Having prepared the land for the Israelites (35:1-36:15), the Lord would bring them back into it. This prophecy consists of four parts (36:16-21, 22-32, 33-38, and 37:1-14).
36:16-17 The Lord told Ezekiel that when the Israelites had lived in the Promised Land they had defiled it by the way they lived. They resembled a woman during her menstrual period who defiled everything she touched (cf. Lev. 15:19-23; Isa. 64:6).
36:18-19 Yahweh had poured out His wrath on them because of their bloodshed and idolatry. He had judged them for their deeds by scattering them among the nations (cf. Deut. 29:1-30:10).
36:20-21 Their dispersion made Yahweh look impotent since the nations concluded that He could not keep them safe in His land. The Lord had risked His reputation by driving Israel out of the land, but He cared about His reputation, which the Israelites had made common. We need to remember that how Christians represent God by our words and deeds likewise concerns Him (cf. Matt. 6:9; Luke 11:2).
"The next verses in the chapter are among the most glorious in the entire range of revealed truth on the subject of Israel's restoration to the Lord and national conversion."465
36:22-23 Ezekiel was to tell the Israelites that it was in spite of them that He would act for them; He would deliver them for the sake of His own reputation that they had profaned (cf. 20:39). He would vindicate His reputation as being a holy (unique) God when He proved Himself such in the sight of the nations (cf. Exod. 5:2; 9:16; 32:11-18; Lev. 18:21; 20:3; 22:31-33; Num. 14:13-19; Deut. 29:1-30:10).
36:24-25 The Lord promised, first, to take the Israelites from all the nations, to regather them, and to bring them back into their land (cf. 11:16-17; 20:34; 34:13; 37:21). He would then, second, purify His people and cleanse them from all their former uncleanness (cf. v. 17; 11:18; Exod. 12:22; Lev. 14:4-7; Ps. 51:7; Jer. 31:31-34; 1 Cor. 6:11). Justification, not sanctification, is in view.466
36:26 He would, third, give them a new heart and spirit and would remove their hardness of heart and give them soft hearts (i.e., regenerate them; cf. 11:19; 18:31; 2 Cor. 3:3-6).467The heart stands for the whole person--mind, will, and emotions (cf. 2:4; 3:7)--and the spirit describes the motivation that drives thought and conduct.
"The temptation to find the fulfillment of the new heart' and new spirit' of 36:25-27 exclusively in Christian conversion in this age should be resisted. New Testament conversion is only a preview of the massive spiritual revival God has in store for all of true Israel and Gentiles who believe."468
36:27 God would, fourth, also put His Spirit within the Israelites and cause them to obey His commands carefully (cf. 11:19-20; 18:31; 37:14; 39:29; Jer. 31:31; Joel 2:28-29; Acts 2:17-18; Rom. 7:7-8:4; 2 Cor. 3:6-18; Heb. 8:6-10:39). This is a coming of the Holy Spirit on Israel in the future, not His coming on the church at Pentecost.
36:28-30 They would, fifth, live in the Promised Land and enjoy a permanent, intimate relationship with God. He would also deliver them from their uncleanness (v. 25) and, sixth, give them abundant harvests constantly so they would never experience famine (cf. 34:29). In other words, He would bless them with consistent fertility and fruitfulness (cf. 34:29).
36:31-32 Then the Israelites would, seventh, remember their former sins and would loath themselves (cf. 6:9; 20:43). Again, the Lord would not accomplish this regathering for the sake of His people, but for the sake of His reputation among the rest of the world's population (cf. v. 22). This present announcement of God's gracious dealings with His people should shame them and bring them to their knees in repentance.
"This context and that of similar accounts of God's restoration of Israel to her land, along with the historical perspective, make it clear that the return mentioned in this passage does not refer to the return to Canaan under Zerubbabel but to a final and complete restoration under the Messiah in the end times. The details of Israel's reestablishment on her land set forth above simply did not occur in the returns under Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah."469
36:33-34 Future cleansing from sin and restoration of the Jews to the land and restoration of the land to fruitfulness would all occur at the same time. This shows that the Jews' present occupation of the Promised Land does not fulfill these promises; they have not yet experienced God's cleansing for their sins, which comes with regeneration (cf. Rom. 11).
36:35-36 People would marvel at the lushness of the formerly desolate land and at the strength of the formerly ruined cities of Israel (cf. Isa. 11:6-9; 51:3; Joel 3:18; Amos 9:13-15; Rom. 8:19-22; 2 Pet. 3:13; Rev. 21:1-4, 23-27). The other nations of the world would recognize that Israel's God was responsible for this transformation.
36:37-38 The Lord also promised to respond to the prayers of the Israelites to increase their population. The Jews would fill the cities like the sheep used to fill Jerusalem during the feasts when the people offered large numbers of them as sacrifices to the Lord. These would not be sheep for slaughter but living sacrifices in God's service. This increase in the population in the Promised Land would also convince people of Yahweh's unique deity.
