Ezekiel 37:10 "Meh'ode Gadowl Chayil"

29 December 2012:  Ezekiel 37 is a now fulfilled prophecy about the restoration of modern Israel. In modern times Ezekiel's ancient prophetic vision of a valley filled with dead, dry bones which received new flesh upon them and a spirit that God breathed upon from the four winds of the earth came to fulfillment just two years after the Holocaust in the death camps and ovens of Nazi controlled Europe. The tenth verse of Ezekiel 37 tells us these bones then stood up as "mehode gadowl chayil" - "an exceedingly great army."  This army is "the whole house of Israel," and it is known to us as Tzva Hahagana LeYisra'el, literally The Army of Defense for Israel, the IDF.

We will take a look at the eschatological future of the IDF, what the Word of God does and, surprisingly enough, does not have to say about it. However, no discussion about the future of the IDF can be complete without at least a brief look at its origins, exactly as Ezekiel foretold that this exceedingly great army would suddenly arise in the land of Israel and that valley of dry bones. An executive summary on origin of the IDF and its Psalm 83 adversaries can be found in Eschatology Today's original 5-part series from 2009: The Prophetic Road to Revelation (Part II). 

As we all see from the history of the Psalm 83 military engagements fought thus far, the IDF has emerged victorious at a high cost in each one of them. The concluding battles on the southern, central and northern fronts will be the same, and according to the related Isaiah 17 text, even more so. However, as with most things prophetic, the IDF does not operate in a vacuum, particularly in these few years prior to the 70th Week. The difference has been the spiritual realm activity manifest on Earth by Israel's prince, the archangel Michael. In these days prior to the Lord pouring out His Spirit upon the whole house of Israel the archangel Michael has been busy and he's going to become busier.

It is the final prophetic word of Gabriel  to Daniel found in chapter 12 verses1-3 which tie all of this together and informs us of the archangel Michael's role:

“At that time Michael shall stand up,
The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people;
And there shall be a time of trouble,
Such as never was since there was a nation,
Even to that time.
And at that time your people shall be delivered,
Every one who is found written in the book.

And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake,
Some to everlasting life,
Some to shame and everlasting contempt.

Those who are wise shall shine
Like the brightness of the firmament,
And those who turn many to righteousness
Like the stars forever and ever."

Going 'Back to the Future' with the angel Gabriel

The direct interaction between the prophet Daniel and the angel Gabriel occurs over several chapters. Chapters 10-12 repeat and refine the visions given to Daniel in chapter 7, as well as 8 and 9. Daniel  chapters 8 through 12 in themselves are a more detailed look at the last days. These details Daniel tells us about came from Gabriel beginning in 550 BC (Daniel 8:1) and are a focused prophetic look at the period of human history beginning one-hundred ninety six years into the future, or 334 BC, when the Macedonian-Greek army under Alexander the Great crossed the Hellespont (the Dardanelles Strait) between Greece and the Persian Empire fulfilling the prophecy of the "Ram and the Goat" and concluding with the empire of the fourth beast, the Antichrist and the verses of Daniel 12 quoted above still in our future.

What is amazing in all of this is that there's not so much as a single mention of an Israeli army, the IDF, in the last days events and battles described. Nothing. The closest approach to describing the period of time we are living in right now is found in Daniel 9 where Daniel, fully understanding the word of the Lord through the prophet Jeremiah and the visions given to him thus far by Gabriel, is in the midst of extremely fervent imprecatory prayer and supplications to the Lord in loudly confessing all of the sins of the whole of Israel from the Exodus out of Egypt to the present day. We can know that the concluding period within this prayer is the present day because the Israel that Daniel is referring to is not the one taken captive in Babylon, but rather mirrors the Israel that Aspah prophesied about in Psalm 83.

Daniel 9:16 (emphasis added)

“O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all those around us." 

The very next sentence in Daniel's prayer refers directly to the currently non-existent Temple in Jerusalem, and it is followed with a plea that is also in agreement with that of Asaph in the very first words of Psalm 83. I think it to be more than obvious that the IDF has been raised up as declared in Ezekiel 37:10 to be the Lord's instrument in accomplishing His purposes in answering the Spirit-led prayers of Asaph, Daniel and all of ancient Israel's prophets. These ultimate last day purposes of the Lord commence with the fulfillment Psalm 83 and Ezekiel 28:24-26 and they are purposes which precede the arrival of the 70th Week as foretold by Gabriel.

What is not evident in Scripture is that following the overwhelming victory of Psalm 83 and Ezekiel 28 when Israel is subsequently dwelling in the land safely and securely that anything like the IDF and its nuclear weaponry exists to defend Israel during the 70th Week. It may exist in its present form up until the Antichrist's confirmation of a "covenant among many," but during the 70th Week there is no reference in Scripture that points to the continued existence of the IDF. At that time God is working His will directly and through the activities of the Two Witness and 144,000 Jewish evangelists.