However, there is a part of the prophecy of the dry bones that does not fit the idea of the building of the physical nation of the Jewish people. It has to do with the above verse.

There is no place in the Bible, to my knowledge, where the physical Jews are resurrected and become a vast army. Even if we considered a Jew returning to the land of Israel as being a resurrection, he or she is still not part of an army.

The Jewish people in Israel are not united. The average Jewish person is the same in Israel as in New York or Miami. He goes about his business of making a living for his family.

There are several branches of Judaism, from the Reformed to the ultra-Orthodox. There also are agnostics. There are those who would make peace with the Arabs at any cost and then there are those who will fight to preserve their land. They are not united. They are not a vast army.

At the time of the Lord's return Jerusalem will be occupied by Antichrist and the armies of the wicked nations.

I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city. (Zechariah 14:2—NIV)

At the time mentioned here the Lord Jesus will return with an army to deliver the physical Jews. But the army will not be composed of physical Israel but of the Lord Jesus Christ and His saints, His holy ones.

Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day of battle. On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with him. (Zechariah 14:3-5—NIV)

This is the coming of the Lord described in the Book of First Thessalonians. The Lord will shout for the battle. The archangel Michael will command his angels. The trumpet of God will sound. The very dry bones, which by this time have been reassembled, strengthened with tendons, clothed with flesh, will receive resurrection life, just as described in Ezekiel.

The vast army of saints will rise to meet the Commander in Chief in the air. Then together with Him they will descend to the Mount of Olives, to the place from which Jesus ascended in the first century.

The Mount of Olives will split forming a valley that reaches to Azel, that is, a place near the wall of the Old City.

To be continued.