The Valley of Dry Bones

The Valley of Dry Bones; Ezekiel 37:1-14

Dry Bones Meaning: Dry bones indicated that Israel as a nation has been dead a long time.

From a human standpoint when something has been dead a long time all hope is lost of something coming alive again. As we see in Ezekiel 37:11.

Ezekiel 37:11 Then he said to me, "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: look, they say, 'Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are completely cut off.'

New Heart English Bible.

Israel was in exile not in her own land serving God. There will be a national resurrection at the end of the Great tribulation for the House of Israel.  

Ezekiel 37:14I will put my Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land: and you shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken it and performed it,' says the LORD."

Zechariah 12:10“Then I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer on the family of David and on the people of Jerusalem. They will look on me whom they have pierced and mourn for him as for an only son. They will grieve bitterly for him as for a firstborn son who has died. NLT

Zechariah 12:10 partially fulfilled in John 19:36-37. "They will look on me whom they have pierced" awaits ultimate fulfilment at the end of the Great tribulation.

It seems the present nation of Israel since 1948 with Jews returning to Israel is a partial fulfilment. They are back in the Land but have not repented as a whole nation to accept Jesus. The bible shows Jews are in Israel during the tribulation period. Zechariah 14:1-5. Zechariah 12:10. Jeremiah 30:7 and Daniel 12:1.

It seems some Jews will be brought back to Israel when the Lord returns. Isaiah 11:12

Ezekiel 37:1-14 is about the future of the nation of Israel being restored back to God.

As we see in Romans 11:26-27. 

Romans 11:26 and so all Israel will be saved. Even as it is written, "There will come out of Zion the Deliverer; he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob.

27This is my covenant to them, when I will take away their sins."

Note how David was dead when Ezekiel spoke this future prophesy.

Ezekiel 37:24 My servant David shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my ordinances, and observe my statutes, and do them. 

Ezekiel 37:25 They shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob my servant, in which your fathers lived; and they shall dwell in it, they, and their children, and their children's children, forever: and David my servant shall be their prince for ever.

Jesus is king and prince of peace.

Some feel David will be resurrected during the millennium to reign. But I agree with those who say David sometimes refers to Jesus as the Messiah. Jesus is not David and John the Baptist his not Elijah but John the Baptist can be called Elijah.And Jesus sometimes prophetically called David. Jesus his the Son of David.

"and my servant David shall be their prince for ever; or their king, as the Targum; and which cannot be understood of any temporal prince, but of the King Messiah, whose throne is for ever and ever; whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom; and who shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever and ever, Psalm 45:6 and to whom it is applied by several Jewish writers" Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Just to note the Spirit of Grace in Zechariah 12:10 is also applied to believers in the warning about Apostasy in Hebrews 10:29. This the Holy Spirit called the Spirit of Grace because it is given to us by God as unmerited favour.

Grace can mean favour, power, and divine influence. The Spirit of Grace has divine influence to lead us into true holiness, truth and sound doctrine. The spirit of Grace is the Spirit of Jesus. Which gives us favour to have fellowship with the son and father. 1 John 1:3.