Ezekiel and the Valley of the Dry Bones

Ezekiel 37


In the book of Ezekiel, starting in chapter 37, we find the story of the valley of dry bones. It was actually a vision of the future that the Lord showed to Ezekiel. It went like this.

Ezekiel said, “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 dry bones.”
And the Lord said to me, “Ezekiel, I want you to take a stroll around this valley and look at all these bones.”

Ezekiel did what the Lord said, and he saw that there were many, many bones in that valley. He also noticed that they had been there for many years because they were very dry.
Then the Lord asked Ezekiel this question. “Ezekiel, can these bones live?”

Ezekiel replied, “Lord, you are the only one who knows the answer to that question.”
Then the Lord told Ezekiel to prophesy to those bones and say, “Oh, ye dry bones, Hear the word of the Lord! Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and will cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall know that I am the Lord.”

Ezekiel did exactly what the Lord told him to do and prophesied to those old dry, dusty bones.
Poor Ezekiel, the Lord sure had him do some mighty weird stuff in his day. Eating a roll, cutting off all his hair, lying on his right side 40 days, and on his left side 190 days, eating cow dung, and now he’s got to preach to dead bones. Can you imagine yourself talking to dead bones? I’m sure Ezekiel felt a bit funny talking to all those bones. But funny as it may seem, he obeyed the voice of the Lord.

Did you know that Ezekiel didn’t even get a chance to finish telling those bones everything the Lord wanted him to? He did not even finish his sentence, before there was a noise, and the ground started shaking. I imagine it almost felt like a small earthquake. Right in front of his eyes, Ezekiel saw the bones shake around and come together. The Bible says that every bone to his own bone. What a sight that must have been. Especially if a leg bone was at one end of the valley, and the foot bone to that paticular leg bone was at the other end.

Well, after all those bones came together, the most amazing thing happened. In verse 8 of chapter 37, the Bible says that the sinews, and the flesh came up upon all those bones. Now the word sinews means, a tendon that unites the muscle to the bone. So he saw the sinews first appear. Then the muscles and the flesh came upon the bones. Last of all, skin appeared and covered them from head to toe. They just laid there in that valley and didn’t move. They were like dead corps because they had no breath in them.

Then the Lord said to Ezekiel, “ Prophesy to the wind and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, Oh breath, and breath upon these slain, that they may live.”
So Ezekiel did exactly what God commanded him to do. He prophesied to those dead corps lying all around, and the Bible says in verse 10, that breath came into all those dead bodies, and they rose to their feet, and became an exceeding great army.

After seeing all this take place, the Lord then explained the vision to Ezekiel. He told Ezekiel that all those dried up, dead bones were the whole house of Israel. For they said, “Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.” Chapter 37, verse 11.

Their bones were dried up, and they were cut of because of their sins. Because of their rebellion against God, and their disobedience, and idolatry, God could not have fellowship with them. And without fellowship with God, you just dry up and die. But you know what God told Ezekiel to prophesy to the Children of Israel? He said, “I want you to tell them that there’s going to come a day when I’m going to open their graves. I’m going to cause them to come up out of their graves , and I’m going to bring them back to their own land. Then after I have opened your graves and brought you back to the land of Israel, I will put my spirit in you, and you shall live.”

The story of the valley of dry bones is a picture of the children of Israel in a valley all their own. Without hope, and without the help of their God, they have been in that valley for many years now.

The dry bones coming together is a picture of God opening up their graves, and gathering them together again as one nation. And the breath that Ezekiel prophesied about which came down and enter into those dry bones in the valley is a picture of God putting his spirit back into his chosen people, verse 14. There will come a day when God will wipe all tears away, and restore them back into their own land. When that day comes, God says in verse 14 also, “Then ye shall know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it.”

Why did the Lord choose a valley? Well, the word valley means “Low ground.” I would like to take this story and apply it to our own lives spiritually.

There are many reasons for a valley in the life of a Christian. The Lord will lead us down to the valley quite often to humble us. If he left us on the high hills and mountain tops, we’d tend to forget him. Everything goes well on the mountain top. Have you ever heard the expression, “I’ve had a mountain top experience.” Well, an experience is something that only happens in just a short amount of time. That’s why the mountain top is just an experience, because if everything goes well all the time, we wouldn’t need God at all. When all is going well with us, we have no reason to rely on God or trust him for anything, right? So the Lord likes to keep us humble by leaving us down in the valley sometimes.

Another good thing about the valley is, you can only look up. So the more you’re left down in the valley, the more you have to look up. But I’m so glad God lets us have those mountain top experiences once in a while. In the middle of my valley, when my Mom died, the Lord gave me a mountain top experience when he showed me a rainbow. I’m sure glad he brings us out of the valley every now and then.

Also, it’s in the valley that he restores our soul. One of my Mother’s favorite song’s was, “In the Valley, He Restoreth My Soul.” It was in the valley that the Lord restored life to those dry bones. You know what I found out about the Lord? He likes restoring helpless things, dead things. He likes taking nothings, and making somethings. He likes the nothings because he gets all the glory when everything is said and done. You know, after God restored life to those dry bones, he tells Ezekiel just why he did it. The reason is found at the bottom of verse 6. “And ye shall know that I am the Lord.”

Last of all, those dried up old bones were restored when they received breath. And how did they receive breath? Through the word of the Lord. It’s only by the breath of God that my dried up old bones are restored in the valley. When I feel like I just can’t make it anymore, and my bones are dried up and brittle, and I’m about ready to break, all I need to do is pick up God’s word and let him breath on me through it. Only then am I restored. My bones get refreshed.

Proverbs 16:24 says “Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.” God’s words are pleasant to my soul and health to my bones. God’s word is the only thing that keeps me going. I thank God for the valleys in my life. He’s been the lily of all my valleys.