“And he said to me, ‘Son of man, can these bones live?’ And I answered, ‘O Lord God, you know.’ Then he said to me, ‘Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.’” (Ezekiel 37:3-4)
When the prophet Ezekiel first saw the image the Valley of Dry Bones he interpreted it as the spiritual death of Judah, of all Israel. Israel and her people had become as useless, defiled, and unclean as these dry human bones. Their utter corruption is what caused God to punish them with the destructions of the nation and the exile of the people as slaves in Babylon. Nevertheless, the Lord promises to restore them to life just as he does in the image: by His word spoken by the Holy Spirit through the prophet.
The Valley of Dry Bones is an image which represents spiritual deadness. This image, is one which we can apply to our nation and perhaps the world. There is a spirit abroad which rejects all authority including the authority of the Lord God Almighty. We see it in the violence that fills our world, with people demanding what they want regardless of how it affects others or whether it is right or wrong. In fact, the spirit abroad in our land maintains what is right or wrong is determined by the individual not God. Therefore those who reject God are dead in their sins. The dry bones represent the spiritual deadness of every human being, the deadness and decay brought about by sin and self-centeredness.
The Word of God is the real authority. His Word teaches us that each person is dead in his or her sins. The Word also teaches us that the Lord desires to come and breathe new life into each by His Holy Spirit, just as we saw at Pentecost and just as happens now when a person is brought by the Spirit of God to faith in Christ. Only the Lord God has the power to create spiritual life out of what is spiritually dead, not our government or any social movement or scientific theories. This is accomplished by the good news of Jesus spoken through the prophets, apostles and the church by the power of the Holy Spirit.
The Lord commanded Ezekiel to speak His words that accomplished the resurrection of those dead bones. And He commands us to do the same. We speak the truth of God’s word in Christ Jesus to those who are spiritually dead, so that the Lord may raise them into His eternal life.