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“O, Ye Dry Bones, Hear the Word of the Lord!”

90 LONG YEARS OF RESTORATION!

The Ezekiel 37 Prophecy and the 1917 Balfour Declaration

November 2, 2007

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When Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote “The Jewish Graveyard at Newport,” he concluded it with these lines:

“But ah! What once has been shall be no more!

The groaning earth in travail and in pain Brings forth its races, but does not restore, And the dead nations never rise again.”

Longfellow penned these words in 1852, at a time when it seemed impossible that the dead nation of Israel could ever rise again. Little did Longfellow realize that among the lifeless Jews scattered around the world there was to be thrown the eternal spark of life. It was the spark of rebirth kindled by the message of Theodor Herzl in 1896 – the message of “The Jewish State.” For more than 1800 years the chosen people of God, the dead nation of Israel, wandered as forsaken corpses in the great wilderness of the Gentile nations. But the same God, who allowed this punishment of a rejecting nation to occur, has now caused a dead nation to be resurrected from its Gentile graveyard. Longfellow was wrong; God has lifted up a scattered corpse into a living nation – the risen nation of Israel. When the Great Tribulation Period begins on this planet, both unbelieving Jew and Gentile will personally feel the wrath of Almighty God.

The past activity of nations does influence their future conduct.

In this Balfour blog we shall take a look at one of Ezekiel’s prophecies from about 592 B.C., most of which was fulfilled in the last century, but it still has future applications.

In Ezekiel 37:1 we are told: “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, in Ezekiel 37:11, we are advised: “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: we are cut off for our parts.” These two verses describe Ezekiel being carried to the approximate center of a valley filled with disarranged bones of countless men and women. The valley represents the world, and the bones represent “the whole house of Israel.”

In Ezekiel 37:2 he writes: “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.” In this verse Ezekiel is led to make an inspection tour of the bones. He discovers two things as he passes through the valley representing the whole world: (1) the bones are “very many” (whole house of Israel); and (2) they are not just dry, they are “very dry.” This verse, coupled with verse 11, represents a prophecy that the day would come when the nation of Israel would not just be dead, but would be very dead, without hope, cut off from all its parts. Ezekiel made this prophecy in about 592 B.C. It was fulfilled more than 600 years after it was written, during the period A.D. 70 to 135. In A.D. 70 the Roman General Titus led an Army of Romans, Syrians, and Arab Mercenaries against Israel, and the destruction was almost complete. What was left of Israel as a nation was finished totally by the Roman Hadrian and his armies in about A.D. 135. From than time until May 14, 1948, there was no recognized nation of Israel in the great open valley of the world.

For more than eighteen hundred years, the dead nation of Israel existed only as very dry bones scattered across the great Gentile valley known as the world.

In Ezekiel 37:3 the Lord poses a very interesting question to Ezekiel, as he asks: “And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest.” I appreciate Ezekiel’s honesty. It is apparent he does not have the foggiest notion, so he shifts the answer back to the Lord as he states, “O Lord God, thou knowest.” “As I am repeatedly faced with questions of life I cannot answer, I simply say, O Lord, thou knowest.

In Ezekiel 37:4,5 God answers his own question: “[4] Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.

[5] Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:” The answer is Yes! God is going to transform these disarranged, very dry, dead bones in an open valley into a living nation of Israel recognized by most of the world’s nations. He speaks His Word to the bones, and as He speaks they hear and obey. Verse 5 gives a preview as to what the end result will be – a living, breathing nation of Israelites gathered home to the land he gave their father Abraham – the promised land of Israel. But this transformation from dead bones (a dead nation) to a living nation of flesh, blood, and breath was not to be done instantly, but rather in a series of stages as one would perform in building a human body over a skeleton frame.

You will find a line by line exposition of Chapter 37 of Ezekiel in our Archive Prophecy Update Numbers 21 to 26, which covers the building of the body over the frame and its future into the millennial reign of the Messiah of Israel. My second book, “Tribulation Triad,” also contains this exposition, and is shown under “books” on our web site.

The Balfour Declaration is being celebrated in Israel today to mark its 90th Anniversary.

