Auto Transcript
Note: This transcript and summary was autogenerated. It has not yet been proofread or edited by a human.
Summary
Ezekiel 37’s vision of the valley of dry bones demonstrates that God is faithful to His promises and His word is trustworthy. The prophecy, given during Israel’s Babylonian exile, foretold the physical reconstitution of the nation of Israel—something no one imagined possible even 80 years ago—and yet it has been fulfilled. However, while Israel has returned to the land, the nation remains spiritually lifeless, like bodies without breath.
We are reminded that just as God fulfilled the physical promise of Israel’s return, He will fulfill the spiritual promise of Israel’s salvation when Jesus returns. This passage calls us to trust God’s promises for our own lives and to faithfully share the gospel.
Key Lessons:
- God’s faithfulness to Israel proves that His word is true and His promises are reliable—what He says will come to pass, even when it seems impossible from a human perspective.
- Obedient faithfulness, like Ezekiel’s willingness to prophesy to dead bones, is what God requires of us—even when His commands seem foolish by worldly standards.
- Physical restoration without spiritual life is incomplete—Israel’s return to the land without faith in Messiah mirrors the danger of outward religion without the indwelling Spirit.
- Prayer is the secret weapon of evangelism, as demonstrated by a Finnish woman who prayed for 30 years for someone she had never met.
Application: We are called to hold fast to God’s promises during uncertain and troubled times, trusting that the same God who fulfilled prophecy concerning Israel will fulfill every promise He has made to us. We are also called to faithfully pray for and share the gospel with Jewish people and all nations.
Discussion Questions:
- How does seeing fulfilled prophecy in Israel’s modern history strengthen your confidence in God’s other promises for your life?
- Ezekiel obeyed God’s command even when it seemed foolish—what is God asking you to do in faith right now that may not make sense from a human perspective?
- How can the example of the Finnish woman who prayed for 30 years challenge and reshape your prayer life, especially regarding people who don’t yet know Jesus?
Scripture Focus: Ezekiel 37:1-14 (the valley of dry bones vision revealing God’s plan for Israel’s physical and spiritual restoration), Romans 11:25-26 (the promise of all Israel’s future salvation), and Proverbs 3:5-6 (trusting the Lord with all your heart).
Outline
- Introduction
- The Crisis That Shook Us Awake
- God Is in Charge
- The Hand of the Lord Upon Ezekiel
- Can These Bones Live?
- The Bones Come Together
- Bodies Without Breath
- The Spirit Brings Life
- A Personal Testimony: From Dry Bones to Life
- The Power of Prayer: A Letter from Finland
- The Burden for Israel Today
- So What? Trusting God’s Promises
- Closing Prayer
Introduction
It is good to be back here at Calvary.
Thank you so much for your faithfulness and for your ministry and for your prayers and support.
The Crisis That Shook Us Awake
Now, I don’t know about you, but I love to sleep in on Saturdays. Can you relate? Right. Saturdays is the one day we get to sleep in. And I remember that on that particular Saturday I woke up and it looked like it was way too early.
I could see the light, and it wasn’t exactly bright yet. The sun wasn’t shining yet. So I’m like, wow, what time is it? Why am I getting up here? And I did something that is a bad habit of mine. Dina can attest to this, but when I wake up I have a bad habit of looking at my phone.
I know I need to break that. But anyway, I looked at my phone and right away I saw the time. It was 6:45 a.m. Way too early.
But on that particular Saturday, as I was looking at my phone, my phone was basically burning up. Not literally, but there were thousands of messages there. iMessage messages, WhatsApp messages. It was nuts. I was like, what is going on?
So I opened up those messages and I started reading. And that’s right, you guessed it right. It was October 7th, 2023.
“It was October 7th, 2023.”
And as Dina and I have served most of our ministry career in Israel. I was born and raised there. Dina and I served there for over 20 years, both as missionaries with Jews for Jesus, but also pastoring a congregation outside of Tel Aviv for 17 years. So obviously we have family there, friends, staff, and as we woke up that day our hearts were broken. And I know that your hearts were as well.
And unfortunately this war has continued. We’re approaching October 7th, 2025. We’re getting to the two-year mark, and there are still hostages in Gaza. There is still fighting happening in Gaza and in the West Bank. In the past almost two years, we went through wars with Lebanon, Syria, Iran.
What’s going on? How are the people doing in Israel?
A World Without Hope
Well, people are depressed. People are desperate.
People feel like there’s no solution. There’s no hope. Hopelessness.
“People feel like there’s no solution. There’s no hope. Hopelessness.”
