Can These Dry Bones Live?

When I was in seminary, Dr. Fred Luter of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, LA was often invited to preach at chapel. On on of those occasions he preached a sermon about revival from Ezekiel 37, the prophet’s vision of the valley of dry bones. I have heard hundreds of sermons over the years, but that sermon is the one I remember most vividly. For your listening pleasure a more recent version of that sermon can be found here.

I would like to take a look at this passage, exploring what it would have meant to those who originally heard it, and draw some application for us as Christians receiving this message several thousand years removed from the first telling.

We begin with verses 1-3.

1  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. 2And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. 3And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” 

In these verses we see that Ezekiel has a vision from the Lord, and that the Spirit of God takes him to a valley that is full of bones.  The Spirit leads him throughout the valley, allowing Ezekiel to make various observations about the bones, among those that they were human bones (as evidenced by the following events) and that they were not just dry, but very dry. What he does not know is who these bones are, or how they came to be there. Were they there as a result of some plague, or were they, perhaps, the bones of a defeated army?  There is no indication that Ezekiel knows.

We then come to the core question of this vision. The Spirit of the Lord then asks Ezekiel if the bones could live (again). “Can these dry bones live?” I wonder about how exactly this was asked. What tone of voice? Was it a shout, or a whisper? I have tried to imagine it both ways. Interestingly, Ezekiel’s response seems apprehensive, or at least unwilling to commit to an answer one way or another. He tells the Spirit that only He knows.  I have often wondered about his apprehension at this point. He certainly knew that he was accompanied by an all powerful God who could bring if out of lifeless bones. However, maybe it was the case that he didn’t want to commit because he didn’t know where this vision was going to take him. Throughout the book of Ezekiel we see over and over again proclamations of judgment, and perhaps his apprehension is that this vision may indeed be laying out a message of doom for him and his people.

Regardless, with this scene set, and this question raised, the Spirit gives Ezekiel a command in verse 4-6:

4Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 5Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. 6And 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 explains what is going to happen. Ezekiel has a role, the bones have a role, and God has a role. Ezekiel is to prophesy, or proclaim a message on behalf of God, to the bones. He is to be obedient to the command of the Lord. The bones are to hear the word that is being proclaimed. They are to be obedient to the proclamation of the Lord through Ezekiel. And God will bring the bones to life. It will not be by the power of either Ezekiel or the bones themselves that life will come to them…Only by the power of God.

We read on in verses 7-10:

7So 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. 8And 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. 9Then 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.” 10So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

And so each plays his role. Ezekiel, in his obedience proclaimed the word of the Lord. The bones, in obedience to the word of the Lord, came together and formed bodies, initially lifeless bodies, but ultimately animated at the command of the Lord. And of course, God carried out all the work. Just as we see in the the account of creation, it is God alone who brings life.

Verses 11-14 continue:

11Then 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.’ 12Therefore 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. 13And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. 14And 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.”

Here we get something that we do not always get when we read prophetic literature in the Bible: an interpretation! Thank God for interpretations. Instead of wrestling through what exactly these images mean, God clearly lays it out for Ezekiel. The bones represent the whole house of Israel, the people of God. And the term “whole house of Israel” isn’t just a flowery, poetic way of saying Israel. The “whole house” refers to both those tribes associated with the kingdom of Israel that ways carried off by the Assyrians in 722BC, and those tribes of the kingdom of Judah, who were carried off into exile by the Babylonians in 586BC. The vision is a message of. hope for Israel. God has a plan to restore his people.

And so, that is how the original hearers/readers of this text would have understood it. God had a plan. They might be living in exile at the moment, and they may have feelings of despair, of having been forgotten. But God was still working, and he was going to restore his people.

But how should we understand it today. Is this a message that was only for Israel living in exile, or is there some application that 21st century AD Christians can draw from it as well. I believe that there is.

The best way to draw that application is to identify with different “characters” in the account. First, we can identify with the dry bones. Yes, we as Christians recognize that we are God’s people, that we have been specially chosen by him for a purpose. But we often find ourselves living lives of despair or discouragement. Like ancient Israel, we are dry. But, we can listen to the word of the Lord. He is speaking to us. He wants us not to conform to the world, but to be transformed. Are we, like the bones, going to listen, and obey!

Or perhaps we can identify with Ezekiel, as the one who has a clear message from the Lord that he is asking us to proclaim. Will we boldly proclaim that message, even if we don’t know exactly what the outcome will be? We have been given the charge to proclaim the Good New, to go and make disciples. Will we do it? We have the Great Commission and the Great Commandment. He has given us a mandate. We are to teach others to observe (i.e. to hear and obey) all that he has commanded us.

And if we take on the role of Ezekiel, we will sow broadly the gospel message, and when that seed finds fertile soil, new life will spring forth. Dry bones will live!

God asked Ezekiel, “Can these dry bones live?” Let us respond with a shout, “YES!”