Your Dry Bones Can Live!

  I admire the faith of little children  When in trouble, they fret not, because they are confident that their parents will take care of them.  They have a strong belief that their dad is a "super man", able to handle all that comes into the child's way.  Children are rested inspite of the circumstances that they find themselves in.  However, as the years pass by and they continue to grow in understanding, their faith diminishes and their levels of worry increase.  Their increased knowledge and understanding diminishes their faith and obscures their perception.  No wonder Jesus said in Matthew 18:3 that, "... unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." 

The prophet Ezekiel, whose name means "God gives strength", was son of Buzi the priest and belonged to the family of Zadok- a famous priest.  In the first part of the book of Ezekiel, the prophet focused on Judah's sin and their judgement (chapter 1-24).  Part two of the book focuses on "punishment of the nations"  (chapter 25-33:20)  while the third part focuses on "Judah's restoration" (chapter 33:21-39).  In 598 BC, Babylon attacked Judah and took some of the Israelites to exile.  Zedekiah was appointed to rule over Jerusalem but because he was not loyal to King Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon attacked Jerusalem (capital city of Judah) in 586 BC, destroyed the city and killed most of the people therein.  The people of Judah were devastated, both in their hearts and minds.  Also, remember that about one hundred years before Judah was attacked, Israel had already been exiled in Assyria and its people widely dispersed amongst the nations.  Thus, prior to chapter 37 of the book of Ezekiel, the people of Judah and Israel were certainly hopeless and in despair.  They did not see a way out for their redemption.

God however brought them hope in the third part of the book of Ezekiel.  Chapter 37:1-10 states as follows:

"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 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.  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.’”

 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.  I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

 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.’”  So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army."

In a vision, Ezekiel was taken to a valley with many bones as indicated by the writers descriptions: "full of bones" and "great many bones".  It seems that the multitude of people who had died were left on the open ground and their flesh was totally devoured, and only bones were left.  Also noteworthy is that the bones were dry, an indication of indication that the bones had been lying in the valley for a considerable period of time.  The Spirit of the Lord led Ezekiel back and forth, inspecting the bones, as if with the intention of making Ezekiel to fully understand the extent of the situation.  Upon Ezekiel's assessment of the situation, God asked him a question: "... can these bones live?"

Honestly speaking, the bones could not live by any human interventions.  Although Ezekiel well understood the reality of the grim situation, he also acknowledged the unlimited power of God.  Ezekiel's answer, "Sovereign Lord, you alone know," indicates that he truly believed that nothing was impossible with God.  According to Matthew Henry Commentary, unlike the bones of Gog and Magog which scripture indicates would be buried (Ez. 39:12, 15 ) for their destruction was final, the bones of Israel were in the open valley- under the eye of Heaven- and this encouraged the hopes of their resurrection.  

Ezekiel was instructed to prophesy the Word of the Lord to the bones and he did so without hesitation.   All through scripture, there are numerous incidences where miracles happened when God's Word was spoken to a situation.  In the beginning, the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters (Genesis 1:2).  However, the situation changed when God began to speak.  God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.  God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water,” and it was so.  God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear,” and it was so.  God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds, and it was so.  God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years,..." and it was so.  God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky,” and it was so.
God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind,” and it was so.

Jesus, in Mark 5:41 took Jairus dead daughter by the hand and spoke, "Talitha Koum" which means "Little girl, I say to you, get up."  And it was so. In John 11:43, Jesus called out to Lazurus who had been dead for four days: "Lazarus, come out!".  And it was so.  In Acts 3:6, Peter said to a lame begger, "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk."  And it was so.  Mark 11:23 says, "Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them."  God follows His Word to fulfill it in our lives (Revelation 19:13-14).  His Word is living and active! No wonder the bones in the valley began to come together, each bone to his bone, in obedience to God's Word.  Matthew Henry Commentary states that the bones came together under a divine direction; and though there was a multitude of bones, yet of all the bones of those numerous slain not one was missing, not one missed its way, not one missed its place. 

Ezekiel did not prophesy once, but twice.  Following the first prophecy, the bones came together; flesh and tendon appeared and was covered by skin.  However, the restored bodies were not yet alive.  Ezekiel was then instructed to prophesy breath to the restored bodies.  When he did so, "breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army!" Praise be to God!  We need to repeatedly speak God's Word upon our situations, until we see God's victory.  As we do so, our marriages will be restored and shall flourish; diseases will be cast out and our bodies healed; our land will yield abundant harvest; the fruit of our womb will be blessed; the captives of sin will be liberated and brought to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ; the Church will prevail against the gates of hell; our nation will be established in righteousness and fulfill the purposes of God; amongst others.

God is challenging us to raise up our faith in Him, and see life through His eyes.   He is the God of impossibilities.  For example, in Matthew 3:9, God indicated that he could raise children for Abraham out of stones.  We need to partner with God for the fulfillment of His purposes in our lives.  How can we do so?  We need to prioritise reading and meditation of God's Word, for how can we speak that which we know not of?  Matthew 6:45 states that the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.  Secondly, as we read God's Word, faith is built up in us.  Romans 10:17 states that faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of God.  Thirdly, as we meditate on His Word we are made more like Christ.  Only then are we able to take up our rightful positions in Christ and by the leading of the Spirit, prophesy to situations with power and authority.  

I pray that the God of impossibilities will do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that you could ask or think, according to His power at work within you (Ephesians 3:20-21)!