Now maybe you feel the same. Maybe looking at the Middle East, you feel that sense of, “Oh man, why can’t they just get along?” Yeah, there’s no hope there. But maybe also as you look into what’s going on in our country here in the United States, maybe you feel the same way. Maybe when you heard of the assassination of Charlie Kirk, maybe you thought, “Wow, what’s going on?” Maybe as you’re looking at the rise in liberalism and maybe as you’re looking in the news in this country, maybe you’re feeling the same way, like this world has gone mad.
Perhaps you feel like there’s just no answers, no solutions.
God Is in Charge
Well, today I want us to see that the Lord God of Israel, the Lord of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is in charge. Today I want us to understand and experience how despite all this craziness that’s happening all over the world, how God is faithful, how God is true and trustworthy. Despite the news broadcasts of today’s crises all over the world, we can trust God for the future.
We can trust the Lord. I want to show that to us by looking at Israel, my country, my people. I want us to look at Israel as an example which I think proves for us how God is indeed trustworthy and how we can rely on him and on his sovereignty.
“The Lord God of Israel, the Lord of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is in charge.”
That’s our plan for today. You excited? You don’t seem excited, but I know you are. You can open back up to our passage that we read earlier, which will be in Ezekiel 37.
Israel in Exile: The Background
And I want us to take a look at this crisis that Israel went through in our chapter. And I want us to see how it applies today to Israel. And even though this is Israel a long time ago in Ezekiel 37, it applies to the situation in Israel today and what we can take from this and how this really does lead us to trust God, knowing that he is faithful.
A little bit of background here in the book of Ezekiel: Israel is not in Israel. The Jewish people are not in the holy land. The Jewish people in this time are in Babylon. The Jewish people were taken captive to Babylon, and Ezekiel was among them.
The people of Israel weren’t given a choice. This wasn’t a choice of them to go to Babylon because Babylon had nicer beaches and hotels. No, this was exile. This was forced. They were forced to leave their homes, their country. They were taken hostages, many times in chains, to Babylon. When that happens in society, people resist. We need to remember that many died, thousands died in resistance to the Babylonian conqueror and to the Babylonian exile.
“The Jewish people were taken captivity to Babylon and Ezekiel was among them.”
So that’s the background. But now in Ezekiel 37, we find Ezekiel at exile in Babylon. I think he’s probably desperate, probably longing to go back to his homeland. Maybe he’s wondering what’s going on. Where is God? What’s happening here?
So we read Ezekiel 37.
The Hand of the Lord Upon Ezekiel
So, let’s take a closer look at the text beginning with verse one. In our text, we find God posing a question for us. A question which I think is a good question for all the ages. And as we see, God will answer that question, giving us confidence both now and for the future. So in verse one, we find that the hand of the Lord comes upon Ezekiel.
Let’s not just gloss over it. The hand of the Lord comes upon Ezekiel.
Now, how does the hand of the creator of the universe feel? Can you imagine that? I don’t know, maybe it’s hard for us. I imagine God’s hand as being heavy and yet comforting.
“I imagine God’s hand as being heavy and yet comforting.”
The Bible says the hand of the Lord came upon Ezekiel and then brought him out in the spirit of the Lord and set him down in the midst of the valley. Wow. What an experience, huh?
What’s happening here in our text? Was Ezekiel actually physically transported and all of a sudden he finds himself in this valley of bones? Was he taken in a vision and he just kind of sees it and he’s there in some sort of a vision? I don’t know. The Bible doesn’t say. And I imagine it as being like this.
Ezekiel is there in his room right by his bed, maybe just the floor, but he’s on his knees and he’s praying to the God of his fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And then boom, he’s actually physically transported into this valley. A valley of bones. Valley filled with bones. Human bones all over. Skulls, spines, ribs, hands, feet. What an image, huh?
Walking Through the Valley of Death
Now, if you look at our text, which I hope you’re following along, we read there that Ezekiel is actually caused to walk through this valley of death.
That’s why I think that he was actually physically transported as I’ve described to you in my imagination, even though the Bible doesn’t specifically say that, but it does say that he’s caused to walk through this valley of death.
Again, what was that like? What do you think that Ezekiel was feeling? I think that he must have felt a burden for all these people whose bones he was stepping on. Maybe as he’s caused to walk, maybe the hand of the Lord is feeling heavier and heavier with every step that he takes.
Maybe as he’s walking, maybe Ezekiel remembers the land that he was forced out of, a land that was now at that moment in history completely devastated.
And that’s Ezekiel’s experience. Devastation is all around him. Death surrounded him.
