The Resurrection of Dry Bones,

A Type of Spiritual Life Imparted to That Which Is Dead

(Ezekiel 37)

As the dry bones received life, so God promises to restore national and spiritual life to the nation of Israel. “The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, and caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry . . . Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost” (Ezekiel 37:1, 2, 11).

When Ezekiel wrote, the Jewish hope for the future was very low. To them the message of verse 12 came: “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.” Restoration of the Jews to their own land was here prophesied. And as a fitting climax, Israel’s national conversion was predicted in verse 5: “Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live.”

In addition to being restored to her own land, Israel is to have new spiritual life. This is also promised in Ezekiel 36:24, 26, 27: “For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land . . . A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the Stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them.” This Scripture tells of new life for Israel in her own land.

As the wind breathed upon the dry bones to make them live, so the Holy Spirit breathes upon dead souls and causes them to live. “Then he said unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live” (Ezekiel 37:9).

Souls who are slain by Holy Ghost conviction are then breathed upon by the Spirit and they receive new life from God, “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again, The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is everyone that is born of the Spirit” (John 3:7, 8). The wind here is a type of the Holy Spirit in His regenerating work.

As the wind was the source of life to the dry bones, so the Spirit of God is the only source of spirituality to dead churches. “So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army” (Ezekiel 37:10). Altogether too many churches are like the valley of dry bones. They need the wind of the Holy Spirit to blow upon them, that they may live, and fulfill the function for which they came into being. “And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead” (Revelation 3:1). Christ’s message to this church was that she was dead. But the Holy Spirit was ready to give her new life if she were but willing.

The giving of life to the dry hones is a type of the resurrection from the dead of the bodies of believers. “I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves” (Ezekiel 37:12). This resurrection of the dry bones is a picture of the resurrection of the bodies of Christians now in the grave.

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live . . . Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation” (John 5:25, 28, 29).

In that day when Jesus returns, believers shall receive a glorious resurrection body after they are raised from the dead.

The River of Ezekiel,

A Type of Abundant Life in the Golden Age Now and in Heaven

(Ezekiel 47)

Ezekiel’s river is a type of abundant life in earth’s Golden Age. “Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward: for the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar” (Ezekiel 47:1). The river of Ezekiel’s vision had its origin in the Temple. “Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over” (v. 5). Here was a great river. “Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go down into the sea: which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed” (v. 8).

This great river had healing power.

Most ancient cities of importance were situated on a river. Jerusalem was not. The prophets foretold millennial Jerusalem as being on a wonderful river. “But there the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby” (Isaiah 33:21). Ancient warships were propelled by oars, whereas merchant ships usually had sails. In the Golden Age the city of Jerusalem will be on a river, but no warship shall reach it. For this to be true there must needs be topographical changes in Palestine in the territory around Jerusalem. And that is exactly what will happen according to Zechariah 14:4: “And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.” And this will make possible Jerusalem having a river with its abundant life and healing waters.

Ezekiel’s river is a type of abundant life for the consecrated Christian. “Waters issued out from under the threshold of the house” (Ezekiel 47:1). This river of spiritual life has its origin in God, for it came from the altar in God’s temple. It increased its depth rapidly, for it is pictured as getting deeper as it travels on. A thousand cubits were measured and the water was ankle-deep

(v. 3). Another thousand cubits were measured and the water was knee-deep (v. 4). In the last part of the same verse another thousand cubits were measured and it was waist-deep. And in verse 5 another thousand cubits’ measurement indicated that the water was so deep it could not be forded. Does our Christian experience grow deeper as we grow older?

Life follows the course of the river: “And it shall come to pass, that everything that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live” (Ezekiel 47:9). This river brings life to the land through which it flows. Is our Christian life like Ezekiel’s river? “Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive” (John 7:3739).

Abundant life like a river comes from the Holy Spirit, and is realized in our life as we yield ourselves to His control and obey His leading.

Ezekiel’s river is a type of abundant life in Heaven. “And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat [food], whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat [food], and the leaf thereof for medicine” (Ezekiel 47:12). This is indeed Heaven, for there will be trees whose fruit is never exhausted, and whose leaves will serve for medicine, or perhaps as vitamins. Revelation 22:1, 2 gives us the fulfillment of all this: “And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing [health] of the nations.”

The Fiery Furnace Experience,

A Type of Fiery Trials for Courageous Christians

(Daniel 3)

These three young Jews stood true to God when away from home; even as faithful young people will maintain their testimony for Christ when away from home influences. “There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; these men, O king, have not regarded thee: they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up” (Daniel 3:12). These young men could not be true to the God of Israel and at the same time bow down to the image Nebuchadnezzar had set up. So they stood true to the God of their fathers, and refused to obey the orders of the king. Today young people who live out-and-out Christian lives can more or less expect to have some persecution from the world. “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (II Timothy 3:12). It takes real courage to be true to Christ when persecuted.

