Revival Series

• Like the dry bones of Ezekiel, Human beings (as verse 1 specifies) enter the world spiritually dead. They have no inclination or responsiveness toward God and no ability to please God. Neither Ezekiel, the bones themselves or humanity today can change the situation. To escape this hopeless imprisonment requires nothing short of a new birth or a new creation by God (Eph. 2:5). God brings revival, regenerates/makes alive. This does not occur because of our own doing/works (Eph. 2:8-9, but because of God unmerited favor (grace) given through the gift of faith. The glorious job of preaching (v.17) is the gift of proclaiming this message, so the Spirit can use the words to bring life.

Verse 5 explains how the revival will occur: “Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you”. The word translated breath is translated in other places as wind or Spirit. The breath sent by God into the lifeless bodies symbolizes the Holy Spirit (v. 14), who brings renewal, regeneration, and rebirth (see vv. 6, 9; John 3:5–8; 6:44; 7:37–39; 16:5–15; Rom. 8:9–11) (Radmacher, E. D., Allen, R. B., & House, H. W. (1997). The Nelson Study Bible: New King James Version (Eze 37:5). Nashville: T. Nelson Publishers.).

The real agent, therefore, in the resuscitation of the bones, revival, was to be, not the prophet or the word itself, but the breath/spirit (ruach) of God working through the word. The Spirit is the breath of life, as in Gen. 6:17 and 7:22 (comp. Gen. 2:7; Ps. 104:30; Isa. 26:19). The breath/spirit (rûaḥ) represents the divine animating force without which no life is possible (Judg. 15:19). Only God, from whom all life derives (Eccl. 12:7), can revive these bones (Block, D. I. (1997–). The Book of Ezekiel, Chapters 25–48 (p. 376). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.).

• Like a deflated balloon, the breath brings it to fullness. For a fire that is nothing but smoldering, the breath can bring it back to a roaring flame. The Holy Spirit will bring the spiritually dead to life and the spiritually inert to Revival.

To close off this section in The Preaching of the Word, the process of revival in verse 6 is now divided into two stages—a preliminary stage which should effect the reconstruction of the external skeleton, by bringing together its different parts and clothing them with sinews, flesh, and skin (comp. Job 10:11); and a finishing stage, which should consist in animating, or to “put breath in,” the reconstructed skeleton; corresponding to the two stages into which the process of man’s original creation was divided (Gen. 2:7). The result would be that the resurrected and reanimated bones, like newly made person, who would know the Lord. Therefore, Yahweh’s goal in reviving these bones is not simply the biological-chemical reconstitution of the body or even the restoration of physical life. He desires spiritual revival: a new recognition of and relationship with himself (Block, D. I. (1997–). The Book of Ezekiel, Chapters 25–48 (p. 376). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.).