“Devastation is all around him. Death surrounded him. All he heard was a deathly silence disturbed by the creaking of bones.”
All he heard was a deathly silence disturbed by the creaking of the bones.
The Bones of the Whole House of Israel
And as he’s walking now, later on in our text, we read that the bones are the whole house of Israel.
In my mind and imagination, there’s no doubt for me that Ezekiel understood this. His recent experience of forced exile from the land and all the horrors of death and destruction that accompanied that made this experience of this valley of dry bones, this picture of this devastation, it made it all the more real to Ezekiel.
And for most of the past 2,000 years, these words could be applied equally well to the situation of my Jewish people. We were scattered around the whole world, persecuted and slaughtered by crusaders, by pogroms, by Hitler’s hordes of Nazis.
“For most of the past 2,000 years, these words could be applied equally well to the situation of my Jewish people.”
The bones were very dry.
Can These Bones Live?
Ezekiel is there walking in this valley and then all of a sudden Ezekiel hears a voice. He hears a voice, a question.
Son of man, can these bones live? I don’t know about you, but I love it when God asks a question in the scriptures.
Do you love it? He does that often. Son of man, can these bones live? What an amazing question.
It’s a question for all the ages. Can these bones live?
Ezekiel 37:3: “Son of man, can these bones live? — a question for all the ages.”
So, let’s think about it. You don’t have to be a PhD in biology. You don’t have to be an MD or a doctor. Can bones live? No. The obvious answer is no. The natural answer is no. How can bones live? Bones cannot live. Bones are objects with no life in them.
The great historian, Professor Arnold Toynbee, proposed a hypothesis. He said, and I quote, “Any nation which was forcibly expelled from its native land, forced to abandon its native language would inevitably cease to exist as a unique people.” This is a true story.
One day a student asked the esteemed professor how he explained the existence of the Jewish people. The Jews, Toynbee replied, are like a fossil floating on the sea of humanity. You see, for Professor Toynbee there was no logical explanation.
Can these bones live? Professor Toynbee said no. There is no way from the natural perspective. We would look at it and we would say bones—no, they cannot live.
What’s Ezekiel’s answer? Look at the text. What’s Ezekiel’s answer? Ezekiel says, “God.” Wow. What a great answer.
Prophesy to the Bones: A Foolish Command
God’s response to Ezekiel’s answer, look at the text, is in the form of a command. God says to Ezekiel, “Prophesy to these bones and they shall live.” Wow.
God, what? Are you kidding me? Prophesy to these bones. Tell them they’re going to live.
This is crazy. I mean, what would you think if you’re walking down, I don’t know, downtown New York City or downtown New Brunswick, whatever, and you see a guy who has a bunch of bones in front of him and he goes and he says, “You’re going to live. You’re going to live.” What would you think? You would think that person was crazy, right? You would say, “Hey, this person needs to be in a mental institution, right?”
That’s crazy. Speaking to dead bones.
God commanded Ezekiel to do the most foolish thing that he could do: to speak to bones and to tell them that they will live. You see, brothers and sisters, from the natural, speaking to bones is foolishness. But the command that God gives Ezekiel is a supernatural one. God calls those things that are not as though they were. And so if you’re looking through the lens of your own understanding, all you will see is dry bones. But if you look through the eyes of faith, you will see as God sees. And instead of despair, you will see hope.
“If you look through the eyes of faith, you will see as God sees. Instead of despair, you will see hope.”
Instead of death, you will see life. And instead of defeat, you will see victory.
You see, those who through the ages have said that God had abandoned the people of Israel were wrong because all they saw were dry bones.
But God said, “Speak, speak to the bones.” So what’s Ezekiel’s response?
Ezekiel’s Faithful Obedience
I’ll confess.
I would probably say, “No, there’s no way I’m doing this, God. Are you crazy?” But look what is Ezekiel’s response to the command. It’s an example to us. We read verse seven: “So I prophesied as I was commanded.” Ezekiel didn’t argue. He didn’t say, “God, are you sure? God, there’s no way I’m doing this. God, what are the people around me going to think?” Right?
No. Absolute obedience.
I know I would have felt like a fool talking to bones, but nevertheless, Ezekiel did what the Lord commanded him. He remained faithful.
“Ezekiel didn’t argue. He didn’t complain. Absolute obedience. He remained faithful.”
Brothers and sisters, we don’t talk enough about faithfulness, being faithful to God, obeying God. And when we do that, what happened? Well, look what happens in our text.
The Bones Come Together
What happened is Ezekiel prophesied. We read there was noise and rattling. The bones coming together. Can you imagine this? All the bones coming together.
