Can These Dry Bones Live?
Ezekiel 37:9
CLV 9 And He said unto me:`Prophesy unto the Spirit, prophesy, son of man, and you have said unto the Spirit: Thus said the Lord Yahweh: From the four winds come in, O Spirit, and breathe on these slain, and they do live.'”
John 20:21-22
YLT 21 Jesus, therefore, said to them again, `Peace to you; according as the Father hath sent me, I also send you;’ 22 and this having said, he breathed on them, and saith to them, `Receive the Holy Spirit;
The son of man/Son of God encouraged the uninspired and fearful Jews who were hiding behind closed doors. It was the same day He was resurrected that He went through the door they closed and breathed on them, for their new covenant evangelism recommission. He expired His last old covenant breath 3 days earlier so He could inspire them with His new covenant breath. The post-resurrection Holy Spirit actually arrived 50 days later and inspired the 12 tribes gathered to take God’s name to the 12 tribes scattered. After that family reunion in the land the 12 tribes returned to their hometowns. The Jewish Jesus had commissioned His Jewish disciples to baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They and the other tribes did not take the family name of Jesus in vain.
Jesus was the “son of man” who sent the Holy Spirit from heaven. The Greek word translated in John 20:22 as “breathed” is ἐμφυσάω emphusaō em-foo-sah’-o. It is used only once in the Bible, unless you are reading the Greek Septuagint. In the Septuagint it is used in Genesis 2:7 when God breathes into humanity’s nostrils after the original commission. “Let us” make humanity in our image is the original commission. Emphusaō is the same Greek word used in LXX Ezekiel 37:9, where the Spirit’s breath is prophetically pictured, causing the dead ones to live. Jesus uses the same Greek word to prophetically picture the same Holy Spirit. He was about to send the Holy Spirit to the Jews in Jerusalem for the new life of humanity.
In the words of the unbelieving Jews, the Holy Spirit inspired Jews were standing the world “upside down” with the gospel of Jesus (Acts 17:6). The unbelievers accused the believers of being against the status or against the standing of the world: ἀναστατόω anastatoō an-as-tat-o’-o. Paul later uses the same word to describe the unbelievers (Galatians 5:12). The unbelieving Jews were causing the believers to doubt the Word. The unbelievers did not have a different faith. They had a lack of faith. They were the un-faith-full ones. They were not the different-faith-ones. They forsook their own belief in the resurrection promises of God. They were raising up an insurrection against God’s resurrection. The unbelieving Jews were the ones who heard babbling on Pentecost. The believing Jews heard the gospel on Pentecost and were all united in their belief. The unbelievers from the tribe of Judah eventually banished the believers from the same tribe, just like the tribesmen in Thessalonica did to the believers there.
1 Thessalonians 2:14-16
CLV 14 For you became imitators, brethren, of the ecclesias [out-calleds] of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus. For you suffered the same, even you by your own fellowtribesmen, according as they also by the Jews, 15 who kill the Lord Jesus as well as the prophets, and banish us, and are not pleasing to God, and are contrary to all men [humanity], 16 forbidding us to speak to the nations that they may be saved, to fill up their sins always. Yet the indignation outstrips to them to a consummation [God’s wrath was coming upon unbelievers only. “Comfort each other with these words”.].
Acts 1:4-5
CLV 4 And, being foregathered, He charges them not to be departing from Jerusalem, but to be remaining about for the promise of the Father, “which you hear of Me, 5 seeing that John, indeed, baptizes in water, yet you shall be baptized in holy spirit after not many of these days.”
Acts 2:1-5
CLV 1 And at the fulfillment of the day of Pentecost they were all alike in the same place. 2 And suddenly there came out of heaven a blare, even as of a violent, carrying blast, and it fills the whole house where they were sitting.” 3 And seen by them were dividing tongues as if of fire, and one is seated on each one of them.” 4 And they are all filled with holy spirit, and they begin to speak in different languages, according as the spirit gave them to declaim.” 5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem, Jews, pious men from every nation under heaven.”
