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Dry Bones
It's a strange chapter in the Bible. A valley full of dry bones, that come together with a rattling sound, and tendons and tissues appear, and . . . well . . . one would wonder what kind of rating it would get if you made it into a movie? An interesting, and powerful, portrayal of the message God wanted to bring to His people. If you are not familiar with he story, take a few moments to read he passage to the right, and let it paint the picture in your mind.
For the children of Israel, this vision came at a time of exile and desolation, a time when they felt cut off and dried out. The visual image is a powerful portrayal of what their experience was like. Dead and dry. But God has something different in mind. It is amazing. Even shocking. But powerful!
The vision speaks powerfully in a couple of key ways. First, and most directly, with hope for those who feel like their own spiritual experiences have become as dead and dry as the bones in the valley. It is a reminder that, even when everything seems lifeless, dry and hopeless - the breath of God stands ready to breath and restore life again. What's more, it is not only a vision of what God can do within us right now, but it also points us forward to a time when God's restoration and healing will extend to the entire creation around us when he returns again.
It is an amazing, renewing, empowering, encouraging vision that God shares with us through Ezekiel. Wherever the dry places are, and however worn down to the bone we are, the Spirit of God is still ready to breath - into us, and around us, and through us. Today, we would invite you to immerse yourself in the vision, feel the wind, and receive the life.
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Ezekiel 37
(NIV)
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.’”
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