The Monarch Butterfly—An Illustration of Transformation—Part 3—The Human Body

 

Introduction and Review

Part 1 of this series introduced the origins of this study and explained how the number four relates to transformation. The Monarch butterfly was shown to be an exquisite example.

The second part of the series took a closer look at how this concept translates in the created world.

This third part of the series will examine how human development is in concert with all of God's creation and categorized by the number four.

"God created me and you to live with a single, all-embracing, all-transforming passion, namely, a passion to glorify God by enjoying and displaying His Supreme excellence in all spheres of life."
— John Piper "Don't Waste Your Life"

The Human Body—The Crown of God's Creation

The human body has four main building blocks. 

1. hydrogen
2. carbon
3. nitrogen
4. and oxygen

There are also four primary systems of the human body.

1. circulatory
2. digestive
3. nervous
4. and respiratory

The fourth day of the Formation of a human being inside the womb, which takes 40 weeks or 280 days (4 x 70), is known as "Momentous change," as noted in the book "From Conception to Birth" by Alexander Tsiaras and Barry Werth.

Cell Divison

Cell Division

The process of cell division and multiplication, as it occurs in human reproduction, is known as mitosis, which involves four processes.

1. prophase
2. metaphase
3. anaphase
4. and telophase 

I couldn't help but think of the loaves and fish when Jesus gave thanks. He divided the bread, and it multiplied. Bread, the symbol and staff of life, illustrates our necessity for God's Word, which can give us life and reproduce when we receive it through faith. 

... receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
— James 1:21

Let it be to me according to your word.
— Luke 1:38 

 

Let us break open His Word with thanksgiving and allow His truth to be developed in us.

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good ...
— Psalm 34:8 

 

There are four elements of taste.

1. sweet
2. sour
3. bitter
4. and salty

By 16 (4x4) weeks of gestation, a baby is, on average, four inches long and weighs about four ounces. This period is noted for a significant growth spurt.

Family development
Family from Noatak, Alaska
Edwart S.Curtis

Father, Mother, Child Equals 44

Hebrew Gematria is a method of assigning numerical values to words. Letters served as numbers in this ancient language, much as Roman numerals did at the time. The difference between the two is that biblical numerics serve as codes for specific themes in the Bible. Roman numerals do not have any thematic associations.

In the case of the Hebrew words for father, mother, and child, the following will demonstrate how 44 is stamped on the development of the human family.

A quick note that Hebrew words are read from right to left.

The Hebrew word for father is av (אבָ). The first letter aleph (אָ) is 1. The second letter bet (ב) is 2. Adding the two letters together equals 3.

The Hebrew word for mother is em (אםֵ). The first letter aleph (אָ) is 1. The second letter mem (ם) is 40. The sum of these two letters is 41. 

If we add father and mother together (3 + 41), we get 44.

The Hebrew word for child is yeled (לדֶיֶ). The first letter yod (יֶ) is 10. The second letter lamed (לֶ)is 30, and the final letter dalet (ד) is 4. 

When added together, the Hebrew word for "child" equals 44.

 

Flesh 

There are four types of body tissue.

1. Epithelial
2. Connective tissue
3. Nerve tissue
4. Muscle tissue  

Flesh in the Bible always indicates our limited physical existence, and there are four types of flesh mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15:39.

All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds.

 

There are four quadrants of internal organs.

1. right upper quadrant
2. right lower quadrant
3. left upper quadrant
4. and the left lower quadrant

Muscles have four distinct properties

1. exitability-the ability to respond to stimulation
2. contractibility-the ability to shorten actively and exert a pull
3. extensibility-ability to contract (range of lengths)
4. elasticity-the ability to rebound to the original length (like a rubber band) 

Dr. Smith 1968

Blood

Four blood types exist. (A, B, O, AB).

The four components of blood are:

1. Red blood cells carry oxygen and carbon dioxide to and from the lungs and tissues.
2. White blood cells kill bacteria and other organisms
3. Platelets are important in clotting
4. Plasma is the liquid component of blood and carries nutrients and minerals

The Hebrew word for blood is "dam," and it consists of the letters dalet (4) and mem (40). The gematria value is 44. Our life is in the blood transported through our bodies by our hearts.

... the life of the flesh is in the blood ... 

— Leviticus 17:11 

In their book "In His Image," Dr. Paul Brand and Philip Yancey write the following.

"Blood was always poured out before God as an offering, for life that belonged to Him."

In Psalm 40, four types of offerings are mentioned, as Bullinger observes.

