Pastor Sarah Henry

April 27, 2025

Ezekiel 37:1-6

1 The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. 3 He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” 4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath[a] to enter you, and you shall live. 6 I will lay sinews on you and will cause flesh to come upon you and cover you with skin and put breath[b] in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”

7 So I prophesied as I had been commanded, and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them, but there was no breath in them. 9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath:[c] Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath,[d] and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” 10 I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.

11 Then he said to me, “Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: Thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your graves and bring you up from your graves, O my people, and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 And you shall know that I am the Lord when I open your graves and bring you up from your graves, O my people. 14 I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act, says the Lord.”

During the first part of the sixth century BC, Babylon was busy subjugating the little kingdoms of the Fertile Crescent or, failing that, destroying them. With the Jewish state, Babylon first tried the former, taking hostages of the Jewish leadership to Babylon in 597. Among them was the priest Ezekiel, who became a prophet. As Babylon moved on toward the total destruction of Jerusalem, Ezekiel had a prophetic vision, recorded in ­ chapter 37 of his book, of the Jewish nation as a people of dried out bones (Jenson, 11).

37:3 He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord God, you know.”

There is a way in which the whole story of Israel — everything that had happened to it from the call of Abraham— had led up to this question. 

The people of God were dead. The nation was finished. And the question was, “Can death be reversed?” 

And that is indeed the question. 

• Does death win? 

• Has it already won? 

• Is death not the champion of our own time?

• Is not the killing of six million Jews and a few less million Cambodians and the continuing slaughter that is going on right now. 

• Does that not more or less prove that death has indeed won?

The church and its thinking— its theology— begins with that little group of Jews who became convinced that Jesus’s resurrection was God’s own answer to the question the Lord posed to Ezekiel. 

They declared that the dead bones of God’s people, Israel, and the dead bones of humanity in general can indeed live again. 

Jesus’s first disciples thought they should pass on this news. 

Death does not win, they said (Jenson, 9-12).

On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being valley of dry bones and 10 being flourishing abundant life, how "dry" are you?

Does this belief, this trust, this faith, that God can resurrect even dry bones, help you with what you're struggling with?

Matthew 11:28-30

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

In what ways are your burdens wearisome and heavy?

What does Jesus' rest look like?

How is Jesus' yoke easy, and his burden light? Isn't that a contradiction?

How does God's command and demand differ from the world's?

Reviving Our Spirituality

1. Draw near to the breath of God.

2. Read and memorize the Word of God.

3. Listen to God's living testimony by observing God's creation around you.

What are some other ways in which you nourish your spiritual life?

Works Cited

Jenson, Robert W., and A. Eitel. A Theology in Outline: Can These Bones Live? Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016).