Dry Bones

Main Idea: God can restore anyone and anything, even the dead.

Intro: We are starting our new series, Rocktober: The Bible is Metal. Throughout this month we will be diving into 5 different stories in scripture that are, well, metal. Sometimes the Bible becomes routine or stories become repetitive, but we can look at these and really recognize that we serve a powerful supernatural God who has done great things and that same God rules today!

Hook: ??

Context: Today we are looking at a story in Ezekiel. Ezekiel was a soon to be priest who was among the exiles when Jerusalem took over. Instead of becoming a priest, God spoke to him and revealed a vision and he was made a prophet. Throughout Ezekiel’s life he endured different trials that served as symbolism for the people of Israel and their relationship with God. They had fallen into idol worship and denounced their relationship with the one true God. In other words, they were dead.

I. Dead

Ezekiel 37:1–6 ESV

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. 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. And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon 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.”

God brings Ezekiel down into a valley and he sees that it is covered in bones, all of them dry, meaning they were long dead. God asks him, can these bones live? Ezekiel, nervous to give an answer, replies that only God knows.

God then commands Ezekiel to prophesy, or preach, over the bones. Saying that through the word of the Lord and the breath of His Spirit they can live.

There is a clear parallel here between this chapter and the creation of man in Genesis. Formed from the dust of the ground, no life at all, until God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and Adam became alive.

The clear reminder here, God makes the dead dust come to life. There is nothing that is beyond his reach. The dustiest dirt and the driest of bones can be made alive when God intervenes.

If you’re relationship with Him, feels dead, it’s not too dead. If a loved one seems so far from God, they’re not too far. If a situation or a circumstance seems so corrupt, God can intervene and completely change it around.

Ezekiel had a front row seat to what God was doing in this valley. God was trying to depict something very clear to Ezekiel, who was then to proclaim this to the people of Israel. “I see that you are dead, but you’re not too far gone.” Ezekiel witnessed an extreme conversion, which is exactly what the hearts of the people of Israel were going to need.

So, Ezekiel prophesies as commanded. There was a sound and a rattling as the bones came together, then ligaments, muscles, flesh and skin start to cover them. And he prophesies a breath of life to come forth and breathe on the slain and they all came to life and stood as a great army.

METAL.

Here’s a picture from the early 1800s, of an artists’ depiction of this event.

II. Word & Spirit

Notice the two prerequisites for the dead to come alive. The Word of God, and His Breath/Spirit.

All revival, physical and spiritual requires these two things. God’s Word must be spoken, and God’s Spirit must intervene.

God explains all that happens here to Ezekiel:

Ezekiel 37:11–14 ESV

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.’ 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. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. 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 sees them where they are. He recognizes their anguish. He knows all that is going on and He speaks to it directly, promising to come through. When God gives a promise, he always keeps it.

He is going to open graves, He is going to raise the dead, He is going to restore His people.

THEN they shall know that He is the Lord. He has spoken and he WILL do it.

Today, if we want to see spiritual revival, but God’s Word or God’s spirit is absent, there is an imbalance.

2 Corinthians 3:17–18 ESV

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

Let’s be a hopeful people, eagerly pursuing God’s Word and relying on His Spirit, and as we do, we will see the dead rise up around us. Dead relationships, Dead circumstances, Dead dreams, and dead eternities.