Can These Bones Live?

As the entire world dealings with the COVID-19 virus, many Christians are asking deep questions about their faith. Fortunately, there are many aspects of the Christian faith that can help during such times. One source of help is the Old Testament book of Ezekiel, which has many powerful visions and prophecies for the people of Isreal during one of their most difficult times.

Ezekiel 37:1-14, the vision of the valley of the dry bones, is the most striking and memorable of those fantastic passages. In this passage, God has a message for the prophet Ezekiel that is intended to reassure the nation of Israel they will live again after the exile in Babylon. Its concepts of re-creation, redemption, resurrection, and restoration are still inspiring people today feel they are somehow “cut off” from their normal lives.
The historical setting of the vision of the valley of dry bones is probably during the period after the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem when the exiles were still in Babylon. For generations beforehand, the people had clung faithfully to the notion that Jerusalem would never fall because the temple was located there. As long as the holy city and the temple stood, the people felt the promises of God were secure. However, with the destruction of the temple, the Israelite’s world essentially ended. For the first time in their memory, they see themselves as a people without a land and without a God, but He has a message for the prophet Ezekiel intended to reassure the nation of Israel that they will live again after the exile in Babylon.

The passage begins with Ezekiel recalling the spirit of the Lord taking him and setting him down in the middle of a valley filled with dry bones. God askes Ezekiel if the bones could live again, a question that Ezekiel wisely defers back to God. God instructs Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones and as Ezekiel dose, the bones are miraculously reassembled and covered with flesh. Then the spirit of God gives life to the bodies by putting breath into them. They form a great standing army. We are left to wonder whether they would have ever been slain in the first place if they had stood before as such a united host ready to follow the lead of their commander. This completes a two-part process of new life that is reminiscent of the creation story from Genesis. God explains that the bones represented Israel in their bewildered and anguished loss, while exiles in Babylon. God, however, promises to bring Israel back to life by returning them to the land and filling them with his spirit so that they know he is God.

History has proven that the exilic period was pivotal to the success of the Jewish people, and this vision no doubt had a significant influence in their transcending that bleak period. The message of hope and restoration given to Ezekiel changed the hearts and minds of the people so that they would be able to return when the time came.

There is a great message of hope in this for us today. Like the Israelites, we often feel separated from God and forgotten. We often feel that because we no longer see success, that God has forsaken us. The periods of exile we experience can be used by God to strengthen and prepare us for greater plans. However, we need some strong message of hope and restoration to convince us sufficiently enough for us to look beyond our circumstances. The vision of the valley of the dry bones can still be that strong message today. God’s message and God’s messengers are critical in this process. Once we receive and accept that message of hope, we must then receive the full Spirit of God as our strength and guide. If we try to do it without God, we will be just an empty shell of a disorganized army, but with God, we can move forward united to victoriously take back what has been lost.

We are not cut off, and yes, these bones can live.

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