It is our point of view, therefore, that Ezekiel, Chapter 37 is speaking of the days in which we are living. In our time all Israel, the good olive tree, the tree of God who is Christ, will be brought together as one perfect Body and army of the Lord Jesus. Christ's army will be raised from the dead and brought into the land of Israel. There the Lord Jesus will be crowned King on the Throne of David.

The Spirit of Christ in Ezekiel described today's condition of the tree of God, of the Body of Christ.

The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? and I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest. (Ezekiel 37:1-3)

As we consider the state of the Body of Christ we can understand why the Spirit of Christ would refer to it as a heap of very dry bones.

Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: (Ezekiel 37:5)

Here again we behold the promise, the election of God. God has proclaimed that of His own sovereign will He shall cause the dry bones to live. The bones are the good olive tree because they are the children of God by promise. God has promised they will live.

And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them. (Ezekiel 37:8)

Notice that God has promised to put breath in the bones. But before He does He first will bring them together into one whole and give strength, form, and beauty (sinews, flesh, and skin) to them.

We can notice in the Book of Ephesians the same Divine determination to perfect the Body of Christ.

Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: (Ephesians 4:13)

There will be a Bride without spot, wrinkle, or blemish of any kind whatever. Such a state of perfection of the Christian Church appears to be impossible in the present hour. But God has promised that a perfect and complete Bride will come into being. Therefore we obey God in every detail in the joyful expectancy of beholding one day the glorious Wife of the Lamb, the perfected Body of Christ, the army of Christ, the new Jerusalem.

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. (Ezekiel 37:10)

To be continued.