Israel is planted to remain forever.
Resurrection Hope and Application
The vision portrays the resurrection as the dead rising bodily from the grave, not as a spirit entering a higher life at death. Bones receive sinews and flesh and skin, then breath enters, and the slain live and stand alive as a great army. The bones are the whole house of Israel, and the opening of graves and bringing up of the people shows the resurrection as Israel's hope and gateway to the promised land.
What enters to give life is named as breath, not an immortal soul or deathless spirit. Man in his present state is mortal, and life and death are opposite and mutually exclusive states, so the dead are dead and know nothing. When the spirit or breath or life principle leaves the body the man dies and would never live again except by the grace of God through a Redeemer, remaining under the dominion of death until God again breathes into them the breath of life as in the vision of dry bones. Then the righteous will live again in spiritual and immortal bodies to live and reign forever with Christ, while the unjust will live again only to die again the second death from which there is no restoration.
The chapter stands among the prophets' witnesses to the hope of the resurrection of the dead. It belongs to the Old Testament hope of immortality, testifying that the righteous would live again through resurrection. That hope is that the dead who sleep in Christ will rise to everlasting life and immortality at Christ's coming. The prophecy thereby shows that the kingdom of God was not to appear immediately, since its prophecies should have taught expectation only after the dead are raised and people are changed to immortality, because flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom, with baptism prefiguring this birth from the dead and change.
That resurrection power is found in the Word of God. When feeling with Israel that bones are dried and hope is lost, taking hold of God and His mighty power revealed in this book brings revival. The explanation identifies the bones as the whole house of Israel and the vision as a promise to restore the nation, revive its people, and bring them back to their land. This restoration requires turning from sin and being filled with God's Spirit, and the restored people are to show God's salvation and glory among the nations.
The question is the people asking the prophet to explain the meaning of the sign he has shown them. The two sticks are the divided houses of Israel, Judah and the ten tribes scattered among the nations, and their joining is God's purpose to make His children one nation again under David's seed. The promises of restoration from Ezekiel 36 onward were conditional on Israel's faith, obedience and wholehearted return to God, and because Israel did not fully repent and return they were not carried out literally and in full. They will be fulfilled in a more glorious way under the new covenant at Christ's second coming, when David as king is Christ the second David reigning over spiritual Israel of faith from all peoples, Jews and Gentiles united in one fold. The vision of the dry bones is the literal bodily resurrection, when bones receive sinews and flesh and breath and stand alive as a great army, testifying that the righteous dead who sleep will rise to everlasting life and immortality at Christ's coming.
Question and Historical Setting
The verse records the children of the prophet's people speaking to him and asking him to show them what he means by the sign he has set before them, the inquiry covering both the vision of the valley of dry bones and the figure of the joined sticks. It is the people's request to learn the meaning of what has been shown, anticipating the explanation that follows. That explanation identifies the bones as the whole house of Israel.
The vision to which the question belongs was given about 587 B.C. among the Jewish captives by the river Chebar, after the fall of Jerusalem. The two sticks about which the people ask symbolize the divided houses of Israel, Judah on the one hand and the ten tribes on the other, in their divided and scattered condition among the nations. Their joining is a sign of the Lord's purpose to unite His children again in one fold, to make scattered Israel and Judah one nation under David's seed.
The dry bones likewise represent the whole house of Israel, the captive nation. The promise joined to them is to make them alive again, to revive the people, to clothe the bones with flesh and give them life, to gather the scattered people and restore the nation and bring them back to their own land. In this way the vision sets forth restoration of the nation, revival of its people, and return to their land.
Conditional Restoration Prophecy
The promises running from Ezekiel 36 to the end of the book, including chapters 37 to 39 and the sanctuary vision of chapters 37 to 48, were conditional on Israel's faith and obedience, on wholehearted return to God and turning from wickedness, under the universal principle of Jeremiah 18:8-10. They belonged to what God was prepared to do for Israel after the return from Babylon, including the resurrection promised in that chapter, offered on condition that the people returned to God with all their heart and became ashamed of iniquities. What He would have done if they had yielded was to gather those from the scattered tribes who would come, with the dry bones clothed with flesh and given life representing the whole house of Israel, the captive nation made alive again, and to join scattered Israel and Judah as one nation under David's seed. He would have raised the righteous and faithful dead who slept, with that resurrection occurring under those conditions as part of Israel's promised restoration. He would have defeated all enemies far and near, made Jerusalem a praise in the earth, and rebuilt a glorious temple with the sanctuary promised in the closing chapters.
