Verses 1, 5, 6, and 10 say, “...in the midst of the valley which was full of bones;...thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: and I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin....So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.”
After their degradation, the children of Israel were not only sinners but also dead people. They were surely dead to the uttermost. What was left was just a pile of white bones. God caused Ezekiel to prophesy twice. When he prophesied the first time, there was a noise and a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to bone. Then sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them from above. When Ezekiel prophesied the second time, breath came into them and they lived; then they stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. This was the prophecy that God would revive His people and make them one.
Ezekiel 40:1-2 says, “The hand of the Lord was upon me....In the visions of God brought he me into the land of Israel, and set me upon a very high mountain, by which was as the frame of a city on the south.”
Ezekiel 40 through 48 are concerned with the rebuilding of the holy city and the holy temple. He saw the holy city and the holy temple in this vision. Here, all the items and their measurements have their spiritual significance.
There are forty-eight chapters in Ezekiel. At the end God obtains a holy temple and a holy city in the Holy Land. The holy temple is for God’s presence, fellowship, and service, whereas the holy city is for God’s ruling, administration, and government. The building of the holy city and the holy temple are the issue of the enjoyment of God by His people in their living in the Holy Land. When God’s people have an abundant and full enjoyment of God, He obtains from them an expression in fullness—God’s house and God’s city. Here God can fellowship with man and rule through man; man can enjoy God, and God can also enjoy man. Man can be filled to the uttermost with God and can express God.
After the degradation of the priesthood, God raised up Samuel as a prophet to bring in the kingship. After the degradation of the kingship, God still used the prophets to care for the people He had judged and sent into captivity by speaking to them constantly, either by rebuking their evil deeds or by promising them that they would return to the Holy Land. Jeremiah, a prophet at the time of the carrying away, who was taken into captivity, rebuked the king and the people for their sins, warned them of the captivity and the loss of the kingdom, and lamented over the stiff-necked and unrepentant people. Daniel and his three friends were among the prophets in the land of captivity. They were God’s overcomers in the captivity. Daniel prayed for God’s holy city and His holy temple until the holy city and temple were recovered. There was also Ezekiel who saw visions in the land of captivity. He spoke of God’s coming to His people in their recovery to revive them and give them a new heart and a new spirit, making them as dry bones revitalized to become His army and eventually to rebuild His holy city and holy temple in their midst.