The hand of the LORD came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry. And He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" So I answered, "O Lord GOD, You know." Again He said to me, "Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, `O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! `Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: "Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. "I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the LORD." So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone. Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them. Also He said to me, "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, `Thus says the Lord GOD: "Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live." So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army. 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.

In our text, Ezekiel was commanded to speak to the dry bones. This was in a vision Ezekiel had where GOD took him in the spirit to a valley full of very dry bones. And GOD said to him, 'Son of man, can these bones live?' He said, 'O LORD GOD, Thou knowest.' So GOD said, 'Prophesy to these bones. Say to them; 'You bones, I will bring you up out of your graves; I will bring you to the land of Israel;' Those bones represented Israel, dispersed in the nations. But, when the bones came together, they were still just dead bodies. Then GOD said to Ezekiel:'Speak to the Spirit; 'Come from the four winds, O Breath, and breathe upon those slain that they live.''And the Holy Spirit came and breathed on them and they stood up on their feet, an exceeding great army! That's what made the difference.

And that's what we need for Israel. Israel needs not only to hear the Word of GOD; Israel needs, also, the mighty power of the Holy Spirit, using that Word; making it a life-giving Word to them. Then we will see Jewish people coming here, when that happens. It won't happen unless the Holy Spirit chooses to use His Word in that way. If and when, we don't know; but we pray for the day when we shall see our people coming here, because the Holy Spirit has woken them up from their sleep; a sleep of two thousand years.

He enables us to use it effectively. The LORD says to His disciples: 'I will give you a mouth and wisdom, that your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist.' He helps us to use it effectively. And, of course, it is called 'The Word of GOD.'

YESHUA spoke many parables to His disciples, and at the end, He asked His disciples 'Have you understood all these things?' 'Yes, LORD.' They understood it because where they had not grasped it, He explained it to them. So now their understanding was clear. 'Have you understood all these things now?' 'Yes, LORD.' 'Therefore,' He said, 'Every scribe instructed in the kingdom of heaven, is like a householder that brought forth out of his treasures, old and new; old things; new things.' At Rosh Ha'Shanah we have old things and new things. We will have apples dipped in honey for a sweet new year. But we also remember the old, as well as the new. And we are meant to keep the two together.

Woe to those people who say we have no more to do with the Old Testament. What a terrible danger they are exposing themselves to. This is part of the Word of GOD! We must keep the whole counsel of GOD; the whole Scripture.

We need, very much, to heed GOD's Word. GOD says, 'Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.' We need to treasure it. Psalm 19; this is too good to pass up. Psalm 19. If you are into memorizing Scripture, I recommend this Psalm to you. I hope every one of us does do a certain amount of memorization. Psalm 19, verses 7 to 11: 'The Law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. More are they to be desired than gold, yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey, and the honeycomb. Moreover by them your servant is warned; and in keeping them there is great reward.'

Now then, what do this people say about this passage, when they would reject the Tanakh? It shows, obviously, that the LORD teaches us the way of salvation; and teaches us how to live a holy life. So we treasure it; and we keep it as well. We not only treasure it; but we keep it. If someone gives you a jewel, maybe a ring or a necklace, you are going to guard that very carefully. Something that's valuable, maybe precious metals, silver, gold, platinum, whatever, you are going to guard it very carefully to make sure you don't lose it. Believe me, what David says in Psalm 19 is true. He says, 'Your Word is better to me than all treasures of gold and silver.' Can we say from the bottom of our hearts if we had the choice to be unbelievably rich, or to have the Word of GOD, either the one or the other; would we be able to say, 'Give me the Word of GOD! However much I struggle, this is a priceless treasure; this is an eternal prize! It is something that is infinite in value.' No mention can be made of coral or pearls or gold or jewels. Now it is ridiculous to talk of those things. If we had the choice, which would we choose?

I trust we would, all here, choose the Word of GOD. It's not often we have to make that difficult choice; but Godly men have done it. Job says, 'I have esteemed the words of His mouth more than my necessary food.' Jeremiah says, 'Your word was to me the joy and the rejoicing of my heart.' And YESHUA says, 'Blessed are they that hear the Word of GOD and keep it.' What a blessing it is! What a treasure!

In the Prophet, Amos, GOD says one day He's going to send a famine on this world. Not of food; not of water; but of hearing the Words of GOD. People would faint for thirst; longing to hear the Words of GOD. We see it in Russia, don't we? That desperate thirst amongst the people in Russia. They mob the people who bring them Scriptures. They grab them. A friend of ours, (many of you know him), Arnold Fruchtenbaum; said in one of his letters he arrived with a van load of Scriptures in Russian. He said in half an hour they emptied the van! They were fighting for copies! Shame on us, here in this Western world. We have three, four, five, six copies of the Word of GOD, and they are collecting dust on our shelves.

The Precious Word Of God