In the midst of Israel’s exile, God uses Ezekiel to provide his people a message of hope, and he does this through some amazing events. One instance paints a powerful picture of several Gospel truths. Check out the story of the dry bones from Ezekiel 37:1-14 below:
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.”
So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And I looked, and behold, 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, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.
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.
What an incredible picture of God’s life-giving power!
God is teaching us three primary truths through this passage:
- We are dead.
-We aren’t simply broken or weak spiritually. We are dead, deader than a doornail, and there’s no doubt that we are dead because all we consist of are dry bones. We are beyond even the slightest signs of life.
-Spiritually, we are dead. Sin has destroyed our ability to pursue God apart from a miraculous intervention, but that is just what God provides… - God must act & sustain.
-God is our only hope. Dry bones can’t move on their own, so God must act to give us new flesh, a new life, a resurrection. He must breathe into us the breath of life: this is the resurrection life we experience in salvation. God is the actor in our salvation. We simply receive and respond to the life he gives with faith and repentance. It’s totally and completely a gift from him (see Ephesians 2:1-10 as well).
-Also, he must continue to sustain that life through his breath. He not only resurrects us but he sanctifies us as we see at the end of the chapter when God identifies himself as “the Lord who sanctifies.” He enables us to grow and continue in the holiness that he has given to us when he saved us from our sin.
-We can’t resurrect or sanctify ourselves. God must act first and continue to sustain us. - We must preach these truths.
-God used Ezekiel as his means for raising the dry bones to life, and he has called each of us to share the gospel as the means for raising our friends, our neighbors, and strangers throughout the world.
-If we don’t preach these truths that have the power to raise people from the dead, then no one will experience the eternal life that we have come to experience in Jesus (Romans 10:13-17).
We’ve been given a huge stewardship. May we be a people that carry this life-giving message to everyone we meet for Jesus’ fame.
Brandon Moore 