It was the Declaration that set the process in motion where the bones eventually began to come together. The Arutz Sheva article by Hillel Fendel, which follows, discusses the Declaration and the events of the celebration.

Begin Arutz Sheva Article

90 Years Since First Int’l Recognition of Zionism

21 Cheshvan 5768, 02 November 07 09:36

by Hillel Fendel

(IsraelNN.com) Friday, Nov. 2, marks the 90th anniversary of the issuance of Great Britain’s policy paper known as the Balfour Declaration, which set the stage for the establishment of the State of Israel. It was the first expression of international recognition of the Jewish People’s national aspirations.

Fatah terrorists in Gaza said Thursday they mark the occasion by firing hundreds of rockets at Sderot and other Jewish towns in the western Negev. The terrorists said the attacks would be a response to “the evil Balfour declaration,” as well

as to IDF anti-terror operations in Gaza.

The Balfour Declaration was actually a letter British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour to Lord Walter Rothschild, a British Jewish leader, asking him to trasmit a British government resolution to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation. The resolution, as approved by the British Cabinet on Oct. 31, 1917, stated:

“His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.”

The statement was the result of efforts by Zionist leaders, and particularly of London-based Chaim Weizmann, who later became Israel’s first president, and Nahum Sokolow. The Balfour Declaration was later incorporated into the Sevres peace treaty with Turkey, from whom Great Britain had conquered Palestine just months before, and the British Mandate for Palestine.

Youthful Ignorance

In light of a recent poll showing that nearly half of Israel’s youth do not know the contents of the Balfour Declaration, Welfare Minister Yitzchak Herzog plans to propose, at the next Cabinet meeting, that the occasion be marked with an official ceremony in the Knesset. He will also propose that special classes on the topic be offered to Israel’s students.

The World Zionist Federation held a ceremony to mark the occasion on Wednesday in Jerusalem.

The event also marked the 55th anniversary of the death of Weizmann.

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WAITING FOR THE INEVITABLE!

November 2, 2007

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I do apologize for the hundreds of times I have basically stated the same conclusion – A MASSIVE WAR IS ABSOLUTELY INEVITABLE IN THE MIDDLE EAST! Even if I did not believe the Bible was the Word of God, as a retired synoptic analyst I would still draw the same defin ite

conclusion.

It is only a question of WHEN!

Having been associated with the peoples of the Middle East during my years of service with the AWS and NSA, and knowing their unchanging animosity across ethnic and religious lines of unending hatred, I am totally unable to draw any other conclusion.

I am also quite certain the initial attack which sets in motion this war of massive proportions will involve Islam versus Israel. The attack will, in time, draw all the nations of this earth into a final showdown focused from the Israeli seaport of Haifa, southeast down the plain past the Tel of Megiddo, through the Valley of Jezreel, down the Jordan River, then southwest to the newly created valley through the Mount of Olives.

The natural elements of man’s basic self-centered carnal nature, reflected in self-preservation and national interest, are quite naturally pulling all nations into the sweet mammon jar of power underlying the Middle East topography, namely the vast reservoirs of oil imbedded in its rock strata.

I Timothy 6:9,10 – But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare,

and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. [10] For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

Revelation 16:15,16 – Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. [16] And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.

The two articles, which follow the series of prophetic Scriptures, are indicative of the impossible situation existing in the Middle East. There is really not a solution which will result in a lasting world peace, other than the one predicted by biblical prophecies, and that solution will not occur until the Second Advent of the Messiah has been completed.

Joel 3:9-17 – Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: [10] Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. [11] Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord. [12] Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. [13] Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. [14] Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. [15] The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. [16] The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel. [17] So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.

Malachi 4:1-3 – For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. [2] But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.

[3] And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts.

Luke 21:27 – And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

Micah 4:1-7 – But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.

[2] And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. [3] And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

[4] But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it. [5] For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever. [6] In that day, saith the Lord, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted; [7] And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the Lord shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever.

The only question is WHEN will the initial attack against Israel occur

? Once it occurs man will have some three and one-half years before the final battle of Armageddon occurs.

