Read: Ezekiel 37:1-14
The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. 2 And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. 3 And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, you know.”
11 Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. 13 And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. 14 And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.”
As a sophomore in high school, our youth pastor shared a message about abiding in Christ. He said if we are not in God’s word, we are walking dead people – alive on the outside, but dead on the inside. The Holy Spirit shook me up with this imagery. I went home that night and all I could see in my mind’s eye was me walking down the hallowed halls of Auburn High School and all my friends turning from their lockers because my bones were rattling so loudly within me. I was alive on the outside, but dead on the inside.
Imagine you are on a hike and as you come around a bend you find a valley stretched out before you. Instead of seeing vegetation and a stream, or crops and openness, you see something like the elephant graveyard in Disney’s The Lion King. You see bones. Dry bones. Disconnected bones. Bones that were under God’s curse because they had never been buried (Jeremiah 34:17-20).
The Lord took Ezekiel to such a place. Stretched before the prophet, in the middle of the valley, were many, many dry bones. Then the Lord said to Ezekiel, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’”
These dead, dry bones were the nation of Israel. Though God had done so much for them, they had abandoned his Word. They did not listen to the prophets. They did not obey the Law. They ran after false gods. They were no different than the nations around them.
Because of their rebellion, their idolatry, and their refusal to listen to God’s call to repent and return to him, God sent them into exile. Their bones were dried up. Their hope was gone. They were cut off.
God asked Ezekiel, “Son of man, can these bones live?” Ezekiel tells God, “O Lord God, you know.”
In the vision, Ezekiel obeys God and prophesies to the bones. First there is a rattling and the bones come together. Then there are sinews that connect the bones. Then flesh and skin cover the bones. And yet, there was no life. There was no breath in them.
God told Ezekiel to prophesy again. And he does. And now, breath entered these bones and they lived. They stood on their feet. They were a great army. God promises the people of Israel that they can live again. He will fill them with life again and bring them back to their land. They will know that he is their God when he raises them to life again. He says, “And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.”
God’s Spirit is the key in this vision. Without it, we are just walking sacks of bones. We are dead. But when God’s Spirit breathes life into us, they anything is possible.
That night some thirty-five plus years ago, I asked Jesus to take control of my life. His Spirit came into me and made me alive. Slowly but surely, as I walk with him, he is rooting out what is dead in me and making me more and more like Christ.
Take time to reflect:
Where are you today? With all the uncertainty in the world today, do you feel cut off? Do you feel dry and distant from God? Do you wonder, “Can my bones live again?”
In Ezekiel’s vision, it is God’s prophetic Word through the prophet and the breathing of God’s Spirit that bring life. How is your time in God’s Word these days? Are you delighting in God’s Word as a message for you? Or is God’s Word something distant that you haven’t spent time in for a while and when you do, it seems like words on a page?
How are you doing at putting into practice what you sense God saying to you? Are there areas in your life where you are in “rebellion” – doing your own thing, not Gods? Take time to ask God to show you any attitudes or actions that show a lack of faith.
If you feel dry and distant, ask God if your bones can come to life again. Invite him to breathe on you afresh and fill you with his Spirit. Confess any sin and ask him for the strength to walk in faith and obedience.