These three young Jews determined not to deny God, even if they were thrown into the fiery furnace; and there is great need for young people today who will confess Christ before men even at the cost of fiery persecution. “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up” (Daniel 3:16-18). They believed their God could save them from going into the fiery furnace — but if He didn’t choose to do so, they would not deny Him even if it meant death for them in the furnace. Jesus calls for that sort of a spirit among His followers. “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32, 33). May we let the world know we are Christians even if our testimony for Christ costs us persecution!

The Lord did not deliver them from the fiery furnace, but went with them through the experience and brought them out of it; and many times God allows Christ’s followers to be persecuted but goes with them through the persecution. “Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God” (Daniel 3:24, 25).

Messiah walked with them in the fire, and the fire set them free from their bonds. The Lord never forsakes His own when they are being persecuted for His sake. Paul wrote in II Corinthians 4:9, “Persecuted, but not forsaken.”

The faithfulness of these young men in their fiery furnace experience caused the king to acknowledge their God; and so the loyalty of Christ’s followers under fiery persecution will cause others to acknowledge Him as Lord.

“Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God” (Daniel 3:28, 29). But for the courage of these three young men, the king would never have acknowledged their God as he did here. And the courage of the early disciples of Jesus caused many to acknowledge God. “And as they [Peter and John] spake unto the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them, being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto the next day: for it was now eventide. Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand” (Acts 4:1-4). The boldness of Peter and John under persecution caused a great number of people to believe in Jesus.

The three young Jews were rewarded for their faithfulness in the fiery furnace experience; and God promises to reward all Christians who are true to Him under persecution. “Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the province of Babylon” (Daniel 3:30). The rewards for faithfulness in persecution will be great. So says the Lord Jesus: “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you” (Matthew 5:10-12).

Jonah,

A Type of the Jewish Nation in Relation to Its Divine Commission

Jonah was commissioned to preach to the Gentile city of Nineveh; and the Jews were commissioned to be a blessing and a witness to all the nations of earth. “Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me” (Jonah 1:1, 2).

Nineveh, one time capital of the great Assyrian Empire, was considered by Jonah to be an enemy city of Israel. To preach in such a place was distasteful to the prophet. But the command of the Lord was clear enough, and Jonah disobeyed the command in fleeing to Tarshish. This is typical of the Jewish nation. God said to Abraham, “And in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 12:3). The descendants of Abraham were to be a blessing to all the families of earth “Therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am; God” (Isaiah 43:12). Israel was to be a witness to the Gentile nations of the Lord Jehovah. This was Israel’s commission.

Even as Jonah ran away from his divine commission, so have the Jews failed to carry out their divine commission. “But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord” (Jonah 1:3). He tried to run away from his divine task. And in the same way the Jewish nation has failed in its task of being a witness to the Gentile people of the world.

The prophet Jeremiah charged his own people with the sin of disobeying the Lord. “Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the Lord” (Jeremiah 3:13).

Jonah, upon going to sea, mingled with Gentiles and forgot his call; and the Jews have been scattered among the nations, and have mingled with the Gentiles and learned their works. In Jonah 1:4-10 Jonah on board the ship is in conversation with the Gentile mariners. Psalm 106:35, 36 gives us a picture of what the scattering of the Jews over the earth has meant to their manner of life. “But were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works. And they served their idols: which were a snare unto them.” The Jews have copied the sins of their Gentile neighbors.

Jonah was cast into the sea for a time; and the casting away of the Jews is only to be temporary in God’s sight. “So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging” (Jonah 1:15). Jonah’s experience in the sea was in the providence of God only temporary, even as Israel’s experience of being scattered over the world among the Gentiles.

The Bible tells us there is another chapter in their history which must yet be written in the future. “I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord” (Jonah 3:1-3).

A second opportunity was given Jonah to make good his commission, and he made the most of it. And the day will come when Israel as a nation will fulfill her divinely given commission to the world. Then will be fulfilled the words of the psalmist: “God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; Selah. That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations. Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee” (Psalm 67:1-3). The day will come when all the people of the earth will praise the Lord because of the evangelizing work of the Jewish people.

Jonah,

A Type of the Church in Relation to Its Missionary Task

The Church has been like Jonah in failing to carry out its missionary task. “Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them” (Jonah 1:10). Even the mariners knew about Jonah’s failure in relation to the Lord. Now the Church’s commission is plain enough for all to understand: “And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24:47). The Church has been like Jonah in her failure to carry out her Great Commission. The word nation means those living together, individuals of the same nature, race, and tribe that speak the same language. Every tribe on earth must have the Good News. The Church has failed to do this. Let us bend every effort to finish the task God has given us to do.

