The Valley of Dry Bones (Ezekiel 37:1-14)
By
Tony V. Hammack
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Ezekiel 37:1-14
1 The hand of the LORD was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “Sovereign LORD, you alone know.” 4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! 5 This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath[a] enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’” 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. 9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army. 11 Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.’”
Introduction
Ezekiel lived during a time of international upheaval. The Assyrian empire began to crumble under a resurgent Babylon. In 612 B.C. the great Assyrian city of Ninevah fell to a combined force of Babylonians and Medes. Ezekiel was among the Jews exiled to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar in 597 B.C. Ezekiel was of a priestly family. More than any other prophet he was directed to involve himself personally in the prophetic utterances.
For the first 7 years of his ministry 593 – 586 B.C. Ezekiel faithfully relayed to his fellow Jews the harsh, heart-rending, hope-crushing word of divine judgment: Jerusalem would fall (Chapters 1-24) Once news was received that Jerusalem had fallen, Ezekiel’s message turned to the Lord’s consoling word of hope for his people – they would experience revival, restoration and a glorious future as the redeemed and perfected kingdom of God in the world. (Chapters 33-48)
The Book of Ezekiel centers around the unfolding of God’s saving purposes in the history of the world –from the time in which he must withdraw from the defilement of his covenant people to the culmination of God’s grand design of redemption.
What did Ezekiel 37 mean to the original listeners?
I. v. 1 The Hand of the Lord. This phrase is repeated six times in the book of Ezekiel and indicates an overpowering experience of divine revelation. It’s probable that this is a vision the Lord is showing Ezekiel “by the Spirit of the Lord”.
A. Ezekiel has turned a corner in his ministry and has begun to deliver a message of hope, where he had previously heard God’s word of punitive judgment. The Dry Bones symbolizes Israel’s feeling of hopelessness and ultimately lifelessness due to them being in exile in Babylon.
II. v. 2 “A great many bones” would symbolize the whole community that was in exile. Ezekiel describes them as “very dry”. The drier the deader.
III. v. 3 The question from the Lord “can these bones live again?” and Ezekiel’s answer. “O sovereign Lord, you alone know.” Good answer!
IV. v. 4-6 Ezekiel had a history of prophesying to inanimate objects. (Mountains in 6:2; 36:1 forests, 20:47) Now he’s instructed to prophecy to the dry bones and he does by saying “I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life.” The conclusion the bones will draw after the life comes into them is, “you will know that I am the Lord.”
V. v. 7,8 Ezekiel is obedient to prophecy to the dry bones and in response God causes a rattling sound as the bones came together, bone to bone. This is followed up by tendons and flesh appearing on them and skin covering them, however there was no breath in them. This vision of God re-creating God’s people recalls the two-step creation of man in Genesis 2:7.
Formed from dust then the
breath of life.
VI. v. 9,10 Ezekiel is now instructed to prophesy to the breath. The Hebrew word interpreted breath can also be interpreted wind or spirit. Ezekiel calls the four winds to bring the spirit. The number four stands for completeness and is used over 40 times in the book of Ezekiel. This prophetic act is to make the once dry bones live. The bones are now alive and considered “a vast army.”
VII. v. 11 The bones are the whole house of Israel. The house of Israel has been saying something about itself.
- Our bones are dried up
- Our hope is gone
- We are cut off
VIII. v. 12-14 The imagery shifts from a scattering of bones on a battlefield to a cemetery with sealed graves. The Lord will bring the people back to the land of Israel, and the people will then again know that “I am the Lord” because he’s opened up their grave like situation and given them their land back.
What Ezekiel 37 Means to us Today
I. When the hand of the Lord comes upon us we see reality the way God sees it, not merely based on circumstances.
A. There are generally two responses to life’s circumstances. We can amplify what we see with the words of our mouth or we can declare the Word of the Lord. How we respond determines the outcome.
- Mark 11:23 - “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them.
B. Peter saw who Jesus was and declared it out of his mouth in Matthew 16:18. Jesus turned to him and declared, “I will build my Church on this kind of knowing”.
