Could It Be!!!

Photo Credit to John Angerson

 

Ezekiel 37

There are few chapters in the Word right now that thrill me as much as Ezekiel 37. It starts out with the prophecy of the Dry Bones and God has Ezekiel prophesy to the bones. Spirit-filled breath of God blew and breathed life on these bones. They came back to life!

Have you ever prayed prayers so long for someone and those prayers had not been answered? That person seemed as good as dead spiritually and then, out of nowhere and yet everywhere, like the wind from four corners, God’s Spirit came and brought life into them or a situation that you were certain had earlier been doomed.

The bones were there like men who had died and wasted away. Is it men who had not fed on the Word of God or the Living Water? Had they not received the breath of Jesus as He breathed and said, “Receive My Spirit”? They fell…  The Fathers of faith had been given their Messiah, but many refused to receive Him. Many others had faith and stepped away from it or got mad and gave up or died in dead religion. Dry bones.

But, God said to Ezekiel, “Prophesy!” The bones would live again! The bones would come together, they would begin to connect as the sinews grew back and joined them. They come back with muscle and flesh upon them again, but they had no breath; no life of His Spirit. But God told Ezekiel prophecy to the winds! To the Spirit! And it came and the men came back to life!

Ezekiel 37:14  And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.”

This is the hope I aspire to. This is the power of the Word of God and His Spirit for all that appears dead. There is life to come! It will come, it is coming! I’m seeing and hearing about it!

A Jewish rabbi in his synagogue is beginning to see the Spirit of Christ. He was talking to the people of his congregation at the time of Christmas about Christmas! He was recognizing the Life in Jesus. He was sharing what were things that connected in Jesus as Jew. The sinews were growing in him. The bones were connecting. He was intrigued and open and he asked the people to be open. Are the fathers beginning to turn their eyes to the children?

I am experiencing many Christ followers tracing back and understanding the Hebrew in Jesus; the meanings of the feasts in the character and life of Jesus and the laws that He fulfilled. It is powerful revelation as the children are turning back to the Fathers of the faith. It is with new and opened eyes and the breath of His Spirit revealing and teaching these things. It is growing and growing and growing.

A Jewish girl found her Messiah in a shopping Mall in Minnesota, USA. She was from Israel and she had been in America for three years.  A team of people purposely chose to give their afternoon to be used by the LORD. The team was made up of an ex-gang member, an English as a secondary language teacher, a 10 year old child and one of my friends went with them. The child prayed and asked God to give them their divine appointment.

Walking through the mall, a young woman grabbed one of them by the arm as she recognized a bracelet that was being worn and used by the larger team that was sharing the gospel of Jesus throughout the city. The young woman asked what it meant. Her quiet friend stood near and listened.

One of them began to share; my friend. She had been one that had been studying the Hebrew roots. Her family had been on multiple trips to Israel. The one given to share had been given the common grounds to share from. The two young women spoke fluent Hebrew, but broken English. My friend asked how she could pray for them. The outgoing one said, “Pray that I can find my way.” The quiet friend then spoke and said that in her 24 years, no one had ever asked to pray for her.

My friend shared with the women about Jesus/Yeshua. She asked if they would consider Yeshua as Messiah. The quiet one listened and wanted to invite Jesus, Yeshua into her life as Messiah.  My friend told her, “We weren’t here by coincidence.” The quiet one reached out and grabbed her arm and said, “I know. I’ve been waiting for you to come.”

A few weeks later the team returned to that Mall to find another person that the LORD may lead them to. There was the louder, bolder young woman who hadn’t been ready at the previous time. She saw them and said, “You came back for me!” She too asked Yeshua to be her LORD.

These stories happened within a few months of each other.

Following the prophecy to the dry bones in Ezekiel 37 is the next great prophecy of the two sticks becoming one. One stick was for Joseph (the stick of Ephraim). Many commentaries and studies indicate that the people of Ephraim are those of the Bible and the Church. The other stick is for the people of Judah. Judah is said to be the people of the Tanakh, the Hebrew Canon, and Jewish people.

The two sticks held together would become one stick in his hand. While I read that passage, I imagined the Cross. They are two sticks that are made into one in the hand of Ephraim; the Church. As Jesus said that the most important commandment is, 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one” in Mark 12:29. He is God and Savior; Messiah Yeshua. The anointed one saves.

Ezekiel 37:15-26  The word of the Lord came to me: 16“Son of man, take a stick and write on it, ‘For Judah, and the people of Israel associated with him’; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph (the stick of Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with him.’ 17And join them one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand. 18And when your people say to you, ‘Will you not tell us what you mean by these?’ 19say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am about to take the stick of Joseph (that is in the hand of Ephraim) and the tribes of Israel associated with him. And I will join with it the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, that they may be one in my hand. 20When the sticks on which you write are in your hand before their eyes, 21then say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and bring them to their own land. 22And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. And one king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms. 23They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

24“My servant David shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes. 25They shall dwell in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children’s children shall dwell there forever, and David my servant shall be their prince forever. 26I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. 27My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 28Then the nations will know that I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.”

This chapter is a chapter of great hope and great joy that is coming and it is beginning to happen. It is a prophecy that we get to begin to understand and see start to take place.  To the praises of God, I pray that you too are encouraged and thrilled in the way He is moving! These are just a few stories that I am aware of.  Taste and see that the LORD is good!

Isaiah 40:3  A voice of one calling: "In the wilderness prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

*A back-story to the photo that I was given permission to use is a gift like I had never imagined. I was searching for crosses being held in the hand. I came across this and found it in a blog page. I asked the photographer if I may use it. He told me he would be delighted to let me use it in my own little blog. He gave me his web site to link to for the credit line.  I looked up his site and discovered that John is a renowned photographer in England. He has world-wide awards for his photography and has photographed some of the highest profile people in England and in the entertainment industry as well as photographed faith-filled communities and has heart-filled photos that tells the stories of the nation’s homeless people. What a beautiful man that gave a beautiful gift of the use of his photo; two sticks made as one, held and lifted up.