Jews from every nation gathered for Pentecost. The word “Jews” here includes all the 12 tribes. Paul calls himself a Jew even though he also says he is from the tribe of Benjamin. Technically Paul was a Benjamite not a Jew. “Jew” was short for the word Judah. They were the main tribe to return to the covenant land so Jesus could be born a Jew, so “Jew” became somewhat synonymous for God’s people in general. Everyone wanted to be in covenant with God and live again in the land.
Jesus favorite title for Himself was son of man (humanity). Before the son of man ascended He prophesied that He would send the Holy Spirit to His people in Jerusalem. He sent the Holy Spirit from His Father to the 12 tribes who had been gathered from the four winds. The Holy Spirit made their dry bones live in the one living body of Christ. Not a bone of His was broken and His flesh did not see decay. Just as Jesus had told a ruler and teacher of Israel, the Jews who were born from above would not perish to the age. They would join His resurrected body and be made to live too. Those Jews who did not believe did perish to the age. Post-Pentecost, those who don’t have the Holy Spirit are not His people. If you take it literaturely, the Bible means what it says and says what it means.
John 3:1-15
YLT 1 And there was a man of the Pharisees, Nicodemus his name, a ruler of the Jews, 2 this one came unto him by night, and said to him, `Rabbi, we have known that from God thou hast come—a teacher, for no one these signs is able to do that thou dost, if God may not be with him.’ 3 Jesus answered and said to him, `Verily, verily, I say to thee, If any one may not be born from above, he is not able to see the reign of God;’ 4 Nicodemus saith unto him, `How is a man able to be born, being old? is he able into the womb of his mother a second time to enter, and to be born?’ 5 Jesus answered, `Verily, verily, I say to thee, If any one may not be born of water, and the Spirit, he is not able to enter into the reign of God; 6 that which hath been born of the flesh is flesh, and that which hath been born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 `Thou mayest not wonder that I said to thee, It behoveth you to be born from above; 8 the Spirit where he willeth doth blow, and his voice thou dost hear, but thou hast not known whence he cometh, and whither he goeth; thus is every one who hath been born of the Spirit.’ 9 Nicodemus answered and said to him, `How are these things able to happen?’ 10 Jesus answered and said to him, `Thou art the teacher of Israel—and these things thou dost not know! 11 `Verily, verily, I say to thee—What we have known we speak, and what we have seen we testify, and our testimony ye do not receive; 12 if the earthly things I said to you, and ye do not believe, how, if I shall say to you the heavenly things, will ye believe? 13 and no one hath gone up to the heaven, except he who out of the heaven came down—the Son of Man who is in the heaven. 14 `And as Moses did lift up the serpent in the wilderness, so it behoveth the Son of Man to be lifted up, 15 that every one who is believing in him may not perish, but may have life age-during,
Those who were given life by the Holy Spirit sent from above were spiritually alive at the end of the old covenant age, which was also the consummation of the new covenant age. Jesus prepared a place for His people so they would not perish with the age. People in the new covenant never die covenantally. We are not presently nearing the thousand year judgement to life or to destruction. Hades was created for covenantally dead people to wait for Christ to come at the end of their counting and either save them or destroy them. In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul said the spiritually dead ones in Christ were either presently being raised or were now perishing as they biologically died. The counting was over (maybe a little bit proleptically judged by Paul). Waiting in Hades was no longer an option in Paul’s Jewish mind. At the age of 1000 it was either the resurrection of Christ or already perished.
A soul is a covenanted or a humanized spirit. A spirit without a soul is not at all human. A spirit with the Holy Spirit sent by Christ has His full humanity ensouling them. The Jews had to lose their old covenant soul in order to keep and fulfill their humanity in the new covenant. Those who wanted to keep their old covenant soul started to act more like animal souls than humans. The valley of (Gehenna) dry bones is a picture of death, disunity and soullessness. They were bad to the bone. The bone is where the blood that figuratively contains the soul is made. Their bones were dry to the marrow. Jesus’ Jewish soul however didn’t lack character. Jesus voluntarily laid down His old covenant soul only to take it up again in the new covenant. His fully formed humanity was resurrected. His soul was not left in Hades nor did His body see decay. The symbolism of the (valley of) Gehenna was only used by Jesus and His brother Jacob (AKA James) because they were addressing Jews and Israel.