C. This knowing is further explained as a way to “build up the church” in 1 Corinthians 14:12. Prophecy as well as tongues with interpretation are listed as gifts that build up the church.
- Prophecy is forth telling and foretelling the will of God. Speaking the plans and purposes of God.
- The Word of the Lord has the power to create life and hope in a place of death and hopelessness.
II. Nothing is too hard for God. (Is. 59:1, Mark 10:27)Even if everyone is going the wrong direction, or if everyone has lost hope, if everything is religious and dead, a prophetic voice raised in obedience to God will cause everyone to respond, finding their proper place in the Body of Christ.
According to recent surveys
1, 83 percent of Americans claim to belong to a religious denomination, 40 percent claim to attend services nearly every week or more, and 59 percent claim to pray at least weekly.
1Robert D. Putnam and David E. Campbell; American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us. (2010) Ch. 1 at note 5
However…
When asked 9 questions
- Is your faith very important to you today?
- Is there a literal devil?
- Is Salvation based on grace not works?
- Do you have a personal responsibility to share your religious beliefs?
- Is God the top priority of your life?
- Do you believe that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth?
- Do you believe the Bible is totally accurate in all of it’s teachings?
- Has your life been greatly transformed by your faith?
- Is God the all-knowing, all-powerful, perfect deity who created the universe and still rules it today?
Baby Boomers (Born 1946-1964) – 34 % Evangelical
Generation X (Born 1965-1984) 16 % Evangelical
Generation Y (Born 1985 to 2005) 8 % Evangelical
The Next Generation (Born 2006 – 2025) ? % Evangelical
III. There is something powerful about prophesying Godly things. However it’s best to prophecy the spoken, specific word of the Lord. Ezekiel could’ve wanted the bones to live and thus began to speak to them. However when asked, “will the bones live?” Ezekiel responds with “you alone know the answer”.
- Dr. Kenneth E. Hagin once said, "Faith begins where the will of God is known.“ In essence Ezekiel is saying, “tell me your will regarding these bones”.
What this shows is that we should declare the word of the Lord not the word of _____________ (insert your name).
Good can be the enemy of God. A religiously minded person will have a hard time with that statement.
Matthew 7:21-23
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
1 John 5:14,15
14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
James 4:3
3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
IV. The Lord will have us declare prophetically and He will move accordingly so people will draw a conclusion about Him; That he is the Lord.
A. Timothy 2:3b,4 God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
B. 1 Corinthians 14:24,25 24 But if an unbeliever or an inquirer comes in while everyone is prophesying, they are convicted of sin and are brought under judgment by all, 25 as the secrets of their hearts are laid bare. So they will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!”
V. When we declare the word of the Lord, God will keep his word and do what he said he’d do. We are responsible to declare the Word, but God does the supernatural work. Sometimes it may happen in stages.
A. Mark 8:22-25
22 They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. 23 He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?” 24 He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.” 25 Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.
When Oral Roberts is used of God to heal this boy with Polio notice the healing is progressive. It takes a little time
VI. Our obedience to prophetically and with persistence declare the Word of God about situations has the potential through God’s power to turn the worst of random death like situations around to life and organized purpose.
A. The foolishly reinforced meditation of peoples circumstances can be completely undone by a prophetic word declared under the unction of the Holy Spirit. The people were saying…
- We are lifeless
- We are always going to be this way
- There is no solution, no one can help us, it’s bad
VIII. The Lord will bring the people back to the promised land, God will again reform the Church and make her the glory of the Earth, the expression of his presence,(Acts 2:3) a place that people fear (Acts 5:11-13)and love again. This work of God will cause people to again know that “I am the Lord” because he’s opened up their grave like situation and given them their purpose and thus their destiny back.
The Lord wants to shift the Church in America from being people centered and visitor friendly to being Christ centered and Holy Spirit friendly.
When this happens the Church will stop being a club designed to attract people and start being a force for change in the country that will literally renovate every component of society.
- Arts & Entertainment
- Business
- Education
- Family
- Government
- Media
- Religion
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