Compromise and Fulfillment: Man’s Peace vs. God’s Promise

In a world longing for peace, few places represent that longing, and its tragic shortfalls, more than Jerusalem. The city named for peace has rarely known it. It stands instead as a paradox: a center of worship, yet a stage of conflict; a symbol of hope, yet a reflection of division. A symbol not of God’s unifying covenant but of man’s diplomatic exhaustion.

Many point to the modern state of Israel as a fulfillment of Ezekiel 37, but such interpretations rarely account for the spiritual, messianic, and covenantal scope of the chapter. God's promises are never fulfilled in fragments. They are whole, holy, and eternal.

Man’s peace always has compromise. God’s peace is fulfillment.

Reading Ezekiel 37 Faithfully

Ezekiel 37 offers two prophetic visions:

1. The Valley of Dry Bones: God's promise to resurrect spiritually dead Israel, breathing life through His Spirit.
2. The Two Sticks of Judah and Joseph: A picture of a reunited people under one King, one covenant, and one sanctuary.

This prophecy is not about merely gathering people into a land. It's about:
- Spiritual resurrection (“I will put My Spirit in you…” v.14)
- Messianic reign (“David My servant shall be king…” v.24)
- Covenantal obedience (“They shall walk in My statutes…” v.24)
- Everlasting peace and presence (“My sanctuary will be in their midst forevermore…” v.28)

These are not partial political outcomes. They are eschatological, spiritual, and comprehensive.

The Valley of Dry Bones: Word First, Then Breath

Ezekiel’s vision of dry bones isn’t just about Israel in exile—it’s about humanity without God: lifeless, scattered, without hope or form.

Before breath comes, the Word is proclaimed. Ezekiel obeys the Lord’s command to prophesy, and the bones begin to come together—first structure, then substance, then skin. Only after the Word has gone forth does the Spirit breathe life.

This is the pattern God still uses:

The Word goes out. Then the Spirit brings life.

The valley is every soul apart from Christ.
It is every community untouched by the gospel.
It is the silence of the Church when it forgets its mission.

Yet when God commands us to speak—we speak.
And when the gospel is proclaimed in obedience,
God alone breathes life into the dead.

This is not our power, but His.
And when He moves, what was once a grave becomes a gathering.
What seemed dead becomes a living army of faith.

The Names Speak: Joseph and Ephraim as Prophetic Symbols

God never wastes words, or names. In Ezekiel 37:16, the second stick is said to be “for Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and all the house of Israel associated with him.”

This combination is deeply meaningful.

Joseph — “God will add”
(From Heb. יוֹסֵף / Yosef)
Joseph’s biblical narrative is one of faithful suffering, exile, and glorious restoration. He is a type of Christ—despised by his brothers, yet raised to save them. The name speaks of God's increase, His multiplication of mercy, and His sovereign preservation of His people.

Ephraim — “Fruitfulness”
(From Heb. אֶפְרָיִם / Ephrayim)
Named by Joseph in Egypt, “For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction” (Genesis 41:52). It speaks of bearing fruit in exile, thriving in trial, and multiplying by the hand of God.

Together, the names Joseph and Ephraim create a prophetic whisper:
- God will add to His people (Joseph).
- And they will bear fruit in Him (Ephraim).

This finds clear fulfillment in the Church, the universal body of Christ, composed of both believing Jews and Gentiles, grafted together in Him.

As Paul writes, “But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree…” (Romans 11:17).

The Mosque on the Hill: A Symbol of Compromised Peace

The presence of a mosque on the Temple Mount, once the site of God’s dwelling, is a stark symbol of human diplomacy, not divine presence. The current arrangements in Jerusalem reflect:
- Division, not unity.
- Absence, not indwelling.
- Waiting, not fulfillment.

This is not the sanctuary in their midst forevermore (Ezek. 37:28). This is man's peace, marked by compromise, negotiation, and fragility.

The Emotional Pendulum: A Pastoral Caution

When discerning the shortcomings of human attempts at peace, we must resist the temptation to swing the pendulum toward bitterness or cynicism. God calls us to pursue peace and to honor those who strive for it, even when their efforts fall short of divine fulfillment.

“Seek peace and pursue it.” Psalm 34:14
“Blessed are the peacemakers…” Matthew 5:9

This is not a call to antisemitism. God has not rejected His people (Romans 11:1). The longing for restoration among the Jewish people is legitimate and deeply biblical. But we must not shrink God’s promises into geopolitical events, nor should we demonize those who hope for peace. Rather, we proclaim that the only true peace is found in Christ, the King of Israel and Savior of the world.

The Greater Fulfillment: Peace in the New Creation

The language of Ezekiel 37 finds its full echo in Revelation 21:
- One people, one King, one sanctuary.
- No more exile. No more mourning. No more temple.

“for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.” (Rev. 21:22)

Here is the true Jerusalem, not the contested city of stone, but the redeemed city of light, filled with those God has added (Joseph) and made fruitful (Ephraim) through Christ.

Conclusion: Peace with Eyes Wide Open

Let us honor the efforts of peacemakers while remembering that only Christ brings the peace that passes understanding.

Man’s peace always has compromise. God’s peace is fulfillment.

Ezekiel 37 doesn’t merely predict a political rebirth. It proclaims a resurrected people, a fruit-bearing Church, and a King who reigns forever. It speaks to bringing life to all those found in Christ, both from the exiled Jews and the Gentiles. It is not pointing to man's creation of a nation-state here on earth but to God's ultimate fulfillment and peace found in the New Heaven, New Earth, and New Jerusalem.

May we look forward to that day with clarity, humility, and hope and proclaim the One in whom all promises are "Yes" and "Amen."