Ezekiel saw Dried-Up Bones comes to Life (Ezekiel 3:1-6)

“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… He asked me, ‘Son of man, can these bones live?’ I said, ‘Sovereign LORD, you alone know.’ Then he said to me, ‘Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 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’”
(Ezekiel 37:1, 3-6, NIV).

This is one of the creepiest stories in the Bible (according to my imagination when I read it). The prophet Ezekiel found himself in a valley of dry bones. It was a vision, of course, but the effect is still chilling. It’s a picture of just how far gone the people of Israel were. They weren’t spiritually slow or sick or sleepy – they were spiritually dead! Without God, it’s true of all of us.

But the dead can live.

Ezekiel preached to the bones and there “was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone.” Then he “looked, and tendons and flesh appeared to them and skin covered them, but there was not breath in them.” So God asked him to preach again. Then breath entered them “they came to life and stood up on their feet – a vast army” (37:7-10). They were once only dried-up bones but now they became living beings.

The dead can live.

It happens all the time. Someone speaks the Truth, and a spirit as dead as a pile of dried-up bones comes to life. Life out of death. Beauty out of ashes. Abundance out of emptiness. That’s the Gospel of Jesus Christ! And it has the power to transform every aspect of our lives. Amen.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.