Dry Bones (Ezekiel 37:1-3)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/16/2015 10:29 AM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  Dry Bones Ezekiel 37

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Ezekiel 37:1-3

            Message of the verses:  “1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones. 2 He caused me to pass among them round about, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and lo, they were very dry. 3 He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" And I answered, "O Lord GOD, You know."”

            Ezekiel to say the least had a very interesting life as a prophet of the Lord and now we begin to see another very interesting portion of his life as we begin to look at the prophecy of the Dry Bones.  There is an old song that if I can find the lyrics to I will post it here as it was taken out of this portion of Scripture. 

Dry Bones Lyrics

Them bones, them bones, them dry bones
Them bones, them bones, them dry bones
Them bones, them bones, them dry bones
Now hear the word of the Lord

Them bones, them bones, them dry bones
Them bones, them bones, them dry bones
Them bones, them bones, them dry bones
Now hear the word of the Lord

You know the foot bone connected to the ankle bone
The ankle bone connected to the leg bone
The leg bone connected to the knee bone
Now hear the word of the Lord

You know the knee bone connected to the thigh bone
The thigh bone connected to the neck bone
The neck bone connected to the head bone
Now hear the word of the Lord

You know the thigh bone connected to the shoulder bone
The shoulder bone connected to the neck bone
The neck bone connected to the head bone
Now hear the word of the Lord

Them bones, them bones, them dry bones
Them bones, them bones, them dry bones
Them bones, them bones, them dry bones
Now hear the word of the Lord

You know the head bone connected to the neck bone
The neck bone connected to the shoulder bone
The shoulder bone connected to the thigh bone
Now hear the word of the Lord

You know the thigh bone connected to the hip bone
The hip bone connected to the thigh bone
The thigh bone connected to the knee bone
Now hear the word of the Lord

You know the knee bone connected to the leg bone
The leg bone connected to the ankle bone
The ankle bone connected to the foot bone
Now hear the word of the Lord

You know the bones get together and they ‘gin to talk
The bones get together and they ‘gin to walk
The bones get together and they ‘gin to shout
Now hear the word of the Lord

Hear the word of the Lord
Them bones, them bones, them dry bones
Them bones, them bones, them dry bones
Them bones, them bones, them dry bones
Now hear the word of the Lord

            I can’t imagine what Ezekiel thought when he saw this vision, but here we find him in a valley of dry bones and then the Lord tells him to prophecy to these bones after He asked him if these bones could live.  Ezekiel saw a lot of things that were weird and wonderful and this is certainly one of them as we begin to look at chapter 37.

            Dr. Wiersbe entitles the third main point from his commentary taken from the eleventh chapter of his book “Resurrection: the nation Reborn.” And we will begin today to look at the first sub-point under this heading, “The dry Bones which covers verses 1-3 of chapter 37.

            Dr. Wiersbe writes “The prophet was looking far down the corridor of time to the end of the age when Jesus the Messiah would return and claim His people.  Ezekiel told the people that the dead nation would one day be raised to life, and the divided nation would be united.”  He then adds in an endnote:  “There is an interesting parallel between Ezekiel 37 and Ephesians 2, for both chapters deal with resurrection and reconciliation.  Paul deals with the dead sinner raised to life (Eph. 2:1-10) and saved Jews and Gentiles reconciled in the one body, the church (vv. 11-22).  It’s clear, however, that Ezekiel’s focus is on God’s dealings with the nation of Israel and not the salvation of individual believers.”

            We can do a bit of review of Ezekiel as we begin this section.  When we first meet Ezekiel we saw the Spirit of the Lord take him to sit among the discouraged exiles by the canal in Ezekiel chapter three, next the Spirit took him in a vision to Jerusalem to show him what the people of Judah were doing as they worshiped idols in the temple.  Now we see him in the Spirit take to a valley of dry bones and many of these bones were bleached bones scattered on the ground.  This is some kind of sight for him to see and I imagine it was a bit discoursing for him to see a lot of human bones in a valley with no life in them.  What he was seeing were bones of the children of Israel in this valley, bones that were left there from the battles with the Babylonians because of the sin that they had committed against the Lord and His covenant with them.  Deuteronomy 28:25-26 states “25 GOD will defeat you by enemy attack. You’ll come at your enemies on one road and run away on seven roads. All the kingdoms of Earth will see you as a horror. 26 Carrion birds and animals will boldly feast on your dead body with no one to chase them away (Message).”  This is what happened to them as they battled with the Babylonians because of their sin.  Jeremiah writes “I will give you to your enemies, and they will kill you. Your bodies will be food for the vultures and wild animals (Jer. 34:20 (NLT).”

            In his vision the Lord tells him to walk around these bones and then the Lord asks him “Can these bones live?”  Now if I would have been there looking at these dry, bleached bones my human answer would have probably been “I don’t think so,” but then again because I know the Lord and remember that He had made Eve out of one of Adam’s ribs I may have thought that the Lord can do whatever He wants to do.  Paul writes the following in Romans 4:17 “That is what the Scriptures mean when God told him, “I have made you the father of many nations. This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing (NLT).”  Dr. Wiersbe’s writes “Ezekiel’s reply didn’t question the power of God; it only expressed the prophet’s conviction that God knew what He was going to do and was able to do it.”

            I have only looked at this portion of Ezekiel in a way that spoke of God bringing the people of Israel back to the state of Israel, but I am so glad for the teaching of Warren Wiersbe as he brings the spiritual points into this portion of Scripture as he relates it to people who are just as dead as these bones and because of Jesus Christ who took the place of these dead people on the cross those who are as dead as these bones can have new life in Christ.

4/16/2015 12:41 PM