Dry Bones Series

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.

Now, unless you’re a magician, this was an impossible situation. How do you bring life to something which is obviously dead? When was the last time you faced what appeared to be an impossible obstacle? Do you remember feeling hopeless?

Verse 1 tells us that the Spirit of God was upon Ezekiel, which basically means Ezekiel had a very, very deep spiritual experience in which God took him somewhere. It could be a physical place, it could be a spiritual vision, nonetheless, God brought Ezekiel to a valley filled with dry bones. The bones represented the Israelites. They had been conquered and exiled and any chance of returning to the good old life, to life as normal were gone. They had to learn a new culture and new way to live away from home, with a foreign people who oppressed them.

Dry bones are as dead as you can get. Ask a doctor and they will tell you, you cannot bring life back to a bunch of disjointed dead bones. There’s no way humanly possible. This is not a story about a doctor resuscitating someone.

This is far, far worse. This is LONG dead. The body is not just dead – it’s gone! Notice that God makes it a point to tell Ezekiel that these bones are VERY DRY! This means, there really is no hope from a human standpoint. You can’t bring like to dead very dry bones! No way! Can these bones represent you and I? Are we those dried up bones? People of no hope, people who have no more wants and desires?

It’s one thing to believe in God for a miracle to heal the sick or even to raise a person who has just died. Remember the story when Lazarus died. Martha was hopeful, but by the 3rd day, hope was gone. She told Jesus “if only you had been here.” Maybe God can raise the dead, but can even God raise dry bones to life?

Situations in life can be like that sometimes can’t they? There may be issues in your life that seem difficult, but you’re trusting in God to get you through. However, as time goes by these situations grow worse. Still there might be hope that they will be resolved. Over time hope fades and at some point dreams die within you and become hopeless situations. Like these dry bones.

Take a good look at Annie Clark. This 2nd grade girl was born with no hands. Yet, she won a penmanship award in the state of Pennsylvania. Annie, as well as her parents could have given up, but there was no way. She’s a confident girl who tutors other kids and wants to be an author. Good for her! Talk about overcoming?

God looks at Ezekiel and asks, “Son of man, can these bones live?" Most of us would give a quick and simple answer, “No way!” Ezekiel replies “O Sovereign LORD, you alone know.” His answer is hopeless despair.