Flesh coming on the bones. The bones are turned into humans.
You don’t seem impressed, but this is amazing. This is awesome. This is amazing.
Bones came together were made into humans.
“Ezekiel prophesied. There was noise and rattling. The bones coming together. Flesh coming on the bones.”
The Modern-Day Miracle of Israel
Now the astounding imagery of Ezekiel’s vision is a precursor to the astounding manner of the modern-day miracle that is Israel.
If we can go back in time 200 years ago, a hundred years ago, even 90 years ago, 80 years ago, no one would have ever imagined the possibility of Jewish people having their own country in the state of Israel.
No way. There was no way.
When people, theologians, Bible scholars 80 years ago, 100 years ago, many of them would look at this prophecy, they would say things like, “Well, no, no, no, that’s not literally the Jewish people here. This is just a spiritual thing or it’s just a spirit.” They didn’t know what to do with these verses that we’re studying this morning. No one would have imagined that the prophecies concerning the future of Israel could ever be literally fulfilled. So they would come up with all these spiritual explanations.
There was no way that this could happen during the 1940s, right?
Well, here I am standing before you as a visible representation of the fact that God has not abandoned his people. The bones have indeed come together.
“Here I am standing before you as a visible representation that God has not abandoned his people.”
Beginning back in the 1800s and leading climactically up to 1948 and 1967, Israel as a nation is back in the land with Jerusalem as its capital.
Brothers and sisters, the bones have come together.
Amen.
Bodies Without Breath
Well, that’s it, right? Can we go home now? No. No, we still have about 40 minutes and guess what? Our passage isn’t even over yet, right? Hey, there is a problem though. There is a problem.
Look at the text. We’re just following the text. What does the Bible say?
Well, sure, the bones have come together, but the bones don’t have a breath in them.
Now, I know that Halloween is coming up, right? I’ve already seen houses decorated and I’m not from here, I’m not really into Halloween, but let me just say something to you, okay? If anybody ever comes to you and asks, “Hey, are there zombies in the Bible?” The answer is yes.
Ezekiel 37.
This is the situation. This is what Ezekiel is looking over right now. Ezekiel looks over a vast gathering of lifeless bodies. Zombies. There is no breath. There is no spirit.
“Ezekiel looks over a vast gathering of lifeless bodies. There is no breath. There is no spirit. There is no life.”
There is no life.
Israel Today: Reconstituted but Not Revived
Zombies. And it breaks my heart to tell you that this is indeed the modern-day dilemma. Many have wondered how my people, the Jewish people, could be back in the land, in the land of the Bible, in the Holy Land, yet in unbelief.
Ezekiel explains that mystery for us right here in our text. There has been a reconstitution but no revival. Bodies standing but for the most part Jewish people and the people of Israel spiritually are dead.
“There has been a reconstitution but no revival. Bodies standing but spiritually dead.”
That’s exactly what we see. We see the same in Israel today where we have people who are seeking, searching, and when confronted with the issue of Jesus, and they’re interested, they’re open. Maybe as I’ve shared at Sunday school, we’re seeing a greater opening today.
But make no mistakes about it. Until they accept him, until they put their trust in the Messiah of Israel, in Jesus, in Yeshua, his name in Hebrew, they don’t have the breath in them. They don’t have the spirit of God in them.
So many of my people today are either agnostic or atheist. They’re turned off to religion altogether because they’ve seen the hypocrisy of the ultra-religious, the ultra-orthodox, and they want no part of it. Those same orthodox Jews, which make about 7% of Jewish people in the world today, those same ultra-orthodox Jews, they try to follow the letter of the law, but they don’t have the spirit.
The secular majority see the letter, they sense the deadness, and they walk away. Some walk away into Eastern religions or new age philosophies while others embrace materialism and new age philosophies.
But there is no life. There’s no life.
The Spirit Brings Life
But there is hope. There is hope. The dry bones won’t stay dry forever. And that’s what we see in the following verses in the following sections of our text. Look with me at verses nine and following. We see the same pattern again. We see God giving Ezekiel a foolish command. This time Ezekiel is told to command the breath. The breath. What is the breath? Well, we see in Genesis 2:7. In Genesis 2:7, we see that God is breathing the breath of life into Adam.
But here in our text, there is more to the imagery than a reference to creation. If you look at Ezekiel 36, the chapter before verses 26 and 27 and then in our own text at verse 14, Ezekiel 37:14, you will see that the breath here is the spirit of God.