The death and life of Christ are set forth by a fourfold type and record. His death. The four great offerings.
— Bullinger

Sacrifice and offering ... 

Burnt offering and sin offering ... 

— Psalm 40:6

Leviticus chapter four shows us four types of people for whom the sin offering is applied. 

1. The anointed priest,
2. the whole congregation of Israel
3. a ruler
4. and the common people

The number four characterizes the altar of sacrifice, as shown in Ezekiel's vision of the Temple.

The altar hearth is four cubits high, with four horns extending upward from the hearth. The altar hearth is twelve (4 x 3) cubits long, twelve wide (4 x 3), square at its four corners; the ledge, fourteen cubits long and fourteen wide on its four sides. 

— Ezekiel 43:15-17

The book of Hebrews displays four verses that speak of Christ's offering of Himself for our sins. 

For every high priest taken from among men is appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. He can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also subject to weakness. Because of this, he is required, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer sacrifices for sins.
—Hebrews 5:1-3

Now, when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle to perform the services. But into the second part, the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people’s sins committed in ignorance
—Hebrews 9:6-7

For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
— Hebrews 9:13-14

For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another— He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
— Hebrews 9:24-26

Ezekiel chapter one spends a fair amount of time describing four living creatures called Cherubim. Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's commentary makes a similar note about God's creation. 

"The Cherubim represent the ruling powers by which God acts in the natural moral world."

Cherubim were considered guardians of the threshold of God's dwelling. No one passed through apart from the blood sacrifice.

Ezekiel's vision also began in the fourth month, and the number four is recorded 40 times in this particular biblical and prophetic book. He was told to prophesy to four places in creation, representing the highest and lowest places.

“Therefore, prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and say to

 

1. the mountains, 

2. the hills, 

3. the rivers, and 

4. the valleys, 

‘Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I have spoken in My jealousy and My fury, because you have borne the shame of the nations.” 

— Ezekiel 36:6

The Creation of the Human Heart—A Demonstration of Four

The human heart is the first functional organ to form by day 28 (4 x 7/week 4), and it develops in a four-fold manner that corresponds with the creation account.

"Heart development consists of the formation of a primary tube that loops and separates into the four cardiac chambers and paired arterial trunks that form the adult, human heart."

— Wikipedia

We see this illustrated in the biblical account of the planting, development, and function of what was to be the "heart" of the created world, that being Eden, representing the life of a paradise in unhindered fellowship with God. Four rivers flowed from it. 

... a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four river heads. 

— Genesis 2:10

 There were also four in the garden (the heart of creation):

1. God,
2. Adam,
3. Eve,
4. and the serpent.

After the garden, the first family development and expansion occurred, making a family of four. 

1. Adam, 
2. Eve, 
3. Cain, 
4. and Abel.

There were four transforming commissions of the Edenic covenant:

1. Be fruitful and multiply
2. fill the earth and subdue it
3. rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the sky
4. and over every living thing that moves on the planet

Four parts of a bone

Bones, Joints, and Teeth

Blood's transforming properties, studied earlier, are produced in the marrow of some types of bones.

There are 248 (4 x 62) bones in the human body.

The four types of bones are 

1. short, 
2. long, 
3. flat, 
4. and irregular. 

Four functions of the skeletal system are:

1. supports muscles and tissues
2. protects the vital organs from injury and trauma
3. allows movement 
4. and stores essential body minerals and immature blood cells

There are also four types of bone cells.

1. Osteocytes
2. Osteoblasts
3. Osteogenic cells
4. and Osteoclasts

Connecting our bones are four types of joints:

1. hinge
2. ball and socket
3. pivot
4. and gliding

The body's major joints have a bursa sac, or cushion, which comes in four types.

1. adventious
2. subcutaneus
3. synovial
4. and sub-muscular

In humans, there are four canines, four incisors, and four wisdom teeth. Tooth enamel is one of four primary tissues that make up the tooth. 

1. enamel
2. dentin
3. cementum
4. dental pulp

Intercostal spaces

The Fourth Intercostal Space or Fifth Rib

Regarding the heart and bones, a recurring phrase appears in 2 Samuel.

... the spear smote him under the fifth rib (chomesh חמש). 

— II Samuel 2:23 

 

When I first read this, my curiosity got the better of me, so I researched the "fifth rib." Much to my amazement, this phrase is used four times in the Scriptures. And all refer to the killing of four men in the establishment of the Davidic kingdom. God regarded David as "one after God's own heart." It was through King David that the Messiah of all the hearts of men would come.

