Prophesying to the Wind: Our Need For the Moving of the Spirit in the Messianic Community

“Then said He unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord Yahweh, Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” -Ezekiel 37:9

Many Messianic believers are familiar with the passage about Ezekiel’s two sticks in Ezekiel 37. The Lord told Ezekiel to take one stick and write upon it “For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions,” and to take a second stick and write upon it “For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions.” Ezekiel was then told to join these two sticks together, and they would become one in his hand.

When the people asked Ezekiel what these symbolic actions meant, Ezekiel said:

“Thus saith the Lord Yahweh, Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in Mine hand... and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all” (Ezk. 37:19-22).

To understand the two sticks, we have to go way back to the beginning, to Genesis. In Genesis, Jacob prophesied that the tribe of Ephraim, the son of Joseph, was destined to become “a multitude of nations [goyim]” (Gen. 48:19). This happened centuries later, after the ten northern tribes of Israel, collectively called “Ephraim,” separated from Judah and later went into captivity, where they intermarried, assimilated, and eventually lost their tribal identities and became, for all practical intents and purposes, Gentiles - unlike the Jews, who retained their tribal identity as the tribe of Judah.

Shortly before the ten northern tribes went into captivity, Hosea likewise prophesied that they would be scattered among the Gentile nations, where they would lose their identity and their status as Israelites, and become Lo-ammi, “not My people.” (See Hosea chapter 1.)

However, this loss of Israelite identity and status would not be permanent, Hosea said. The ten northern tribes would multiply and become as numerous as the sand of the seas, and eventually some of those descendants of Ephraim would be reclaimed by God and be called sons of the living God. Sometime after that, these reclaimed prodigal sons of God would be reunited with the tribe of Judah, the Jewish people, and Israel would once again be one nation consisting of twelve tribes, and no longer two separate nations.

In recent decades, more and more Gentile Christians have been feeling a strong drawing toward the Torah, the Hebrew language, and the Hebrew roots of their faith. And because Jews have historically focused on these topics and Christians have historically neglected them, many Christians who feel a drawing to these things also feel drawn to the Jewish people who have preserved these things.

Many Messianic/Hebrew Roots believers see in this present phenomenon the beginnings of the fulfillment of Ezekiel’s and Hosea’s prophecies of the two kingdoms becoming one in God’s hand. They see Christians and Jews eventually becoming one corporate body of people instead of two separate communities of faith. This united community is what the New Testament calls “the Israel of God.” (See my article of that title in GOE 24-1.)

This does not mean that every single Gentile Christian who has an interest in Hebrew Roots is a biological descendant of one of the ten northern tribes of Israel. But because both Paul and Peter connect the fulfillment of Hosea’s prophecy to Gentiles coming to faith in Israel’s Messiah (see Romans 9:24-26 & 1 Peter 2:9f), it means that some of the Gentiles coming to faith in Israel’s Messiah are descendants of those Israelites who assimilated and lost their tribal identities centuries ago. Whether that “some” is 1% or 99% is irrelevant. The relevant thing is that according to the prophecies, some of the descendants of the tribes of Israel have to someday be reclaimed and be called sons of God and be reunited with the tribe of Judah as one united people. And according to Paul and Peter, those “some” are among the Gentiles who trust in Yeshua and thereby become sons of God.

“But as many as received Him [Yeshua/Jesus], to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name” (John 1:12). Hosea said the reclaimed descendants of Ephraim would be called sons of God. Who else but Christians are called sons of God?

Even if a believer has absolutely no Israelite ancestry whatsoever, he is still included in Ezekiel’s stick of Ephraim among “his companions.” Those biological Gentiles who leave their pagan ways behind and join themselves to the God of Israel, the people of Israel, and the Torah of Israel, become a part of Israel through their faith in Israel’s Messiah Yeshua. As Ephesians 2:11-22 shows, those who were “in time past Gentiles” are no longer separated from “the commonwealth of Israel,” and “are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens.” If you truly believe in Israel’s Messiah, then God considers you a citizen of the commonwealth of Israel, whether you like it or not, even if you are an anti-Semite.

This teaching about Ezekiel’s two sticks is nothing new. I and many others have taught it in the past. But I want to focus on a very important part of the story that is often overlooked and neglected. That part of the story is in the earlier part of Ezekiel chapter 37.

Before Yahweh told Ezekiel to take two sticks, He gave Ezekiel the vision of the valley of dry bones. Ezekiel saw a valley filled with many dry bones. The Lord asked Ezekiel, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

Ezekiel answered, “O Lord Yahweh, Thou knowest.”

Yahweh told Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones and tell them, “Thus saith the Lord Yahweh 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, and put breath in you, and ye shall know that I am Yahweh.”

Ezekiel prophesied as he was commanded, and there was a noise and a shaking, and the bones came together. Then the bones were covered with sinews and flesh and skin, “but there was no breath in them.”