And again we see that if we look through our own eyes through our own natural lenses it may seem foolishness to prophesy to air, to the breath, to the spirit, to air, but again we see that the command that God is giving Ezekiel here is a supernatural command. And what’s Ezekiel’s response? Will the prophet remain faithful?
Will the prophet remain obedient? Yes, he will. Yes, he will. Ezekiel obeys God’s command. He doesn’t argue. He doesn’t complain. Just obedience.
And what happens again? Supernatural, miraculous. The bones come alive.
“Supernatural, miraculous. The bones come alive.”
What an amazing transformation.
We started our text with the valley of dry bones. And now after he commands to the spirit, the Bible says that Ezekiel is standing in front of a great mighty army.
What a transformation, right? That’s what happens. That is the result of the spirit of God working. And I’m here to tell you that the spirit of God is at work today. God’s spirit is at work today.
“The spirit of God is at work today. God’s spirit is at work today.”
A Personal Testimony: From Dry Bones to Life
I’m an example of that. I was born and raised in Israel in a typical Israeli Jewish home. Secular as they come. Both my parents are atheists. They always said to my brother and me that men created God, not vice versa, but as a small child, I didn’t believe my parents. I always believed that God was real.
Deep down inside, I knew that as we would celebrate the different holidays—for example, in Israel we celebrate the Jewish holidays. When we would celebrate them and talk about God and how he delivered our people again and again through different difficulties and challenges, I believed that God really did that for us. During Passover, I really believed that God brought us out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm as we read about with all those great miracles.
I never really bought into my parents’ atheism, but I didn’t know what to do with my faith in God.
When I was 14, my dad’s job moved us from Israel to New York. I graduated from high school at SAS on Long Island in New York, and then I started attending Stony Brook University, also on Long Island. In university I was studying math. I have a bachelor of science in mathematics. While going to school, I got a job tutoring students who needed extra help in math. One day I was helping a girl with her math homework. As I’m helping her, she recognized my accent in English and asked me if I was Russian.
I said to her, “No, I’m not Russian. I’m Israeli.”
She says, “Oh, wow. That’s great. I’m also Jewish.” We had something in common, and we continued the conversation. At some point she told me that she believes in Yeshua.
Being fluent in Hebrew, I right away recognized the word Yeshua. The word Yeshua is the Hebrew word for salvation. But today in Israel, this word Yeshua is never used as a name. No one is called Yeshua in Israel today. But she used it as a name. She says, “I believe in Yeshua.” I said to her, “What? Who is that?” She said to me that it’s Jesus.
I was surprised for two reasons. Number one, I was surprised to meet somebody who was Jewish and believed in Jesus. I’d never met such a person before. Second, I was surprised to find out that Jesus had a Hebrew name that meant salvation. I never knew that before. Naturally, I was curious and wanted to know more.
A few days later, we met for lunch. During that lunch she shared with me prophecies about the Messiah from the Old Testament starting in Genesis, and then she showed me in the New Testament how Jesus, how Yeshua, fulfilled each and every one of those prophecies. For me, it made perfect sense.
I said to her, “Well, what are my parents going to think about this?” She didn’t lie and said, “Hey, listen. Your parents are probably not going to be so excited about this as you are.” She saw that it made perfect sense to me and that I believed. I wanted to tell my parents first. It took me a few days, and praise God, their first reaction to my faith was one of confusion. They didn’t really understand. They didn’t really know what to do with it and said, “Oh, this is just a phase. You’ll grow out of it.” They didn’t really take it very seriously, which was wonderful for me.
I went back and said to her, “I believe. I believe.” She said, “Well, you need to pray. You need to commit your life.” Which I did. That was about a week after our lunch together. Praise God, I came to faith in the Messiah of Israel, the Messiah Jesus.
Let me move us forward a little bit. Two years later we got married. That’s Dena, the one who shared with me. Early on, I was discipled by Dena’s mom and I was growing in my faith. Around my baptism, that’s when my parents finally figured out what was going on, and they had a very negative reaction from that moment forward.
They tried to do everything they could to stop me from believing. They sent me to see an anti-missionary rabbi. They thought I was crazy. They sent me to see a psychiatrist and a psychologist. They were sure that I was brainwashed and part of a cult. They did a whole family intervention and brought in a cult expert to talk to everybody.
It was very difficult, challenging days. Finally, I had to leave home, and that was extremely difficult. My dad got violent. It was just very difficult times. When Dena and I got married, they didn’t come to the wedding. Through it all, we’ve seen God’s faithfulness. Dena and I got married in August 1999. Then in January 2000, after joining Jews for Jesus in January and completing the missionary training of Jews for Jesus in New York City in August 2000, we moved to Israel to serve there as missionaries. All three of our children were born there.