 

Much to my amazement, this phrase is used four times in the Scriptures. And all refer to the killing of four men in the establishment of the Davidic kingdom. God regarded David as "one after God's own heart." It was through King David that the Messiah of all the hearts of men would come.

The names of the men who were killed have a compelling message that points prophetically to a coming Messiah.

1. Asahel (God has made)
2. Abner (My Father, who is light)
3. Ishbosheth (Man of shame)
4. Amasa (Sparing His People)

Their names altogether read, "God, My Father, who is light, has made a man of shame to spare His people." Isaiah 53 describes this man who bore our sin and shame to spare us. 

He is despised and rejected by men, 

A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. 

And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; 

He was despised ...

 

... Surely He has borne our griefs 

And carried our sorrows; 

Yet we esteemed Him stricken, 

Smitten by God, and afflicted. 

He was wounded for our transgressions, 

He was bruised for our iniquities; 

The chastisement for our peace was upon Him ... 

... For the transgressions of My people He was stricken ... 

... Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; 

He has put Him to grief. 

When You make His soul an offering for sin ... 

... My righteous Servant shall justify many, 

For He shall bear their iniquities ... 

... Because He poured out His soul unto death, 

And He was numbered with the transgressors, 

And He bore the sin of many, 

And made intercession for the transgressors. 

— Isaiah 53

The New Testament reveals who this man is. 

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
— 2 Corinthians 5:21

... Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
— Hebrews 12:1-2

Anatomically, the 5th rib would be the nearest, most vulnerable, and accessible path to the heart. It is located just below the fourth intercostal space of the human rib cage, which is the most vulnerable area for a piercing or puncture wound to the heart, as both ventricles can be accessed from that space.

This links with the rib God took from Adam's side to build the woman. The original text uses the word "rib" in this case and doesn't tell us that it is the fifth. But could this clue from 2 Samuel's fifth rib interpret that for us? 

These four occasions of using this phrase relate to our topic of transformation processes. This collective idea connects with the piercing of Christ's side. Eve was built from Adam's open side. The church, those who would come to God through faith in His one and only Son, would be built from the wounded side of Christ. Is it possible to consider that the piercing of Christ's side occurred at this very fourth intercostal space or fifth rib from which blood and water flowed?

... one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately, blood and water came out.
— John 19:34

There is a condition called pericardial effusion, which is thought to have occurred to Jesus when He was on the cross —a possibility from the dehydrating loss of blood He experienced.

After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!”
— John 19:38 9 (fourth Gospel)

Pericardial effusion would have caused the shutting down of His kidneys and created a fluid build-up around His heart. This consideration would explain why both blood and water flowed. Blood and water indicated the place of the piercing (fourth intercostal space). This thought confirms the meaning of the names of the four men pierced in the fifth rib (fourth intercostal space) in establishing the kingdom of David. 

A typical rib cage consists of 24 (divisible by four) ribs. There are twelve on each side. The book of Revelation may offer insight into what these 24 ribs could represent in creation.

The Twenty-four elders

Twenty-Four Elders (4x6)

... twenty-four (4 x 6) elders (first mention in 4:4) fall down before Him (four mentions) who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying: 

“You are worthy, O Lord, 

To receive glory and honor and power; 

For You created all things, 

And by Your will they exist and were created.” 

— Revelation 4:10-11 

We are not told in the text who the twenty-four elders are, but a Scriptural pattern may give us a clue. There were twelve tribes of Israel through whom God governed and was authorized to bring his Son and rule on the earth, known as the Jewish people.

In the New Testament, there are twelve apostles to whom He gave His authority and through whom He worked His kingdom on the earth. According to this revelation, it makes sense that the heart of God's dwelling with man is centered within the structure of His people, both Jew and Gentile believers who bow in submission to Him.

Christ would suffer, that He would be the first to rise from the dead, and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.

— Acts 26:23

“Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.

— Revelation 21:23  

Chapter five of Revelation continues this theme and reveals four categories of created ones who will be redeemed and singing His praise, naming four things ascribed to the Lamb by those new creations. 

Out of every

1. tribe
2. and tongue
3. and people
4. and nation,

... have made us, and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth ... ”
— Revelation 5:9-10

... And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying:

1. Blessing
2. and honor
3. and glory
4. and power

Be to Him who sits on the throne,
And to the Lamb, forever and ever!”

