Could We Be in Phase 2 of This Ezekiel Prophecy?

Recently, when Hali and I were in Israel with one of our dear pastor friends, Pastor Hatim Jiryus, He asked me to share The Reconnection with some of our Arab Israeli brethren living In the Galilee. 

The Holy Spirit led me to these versus in Ezekiel 37 where God directs His prophet to prophesy to the House of Israel. Here is some of what I shared, and you can click on the link at the end of this article to listen to the message for more detail.

Ezekiel 37:1-14

When reading and mediating on these Scriptures, there are certain key points that stand out to me. First, God asks Ezekiel to prophecy with three separate phases and directives: 

1. To the dry bones to form flesh and bone and sinew; to come to life.
2. To call on the four winds to release the breath (the Holy Spirit) into the Jewish people.
3. To declare the resurrection of the body.

I see these three separate commands from God as strategic to our current understanding of Israel’s physical and spiritual restoration, that perhaps the division of them may actually help us to understand and process where we are in God’s timetable to reveal His end time plans to us.

First, the first prophecy is nearing its fulfillment in that the dry bones have been reformed and brought back to the land. I believe this prophecy relates specifically to Israel’s physical restoration to the land, as a nation and a people. 

However, it is important to point out that at the end of this first directive, the bones were restored with flesh and body, but that no breath had entered them.  In this first prophecy in verses 4-8, the Lord mentions the promise of the breath several times, but again in verse 8, Ezekiel states that it was not yet in them.

This pattern of writing back and forth is also true of the text related to the land, as it is not mentioned specifically until verse 12, when the Lord says that He will bring them back to the land, which is an actual tie-in to the earlier verses in the first prophecy related to Israel’s physical restoration; specifically because it is already happening and is still in process of fulfillment as Jewish people return to their homeland.

This physical restoration of the people of Israel and its order also ties into all three main sections of Scripture related to it: In Torah (five books of Moses) (Deut. 30:4); in the Prophets (Ezek. 36:22-28) and in the New Covenant (Rom.11:25-27), God tells us through His Word that God will bring them back first and then restore them spiritually through a cleansing and repentance process.

This is significant to understanding, as many believers have actually questioned this: “Lord, how can they be back in the land and not be saved yet?” We need to follow and trust God’s words, as it relates to Israel’s restoration; His insights and timing, rather than our own understanding. Especially with Israel’s rebirth, as not everything is totally clear to us until perhaps it actually happens, which we can deduce about Phase 1, relating to the Jewish people returning to the land from the nations; and partially now as we enter more fully into phase 2, as Jewish people are restored spiritually through the Holy Spirit and are born again.

Let me explain:

If Phase 1 relates to the Jews returning to the land, but there was still no breath in them; and Phase 2 relates to the breath being released to them. Hasn’t this already begun to happen with Jewish people beginning to awaken to Messiah again in a greater way, for the first time in almost 1800 years? Yet only a small remnant has been touched and many more are yet to be saved. So would it be true to say that Phase 1 is nearing its completion and that Phase 2 has already commenced?

This then leads us to Phase 3, which refers to the resurrection of souls when the Lord returns. Obviously, this hasn’t happened yet, but the Apostle Paul refers to this in Romans 11; that Israel’s spiritual restoration will actually lead to this (verse 15). However, if this is the case, then shouldn’t Israel’s spiritual restoration become paramount on our radar, becoming one of the main keys to the Lord’s return?

God’s Glory Plan

I call this God’s Glory Plan, where in the previous chapter in Ezekiel (36:22-28), the Lord states clearly that He will show Himself to the world through Israel’s spiritual awakening; that indeed it will not be just for their sake, but rather for the sake of our Father’s holy name. And it is important for us to understand God’s words and covenants are on the line here and that this is His plan for His glory to be revealed through Israel’s awakening.  But will God do this alone, or will His church also play an important role in their rebirth? Similarly, if you like, to Ezekiel’s own experience here, as God gave these prophetic directives, it wasn’t God who prophesied, but rather Ezekiel, whom God instructed.

We All Need the Reconnection Now

In explaining The Reconnection to the Gentile side of the family, who in this case represent the rest of God’s children. I always like to point out that the Israel of God will not be complete until His first-born are re-grafted back into the tree. That they should be important to us; not just because of God’s promises to them, but also because they are the final part of our family, yet to be restored. And as result: their spiritual awakening plays out a very strategic part of God’s plans to restore the world to Himself. As the apostle Paul points out to us in Romans 11 that the veil that is blinding Israel will ultimately be lifted (verses 25, 26). But, just how will this happen?

Sometimes however, when you read and study church eschatology, you wonder about this, as if God will take care of it all on His own.  But this is not what Scripture says, as in fact, we are the chosen ones to release the mercy back toward them through what we have already received from our Lord; to get up close to them and to be able to demonstrate His love and His presence through us, that they may be drawn to jealousy (Rom. 11). Just as Paul writes to the church concerning the Jewish people; “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?  And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring good news of good things!'” (Rom.‬ 10:14-15‬)‬‬‬.

Can we do this ourselves, or in our own strength? I think not. Just look at history and how the ancestral church ended up treating the Jewish people, and how separated we became from our Jewish roots. No, you see, it is not only His plan to restore Israel here in these last of days, but it is also His plan to restore His family to Himself, to reunite as one, as we will never be able to reach the Jewish people as we are supposed to without His heart and His love for His family flowing through our spirits. And they can’t be restored without us or our supplication. So in reality, we are in great need of each other in order for our destinies to be fulfilled and for our Lord to return. This is His masterful plan to make us one!

This is why The Reconnection is so significant to us in this day. It is the final part of the restoration for His church, in order for us to fulfill our role and call. As God restores the remnant of Israel, we must be restored to them, to our roots and our full identity together with Israel to help bring all of this to pass (Eph. 2:19). As well as to prepare the body for a Messianic kingdom upon the earth that will go out from Israel into all of the nations.

The winds are blowing: We have had the times of the Jew and we have had the times of The Gentile. Now is the time for both, for a re-uniting in the one new man that, like Ezekiel, we may fulfill our call. To stand in the gap for the church’s restoration that she may cry out, “Israel, come forth! To call on the four winds, that the breath of God maybe released to Israel and to the nations. {eoa}

To learn more about this, please refer to my book, The Ezekiel Generation. To listen to the message in Israel, please click here.

Grant Berry is a Jewish believer in Yeshua/Jesus and author of The New Covenant Prophecy and The Ezekiel Generation. He founded Reconnecting Ministries with the specific focus to help the church reconnect spiritually to Israel and considers it vital to the kingdom of G-d in the last days. His message focuses on the unity, love and healing that the Father wants to bring between Jew and Gentile, yet clearly points out the differences and misunderstandings between the two groups. Now is the time to look more carefully into this mystery to make way for healing and reconnection in the Spirit. For more information, please visit reconnectingministries.org.