Them Dry Bones Are Coming Home

Them dry bones are coming home!

Let’s begin by discussing the Biblical word, remnant. The Greek and Hebrew point to a small part of a whole, a few out of many. Isaiah 10:22 is quoted by Paul in,

Romans 9:27, “Isaiah also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved.” 

We know the story of Elisha running from Jezebel. Elisha is confronted by the LORD and said to him, “I, even I only, am left; and they (Jezebel’s people) seek my life, to take it away.”

Verse 18, The LORD responds, “Yet I have left me seven thousand (a small remnant) in Israel all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which has not kissed him.”

So, if you are ever asked, “Has God cast away for all time his people the Jews?” We can answer exactly the way Paul answered the question, “God forbid, NO!” because God has always reserved for himself a remnant of Jews’ from generation to generation.

From Abraham day until the Lord Jesus returns, there has and will always be a small remnant of Jews that remain loyal to the Lord and will continue reminding the people of Israel of the promises made to their fathers.  

Jeremiah 31:35-36, “Thus saith the LORD, which gives the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, —- the LORD of hosts is his name: If these ordinances (of the sun, moon and stars) depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever.”

Now let’s examine the following titles. They are, Gentile, Hebrew, Israel, and Jew. The word Gentiles is first mentioned in Genesis 10:5. This was written some 1700 years after the flood, about the year 2348 B.C.

Some 400 years later, the word Hebrew first appears in Genesis 14:13. This was written between 2000 and 1900 B.C.

Genesis 14:13, “And there came one that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew, —–.”  So now we know Abram was called a Hebrew.

Another 200 years pass and we see the name Israel in Genesis 32:28, when the LORD changed Jacob’s earthly name to his new spiritual name Israel, this about 1800 B.C.

Another 1000 years pass before we see the word Jews in 2 Kings 16:6. The book was written during the decline of the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel sometime around 800 B.C.  

2 Kings 16:6, “At that time Rezin king of Syria recovered = (captured) Elath to Syria and drove the Jews (meaning men of Judea) from Elath:”

Genesis 10:5 is the very first time we see the word Gentile used in scripture. It was on this side of the flood about the year 2348 B.C. The people involved in the text are Noah and his 3 sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

We can determine from the following verse that the whole of the human race was called by God, Gentiles; this would include the family of Terah and his son Abram.

Genesis 10:5, “By these (Shem, Ham, Japheth) were the isles (coastlines) of the Gentiles divided (separated) in their lands; every one after his tongue (according to his own language), and after their families, in their nations.”

Another 400 years would pass from the flood when God would make a new covenant with one man, the gentile called Abram. In his day, many had turned to astrology and occultism as fewer and fewer of Noah’s descendants held to the worship of the Creator. In Abram’s day, men had rejected Jehovah’s authority and salvation, and now stood neck deep in idolatry. But their activities did not catch God by surprise, for he had long before prepared his Son who was,

Revelation 13:8, “A Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”

From man’s point of view, there appeared to be no hope for salvation of any kind, but God had seen their falling away coming from the beginning of time and was now prepared to implement his new plan of salvation. There has always been a fine line between the Sovereignty of God and the free will of man, but God is Sovereign, yet, He never took our free will from us, be it for good or for evil.  

And now with this man Abram, the LORD was to take a new approach, he would take Abram from among the gentiles and make a new and unbreakable covenant with him. When God makes a covenant with men, and he declares, “I will,” we can be assured that one day, it will be done!  

God’s covenant was to be an unbreakable and an everlasting covenant, one He will fulfill in every detail. Why should we have confidence in this? If God cannot keep his promises to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and his 12 sons and those generations of Jews who followed over the centuries, how could we ever be assured Jesus will keep his promises to us?   

The first promise from God to Abram and his seed was made about the year 1921 B.C.

Genesis 12:2, the LORD is speaking, “I WILL make of thee (Abram) a great nation (Israel), and I WILL bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing,”

At the same time, a second promise was made by the LORD, it concerning a land of promise for a future Jewish nation. It’s found in,

Genesis 12:7, “And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, unto thy seed WILL I give this land:”

Genesis 13:14, “And the LORD said unto Abram, — lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where you are northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: for all the land which thou seest, to you WILL I give it, and to thy seed FOR EVER.”

So, Abram was to one day be the father of a great nation, and secondly, his seed would one day be in the land of promise forever.

Isaac was to be that prophesied seed of Abraham; he was the one through whom the Lord’s promises would be fulfilled.

God’s promise, Genesis 17:19-21, “Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac; and I WILL establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.” Note “everlasting.”

This same promise was also confirmed with Isaac’s son Jacob around the year 1820 B.C. 

This happened when Jacob wrestled with a stranger. Unknown to Jacob, that man who wrestled with him was the LORD. When the match was over the LORD would change Jacob’s earthly name to Israel his new spiritual name.

Genesis 35:10-12, “God said to him, thy name is Jacob, thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel—. Verse 12, “And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac; to thee I WILL give it, and to thy seed (his 12 sons) after thee WILL I give the land.”

God began to fulfill this promise of a final restoration on May 14, 1948, and Jerusalem would once again be in the hands of the people of Israel. Today there are some 7 or 8 million Jews who have returned to their promised land, with many more to come.

God’s promise of a land is verified in, Deuteronomy 31:1-5. These verses speak of God’s blessings and curses upon the Jews, and of He having driven the Jews from their home land to the lands of the gentiles. Verse 2 speaks of the Jews one day returning to the LORD (still future), and,

Verse 3, “Then the LORD God will turn your captivity (from the gentile nations) and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, from where the LORD thy God has scattered thee.” Verse 5, “the LORD thy God will bring thee into the land (Israel) which your fathers possessed, and you shalt possess it —.”

King David wrote about 1000 years after Abraham. He writes,

Psalms 135:4, “For the LORD has chosen Jacob unto himself, and Israel for his peculiar ((special) treasure.”

Now let’s move forward in history to the years 520 to 508 B.C. This is when the book of Zechariah was penned.

The following verses in Zechariah concerns the distant future, a time after the great tribulation is over, and when Jesus establishes his kingdom on earth.

Zechariah 8:22-23, the LORD said, “Yea, many people (Gentiles) and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts (Jesus) in Jerusalem, — In those days IT SHALL COME TO PASS, that ten men (gentiles) shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt (sleeves) of him that is a Jew, saying we will go with you (to Jerusalem); for we have heard that God is with you.”

Psalms 94:14, “For the Lord will NOT cast off his people (the Jews),”

Six hundred years later, Paul writes in 57 or 58 A.D., the book of Romans.

Romans 11:1, “Has God cast away his people? God forbid (meaning NO). For I (Paul) also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin.”

Ezekiel wrote between the years 597 and 571 B.C. In chapter 37, verses 1-2-5, he writes concerning a valley of dry bones that symbolize a spiritually dead Jewish people. Ezekiel is told to prophesy over the bones and in the progression of time, the bones would come together, then flesh and skin would come upon them, and breath would enter into them.

Verse 11-12, “He said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel,; — Therefore prophesy and say unto them, thus saith the Lord God, Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.”  

Here are my final thoughts on the subject:

Jeremiah 23:7-8, “Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they (the Jews) shall no more say, the LORD liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But, the LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all (gentile) countries whither I have driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.”  

And there you have it. So, if anyone should tell you God is finished with Israel and the church has taken its place, walk away from them and shake the dust from your shoes.

Phillip LaSpino  www.seekfirstwisdom.com