Can Dry Bones Live?

Ezekiel 36,37

Introduction

Last Sunday, Amos mentioned a bone yard that they had on their farm where animals were hauled when they died. He said that as he went there, he never expected that these animals would be alive again.

When our children were small, a bird died because it had flown into a window. The children were sad for the bird and decided that they needed to have a funeral. I don’t know where they got their ideas about how to conduct a funeral or where they got the idea that a reading from the Song of Solomon would be appropriate for a funeral for a bird. One thing I do know, however, is that when they buried the bird in its little box, they did not expect it to come alive again.

Have you ever found a bone? I remember one time when we were on the shores of the Pembina River and we found bone. We spent some time trying to decide what kind of a bone it was. The scary thought came that it might even be a human bone, but we found out that it was a bone from some kind of animal, a deer or moose or something. The bone was dead and dry and we tried to think of what the life of the animal had been and how it had died. The question which never came to us, however was, “Can this bone live again?” That question was, however, was asked of Ezekiel by God in Ezekiel 37.

I. Can Dry Bones Live? Ezekiel 37:1-10

A. They Were Very Dry

God took hold of Ezekiel and brought him to a valley that was full of bones. Not just one bone, not just a pile of bones from dead animals, but a whole valley full of human bones. It may describe something like a battlefield in which many people have died. In times of civil war or revolution, they sometimes find mass graves. It must have been something like that, but these bodies were never buried, they were lying outside and the bones were dry and bleached in the hot sun. The hopelessness of the situation is highlighted when it says in verse 2 that these bones “were very dry.”

If you have seen “The Princess Bride,” which is one of my favourite movies, you may remember that they take the “farm boy” out of the torture chamber looking very dead, and bring him to Miracle Max who proclaims that “he isn’t all dead, he is only mostly dead.” That was not the case for this valley of dry bones that Ezekiel was shown. These bones were all dead. God asked Ezekiel, “Can these bones live?” and the clear and unequivocal answer was, “no!” But Ezekiel was wiser than that because he knew that he was dealing with God and so humbly answered, “O, Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”

B. They Came To Life

God enlisted the prophet to participate in the life giving task. There are two stages to the prophetic work. First of all, Ezekiel was called to speak to the bones in order that they should come together. Amazingly, when Ezekiel prophesied, there was a rattling sound and the text says, “the bones came together, bone to bone… and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them.”

This is the text where the spiritual “Dem Bones” comes from. There are various versions of the song, but the words go something like this:

Ezekiel connected dem dry bones

Ezekiel connected dem dry bones

Ezekiel connected dem dry bones

Now hear the word of the Lord.

Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones
Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones
Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones
Now hear the word of the Lord.

Toe bone connected to the foot bone
Foot bone connected to the leg bone
Leg bone connected to the knee bone
Now hear the word of the Lord.

Leg bone connected to the knee bone
Knee bone connected to the thighbone
Thighbone connected to the hipbone
Now hear the word of the Lord.

Hipbone connected to the backbone
Backbone connected to the shoulder bone
Shoulder bone connected to the neck bone
Now hear the word of the Lord.

However, the text goes on to say, “there was no breath in them.” So God told Ezekiel to go on to the second step of prophesying, which was to call for the breath to come and enter the lifeless bodies lying all over the valley. The conclusion is that “breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet – a vast army.”

The answer to God’s question, illustrated in this most powerful way was, “yes! Dry bones can live again.”

II. Can Dry Bones Live Again?

But, why was this question being asked and what does the vision mean?

A. Israel

The vision is occasioned by the despair of the exiles. The dry bones represent Israel in exile. For ten years they had been in Babylon. Then, in Ezekiel 32, they received the devastating news “Jerusalem has fallen.” This took the hope right out of Israel. They could not think of going back home, they could not think of going to the promised land, they could not think of themselves as a nation any more. They were dead, dry bones.

But the hopelessness of the nation was more than the physical reality that they were in exile and could not go back to the land. The spiritual reality for the nation was every bit as devastating and hopeless. They had gotten to this place because of their sin and from every indication they hadn’t gotten any holier in the meantime. It is completely accurate to see the life of the nation of Israel and the people of Israel as dead – as dead as a field of bones that were very dry. In one article I read it said, “Exile is not just a foreign land, it is not just a place of hardship to bring people back to God. Exile is death. Israel was not nearly dead, she was all dead and the only hope was not effort of obedience or renewal, but God’s work of making dead bones live again.”

In light of that, the interpretation of the vision in verses 11-14 is a wonderful word of hope. This message of hope is expanded in Ezekiel 36 in which there are five acts which God promises to do for the people. He will restore the people to the land. Ezekiel 36:24 says, “‘For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. He will cleanse the people. Ezekiel 36:25 says, “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. God will put a new heart in them. Ezekiel 36:26 says, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” Furthermore, God will put a new Spirit in them. Ezekiel 36:27 says, “And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” Finally, God also promises them a fertile land. In Ezekiel 36:30 it says, “I will increase the fruit of the trees and the crops of the field, so that you will no longer suffer disgrace among the nations because of famine.”

What a blessing that God would take a nation that was all dead and make it alive again with all of these blessings!

How was this promise fulfilled?

Although we do not see these promises fulfilled completely, there are many ways in which God has fulfilled the promises. When Ezra and Nehemiah returned to the land and rebuilt the city and the temple, the promise of restoration to the land was fulfilled. This is an amazing fulfillment when we consider the deadness of the nation and how many other nations were conquered, destroyed and never heard from again. In 70 AD, however, Israel was once again destroyed as a nation, but in 1948 she once again occupied the land God had given to her. I doubt if any other nation has been utterly destroyed and scattered so many times in history, but always come back to their land.

