PROPHESY TO THE DRY BONES
STUDY TEXT: Ezekiel 37:1-10
1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones,
2 And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.
3 And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest.
4 Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.
5 Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:
6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.
8 And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.
9 Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.
10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.
- Whenever the hand of God comes upon a man, it can be for blessing or for judgment. In the case of Ezekiel here, the hand of God came upon him for a blessing. But in other instances, it can come for a curse, a punishment or a judgment. For instance in Acts 13:8-11, the hand of God came upon Elymas for a curse.
Acts 13:8-11: But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith.
Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him,
10 And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?
11 And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand.
- When it comes for blessing, certain things will be evident as we can see in the life of Ezekiel, there will be:
1. Divine leading.
2. Divine enlightenment or insight.
3. Divine fellowshipping.
4. Divine empowerment.
- It is my prayer that the hand of God will always be upon you for blessings and not for a curse in Jesus name. We are going to look at this study under three headings.
1. The problem with the dry bones.
2. The prophecy to the dry bones.
3. The progress to the dry bones.
1. THE PROBLEM WITH THE DRY BONES. Ezekiel 37: 1-3
1. They were many.
-The problem of any individual are always many, and most of the times people get discouraged and weighed down because of the multitudes of their problem, but the good news is that the multitude of problem cannot hinder the power of God. God has solution to every problem and He is not intimidated by them.
- The man with the legion of demons thought he could intimidate Jesus by their number, but Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit sent all of them out. I prophesy to your life that all the problems of your life shall give way to the power of God, and your joy shall be full in Jesus name.
2. They were very dry.
- This has to do with the length of time they have been there and also indicated that their condition was a very hopeless one.
- No situation is hopeless before God until we declare them so. Lazarus had been buried for four days, and all hope were lost about his case, and the people believed as at that time he will be decaying and stinking, but Jesus said despite that, there is hope for every situation when God is involved in it. He called upon God and Lazarus came back again to life and the body was restored back fresh.
- I declare into your life that your Lazarus in the grave shall come out to live again by the power of God and your lost hope shall be restored in Jesus name.
3. They were in a valley.
- In the valley, they had no opportunity for liberty. The devil specializes in keeping people in the valley where he will want them to remain permanently under his bondage.
- Jesus said we shall know the truth and the truth shall make us free. It does not matter the valley of satanic bondage you are locked up, you can be set free if you give your heart to believe the truth of the word of God.
- You can be free from the valley of sin by surrendering your life to Jesus and receive the new life He will give you with joy. Then you will be free from the valley of sicknesses, oppressions, poverty and all kinds of satanic bondages.
4. They were in an open valley.
- They were left in an open valley for public show, disgrace and reproach. Satan is always interested in you being disgraced and reproached. He came to steal, to kill and destroy, but Jesus came that you will have life in abundance, and He said instead of reproach and shame, you will have double honour. I pray that shall be your portion in Jesus name.
- Three things are obvious in this study:
1. There was critical evaluation of the problem.
2. There was correct description of their condition.
3. There was divine attention to their condition.
- Any time you are seeking divine intervention over any case; you must critically evaluate the situation and correctly describe them in the place of prayer.
- Whenever there is divine attention, four things are bound to happen as we can see in this case study:
1. There is divine mandate: a messenger raised with authority
2. There is divine pronouncement for a positive change
3. There is divine deliverance from the challenges and hopeless situation.
4. There is divine possession and restoration of all that were previously stolen or destroyed.
2. THE PROPHECY TO THE DRY BONES. Ezekiel 37: 4-6
1. The prophecy is from the divine instructions.
- God is committed to His word, If He said it, He has the power to bring it to pass and He will do it. If we will believe God for divine intervention we must be certain that we follow and do His will.
2. The prophecy describes the bones in their real condition.
- We should be bold to describe the situation to the Lord because He knows them already and He is not intimidated by the multitude or the magnitude of the problem.
3. The prophecy reveals the power of God and the willingness of God.
- Not only that God can do all things, but He is also willing to do all things to those who believe in Him and trust in the power of His name.
- Unbelief and lack of faith is one of the greatest hindrances to our divine interventions and we must deal with it.
4. The prophecy has provision for total recovery and restoration.
- If God will do it, He will do it perfectly well, if He started it, He will also bring it to completion.
- By believing in God, we can have total healing from our sicknesses, total deliverance from our bondages and total restoration of our loses.
5. The prophecy is set to glorify the name of God.
- God will not do anything except for His glory. You must give room for Him to glorify Himself in your life. The reason why He allowed Lazarus to die was to take a greater glory in his life.
3. THE PROGRESS OF THE DRY BONES. Ezekiel 37: 7-10
1. Total obedience to God brings about total divine support.
- Ezekiel obeyed the Lord and did as he was commanded, so everything he said came to pass.
- We are ready to punish all disobedience only when our own obedience to the Lord and His word is complete.
2. The word of God is quick and powerful it brings actions immediately.
- God is committed to His words, and because He can not lie, His words must surely come to pass.
3. The first step in restoration is to obtain victory over the enemy.
- The enemy is never happy for your deliverance and restoration and he will do all things possible to resist it. The noise here was a fighting back from the enemy, but despite their resistance, they could not stop they word of God from coming to pass.
- There was also a shaking, so that all the hold of Satan can be loosed and the strong holds pulled down.
4. After you have done the speaking, God does the doing.
- We need to take action without doubt when we are sure God is sending us. We can not help God to fulfil His word; He will perform all that He will say through His servant.
5. No life without the Holy Spirit.
- Just like the bones could not have life without the spirit, for us to succeed and survive in our walk with the Lord and our work for Him, we need the fullness of the Holy Spirit.
6. Divine restoration will come with a greater glory.
- When God is bringing restoration, He is going to give a better blessing so that He will take a greater glory.
- The following situations can be your dry bones:
1. A condition of sinfulness.
2. A state of satanic oppression.
3. A condition of great lack.
4. A situation bringing shame and reproach.
5. A condition of hopelessness.
6. A situation beyond your control.
7. A situation of emergency needing divine intervention.
- Whatever it is, the power of God is not limited and He will bring deliverance, solution and restoration to your case in Jesus name.
- But you must receive Jesus as your Lord and saviour if you have not done so, and make a decision to live for Him all the days of your life.