Then the four living creatures said, “Amen!” And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever.
— Revelation 5:13-14 

 

Anatomy of a human heart

Christ Enthroned on Our Hearts

What a fantastic consideration that the Creator of all would enthrone Himself in our hearts. It is even more incredible that God would entrust the tenderness of His own heart to humankind within this structure. He has placed the responsibility of man to cherish, guard, and protect that relationship just as the rib cage does the heart through his submission to God.

This enthronement of Christ in our hearts is further evidenced by the crown of arteries surrounding our hearts, known as the Coronary (Carona) arteries. These arteries take their root from the Latin word for "crown" and resemble a crown of thorns.

Dr. Charles Thurston at Science and Wonders furthers this revelation by comparing Revelation chapter 4's account of the throne surrounded by the 24 elders to the structure and function of the human heart.

... from the throne proceeded lightnings (electrical signals of the heart), thunderings [Lub (Leb spelled lamed bet is the Hebrew word for heart) dub sound made by the valves as they open and close] ... 

... and voices (the blood flowing through valves and the chambers of the circulatory system. 

— Revelation 4:5

There is a further explanation of the parallels between the human heart's picture of salvation and the throne of God, as described in Revelation chapters 4 and 5. Four heart valves, beginning with the tricuspid, meaning three-leafed, through which the de-oxygenated carbon dioxide-laden blood passes into the upper right atrium or chamber before descending into the right ventricle. The number 3, which signifies spiritual things, will be significant in this section. 

“Holy, holy, holy,
Lord God Almighty,
Who was and is and is to come!” (three phrases with three items each)

... the living creatures give

1. glory and
2. honor and
3. thanks

to Him who sits on the throne

and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying:

“You are worthy, O Lord, 

To receive

1. glory

2. and honor

3. and power;

For You created all things,

And by Your will they exist and were created.”

— Revelation 4

The number three (number of spiritual things or dimensions) shows us that this salvation of created humankind was a spiritual endeavor.

Next, blood is pumped through the second valve, the pulmonary valve, into the lungs from the right ventricle.

Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.
— Revelation 4:5

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 

— 2 Corinthians 5:21

The now cleaned and oxygenated blood returns to the heart, collects in the left atrium, and is then released through the third valve into the lower left ventricle. Finally, it is released through the fourth valve—the aorta—to feed and cleanse the rest of the body. Revelation chapter five gives us four praises for this incredible work that gives life eternal to all who believe.

• “Blessing"

Represented by the tricuspid (who came in the form of sinful flesh to bear and take away the sin of the world)

“When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.”
— Ephesians 4:8-9

•  "and honor"

Pulmonary valve

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.

— Hebrews 2:9

•  "and glory"

The Mitral valve is a picture of the resurrected and glorified Christ.

Therefore, we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father,
— Romans 6:4

• ... and power mirrors the Aortic valve (New cleansed believers going out with power)

Be to Him who sits on the throne,
And to the Lamb, forever and ever!”
— Revelation 5:13

All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen
— Matthew 28:18-20

• "Thy Kingdom come Thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven"

... the earth is man's province. We are bidden to perfect it and transform its material nature into something spiritual. In deed, we were created to make the earth heavenly.

— Commentary from the "Tehillim" Schottenstein edition.

 

24 bowing bones make up the rib cage that protects the heart

The shape of a rib bone appears to bow
Henry Vandyke Carter

Bowing Down Before the Throne

Can you see the twenty-four bones that make up the rib cage all curving and bowing to the King of Kings enthroned upon our hearts?

For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the ... 

1. width 

2. and length 

3. and depth 

4. and height 

... to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 

—Ephesians 3:14-19  

 

Returning to the Davidic Kingdom, through which the Messiah was foretold to come —the place where God would dwell and meet with His people, namely the temple —David's fourth son, Solomon, would develop and establish it from his descendants born in Jerusalem with Bathsheba. Bathsheba birthed four sons, symbolizing the heavenly city where David reigned for 33 years—the same number of years that Christ, the King of Kings, was on earth, showcasing the heavenly Kingdom. David purchased this place, which was a threshing floor, from Onan, who had four sons. 

David's first fourth son, Adonijah, from the sons born to him in Hebron (Kiriath Arbah - a city of four), prepared for himself to take the throne. But David, who ruled over Israel for 40 years altogether, overruled Adonijah's assumption and chose Solomon instead.