The promises of a new heart and a new Spirit put within them are fulfilled in Christ. By His death and resurrection, he has forgiven the sins of not only the Jewish people, but all people. When people put their faith in Christ, they receive a new heart and God’s Spirit indwells them. Although most Jews have rejected Jesus as Messiah and the fulfillment among the Jews is not complete, hope for the future fulfillment of this promise is indicated in what Paul says in Romans 9-11.

Can dry bones live? The promises in this passage in Ezekiel and their fulfillment tell us that the answer is not an unequivocal “no!” but an unequivocal “yes! God can make dry bones live again!”

B. Christ's Resurrection

But can we also ask the question about other situations? Where else do we see that God has made dry bones live again?

Last week, we examined the death of Christ. As Jesus was placed in the tomb, the question was a relevant question. As Jesus was lying in the tomb, it was clear that he really died and one could ask, “Can dry bones live again?” Humanly speaking we would have said, “no!” In fact, many people have and continue to deny the resurrection because dry bones can’t live again.

On the Christianity.ca website, there is an article by Geoff Moulton in which he begins by commenting on the investigative techniques of the CSI TV program. He suggests that they portray “obsessive dedication to the facts” in order to find “valuable clues in unlikely sources.” Then he asks, “What would happen if we applied the detective work of CSI to history's most controversial event: the resurrection of Jesus Christ?”

He goes on to examine the resurrection and all the arguments that have been used to deny that Jesus rose from the dead.

He shows that the theory that Jesus swooned cannot explain the empty tomb. He states, “It is unthinkable that a man in Jesus' condition could have ripped through the grave clothes, pushed aside the enormous stone blocking the tomb's entrance and fought off the guards.”

He responds to the theory that the “disciples were so disoriented by their grief that they imagined His return.” He says that “Psychologists suggest that only paranoid schizophrenics have hallucinations.”

I had never known that some explain the resurrection by suggesting that someone impersonated Christ. But that doesn’t make sense either because the disciples knew Jesus so well that no one but Jesus could have convinced them that he was Jesus.

He goes on to explain that “Some believe Christ's resurrection was not physical, but spiritual—His body stayed in the grave and the biblical account is a metaphor for spiritual resurrection.” But once again the facts don’t line up with this. “Jesus invited the disciples to touch His physical body and He even ate with them.” So we see that it really was a physical resurrection.

His final query attends to the idea that the disciples stole the body of Jesus. Once again this is unlikely given the presence of the Roman guard and the sealed tomb.

He concludes, “The fictional detective Sherlock Holmes remarked: ‘When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.’"

Although it seems improbable, no other answer can explain the empty tomb, the appearances of Jesus and the changed lives of the disciples. “Can dry bones live again?” God raised Jesus from the dead - not just for time, but for all eternity.

C. Our Life In Christ

The wonderful thing is that as we establish that God can make dry bones live again we recognize that He did so not only in the nation of Israel, but even more powerfully in the resurrection of Christ. We, furthermore, can then ask the question about the situations we find in our own lives. In I Corinthians 15:20-23 Paul regards Jesus as the firstfruits of the new community. If God can make dry bones live again, then He will also give life to us and to all the situations in our lives that seem hopeless.

In Ephesians 2:1, Paul reminds us that we also were dead in our transgressions and sins. The truth is that we were not “mostly dead, but all dead.” There is nothing but an act of God which is able to make us alive again. In Christ, that act of making alive has happened to us when we believed in Him and had our sins forgiven.

At one of the places in which Carla worked, her boss was the son of a minister and came from a family of faith. He, however, was not at all interested in spiritual things. I remember that we were concerned about him spiritually and whenever we were with him, there was an awkwardness because although we wanted to share faith with him, there just seemed to be no spiritual interest in him at all. A few years after we had moved away we went back to visit the area. We heard about this man who to us seemed spiritually dead and discovered that he was not only very much spiritually alive, but was actually involved in leadership in a church. Can dry bones live again? Yes! God can make spiritually dead people alive. When I have been involved in the Billy Graham TV telephone ministry, the leader often encourages us when people make a decision for Christ that a dead person has come to life.

Are you dead in your transgressions and sins? God can make you alive if you put your trust in Christ! Do you know someone who seems to be dead in transgressions and sins? God can make them alive. Do not give up. Keep on praying for them!

Can we apply this to other situations? Why not? It has been clearly demonstrated that God can make dry bones live again. Why can we not keep on putting hope in God no matter how hopeless a situation looks to us.

How many of us as Christians have not gone through times when we felt spiritually dead? There are times when we go through spiritual dryness that makes us wonder where God is. Where is the power of God to change our lives? Where is the power of God to minister effectively through us? Where is the power of God to make us sense and know the presence of God? If you are going through such a time, I would encourage you to remember that God can make dry bones live again. Seek Him, sit in His presence, rest in Him and wait and watch to see what He will do.

Even in other situations in life, we can be encouraged by this blessing from God. We knew a fellow who was married when he was about 18 or 19 years old. A few years later when his wife was pregnant, he had an affair and ended their marriage. It seemed like a hopeless situation. About a year or two after their divorce, this couple was married again and today they are nearing their 25^th anniversary and have 5 children who are growing up in the Lord. The truth that God can make dry bones live again encourages us not to give up, but to put our hope in the God who is not only the living God, but the life giving God.

Conclusion

Spring is a great time for Easter because it brings together the return to life of physical things on earth and the return of Christ to life. Spring is God’s built in demonstration that dry bones can live again.

What is there in your life that is dry and dead? I want to invite you to look to the God who promised to restore dead Israel, who raised Jesus from the dead and who is the God who can make dry bones live again in our lives.