The hand of the LORD came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord GOD, you know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the LORD.” So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude. Then he said to me, “Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken and will act, says the LORD.”
Ezekiel 37: 1 – 14
When I read this passage it always reminds me of the scene from the 1963 Jason and the Argonauts when the bones rise out of the ground and reform into skeleton soldiers marching across the valley. When I shared this with my husband and explained the intricacies of this stop motion creation by Ray Harryhausen, unbelievably, of course, my husband had no idea what I was talking about. Well, obviously that had to be rectified and so I showed him the scene in question so that he could see the animation of the skeletons – to help him visualise the life to dry bones. If, like him, you have missed out on this cultural experience the clip is available to view on YouTube.
Having slightly detoured, let’s get back to Ezekiel and the dry bones.
“The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord”, basically, Ezekiel had a vision. And in his vision he saw a large valley, the Valley of Death. Everywhere he looked Ezekiel could see bones all over the ground. Bones laying on the surface of the ground are from people in disgrace who have been denied a proper burial; and being dry bones they are from people who have been dead a long time. They had had life once but it had long departed. Yet God asked Ezekiel whether these bones could live.
Ezekiel had no hope in the bones, but he did have hope in God. Ezekiel did not presume to know what God wanted to do with the bones; but he was confident that God DID know.
Ezekiel deliberately left the matter with God, to God’s power and wisdom. In return God commanded Ezekiel to prophesy to these dry, dead bones.
To an outsider looking in this would probably be conceived as foolishness. In Corinthians Paul acknowledged that God’s rescue of humanity in the person and work of Jesus, especially His sacrifice on the cross, was foolishness to those intent on perishing.
Ezekiel preached his message full of faith in God, he was confident that he was speaking God’s word and that the word of God is full of power.
God promised to restore life to these bones. The bones could not create life themselves but as the word of God was proclaimed over them they received God’s promise of life.
This restoration of life was to be marked by breath living once again in these bones – God’s Spirit, the breath of life.
Ezekiel did as God commanded and as he continued to prophesy to the bones their revival took place in stages. First the bones stirred, then they assembled, sinews and flesh were added, the skin covered the tissues and they awaited the breath of God. This is a direct reversal of the decomposition process.
Next God told Ezekiel to call upon the Spirit of God to come upon those on whom the word of God was working. Ezekiel proclaimed God’s message, the breath of God breathed into the reanimated bodies and they stood on their feet becoming an exceedingly great army who lived to act under the orders of God who gave and restored their life. They had God’s word and Spirit, an army of life willingly under the command of God.
If we have word but no Spirit we are like a dead army, assembled but without the true breath of life.
God then explains the vision to Ezekiel. God is promising to restore the whole house of Israel in a restoration so wide and deep that it will be fulfilled as part of God’s plan for Israel in the very last days.
This whole passage highlights to us how God works in revival and how God’s servants should think and act relevant to God’s mighty reviving work:
– God’s servant knows the bones are dead and dry
– God’s servant must walk among the dead and the unrevived
– God’s servant must proclaim God’s word
– God’s servant must have almost a foolish confidence in God’s word
– God’s servant must understand that the Spirit works in a process
– God’s servant must recognise that the work of the Holy Spirit is essential
– God’s servant must boldly pray for the Spirit to move
– God’s servant must speak in the power of faith
– God’s servant must notice every evidence of the Spirit’s work
– God’s servant must look for God’s people to be revived into an army of service
– God’s servant must not say that hope is lost
Upon the valley, wide and sear,
The Valley of Whispering Dust
Where death had settled, year on year,
The Spirit set me in the cold,
Amidst the dry bones, grey and old.
Can these bones live? The Voice did ask,
This impossible, heavy task?
I answered not with my own thought,
But “Sovereign Lord, You know,” I brought.
Then came the word: “Prophesy, O son,
To what is broken, dead, and done!
Tell them to hear the LORD on high,
Who brings back breath, who gives them sky.”
As I did speak, a rattling song,
As bone to bone rushed to belong!
Tendons and sinews, flesh and skin,
Wrapped around the void within.
The forms stood up in silent grace,
A breathless army in that place.
“Prophesy again,” the Word did say,
“Call from the four winds, breath of day!
Breathe on these slain, that they may live,
The resurrection I will give.”
The breath of God, the spirit-wind,
Filled the lungs and freed the pinned.
They stood on feet, a vast, huge host,
Alive by Son and Holy Ghost.
“These are my people,” saith the Lord,
“Lost in the graves, by hope ignored.
But I will open up the tomb,
And bring them out of death’s cold gloom.
I’ll put My Spirit in your heart,
A new life, right from the start.
Then you shall know, from dust and sigh,
The Lord has spoken—and will not lie.”
Just because 