Bible Truth #154 - Ezekiel 37:1-14

Ezekiel 37:1-14

1  The hand of the LORD was upon 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, “O 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 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 from the four winds, O breath, 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 whole house 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: O 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.’ ”

I’m sure most Christians are familiar with this passage and I would like to keep it very simple. As you know, the dry bones represent dead Israel, the Jews who have no faith and who have forsaken Yahweh.

Today, when you look at the nation of Israel, the people, and how they live, if they should return to God many might say that Israel is making a choice to return to God of their own volition. But when you look at their spiritual condition, how can that be? They are dead, just as the dry bones are dead. Can these dry bones bring themselves back to life? Of course not. God used Ezekiel prophesying to the dry bones to bring them back to life. Verse 5 clearly says, the Sovereign LORD says “I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you... The passage goes on to say what the LORD does, not what the bones do, or what man does. Please understand these bones had no choice. The Sovereign of the Universe speaks and what He desires WILL be accomplished (Isaiah 55:11). Every dry bone came together, there were none that decided to reject God’s working in them and stay a dead, dry bone. What Ezekiel saw was the effect of a sovereign God working.

The equivalent analogy is applied to the lost. They are dead (Ephesians 2:1, 2:5; Colossians 2:13). There is nothing they can do to bring themselves back to life (2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 3:5). They cannot believe, they cannot repent, they cannot come into the light, they cannot please God (Romans 8:8), there is nothing they can do to get themselves saved because they are dead. They are not mortally wounded. They aren’t drowning and have the ability to reach for a life preserver if one is thrown to them. A sovereign God, who has chosen a bride for His Son before the foundation of the world in accordance with His pleasure and will (Ephesians 1:4-5), reaches down to a dead sinner, quickens his dead spirit and MAKES him believe (John 6:29) just as He MADE Israel come back to life illustrated by God making breath enter the bones and putting tendons, flesh, and skin on the dry bones.

Once again Scripture shows how a Sovereign God works with the spiritually dead, and how the spiritually dead can not bring themselves back to life, have any part of it whatsoever, nor reject what God is doing.

We become children of God NOT by human decision. (John 1:13)