Through the years, we have seen God’s faithfulness. When the grandkids came, my parents came around, and we have a relationship with them today, which we praise him for. They don’t know the Lord yet. They’re still non-believers. Please remember to pray for my parents, my brother, my sister-in-law, and nieces. I’m the only believer in my family.
That really caused us to wonder. As somebody who’s been engaged in Jewish evangelism now for over 25 years, I’ve seen Jewish people and Israelis come to faith. But I have never had the experience that Dena had with me.
I never had somebody, a Jewish person, let alone an Israeli, that I would share the gospel with and right away they would believe like I did. I never really had that experience. Maybe you’re thinking to yourself, well, of course you didn’t.
You’re not as good-looking as Dena is. I understand that. Absolutely. But seriously speaking, mostly that hardly ever happens. In Jewish evangelism, sharing the gospel with Israelis for over 25 years, I’ve never seen such a thing. Dena and I many times have wondered why. What is it? Why was I so open to the gospel?
The Power of Prayer: A Letter from Finland
Well, serving in Israel, we’ve done many outreaches, public facing proclamation, evangelism campaigns all across the country. In one of those, we partnered with a ministry from Finland that supported us, helped us, and prayed for us for this particular outreach. This was in 2008 and 2009.
In 2009, they reported about what God was doing in Israel in their newsletter in Finnish, letting everybody know, “Hey, we’ve partnered with Jews for Jesus in Israel and look what’s happening.” Then in April of 2009, I received an email from this ministry in Finland where they said to me, “Hey Dan, as we wrote about you in our newsletter, we got a letter that’s specifically for you. We want you to know what it says. So here you go. Here’s the letter.” And I keep it in my Bible here.
Does anybody here read Finnish? Anybody read Finnish? No. Okay. Well, don’t worry about it. They gave me a translation of this letter. This is a true story, and this letter came to them from a sister in the Lord in Finland.
And here’s what she says: “In 1975, I gave my life to Jesus. And very soon after that, the Holy Spirit told me, ‘Pray for Sarah.’ I tried to find out what Sarah means. I understood that it has something to do with Israel or with Hebrew. However, I was told that it’s not a Hebrew word. Every now and then, the Holy Spirit reminded me, ‘Pray for Sarah.’ I prayed for Israel that people would find Jesus as their Messiah. I prayed for people who preached the gospel there, for towns, for Jerusalem, and for Sarah, even though I didn’t know if it was a person or a town or a village.
Well, a few days ago, I returned home from a trip and I was tired and frustrated. The next day, I opened up your newsletter. What a joy it was to find the name Sarah, Dan Sared. And he spreads the gospel in Israel. I’ve prayed for him for over 30 years. I’ve said many times to the Father that when I get to heaven, I will first of all ask, ‘What was Sarah?’ I continue praying but no longer wonder why I have to bless Israel when the Spirit tells me to pray for Sarah.”
Amen.
Why was I so open to the gospel? Because of prayer.
“Why was I so open to the gospel? Because of prayer. Prayer is the secret weapon of evangelism.”
The Burden for Israel Today
Apostle Paul said, “Brethren, my heart’s desire in prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved.” Brothers and sisters, that’s my burden as well to see my people alive in an exceedingly great army for the Lord.
Who are the dry bones? The dry bones are the whole house of Israel. There are over 7 million Jewish people who are alive in Israel today. And there is an estimation of maybe about 15,000, maybe even less of them who believe in Jesus. Over 7 million Jews, 7 and a half million Jews, less than 15,000 Jewish people who believe in Jesus.
Israel today is back in the land. The nation has been reconstituted, but there is no life. You can walk through the land, especially today, looking at people’s eyes, especially past October 7th, and you’ll see a look of desperation, a look of no hope. Will we ever have peace? There’s no way. There is no hope.
Today in Israel, the same cry that echoed in Ezekiel’s day is the cry and words of the majority. Our hope is lost. People are desperate. There’s the attitude of we tried everything and all has failed. We will never have peace, they say.
But brothers and sisters, in Jesus, we know that the only hope for peace was born in the Middle East about 2,000 years ago.
“The only hope for peace was born in the Middle East about 2,000 years ago.”
In the person of Jesus, people can find the hope and the life and the joy that is so sadly missing. That’s the burden of my heart. That’s the burden of Jews for Jesus. That’s why our ministry, Jews for Jesus, and I are pressing and pushing and straining to get out the gospel today to our Jewish people. The gospel, the church, that’s the hope for the world.