The best man can do is to guess as to the WHEN the attack will occur – my guess is at some point in time between 2010 and the end of 2014, but only God knows the time. However, there is something man can do – he can trust in Christ for eternal salvation, watch, and keep his garments while he waits!

Begin Arutz Sheva Excerpt

Fatah Promises ‘Hundreds of Rockets’ in Further Escalation

21 Cheshvan 5768, 02 November 07 03:06

by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz

(IsraelNN.com) A wing of the Fatah organization, headed by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, stated Thursday that it has begun an escalation in attacks on Israeli towns in the Negev. The terrorist group already claimed it was behind a barrage of rockets from Gaza that struck Sderot and its environs earlier in the day.

Fatah, through its Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades arm, said that the Thursday rocket fire was part of an planned series of hundreds of rocket attacks the group has dubbed “Gaza Autumn.” In their announcement of the operation, Brigades spokesmen called upon the residents of the city of Sderot to leave their homes and warned that Fatah will continue to bombard Israeli communities in the Negev.

The group said the attacks would be a response to “the evil Balfour declaration,” which was issued 90 years ago this Friday. The Balfour declaration approved the creation of a Jewish state in the Land of Israel. Spokesmen for Fatah in Gaza boasted that their organization has carried out dozens of attacks on nearby Jewish towns.

The Brigades’ statement also said the planned attacks are their response to IDF operations in Gaza: “They are planning for us an autumn conference and continuing to talk about a conference here and a conference there. In light of the fact that Israel continues its incursions, its daily acts of murder, its destruction of homes and its shedding of blood among us, we are announcing the military operation ‘Gaza Autumn.'”

Meanwhile, Hamas, the Islamist terrorist organization running the PA in Gaza, called upon all the competing PA armed factions to prepare for an Israeli incursion into Gaza in the near future. Hamas spokesmen suggested that all the factions declare a state of emergency and set up a joint command center in Gaza. The organization went on to promise victory against Israel in any imminent conflict.

IDF Operations Disrupt Gaza Smuggling

Israeli soldiers and General Security Services (GSS) agents uncovered seven weapons smuggling tunnels in 36 hours, an IDF spokesperson said Thursday.

The tunnels were found in the southern city of Dahania during operations to stop rocket and mortar shell attacks from the area.

The mouths of the tunnels, part of the Hamas’ weapons supply mechanism, were located approximately 1.5 meters from the Egyptian border.

Officials say the tunnels were used recently by Hamas operatives to smuggle terrorists to and from Egypt.

The forces also discovered three explosive devices, planted and ready for deployment against IDF soldiers. The tunnels and the explosive devices were disposed of in controlled explosions by IDF sappers.

During the operation in the southern stretch of the Gaza region, IDF forces arrested an Arab resident of the PA who is suspected of terrorist activity. The PA resident was taken in for questioning by security forces.

Begin UK Spectator Excerpt – Jerusalem Center for Public Information – Daily Affairs

The Lethal Illusion

Melanie Phillips

The U.S. persists in its dangerous pretense that it can bring about a resolution of the Israel/Arab dispute at Annapolis by insisting on treating Mahmoud Abbas and Fatah as credible interlocutors for peace. The Bush administration, Europe, and Britain insist on behaving as if Fatah can and will make peace, while ignoring the fact that Abbas has not complied with one single precondition for negotiations laid down in the Roadmap, namely, that he dismantle the infrastructure of terror.

This is not, as they imply, a fight between two parties equally responsible for a terrible conflict. It is a war to exterminate the Jewish state that is being waged by Arabs and Islamists with differing strategies and agendas on the same continuum of annihilation – and with not one single credible interlocutor on their side who genuinely wants to live in peace with Israel.

The Western refusal to acknowledge this inconvenient truth gives this conflict its surreal dimension, in which a country that has been under exterminatory attack for the past six decades is expected to make reparations to its assailants and reward them with a state of their own even while they continue with their war against it; to provide food, power and other supplies to its attackers in Gaza in order that they can continue their murderous assault upon it; and to treat a leader who refuses to stop the war as an apostle of peace simply because no one can think of a better idea. (Spectator-UK)

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Failure to Confront Islamic Hostility out of Gaza is to Beg for More!

