“Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people.’” (Ezekiel 37:11-13)
The Valley of Dry Bones is an image which represents spiritual deadness. Unfortunately this meaning is lost on most people who are only familiar with the image through the words of that old song “Dem Bones” composed by two African American brothers early in the 20th Century. It is usually associated playfully with Halloween and spooky skeletons. Perhaps the only spiritual element in the song is the repetition of the call “hear the word of the Lord.” Most people are quite unaware of the great teaching, the great promise of the image as recorded in the book of the prophet Ezekiel. This is regrettable because this image is one which we can apply to our nation and the world. There is a corrupt spirit abroad which rejects all authority including the authority of the Lord God Almighty. We see it in the widespread violence troubling our campuses and city streets ,with the people demanding what they want regardless of how it affects others or whether it is right or wrong. In fact, the spirit abroad in our land maintains that what is right or wrong is determined by each individual not God. All who so reject God are spiritually dead filled with corruption and sin.
When the prophet Ezekiel first saw this Valley of Dry Bones he interpreted it as the spiritual death of Judah. To the Jews, any person who touched or had contact with a dead body or skeleton became defiled and unclean. And here Ezekiel was in the middle of a valley filled with this corruption. The message was that the people of Judah had become as useless, defiled, and unclean as these dry human bones. Their utter corruption is what caused God to punish them with the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of the Jewish people to Babylon in slavery. Nevertheless, the Lord gives Ezekiel the task of reviving them, restoring them to life by His word spoken by His Holy Spirit.
The Word of God is the true authority. It teaches us that the Lord desires to come and breathe new life into us by His Holy Spirit, just as at Pentecost and just as happens now when a person is brought by the Spirit of God to faith in Christ. Only the Lord God has the power to create spiritual life out of what is spiritually dead, not any government, social movement, educator, or scientific theory. This is accomplished by the good news of Jesus spoken through the apostles and the church by the power of the Holy Spirit.
The Lord commanded Ezekiel to speak His words that accomplished the resurrection of those dead bones. And He commands us to do the same. We speak the truth of God’s word of faith in Christ Jesus to those who are spiritually dead, so that the Lord may raise them into eternal life.
Theophany: Meeting With God In His Word 