It’s my privilege to be here today and share that burden as well so that we can continue to bear it together. Jews for Jesus. We relentlessly pursue God’s plan for the salvation of the Jewish people.
I shared with you at Sunday school that God’s plan of salvation for Jewish people is exactly the same plan of salvation that he has for all people in Jews for Jesus. We’re all over the world. As I showed you in Sunday school, there are Jewish people all over the world and we have branches in many and missionaries in many of those major Jewish cities.
But our largest work today remains in Israel. We continue to bring the gospel to our people in Israel today. And God is doing something amazing in Israel today. Even though the war continues, even though we are about to reach the two-year anniversary, the two-year commemoration of October 7th.
What God Is Doing in Israel
Well, let me show you what God is doing in the land of Israel today. Let’s watch this brief video.
In many parts of the world, churches are everywhere. Here in Israel, where the church first began, the story is very different. It was here that Jesus said, “I will make you fishers of men.” Yet from where I’m standing right now, there are hardly any Hebrew speaking congregations for miles. In a country of over 9 million people, churches are few and far between.
Now, my name is Aaron. I’m Israeli, a believer in Jesus, and the CEO of Jews for Jesus. Since the outbreak of the war in Israel, we’ve seen spiritual hunger like never before. Hundreds of Israelis are reaching out to us saying things like, “I always thought Jesus wasn’t for us Jews, and now I want to find out more about him.” Many are coming to faith, but there are very few churches where they can be discipled. We need help.
Jews for Jesus, alongside local ministry partners, is about to launch the very first church planning network here in Israel. Our goal is to train and equip a new generation of pastors and leaders and to create more spaces for Israelis to encounter the Messiah, to grow in their faith, and to experience it all in their native language. Imagine seeing this land where Jesus walked and taught completely saturated by his message of hope.
Partner with us as we spark a movement that transforms this land, planting churches, training leaders, and ensuring that every Israeli has a chance to know their Messiah. Together, we can rebuild the church where it began, equipping Jewish disciples to carry the gospel of hope, peace, and reconciliation to their own people.
“Imagine seeing this land where Jesus walked completely saturated by his message of hope.”
There are so many fish, but we desperately need more fishermen. Will you join us?
How You Can Partner
Well, there are several ways you can get involved and partner with our ministry today. In the back we have a resource table where we’ve got different things, different free material like this pamphlet, “Building Gospel Communities in Israel.”
Pick one up before you leave this morning. That way you can read and learn more about our church planting network in the land of Israel. Check it out. You can also partner with our ministry through your prayers. I don’t know how many of you receive our prayer updates and our newsletter, but I would love to sign you up. You can do it through the QR code or you can do it using this card that you received when you came in. I also have extras on our resource table. If you take one of these cards, please remove our picture from the top and keep this picture in your Bible.
Please remember to pray for us and to pray for Jews for Jesus. The larger portion of this card is not for you to keep. If you would fill out your name, address, and email address and drop it in the box in the back—the one that’s marked for the guest missionary or guest speaker—that would be wonderful.
If you drop it in the box, give it to me, or give it to Dina at our resource table, I would love to enlist you as a prayer warrior for our ministry, Jews for Jesus. You’ll be able to receive our prayer updates. Please do that either through the QR code or through this card. Maybe God is calling you to pray for somebody just like that lady in Finland prayed for me for so many years, and she still continues to pray for Sarah. Please become a prayer partner of our ministry, Jews for Jesus.
“Maybe God is calling you to pray for somebody just like that lady in Finland prayed for me for so many years.”
Finally, see us at the resource table in the back. I’ve got some free literature and some free pamphlets, but I also have some not-so-free items like different books. This is our newest book titled “Does the Jewish Bible Point to Jesus?”
Well, spoiler alert, it does. Through this book you can find out more about how prophecies have been fulfilled in Jesus. This book is not only good for you to read, but also afterwards to let an unbelieving friend borrow so that they could read it and hopefully come to faith in the Messiah of Israel.
It’s truly our privilege to be Calvary’s missionaries to the Jewish people. Thank you so much for your partnership with us and for your support as well. This is obviously Dina and I with our three children, Yael, Yav, and Eton. We’re so grateful for all of you. Thank you so much.
Now we just have one more question to ask and then we’re done. That question is on the screen. The question is, “So what?” Let me explain this question to you. I don’t know about you, but I believe that this is the living word of God. Amen.
So What? Trusting God’s Promises
Right? The Bible is alive. And what that means is that any time after we read a portion of scripture like we did today, we should ask ourselves, what? What difference does this make to my life today? How does that change my life living here in the 21st century here in New Jersey? I mean, great. I’m glad about the dry bones, Ezekiel, Babylon, exile, but who cares? What difference does it make to my life today?
