Can These Bones Live?

James Ritchey

This article is based on a lengthier sermon preached called “Can These Bones Live.”  The full sermon expounded Ezekiel 37:1-14.  All Scripture quotations are taken from the English Standard Version.

The prophet Ezekiel was called by God during the fifth year of Judah’s captivity in Babylon.  The people were being judged, in exile for their sin and idolatry.  Ezekiel himself would have been about thirty years old when he was called to be a prophet, and his ministry lasted about 22 years. 

In Ezekiel 37, we see a picture of hope that God is going to restore His people.  Ezekiel has just heard of the promise of regeneration and renewal, which we read in chapter 36, but here in chapter 37 there is a stunning picture of what God will do when He restores His people from exile.  But it goes deeper than that, for this passage gets to what God does when He brings dead sinners to spiritual life.  

We read in verse 1 that it was “the hand of the Lord” that brought Ezekiel “out in the Spirit of the LORD,” and that the valley to which the LORD took him was “full of bones.”   These were not just bones; “they were very dry” (verse 2). What we see here is a picture of man in the state of sin.  Man is dead in sin. 

But even as the Lord shows Ezekiel this seemingly hopeless picture,  we read in verse 3 that God asks the question, “Son of man, can these bones live?”  Ezekiel answers in the right manner, “O Lord GOD, you know.”   Ezekiel knows that if anyone is to bring life to these dry bones, it must be God Himself.  Ezekiel cannot do this work; only God can do it. 

But God is going to use the means of Ezekiel’s preaching.  One of the reasons we hold so strongly as a denomination to the free offer of the Gospel is because in God’s sovereignty, He chooses to use the means of preaching.  We read of this in Paul’s epistle to the Romans:

“How then will they call on him in whom they  have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’ But they have not all obeyed the gospel.  For Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?’ So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”  (Romans 10:14-17)

So God commands Ezekiel in verse 4-6, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.  Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: Behold, I will  cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.  And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the LORD.”  Once again we are seeing the reality of the dryness and deadness of the bones.  There are not even sinews upon them.  But the Lord is going to use the preaching of His Word to bring the dead to life, and He will give them new life. 

Ezekiel obeys, and we read in verse 8, “And I looked, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone.  And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin covered them.  But there was no breath in them.”  What we read next demonstrates to us that men are called effectually and born again when the Spirit works by and with the Word in their hearts, for we read in verses 9-10, “Then 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.” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.”   That word “prophesy” in verse 9 has to do with praying–Ezekiel prayed that the Spirit would come and breathe upon the slain.  It was the Spirit working through Ezekiel’s proclamation of the Word that we see the Lord using to bring the dead to life.  Ezekiel was called to prophesy and to preach, but God was the One who brought dead sinners to life by His sovereign power.  Similarly, though we do not hold the office of prophet, preachers are called to proclaim God’s Word.  We are called to preach about who God is and who man is; we are called to preach the glories of Jesus Christ; we are called to preach about the perfection of His life in which He lived for sinners; we are called to preach of the reality of the finality and completion of His work at the Cross where He bore the penalty of sin, namely the wrath and curse of God,  in full for sinners; we are called to preach that He is risen and ascended; we are called to preach about justification by grace  alone through faith alone, and we are called to proclaim that those who are found in Jesus Christ have His righteousness imputed to them.  We are called to preach Christ from both Old and New Testaments and to trust that God will use it for His purposes. 

The question that we often face in the ministry is this: What hope do we have in proclaiming the Word?  We know that this valley of dry bones describes well the state of man. Men, apart from Christ’s work, stand dead and condemned before God.  As ministers in the church, do we not likewise call out to a valley of dry bones?  What hope is there in our evangelistic efforts and indeed in our preaching itself?  Well, the passage we have been considering shows us that we are not alone in preaching the Word.  We depend upon the Spirit’s sovereign power.  We can trust that the Word does not return void, not because of our ability to be eloquent or because of our own cleverness, but because the Spirit works through the preaching of the Word.  It is the Spirit who changes hearts and lives as He works by and with the proclamation of God’s Word. 

So do not lose hope and do not lose heart as you continue to preach the Word.  Do not lose hope when it comes to personal evangelism, and inviting your friends and neighbors and co-workers to church.  Keep sharing the Word, keep preaching the Word, and keep praying that the Spirit will raise the dead to life.  He is powerful to do this; He has done this many times throughout church history, and He is faithful to do it still.