1 Thessalonians 5:23
CLV 23 Now may the God of peace Himself be hallowing you [y’all] wholly [whole-finished] ; and may your [y’all be] unimpaired [whole-lotted] [:the] spirit and [the] soul and [the] body be kept blameless in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ!
Gehenna is a picture of it’s spirit-realm counterpart which is the real lake of fire that destroys. In the real lake of fire, Hades and those whose names were not written in the book of life were destroyed, in the second and final death of the old covenant people. Jesus addressed old covenant people nearing the final end of the old covenant in Matthew 10. The old covenant had temporarily ended once before, for 70 years, before resuming their count.
Destruction of the old covenant soul and body in AD 70 was not temporary. It didn’t actually happen on earth. Even on earth no-body was able to remain in the old covenant body even if they survived the Roman destruction of the city (everybody has a spirit animating their personal body). The old covenant’s corporate soul and it’s body were destroyed in AD 70. The Holy Spirit that typically incorporated them no longer lives in temples made of stone. All the people in the land were not individually destroyed. Their old covenant soul and body was destroyed. If you go to Jerusalem today the old covenant soul and body are not there. Nobody will ever be in the old covenant again. The human soul of the new covenant body is created by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit Himself. Jesus laid down His O.C. soul so it could live in His new covenant people. The old covenant people had to lose their soul to save it. If they tried to save it they became double souled and lost it. You can’t have both the old and the new covenant.
James 1:6-8 – Jacob warned the 12 tribes about doubting God’s Word during the covenant transition. Double-souled was the forbidden fruit during the transition. They couldn’t keep the old covenant and expect to live. Those who ate of it died in the day. The day was a thousand years to them.
LITV 6 But let him ask in faith [belief], doubting nothing. For the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, being driven by wind and being tossed; 7 for do not let that man [human] suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-souled man [generic man], not dependable in all his ways.
Matthew 10:28
YLT 28 `And be not afraid of those killing the body, and are not able to kill the soul, but fear rather Him who is able both soul and body to destroy in gehenna.
I take it that the body on earth has a more real counterpart in the spirit realm, just as the temple on earth, when it had standing, was an inferior copy of the real one in heaven. Gabriel, the messenger that answered Daniel’s prayer and explained the timing of the 70 weeks, took 21 days to get to him. Gabriel was held up bodily by the spiritual being who was over the territory of Persia, until Michael came to help him.
Romans 8:9
YLT 9 And ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God doth dwell in you; and if any one hath not the Spirit of Christ—this one is not His;
There is only one belief. There are not two Words of God. There is only one belief or faith. Gentiles were being taught the one Word of God by the Jews in diaspora as their pre-evangelism. Those pre-evangelists to the nations became the evangelists to the nations. Jew and Gentile were both being saved by the same Jewish belief. There is only one belief that saves, Jew and Gentile alike, in the same living body of Christ. That was part of the mystery of the gospel prior to the first century Jewish revelation. The Jews did not foresee it from the Law and the Prophets. They learned it after Peter’s sheet vision.
There is only one gospel that saves any-body; Jew or Gentile. John Hagee believes there are two gospels: one for the Jewish body and another for the Gentile bodies. Jesus told Nicodemus that he himself as a Jew must either be born again or perish. There was no third option. Peter stood up and informed his fellow Jews on Pentecost that they were presently being born again. About ten years later Peter had a vision informing him to start letting Gentiles, who were also being born again, into their Jewish only body of Christ about. Peter rhetorically asks, Who are we (Jews) to argue with the Holy Spirit seeing they are being saved just as we?
