Prophetic Ministries Today

Then He said to me, "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, 'Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!' Therefore prophesy and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves. I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken it and performed it," says the LORD.'" Ezekiel 37:11-14

There is a lot of different directions people have gone with this word. Some point out to Israel being taken back in 1947, some say in 1967. In the rebuilding of the land, many say this is what God is talking about. However, there is a problem with this. We haven’t seen many people coming out of the graves in Israel! Well, they say this is just an analogy of people coming to the Lord and being reborn. That is a possibility but then we would be looking at prophecy that was spoken long time ago and it didn’t come to past until 1947 or 1967? You know, when people receive their prophecy they want to know when it will come to past. They want to receive prophecy that will happen within their life time. What good will it do if I prophesied about things that will happen hundreds of years from today? People are not interested in what will happen 400 years from now. They want to know what will happen to them now. When Jesus Christ walked on the face of the earth, many, many prophecies made for hundreds of years began to unfold. In fact, a lot of the scriptures in the New Testaments are fulfillment of prophecies made in the Old Testaments.

The book of Matthew reveals when this prophetic word from Ezekiel came to past. Each book of the gospel, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, were written to different groups of people. The book of Matthew was written to the people of Israel, the Jewish people. It was written to them in terms they understood. In Matthew Chapter 27, Jesus already had gone through the sentencing process and had been turned over to the Roman soldiers to be crucified. He had been hanging on the cross and had come to the point where he is about to give up his spirit.

Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. Matthew 27:51-53

What a day that was! Many came out of the graves but how many? It was the promise of God to all those who believed that Jesus Christ was coming, that their day of salvation was coming. They believed that there was coming a day of the final sacrifice, the Lamb of God. When that day came, everyone who believed before his resurrection would be raised from the dead. Wow! How many people was that? Was King David in the group? Ezekiel? Isaiah? Who came out of the graves? What happen to the people who saw these people walk out of the graves bearing witness? They witnessed dry bones taking on flesh and breath! And they went into the city bearing witness. After witnessing this, how could you not believe Jesus Christ was the living Son of God? After witnessing the many who came out of the graves, you would have to be so blinded and hard headed that nothing could convince you that Jesus Christ was the son of the living God. Even for us today who did not witness this event, the promise of salvation is a great hope! Some people claim that this verse refers to an analogy, a spiritual awakening and that many became born again. I don’t believe that explanation. Why would God speak about putting breath to dry bones unless He is speaking about physical things rather than spiritual things? What happened to all those people who came out of the graves after the resurrection? You can only die once. Where are they? These people already died once, came out of the graves and was resurrected. How many times can you die and be resurrected? The scriptures say only once! So, what happened to these people? Are they still with us or when Jesus was ascended, did they go with him? Is it possible that they were rapture? Consider the possibilities.