Bones

Ezekiel 37:1-14

New International Version (NIV)

The Valley of Dry Bones

37 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. ’”

Footnotes:

1. Ezekiel 37:5 The Hebrew for this word can also mean wind or spirit (see verses 6-14).

In this prophesy, God tells Ezekiel that he will perform the miracle of bringing the remnants of Israel back together, and then He will perform an even greater miracle of giving Israel a new Spirit, breathed by God.  Jesus' followers believed that this process began when the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost.

Acts 2:1-4 says, "When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. ² Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³ They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. ⁴ All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues^[a] as the Spirit enabled them."

We were once nothing more than dry bones, merely existing, but not living.  Many people believe that Jesus came to make bad people good, but that's not the case at all; he came to make dead people alive.  Jesus paved the way for the Holy Spirit to come into our lives.  If we trust in God, we will not only have eternal live in Heaven, but we will be capable of actually living, rather then just existing, during our time spent on Earth.

With this new life, we will be able to do great things that are completely impossible without it.  In John 14:12, Jesus says, "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father."  God has made it possible for us to have new life on Earth that will last after death by sending Jesus to die for our sins and giving us the Holy Spirit to bring us new life.  These days, a popular phrase among young people is YOLO, meaning "you only live once." In reality, most people aren't even living once; they are just existing without true life. Life doesn't happen until God happens.  When God happens in your life, then you can truly live now and forever.

Therefore, embrace the Holy Spirit and the miracles it allows us to have in our lives.  Be grateful that we have a God who can and did bring us to life, and show your appreciation by using this new life to glorify Him.

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