"In analyzing Ezekiel's doctrine of the salvation of Israel, the salient factors are as follows: (1) The preeminent motive in their redemption is the glory of God (vv. 22, 32). (2) Israel will know ultimately that their God is the Lord (v. 38). (3) There will be an abhorrence of their sins (vv. 31-32). (4) Forgiveness of their sins will be realized (v. 25). (5) Regeneration will be effected (11:19; 18:31; 36:26-27). (6) The gift of the Holy Spirit will be granted (v. 27; 37:14). No prophet before him assigns the ministry of the Holy Spirit in regeneration such a precise place as Ezekiel does. (7) Included is obedience to God's laws (v. 27; 11:20)."470
By faith in Jesus Christ, Gentiles as well as Jews presently experience many of the same blessings that God promised here to bring to the entire nation of Israel in the future. But this should not lead us to conclude that these promises have no future fulfillment with Israel but are only fulfilled spiritually in the church.471
"It should be clear that the realization of these promises did not come to fruition in the postexilic period, nor have they been fulfilled today. Israel as a nation is not regathered and has not experienced spiritual regeneration, and the land of Palestine is not characterized by the supernatural fecundity described in Ezekiel 36:22-38."472
This well-known apocalyptic vision of the valley of dry bones pictures the manner in which Yahweh would restore His people.473This may be the best known section of the Book of Ezekiel.
"Few other passages have suffered more from the extremes of interpreters who see either too much or too little in both meaning and application of the figures, symbols, and types."474
"The New Covenant involves a new heart and a new spirit, to be sure, but it is deeply rooted in history and land. The promise to Abraham was unconditional and included in its benefits a geographical inheritance--indeed, not just any territory but specifically the land of Canaan (Gen. 12:1, 7; 13:15-17; 15:18-19; 17:8). It is that land that is in view throughout Ezekiel's historical and eschatological purview, for unless that land is the focus of God's covenant fulfillment the ancient promises lose their intended significance.
"The coalescence of the New Covenant and the renewed land is nowhere in the Old Testament better explicated than in Ezekiel 37."475
37:1-2 The Lord lifted Ezekiel up by His Holy Spirit and transported him in a vision to the middle of a valley full of dry bones (cf. 1:3; 8:1). This may have been the same valley (or plain, Heb. biq'a) in which Ezekiel saw his vision of God's glory (cf. 3:22). In this vision, the prophet walked around among the many very dry bones that littered this valley. They represent the Israelites slain during the conquest of the land and now in exile for a very long time.476
37:3-4 The Lord asked Ezekiel if the bones could live again. The prophet replied that only the Lord knew (cf. Rev. 7:14); He could make them live, Ezekiel believed, but he did not know if that is what God would do. The Lord also instructed Ezekiel to prophesy over the dry bones and to tell them to hear His word.
37:5-6 The Lord told the bones that He would cause breath (Heb. ruah, wind, spirit, Spirit) to enter them and they would come back to life (cf. Hos. 6:2).477He would also put sinews on them, make flesh grow back on them, cover them with skin, and put breath in them. They would come back to life and know that He is Yahweh.
37:7-8 Ezekiel spoke to the bones as the Lord had commanded him, and as he did he heard a noise of rattling as the bones began to come together. The prophet saw sinew, flesh, and skin come back on them, but there was no breath in them; they were not alive.
37:9-10 The Lord then told Ezekiel to prophesy to the breath and to command it in the name of the Lord to come from the four winds (i.e., every direction) and give life to the bones (cf. Isa. 43:5-6; Jer. 31:8). Ezekiel followed the Lord's instructions, and breath came into the corpses (cf. Gen. 2:7; Rom. 8:1-17). They came to life, stood up, and formed a very large group of people, as large as an army.
"What is the significance of the two stages [vv. 4-8 and 9-10]? The difference between them is surely to be found in the directionof Ezekiel's prophesying; first to the bones, telling them to hear, and secondly to the spirit, invoking its inspiration. The first must have seemed to Ezekiel very much like his professional occupation, exhorting lifeless people to listen to God's word. The effect was limited: true, something remarkable happened, but the hearers were still dead men. The second action was tantamount to praying, as Ezekiel besought the Spirit of God to effect the miracle of re-creation, to breathe into man's nostrils the breath of life (cf. Gn. 2:7). This time the effect was devastating. What preaching by itself failed to achieve, prayer made a reality."478
37:11-13 The Lord explained to Ezekiel that the bones represented the whole house of Israel (cf. 36:10). The Israelites were saying that they were like dry bones: they had been dead for a very long time spiritually as well as physically. They had no hope of life in the future; they had lost all hope of becoming a nation again or of seeing God's promises to them fulfilled literally. The Lord had cut them off completely; the bones were separated from each other, and the Israelites were scattered over the earth. Consequently, Ezekiel was to prophesy to them that the sovereign Lord would open their graves, cause them to come up out of their graves, and bring them back into the Promised Land. Then they would know that He is God.
37:14 He promised again to put His Spirit within them, bring them back to life, and place them in their land (cf. vv. 9-10, 15-28; 36:22-32). This would teach them that He is God.
Notice that what God promised was both a spiritual and a physical restoration of the Israelites, and the end time is in view (cf. Matt. 24:30-31). So this is not a vision of the physical resurrection of all Israelites sometime in the future, nor is it a vision of the spiritual salvation of Jews and Gentiles in the future.479
"This could genuinely be termed a rebirth' of the nation. Just as the necessary elements of a nation were essential to the initial formation of Israel in Genesis through Joshua--a people, a government, and a land--so God would provide all three essentials once again in this rebirth of Israel in the future. The people of that day are brought together through restoration in 36:16-37:28. The land is provided in the prophecy of 35:1-36:15. The government of renewed Israel would be given in Ezekiel's apocalyptic vision revealed in chapters 40-48."480
"There is no finer illustration of the life-changing power of the preached word than what the prophet saw in his vision. It has the power to transform those who are dead in trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1-22) and make them new, living creatures in Christ (2 Cor 5:17)."481
