Can These Bones Live?

I want to begin our message with one woman’s testimony of her visit to a chilling archaeological site in Peru. Erin Lyyc says of her approach to the location, “Against the parched Andean earth [are] flecks of brilliant white. Drawing closer, there are hundreds – [no] thousands – of what look from afar like smooth, white pebbles. Woven among them, scraps of cotton bleached by decades of blinding sun, and piles of what appear to be broken sticks; but this sun-whitened debris is not at all what it seems.” “Something gets stuck in my sandal, and as I try to flick it free with one finger, I realize it is, in fact, a piece of human bone. There are bone shards everywhere.” “Across this vast plain, the remains of an unknown number of humans lie scattered in the open.” This site “marks one of the largest graveyards in Latin America; Chauchilla Cemetery in Peru’s Nazca region.”(1)

In Jeremiah 8:1-2, the prophet told of what would happen to God’s people when the Babylonians invaded: “At that time, says the LORD, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of its princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves. They shall spread them before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which they have loved and which they have served and after which they have walked, which they have sought and which they have worshiped. They shall not be gathered nor buried; they shall be like refuse on the face of the earth.” Because Israel worshipped false gods and idols, Jeremiah prophesied that, in the very valley where they sacrificed their sons and daughters to Baal, the bones of Israel would be strewn out in the sun (Jeremiah 7:9, 31-33).

That prophecy came true, and as Ezekiel was sent by God to preach to the captives of Babylon, he was taken to just such a valley; and the shock and horror experienced by the young woman who visited the valley of bones in Nazca, Peru cannot compare to the gruesome scene Ezekiel would behold in what is called “The Valley of Dry Bones.” I’ve entitled our message this morning, “Can These Bones Live?” and we’re going to get started by reading through our main passage. So, if you would, I invite you to stand with me in honor of the reading of God’s Word in Ezekiel chapter 37, verses 1-14.

The Valley of Dry Bones (vv. 1-14)

1 The hand of the LORD came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. 2 Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry. 3 And He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” So, I answered, “O Lord GOD, You know.” 4 Again He said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! 5 Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. 6 I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the LORD’.”

7 So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them. 9 Also He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live’.” 10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army.

11 Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, ‘Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. 13 Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves. 14 I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken it and performed it,’ says the LORD.”