Acts 2:14-17 – Joel prophesied the Holy Spirit to come on the Jews in their last old covenant days
YLT 14 and Peter having stood up with the eleven, lifted up his voice and declared to them, `Men, Jews! and all those dwelling in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and harken to my sayings, 15 for these are not drunken, as ye take it up, for it is the third hour of the day. 16 `But this is that which hath been spoken through the prophet Joel: 17 And it shall be in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams;
Acts 2:32-36 – The Jews witnessed the gospel
CLV 32 This Jesus God raises, of Whom we all are witnesses.” 33 Being, then, to the right hand of God exalted, besides obtaining the promise of the holy spirit from the Father, He pours out this which you are observing and hearing.” 34 For David did not ascend into the heavens, yet he is saying, ‘Said the Lord to my Lord, “Sit at My right” 35 Till I should be placing Thine enemies for a footstool for Thy feet.”‘” 36 Let all the house of Israel know certainly, then, that God makes Him Lord as well as Christ – this Jesus Whom you crucify!”
The Jews witnessed the death, burial, resurrection and outpouring of the promised Holy Spirit. They came to life and preached the same gospel that first saved them. They took Christ to all the nations. The gospel saved the Jew first and then they were inspired to take it to the nations as well.
John 4:22-23
YLT 22 ye worship what ye have not known; we worship what we have known, because the salvation is of the Jews; 23 but, there cometh an hour, and it now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father also doth seek such to worship him;
Jesus told the Samaritan woman that the (one and only) salvation was from the Jews: that Jewish body was about to receive the Holy Spirit and about to worship God in spirit and in truth. That born again Jewish body would actually be inspired to offer their salvation to even the (dogs) Samaritans. Salvation came from the Jewish body of Christ after He was born again into His new covenant creation. He ascended to the Father and then He sent His people the same Holy Spirit that resurrected Him, in order to rebirth them too. The singular born again Jewish body of Christ went corporate on Pentecost. The same body incorporated Gentiles after Jewish Peter’s sheet vision. Peter took Gentiles into his resurrected body. The resurrected and ascended body of Christ first sent the Holy Spirit to the people who already took God’s name upon themselves. The Jews who received the Holy Spirit did not take God’s name in vain. They did believe God’s Word. They were kept in their belief. The born again Jews did not perish. They were made to live by the breath of God who Jesus sent to their body, that had gathered in Jerusalem.
The dry bones vision represented the hopelessness of the divided and also dispersed body of Israel. They had the Word of God but their human framework needed God’s new covenant breath to rejoin them into the one living and life-giving body of Christ. Jesus put His humanity on their fragmented and dry old covenant bones. He took out their heart of stone that could not give life to their body and gave them His human heart fleshed out. The law could not give life to their body. Only His body truly lived under law. Jesus’ sacrificed of His old covenant body and soul to enable the life-giving Spirit to live in them. He became the life-giving spirit who sent the Holy Spirit. Adam’s spirit granted death to all his progeny. Jesus sent the life-giving Holy Spirit to that dead body in Jerusalem. The corporate body of Christ was united and made to live by the same Holy Spirit that first resurrected eschatos Adam into the new covenant.
The new covenant was promised to the Jews. Jesus was resurrected into His new and life-giving spirit-realm body. He put eschatos Adam to death as the old man. He is no longer the fulfillment son of Adam in Israel’s flesh and blood body. Maybe he is no longer the only one begotten by the Holy Spirit in their reborn body. It depends on how we define begotten. It probably refers to a flesh body, but all God’s children necessarily need to be born again by the Holy Spirit. Jesus transitioned His fulfilled humanity to a new creation where He rules the human body as the firstborn. Jesus doesn’t rule a valley of dry bones. That was the progeny of the first human. The people of God became the progeny of the new firstborn by being born again by the Spirit He sent to them on their national birthday/re-birthday.
1 Corinthians 15:45
ECB 45 And thus it is scribed, The first human Adam became into a living soul; the final Adam [Jesus] into an enlivening spirit.