Because Israel did not repent fully, become ashamed of iniquities, heed God's words or return wholeheartedly, with only about forty thousand returning from Babylon, and was rejected, the promised restoration was not carried out literally, exactly, in fullness or in all its described details. It was fulfilled only in small part, and what remains are faint types of what God will do for His people, not predictions to be fulfilled in every detail or in original detail. The promises concerning true Israel will therefore be fulfilled in the future in a more glorious way in the new dispensation, in the earth made new with glory and immortal inheritance for the faithful. Their full realization belongs to the greater glory of Christ's second coming and related events, under different, broader, stronger and more glorious conditions in the last days, not to literal local conditions such as burning weapons for seven years or cleansing the land by human hands.
This fulfillment belongs to the new covenant, not the first, for David as king and one shepherd is Christ, the second David, reigning over the second Israel. The second Israel is spiritual Israel of faith, made up of Christians from all kindreds, tongues and peoples, Jews and Gentiles alike who prevail by faith, Israel in the highest sense; the first Israel of natural descent and the first David belong entirely to the old covenant, so the reign of the second David cannot be joined to the first Israel of natural descent but belongs with the second Israel under the new covenant. The joined sticks illustrate that future unity of God's people, united through Christ the one Shepherd to become one fold, with Christ as the center of their union. The reunion is the restoration of spiritual Israel in Christ's coming Messianic kingdom, with Christ ruling as His servant David, having no fulfillment before the second advent. The two sticks represent that restoration of spiritual Israel, not a joining of the Book of Mormon and the Bible.
The sanctuary promised in the closing chapters was never built because Israel never yielded to God's plan, the prophecy of Ezekiel 37 to 48 being conditional upon Israel's acceptance or rejection. It never will be built and never can be built because God cannot return to typical sacrifices pointing forward to Jesus Christ, since Christ Himself suffered and fulfilled all types. The gathering is not a national return of the Jews to Palestine but the resurrection of the true Israel, when the whole house of Israel as dry bones is brought up from graves, clothed with flesh and filled with spirit into their own land. The land belongs to Christ and His saints, and Abraham and all his seed together will receive it for an everlasting possession, which cannot happen while death reigns. It is fulfilled when Israel enters the land of the covenant of peace with a new spirit placed within at the time of deliverance before the resurrection of the righteous, and in the earth made new where God's saints serve in His temple and Israel is planted to remain forever.
Resurrection Hope and Application
The vision portrays the resurrection as the dead rising bodily from the grave, not as a spirit entering a higher life at death. Bones receive sinews and flesh and skin, then breath enters, and the slain live and stand alive as a great army. The bones are the whole house of Israel, and the opening of graves and bringing up of the people shows the resurrection as Israel's hope and gateway to the promised land.
What enters to give life is named as breath, not an immortal soul or deathless spirit. Man in his present state is mortal, and life and death are opposite and mutually exclusive states, so the dead are dead and know nothing. When the spirit or breath or life principle leaves the body the man dies and would never live again except by the grace of God through a Redeemer, remaining under the dominion of death until God again breathes into them the breath of life as in the vision of dry bones. Then the righteous will live again in spiritual and immortal bodies to live and reign forever with Christ, while the unjust will live again only to die again the second death from which there is no restoration.
The chapter stands among the prophets' witnesses to the hope of the resurrection of the dead. It belongs to the Old Testament hope of immortality, testifying that the righteous would live again through resurrection. That hope is that the dead who sleep in Christ will rise to everlasting life and immortality at Christ's coming. The prophecy thereby shows that the kingdom of God was not to appear immediately, since its prophecies should have taught expectation only after the dead are raised and people are changed to immortality, because flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom, with baptism prefiguring this birth from the dead and change.
That resurrection power is found in the Word of God. When feeling with Israel that bones are dried and hope is lost, taking hold of God and His mighty power revealed in this book brings revival. The explanation identifies the bones as the whole house of Israel and the vision as a promise to restore the nation, revive its people, and bring them back to their land. This restoration requires turning from sin and being filled with God's Spirit, and the restored people are to show God's salvation and glory among the nations.