Ezekiel 37:1-14

Ezekiel is a prophet of the Lord and these verse we are going through is a vison from God to Ezekiel. A little background that will be important for us to know as we go throughout this passage. The dry bones represent the whole house or nation of Israel. They are spiritually and politically in shambles. So Israel struggles to believe in restoration despite God’s promise that He will gather them and resettle them on their land.

the introductory phrase, The hand of the LORD was upon me indicates a new subject. The hand is often used metaphorically for power in the Scripture. For the “hand of the LORD” coming upon Ezekiel in order to overpower him and reveal information, see Ezekiel 1:3; 3:14; 8:1; 40:1. In addition, Ezekiel’s location changes, if only in his vision. Ezekiel reported that in his vision the Lord brought him out by the Spirit of the LORD and set him in the middle of a valley that was full of bones

So Ezekiel has this vison and the Lord has put in a valley filled with bones. Bones are everywhere. There’s a skull here, a femur over there, and here is the hand of some guy. But what is important is that if we remember back to Samson, touching dead bodies, human or animals, was not the thing to do. Why?

Because they were considered unclean. So Ezekiel, a prophet, is in a valley of dry bones of dead people.

Next we see that the bones are very dry which indicates that they have been laying there for quite a while. So obviously they are WAY beyond resuscitation other than a miracle. This scene can thought of as thinking that their is no hope for Israel’s people returning to life and living again in their homeland.

So God then asked Ezekiel “Son of man, can these bones live?” Ezekiel is aware that God can raise people from the dead because of 2 Kings 4 but these bones as we said were literally dry as bone. Which physically means the flesh, muscles, tissue, tendons and everything were no longer on the bones, so resuscitating them or making them live again was seem impossible so Ezekiel responded to the question, “Lord God, only you know.”

God then commands Ezekiel to prophesy to these dry dead bones, and tell them that God would bring them back to life. In this prophecy God announces twice that He would make breathe in these lifeless bones. This emphasis was because of the importance of breath in the determination of life. When the breath of life is breathed into a body, it comes to life. We see this in Genesis 2:7 “Then the Lord God formed the man out of the dust from the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.”

When Ezekiel prophesied as the Lord had said, there was a rattling sounds and the bones came together. And when Ezekiel looked at these bones they had attached and tendons, flesh and skin had appeared on them BUT they did not yet breathe. Because why? Because they haven’t had the breathe of life enter them yet.

God then told Ezekiel to prophesy to breathe. God told him to say breathe, come from the four winds and breathe into these slain so that they may live! Whenever it says the four winds think of the wind coming in all directions. This order of forming the body is like what we talking about in Genesis 2. First God made Adam and then He breathed the breathe of life in him. In both occurances the bodies didn’t come alive until God had breathed life into them.

So Ezekiel prophesied just as the Lord had told him, and the breath entered the bodies and they came to life and stood on their feet.

The returning of these bones to life not only revealed an understanding of the possibility of bodily resurrection but it also symbolized the revival and renewal of the nation of Israel.

In the next 4 verses in 11-14, God explains the vision. The dry, lifeless bones were the whole house of Israel. In fact, the people themselves had previously made the analogy in a popular saying: Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off. Certainly the situation for the Israelites must have seemed hopeless. One hundred and fifty years earlier in 722 B.C. the Northern Kingdom of Israel had been overcome by the Assyrians and had not been reestablished as a nation. Now, in 586 B.C. the Southern Kingdom of Judah had experienced defeat at the hands of the Babylonians and had no reason to think their fate would be any different.

Both of these national defeats were the result of Israel’s disobedience. God had warned that persistent rebellion and rejection of his will would lead to exile (Deut. 28:64). Their collective sin had led to their deaths (Rom. 6:23). They were in a desperate and hopeless situation and had no reason for hope. Their future existence was as unlikely as human remains coming back to life. The only remedy would be a national rebirth. In response, Ezekiel was commanded to prophesy that the Lord would open their graves and bring them up.

The Israelites will not just be raised from their graves and given new life, but God promised, I will bring you back to the land of Israel.

As a result of this miraculous work of God, the people will know that God is the Lord. So to finish the process of bringing these people back to life, God will put His Spirit in their resurrected bodies and settle them into their own land. Again the people will acknowledge that the only explanation for the nation coming back to life and returning to the homeland is that God has spoken and executed his plan. Nothing but the intervention of God can explain this supernatural return to life.

So how does this point to Jesus and what does it have to do with us?

We are the same was as the Israelites. We turn from God, do our own thing and we end up spiritually dead, but only by the power of the Gospel can we be raised back to life. The same God that raised the dry bones in this vision is the same God that sent His Son to die on the cross to save you, The breath of life that was breathed into the dead bones in this vision is the same breathe of life we receive when we place our faith in Christ. The revival and renewal that Israel was longing for is the same revival and renewal that we are longing for today. The revival and renewal we desire is Jesus Christ.

So if any of you need to be revived, renewed or have the breathe of life bring you back to life please come talk to me tonight!

In what ways can we relate our own spiritual struggles to the experience of the dry bones?

How can we seek renewal and revival in our own lives similar to what God promised Israel?

What does the act of God breathing life into the bones signify about divine intervention?

What does the vision of the dry bones represent in the context of Israel?