Then Yahweh told Ezekiel, “Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord Yahweh, Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.”

Ezekiel prophesied as he was commanded, and breath came into them, and they lived. Then they stood upon their feet, “an exceeding great army.”

Then Yahweh told Ezekiel who these resurrected bones were:  “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel.” Not just the Jews from the tribe of Judah, but the whole house of Israel, i.e., all twelve tribes. It was immediately after this vision when the Lord told Ezekiel to take the two sticks. The joining together of the two sticks reinforces the revelation that this vision of the dry bones is about all the tribes, not just about the Jews of the tribe of Judah.

How is Ezekiel’s vision of the dry bones related to what is happening at this time in history among Messianic people?

Well, consider what often happens when the Messianic message is proclaimed. Just as there was “a noise” and “a shaking” when Ezekiel prophesied to the bones, so there is often some noise and some shaking when the Messianic message is proclaimed.

When a Gentile Christian starts doing and teaching the commandments of the Torah and says that Gentile believers are full-fledged citizens of the commonwealth of Israel through their faith in Israel’s Messiah, some people get all shaken up and start making noisy accusations. “That’s replacement theology! That’s legalism!”

Of course it is neither replacement theology nor legalism. It is inclusion theology and it is obedience to our heavenly Father’s commandments. But pointing that out does not stop the noise and the shaking. Sometimes even fists get shaken by the noisy, shaken-up people who oppose the Messianic message.

Because of the opposition, the Messianic believer feels unwelcome and unwanted in mainstream Christian churches, so he seeks fellowship with believers who are like-minded. This is when the bones start coming together, “bone to his bone.” A few lonely Messianic believers find each other and start fellowshipping with one another. As relationships are formed, God begins to bring the sinews and flesh and skin on this body of people, and they are formed into a local congregation.

Right now there are many Messianic groups scattered all over the world. Some are still in the early stages of congregational formation, with just the bones starting to come together. They have very little if any sinews, flesh, and skin to give them substance and stability as a congregation. Other groups are more “fleshed out”; they have stability, structure, order, and firmly-established leadership.

Messianic preachers and teachers are proclaiming and teaching the Messianic message, and the bones are coming together. Local bodies are emerging. This is good. But the part of Ezekiel’s vision that is being neglected is the part that comes after Ezekiel saw the sinews, flesh, and skin cover the bones. The bodies that Ezekiel saw had substance, “but there was no breath in them.”

The Hebrew word translated “breath” here is ruach, “spirit,” the same word that is used for the Spirit of God that moved upon the face of the waters in Genesis.

This is where we currently are in the Messianic Movement. The bones are coming together, and congregations are being formed as the Lord lays sinews, flesh, and skin to give substance and stability to these local bodies of Messianic believers. But there is something lacking. There is no breath, no ruach, no moving of the Holy Spirit in many local bodies.

What can we do about this? We can do what the Lord told Ezekiel to do. We can prophesy to the wind and thereby bring the Holy Spirit into these spiritually dead Messianic bodies so they can stand upon their feet and become part of God’s exceeding great army.

How do we prophesy to the wind? First of all, we need to know that the word “wind,” like the words “breath” and “spirit,” is ruach. So when we prophesy to the wind and plead for the wind to breathe upon these bodies of believers that need to be activated and animated by the Spirit, we are in essence praying for a move of the Holy Spirit that will stir people up and impart new life and zeal to Messianic congregations.

Preachers and teachers have been proclaiming and teaching the Messianic message for years. This still needs to be done, because new people come in and they need to have the message explained to them by people who can clearly articulate the message.

The preachers and teachers have proclaimed and taught the message to the dry bones, but now it is time for the prophets to prophesy to the ruach. It is time for all of us to pray and plead for a move of the Spirit. Sinews, flesh, and skin make a nice covering for a skeleton, but a well-covered skeleton without the ruach is just dead weight. Dead soldiers are of no use in God’s exceeding great army. The Lord needs soldiers who are activated, animated, and driven by the Holy Spirit.

If you have never been filled with the Holy Spirit, receive ye the Holy Spirit. And don’t be afraid to speak in unknown tongues as the Spirit gives you utterance. Speaking in tongues is a Biblical experience. It was what normally happened when people were filled with the Spirit in Acts. So don’t be afraid to speak in tongues when you are filled with the Spirit. As the Apostle Paul said, “I would that ye all spake with tongues” (1 Cor. 14:5). Paul wished that all believers spoke in tongues, so he apparently saw the value of it. It is not the pinnacle of all spiritual experiences, but many people have found it to be a gateway to further revelation and to experiencing other charismatic gifts of the Spirit.

So prophesy to the ruach and be filled with the ruach and let the ruach empower you for service in God’s exceeding great army.

| DB