The God of Jonah suffered in the eyes of the world because of the prophet’s disobedience; and the God of Heaven suffers today in the eyes of the modern world because of the Church’s missionary failure. “So the shipmaster came to him and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not” (Jonah 1:6). Jonah was a poor advertisement for his God. How sad if all the Christians some unsaved people know are disobedient Christians! The apostle Paul was an obedient disciple: “Whereupon, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision” (Acts 26:19). Paul could tell this unsaved king that he had obeyed his divine commission. Could we say the same thing?

The Church like Jonah has been afflicted of God because of its missionary failure. “But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken” (Jonah 1:4). But for Jonah’s failure that storm would not have happened. “Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. For mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? And I will not give my glory unto another” (Isaiah 48:10, 11).

Perhaps Pearl Harbor and World War II could have been avoided if we, had sent more evangelical missionaries to Japan earlier. If we had worked as hard to Christianize Asia as the Communists worked to communize that territory, we would have kept the Communists out of vast sections of territory.

His affliction changed Jonah’s attitude toward his missionary task; and a revival in the midst of these perilous times will bring about increased missionary activity and hasten the return of Christ. “So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord” (Jonah 3:3). After his trial, he was a changed man. He obeyed the Lord and| did the missionary task he was commanded to do. A revival will change the attitude of the Church to its missionary task, “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days I will pour out my Spirit” (Joel 2:28, 29). This is the revival that helps to usher in the return of Christ, for the following verses refer to the second advent.

The God of Jonah had to deal with the prophet because of his lack of love for the souls, especially of heathen children; and the Lord is dealing with the Church today for its lack of concern for the souls of the children of the world. “But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry” (Jonah 4:1). He was angry because God spared Nineveh when the city repented because of his preaching. The Lord dealt with him on this subject. “Then said the Lord, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not labored, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night: and should I not spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?” (Jonah 4:10, 11). There were approximately 120,000 children in Nineveh under seven years of age. The Lord had compassion on these children, but Jonah never thought about them.

Heathen children today for the most part live under filthy conditions, both physically and morally. Do we have compassion upon them? “But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd” (Matthew 9:36). A shepherd is always especially interested in the lambs. And Jesus is the Good Shepherd. We are his undershepherds. We should be burdened for the spiritual welfare of the children of the whole wide world.

Jonah,

A Type of the Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Christ

Jonah died in the ocean, and Jesus died on the cross. “The waters compassed me about, even to the soul” (Jonah 2:5). “Even to the soul” is a Hebrew idiom referring to death. Compare Jeremiah 4:10, “Whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul.” Jonah drowned in the waters. Thus his experience is a type of Christ’s death. “For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and living” (Romans 14:9). Of course! the death of Jesus was vicarious, whereas Jonah’s death was not.

The body of Jonah lay in the stomach of the whale undigested for three days and nights; and the body of Jesus lay in the tomb for the same length of time, and saw no corruption. “Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights” (Jonah 1:17). The fish did not digest him. And concerning the body of Jesus, let us read Acts 2:27: “Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.” This was quoted from Psalm 16. The body off Jesus as it lay in the tomb did not see corruption.

During this time, the spirit of Jonah descended into hell; and for the same length of time, the spirit of Jesus was in Hades. In Jonah 2:2, Jonah refers to having been in the “belly of hell.” In Jonah 2:6 he describes his descent into hell and coming up from it: “I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption”; The word pit is often used in the Old Testament for “Sheol.”

Now in Matthew 12:40, listen to the way Jesus connects His own death, burial, and resurrection with that of Jonah’s: “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”

The usual Old Testament word for the place of the dead is Sheol. The usual New Testament word for the same place is Hades. In Old Testament times Sheol included the righteous and the wicked, with a space between them. This was true in New Testament times up to the time of Christ’s visit to Hades. Thereafter the righteous dead were removed to Heaven.

The expression heart of the earth refers to Hades or Sheol. When Jonah’s body lay in the stomach of the great fish, his spirit was in Sheol. While the body of Jesus lay in the tomb, His spirit was in Hades.

Jonah was resurrected and came forth from the stomach of the sea monster; and Jesus was raised from the dead and came forth from the tomb on the third day. “Yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption” (Jonah 2:6).

“And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land” (Jonah 2:10).

The experience of Jonah was a type of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. “And that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures” (I Corinthians 15:4). The resurrection of Jesus was different from that of Jonah in that Jesus received a resurrection body like believers will receive at Christ’s coming.

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