Well, what I want you to take with you home from here, the lesson that I hope that you could see from Ezekiel 37 prophecy is that I think it serves for us as a proof that God and his word is true and that we can trust it. God is faithful and he is gracious. And when we read something in his word, that is truth. We know God is a promise keeper.
“Ezekiel 37 serves as proof that God and his word is true and that we can trust it.”
He will keep his promises. We can trust the Lord. Say, “What? How do you get that from Ezekiel 37?” Well, let me explain. Remember what I said before that if you could go back in time 80 years ago, no one would have ever imagined that the prophecies in the Bible with regards to the Jewish people could ever be fulfilled, literally fulfilled.
All Israel Will Be Saved
And yet today we saw that Ezekiel 37 doesn’t only predict Israel’s return back to the land but even states that Israel and the Jewish people are in unbelief. The Bible isn’t only a historically accurate book but it’s also a supernatural book. What we see in Ezekiel 37 is proof for us that the Bible is true, that God’s word is true, and that therefore we can trust it and we can trust God. Ezekiel 37 is proof to us that God is faithful to fulfill his promises to you and to me. All of this means that we can trust what God says concerning the Jewish people in Romans 11:25-26.
This is what will happen when Jesus comes back. When Jesus returns, we read, “Lest you be wise in your own sight, I don’t want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers, a partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way, all Israel will be saved. As it is written, the deliverer will come from Zion. He will banish ungodliness from Jacob. And this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”
When Jesus returns, at that moment in history, all the Jewish people that are alive at that moment in history will come to faith in the Messiah of Israel, the Messiah Jesus. They will all see him. They will all look upon him.
Romans 11:25-26: “A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way, all Israel will be saved.”
Before we had those cell phones in our hands, maybe we were wondering how could a Jew in South Africa see Jesus’s return in Jerusalem. Well, that mystery was solved for us today, right? We all know that that’s completely doable now, right?
Live streaming, this is what will happen. But until that day, until God takes us in the rapture, until that time, church, we have a responsibility to share the gospel, to make disciples of all nations, including the Jewish nation, the Jewish people. God is in the work of saving Israel, banishing ungodliness, and taking away their sins.
Can we not see this truth today? One day when the Lord returns, when Jesus comes back to Jerusalem, all of Israel will be saved. God’s word said it, and we got to believe it and witness to it. This is God’s promise to Israel.
But what are God’s promises to you and me? We’re going through tough times and God has made us some promises, hasn’t he? In closing, let me give you some of these promises that you can take to the bank, that are going to come true for you and me, that are true for you and me right now, even though we’re going through challenging times. You ready for this?
God’s Promises for You
Hey, God is Emmanuel. God is with us.
God empowers us with his spirit. He promised to give us wisdom to supply all of our needs in Christ Jesus. He will never forsake us or leave us. God’s will work all things together for the good of those who love him. I can go on and on, but let me give you one more. Maybe I should have said that one first. And that is that God loves you.
He loves you.
So, church, what are we fretting about? What are we worried about? Hold on to God’s promises and know that he is with you. God is faithful. No matter what happens, we can trust the Lord. He is faithful. His promises that we have in the Bible will come true. God’s word is true. No matter what happens in our lives or in the world, we can trust the Lord because we know that his word is true. Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.” Let’s pray.
Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.”
Closing Prayer
Heavenly Father, Lord God, we thank you so much for the truth of your word, God.
We thank you that you are a promise-keeping God, Lord God. And even when we are not faithful, you are faithful, God. God, we thank you so much for your grace and for your mercy. God, thank you so much for pouring on us your spirit of grace and supplications, God.
And Father, we just pray that you would help us to trust you in all that we do, God. And as we go through this world, Lord, and so many things seem to be going wrong, God, may we turn to your word. And may you give us the faith and the grace and the boldness and the love, Lord, to believe your word, your promises, and to take those and to share them with all those who are around us and who don’t know you, God.
Father, I pray your blessings on Calvary here, my brothers and sisters.
Father God, thank you so much for Pastor Bobby and for his faithfulness and for many years of ministry. May those continue. May he continue to bring your word and your gospel to us and to many others. Lord God and Father, thank you so much for Pastor Dave and for his answer to your call on his life. Saying, “Here am I, Lord. Use me, Lord.” We pray that you use him and elders and this church, Lord God, for your glory.
We love you. We praise you. In Jesus’ name we pray. God’s people said amen.
Amen. Amen.