Solomon built four houses. (1 Kings 7:1-12)

1. His own house 
2. the house of the forest
3. a house for Pharaoh's daughter
4. and God's house

The work of building God's house (temple) began in the fourth year, on the fourth day of the month of Solomon's reign. He reigned for 40 years, 480 (4 x 120) years after the children of Israel came out of Egypt (I Kings 6). The temple Solomon built would stand for about 400 years.

In the fourth year, the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid, and in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its details and according to all its plans. 

— I Kings 6:37

The most sacred space, the Holy of Holies, was 400 cubits square and located in Solomon's temple. The curtain that guarded this sacred space was said to be four inches thick and woven with 72 (4x18) strands of yarn. The curtain was hung on four pillars.

May it also be noted that the Davidic covenant was the fourth covenant God made with the nation He created, Israel. This covenant contained four promises: a land, a son, a house, and a throne. These four foundational themes run throughout Scripture from beginning to end.

There are four structures/temples/places in Scripture where God could meet and dwell with His people on the earth.

1. The Tabernacle (400 years)
2. Solomon's temple (400 years)
3. Ezekiel's temple
4. And the New Jerusalem built of the body of believers.

... do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 

— 1 Corinthians 6:19

The first of these four, in the wilderness Tabernacle, consisted of four materials.

1. gold
2. silver
3. brass
4. and wood

The silver sockets, typifying the redemptive price the Messiah would pay, that provided the foundation for the wilderness tabernacle, totaled one hundred (4x25). They were arranged

1. Forty (4 x 10) sockets along the south
2. Forty (4 x 10) sockets along the north
3. Sixteen (4 x 4) sockets along the west
4. Four across the Tabernacle that divided the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies

The transformed life begins with redemption.

The Tabernacle had four coverings, much like our human body, which consists of four layers of flesh. 

1. Goat's hair,
2. ram's skins,
3. badger skins,
4. and fine linen.

The brazen altar, which displayed the Divine judgment, is four-sided and has four horns. So, with the golden altar. The camp was also four square. 

The priesthood had four orders of people;

1. Aaron and his sons,
2. Gershon,
3. Kohath,
4. and Merari, Levites, and the earthly copy and pattern of the more real and true in the heavens.

We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man. For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this One also have something to offer. For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law; who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things 

— Hebrews 8:1-5

The New Testament Greek word for temple is used in four ways, according to C.I. Scofield

1. of the temple in Jerusalem (Mt 23:16)
2. of the believer's body 1Cor 3:16,17 6:19
3. of the local church 2Cor 6:16 and
4. of the true church Eph 2:21 But in all these instances, the thought is simply of habitation of God.

The Tanakh (Hebrew scriptures) consists of 24 books, which comprise what Christians call the Old Testament, and all of it is an invitation to submit our hearts and bow down to the King of Kings who came to the earth for our salvation, 400 years after the last words of God were spoken to His chosen ones.

A heart of stone

Ezekiel's Heart Exhibit

Returning to the "heart"—the book of Ezekiel, which contains the highest concentration of the number four and is located on the fourth spoke of the Bible Wheel —records these Words of God about transformation through the recreation of our stubborn, willful hearts.

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 

— Ezekiel 36:26  

In the following chapter of Ezekiel, we are given an illustration of transformation and the revival of people, as dead, dry bones are brought to life through a fourfold process.

1. "I will put sinews on you
2. and bring flesh upon you
3. cover you with skin
4. and put breath in you

and you shall live."

— Ezekiel 37:9 

 

When Ezekiel prophecies as instructed, the transformation begins. 

Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” 

— Ezekiel 37:9

Charles Spurgeon wisely comments on this portion of Scripture regarding the process of transformation.

"here is a picture of the recovery of ungodly men from their spiritual death and corruption—a parable of the way in which sinners are brought up from their hopeless, spiritually dead condition, and made to live by the power of the Holy Ghost. 

 

C. I. Scofield comments on this portion of Scripture concerning the transformation that occurs when God revives His people. 

"Having announced Ezekiel 36:24-38, the restoration of the nation, Jehovah now gives in vision and symbol the method of its accomplishment. Ezekiel 37:11 gives the clue. The "bones" are the whole house of Israel, who shall then be living. The "graves" are the nations where they dwell. The order of procedure is: 

1. the bringing of the people out, Ezekiel 37:12-14, Ezekiel 37:19-27

2. the bringing of them in ( Ezekiel 37:12 ); 

3. their conversion ( Ezekiel 37:13 ) 

4. the filling with the Spirit ( Ezekiel 37:14 )"

This concludes part 3 of this series. The next article will study the relevance of the number four as it concerns the parables.