When some of you ask me “How are you?” sometimes I answer by saying, “I’m alive and kickin!” It’s just something I picked up many years ago. But it is good to be alive! If you have ever been really sick, depressed, or extremely down, you understand that feeling, don’t you?
Sometimes we need to be reminded that we are alive! And when we feel nearly dead we need to be brought back up on a spiritual or physical high. Ezekiel 37:1-14 tells how Israel was compared to a valley of dry bones. They felt that hope was lost, but God was ready to give them life again. In this passage God gives a grim picture of His people. He delivered them, provided for them, blessed them according to His promises, and now sees them as a valley of dry bones. How sad. But does that describe us today?
The history of Israel and Judah in that particular period is recorded in II Kings 21-25, II Chronicles 33-36, and Jeremiah. An outline of Ezekiel shows the grim setting: (1) No Hope of Going Home - chapters 1-24, (2) No Hope to Escape Judgment - chapters 24-33, and finally (3) Hope for the Future - chapters 34-48. Since Ezekiel 37:1-14 is in the latter section we already know that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Put yourself in Ezekiel’s shoes. It is six centuries before the coming of the Messiah so no help is coming except through God and His prophets. Shortly before this, around 586 BC, Jerusalem was burned. Babylon, a ruthless people, controlled the world. The Jews had been in captivity for nearly 70 years. Ezekiel was a prophet during this exile during 2nd deportation, and Daniel was the in the 1st one. Ezekiel is prophesying the same message in Babylon that Jeremiah was preaching in Judah, that the people were in exile because of unfaithfulness. The future looks very dark and God’s people are discouraged. Ezekiel sees the need but everyone else has given up long ago.
The vision Ezekiel sees is absolutely amazing. He is taken to the valley of dry bones and God asks him “Can these bones live?” He responds by saying, “Only you can know.”So God commands him to preach to these bones so that Ezekiel would see that the Lord is God. Ezekiel did prophesy to the wind and the bones, muscles, and skin came together, but they had no breath. So God told him to preach to them and the breathe of life went into them and they lived again. When they stood up they were a great army.
Remember that only God can bring revival. God has not changed, nor will He ever change! The Lord can bring revival to any people, any time, any where. Have a great week!!!
You are loved.
Ray Reynolds, PhD
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