The Strand Study Bible

EZEKIEL

EZEKIEL

1303

promises fulfilled. There are five covenant promises which were given to Israel: 1. The Abrahamic Covenant (Gen 12:1-3 & 17:7,13,19, I Chro 16:16-18 and Psa 105:10) The three essential features of The Abrahamic Covenant: * The promise of a national land (Gen 12:1) * The promise of Abram’s seed to become a great nation (Gen 12:2) * The promise of universal redemption through Abram’s SEED ( CHRIST ) (Gen 12:3) 2. The Mosaic Covenant (Exo 19:5) The one essential feature of The Mosaic Covenant: * Obedience (keep God’s Law and He will continue to bless you as a nation - vs 5)

3. The Palestinian Covenant (Deut 30:1-10 and Ezk 16:60) The one essential feature of The Palestinian Covenant: * The promise to Israel, in no uncertain terms, that in spite of her unfaithfulness and unbelief as a nation, the land would always be hers by promise (Gen 13:15 & 17:8) 4. The Davidic Covenant (II Sam 7:12-16 & 23:5, Psa 89:3,4,34-36, Isa 55:3 and Ezk 37:25) The three essential features of The Davidic Covenant: * The promise of David’s son (Solomon) to reign (vs. 12) * The promise of David’s SEED ( CHRIST ) and his family (house) to rule (throne, kingdom - Psa 89:3-4,34-36 and Ezk 37:21-28) forever (vs 12-13,16) * The promise of David’s son (Solomon) to build the Temple (vs. 13). 5. The New Covenant (Jere 31:31-37 & 32:37-41, Isa 61:8-9, Ezk 37:21-28, Mt 26:28, II Cor 3:6 and Heb 8:6-9:15 & 13:20) The New Covenant guarantees Israel a converted heart, when she finally accepts Christ as the MESSIAH at the end of Daniel’s Seventieth Week ( Dan 9:24-27 ). This “new covenant ” was new to Israel, not to mankind. Abraham understood this covenant, which dealt with salvation through the coming MESSIAH (Gal 3:16-18), over 400 years before Israel was even birthed as a nation (Exo 14). The one essential feature of The New Covenant: * The promise of a converted heart for Israel when CHRIST returns NOTE – Of the five covenant promises given to Israel, The Palestinian Covenant , part 2 of the The Davidic Covenant , and The New Covenant have yet to be fulfilled. In order for these covenant promises to be fulfilled Israel has to be a nation when Jesus returns. Now would be a good time to come… Even so, come , Lord Jesus (Rev 22:20). 37:4 The “ dry bones ” that come to life here are figurative of the national resurrection of Israel (vs 11), which will take place right before the return of Jesus in three stages: * bone to bone (vs 7) and sinews and flesh (vs 8 – depicting the Holocaust - Jere 30:7 ) * skin (vs 8 – depicting the rebirth of Israel as a nation in 1948) Amazingly enough, the nation of Israel has been born twice as a nation: once in 1487 BC - Exo 14:22-31, when she was birthed 37:8 What God was showing the prophet Ezekiel here is that the proclamation of His Word is not enough to accomplish total transformation in the life of a person ( but there was no breath in them ). It’s not that the preaching of God’s Word can’t build things and bring things together like dry and disconnected bones (vs 7). Don’t think that the Word can’t build things. The Word of God can build anything: * It can build a nation and bring it together, like it did America when she first started * It can build a Sunday school class, like D.L. Moody did in Chicago back in the late 1850s * It can even build a church. Just look at America. There are more churches in America (c. 450,000) than convenience stores (c. 150,000), fast food restaurants (c.160,000), and hotels/motels (c. 50,000)… combined. The Word of God can build anything. What it cannot do, however, is give things life ( but there was no breath in them ). If all we have is the Word, then all we have is renovation without transformation. People, via the Word, may build a church, but only the SPIRIT can give it life (Zech 4:6). Nothing transformational gets done for good and for God unless the THIRD PERSON OF THE TRIUNE GODHEAD does it. Preach all you want. Bring thousands upon countless thousands of people together under your influence, and the only thing you’ve got is a gathering of people around the Word; you’ve got construction without change. There are three steps to bringing about transformation to the life of people: (1) Recognize who the SPIRIT is ( Prophesy unto the WIND - vs 9 and Acts 19:1-2); (2) Speak with the SPIRIT directly ( and say to the WIND - vs 9 and Acts 10:1-7,19-20); and (3) Invite the SPIRIT to do His work through you ( Come from the four wind s, O BREATH , and breathe upon these slain, that they may live - vs 9, Acts 1:4-8). If you or I are going to make an impact (a transformational impact) for the Kingdom. If we are going to do something for good and for God that will actually count, then we are going to have to get the SPIRIT OF GOD involved in our life. Question: What activates the SPIRIT in a person’s life so that transformation occurs in the life of other people? Answer: Jn 15:26 and Lk 11:9-13. NOTE – Just as it takes two ingredients to bring forth physical life (the joining of the single spermatozoon cell and the single ovum cell – Gen 4:1a ), so it takes two ingredients to bring forth spiritual life (the WIND / SPIRIT and the Word/water – Jn 3:5 ). out of Egypt, and again in 1948, when she was re-birthed out of the Holocaust. * breath (vs 10 – depicting the restoration of Israel at the Second Coming of CHRIST ) No JESUS – no SPIRIT . No SPIRIT – no life.

The physical is often a reflection of the spiritual ( Jere 14:1 ). 37:9 The “ WIND ” here depicts the HOLY SPIRIT (Jn 3:8).