November 1, 2007

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The only kind of diplomacy the Arabs understand is “constructive” and “comprehensive.” It must be of the construction site

variety when the foreman deals with a worthless, shifty, lazy worker, such that he picks up a 2 by 4 joint, hits the hard headed mule between the eyes with it, and then asks the worker if he “comprehended” why his head hurt.

The Israelis learned this technique of dealing with the followers of Allah more than 40 years ago.

Unfortunately, a majority of the international community of so-called civilized nations has not accepted this technique, and stays on Israel like a duck on a June bug to utilize the same type of “peace in our times” diplomacy that lead to WW II with Hitler.

Failure of the international community to apply this technique with Iran will lead to the final war of the Age of the Gentiles.

Begin Jerusalem Post Article 1

No Security, No Power – Editorial (Jerusalem Post)

On Thursday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak gave the go-ahead to gradually reduce the provision of Israeli power and other supplies to Gaza.

Yet the government stressed that none of this should be regarded as retaliatory, lest Israel be accused of collective punishment.

Hence official Israel portrays its threat to Gaza’s power supply as “a continuation of Israel’s disengagement” from Gaza.

Gazans frequently fire on the very Ashkelon power plant that provides their electricity. That electricity is used, among other purposes, to power rocket production. No other sovereign state would resign itself to a situation in which it is forced to power the production of hardware and munitions geared to destroy the very facilities in which said power is generated.

Moreover, are Palestinian rockets aimed at Israeli kindergartens not in the category of collective punishment? Do Sderot’s children not deserve protection from indiscriminate assault?

The sort of deterrence contemplated in Jerusalem is the least painful and most nonviolent imaginable.

It would not be necessary, moreover, were it not for the inaction, and in some cases even support, of Gaza’s inhabitants and leaders for the rocket assaults.

Israel withdrew from Gaza more than two years ago. It would have no involvement in Gaza were it not being constantly attacked from there without provocation. Its return fire, and its latest efforts to deter the rocket crews, are the direct consequence of those attacks as Israel strives to fulfill its paramount obligation to protect its citizens.

Those who turn a blind eye to Gaza’s transgressions cannot appoint themselves advocates for its citizenry. There is either serenity everywhere, or nowhere.

Begin DEBKAfile Article 2

DEBKAfile reports: Palestinians fire 12 Qassam missiles Thursday to launch new “Gaza Offensive” and further escalate violence against their Israeli neighbors

November 1, 2007, 11:06 AM (GMT+02:00)

The Israeli air force went into action against the missile sites forthwith.

The Palestinian missiles were directed at Sderot, Shear Hanegev, Nir Am and Gavim, causing heavy damage but no casualties. DEBKAfile’s military sources report that all the Palestinian terrorist groups, including Fatah al Aqsa under Hamas command, are behind Thursday’s barrage and have vowed to follow up with “hundreds of missiles a day.” Their assaults were already redoubled this week against Netiv Ha’asara, the first Israeli border village to be subjected to concentrated mortar shelling.

Officers in the IDF Southern Command maintain that, whereas Israel should be liquidating Palestinian terrorist bases inside the Gaza Strip, it has let the Palestinians grab the initiative and carry their the war across the border to strike at what they call “Israeli settlements.”

Yet the Olmert government is still holding Israeli forces back from taking substantial action to root out Palestinian violence at source and break up their mushrooming war machine. Nothing but pinpoint operations are allowed and only brief IDF incursions no more than 1-1.5 km deep. Palestinian missile and mortar squads use this advantage to pull back as the Israel troops move in and go back to firing stations when they exit.

The word from Jerusalem is that Israel’s large-scale remedial operation in the Gaza Strip, promised by defense m

inister Ehud Barak, has to wait for the umpteenth time for yet another visit by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Saturday, Nov. 3, and the ending of the international peace conference at an unknown date. In the meantime, Israeli civilians in some 40 Western Negev towns and villages must endure the punishment.

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Missiles from Dan to Beersheba when Prophecies come to Pass!

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