If you don’t read the Bible and picture that what it says actually happened, then you’ve probably never been freaked out by Ezekiel’s made-for-TV account in the 37th chapter of his book. Here’s the short version: he spoke to a valley full of bones that had been there so long they were dry and saw them re-attach to each other, grow ligaments, sinews, skin and become an army. This is very Stephen King-esque, and probably not the type story you tell your kids as you tuck them in bed at night.
“Sleep tight, sweetie. It’s possible that while you’re dreaming, all the inanimate objects in your room will come to life and have swords. Can I get anything else for you before I turn out the light and close the door? A cup of water? A bodyguard? Change of underwear?”
In this DVR-crazed period of living, we’ve become so good at fast forwarding to the end of things that we miss the important lessons that are only learned along the way, and this story is full of them. Let’s start with the obvious one at the very beginning.
When God is looking to raise the dead, He puts us in the middle of impossible situations. Notice in verse 1 where God placed Ezekiel. He didn’t put him at the top of a cliff overlooking a valley of dry bones, but instead He set him down squarely in the middle of the valley, surrounded by the bones. When it comes time for the Lord to raise up dead generations, He isn’t interested in placing us high above as an observer of the process. God is looking for people who are willing to stand in the very heart of what appears dead and too far gone and be catalysts for the life-giving change He wants to bring.
Notice the question that God asked in verse 3: “Can these bones live?” It looks like another one of those classic “duh” questions that God is so quick to ask, but dig a little deeper and I think you’ll find that God is always looking in our hearts to see if we have hope for something that is so obviously beyond our ability to do and understand. Sure, it’s easy to say no to bones living, and if it were up to you and me, that answer would be correct. But Ezekiel knew that God wasn’t just asking about any bones. He was asking about bones that He had created, and that He’d given life to immovable bones before (Gen. 2:7). Ezekiel answered correctly: “You alone know.”
One more quick observation before we move on to the next verses. Perhaps it’s time that we stop trying to think our way out of the unthinkable. Maybe what God is working in our generation is something that is beyond our abilities, reason, and resources. Just maybe He is looking to do with us what He did with Ezekiel, and that’s why we find ourselves perplexed in the middle of something that looks wrong, impossible, and dead. Maybe this is right where our Lord wants us, so that we can do what He wants done, not what we think should be done.
That’s exactly what happened next for Ezekiel. After he had answered that only God could know if dry bones can live, he surely thought he was mistaken when God told him to do something. “Prophesy to these bones.”
“Umm, you want me to talk to bones on the ground?”
I can see Zeke looking around to make sure no one was watching, and I would imagine he may have felt pretty odd. Apparently, when God is resurrecting a generation, He isn’t that concerned with how we feel or look. Take a look around the Bible and you’ll find lots of men and women doing some ridiculous things for no other reason than God told them to. Walk on water, raise the dead, speak to a rock, walk across a river on dry ground between heaps of water. If our dignity is the most critical issue, then we’re going to do very little for God, because He was the essence of undignified when He came to our rescue (read Philippians 2:5-11).
Ezekiel was told to speak to 2 things: the bones and the breath. Without trying to simplify this too much, let’s agree that when it comes to being used by God to bring life to a dead culture, it requires that we are able to speak to man and to God. What was Ezekiel told to say to the bones, or the culture, that needed life? He was told to tell them the word of God (v. 4), the work of God (vv. 5-6), and the wonder of God (v. 6b).
How much time do we spend telling men what they already know? We’ve become masters at communicating the obvious, which really makes us monotonous communicators of nothing. Telling a sinner that he’s a sinner without telling him that there’s forgiveness would have been like Ezekiel standing in the middle of a valley full of dry bones pointing at each one of them and screaming red-faced, “You’re dead! You’re dead! You just lay around and don’t do anything to honor your Creator! Dead bones! Dead, dry bones!” But the Sovereign Lord told Ezekiel to speak to the culture about the truth of His word and the touch of His work. “Tell them that I will attach tendons, muscle, flesh, and that I will bring life.” In other words, when we stop telling the hurting around us what they already know (and believe me, they know their lives aren’t working out as planned) and start telling them the beautiful work God has planned for them, amazing things can happen! And they did.
When the prophet spoke the words of God to the bones, the bones started to move, causing a rattling noise to fill the valley. Tendons and flesh began covering the newly formed skeletons, and I’d imagine it took Ezekiel’s breath away. Only one problem. Verse 8 says that even though there was a lot of movement, there was “no breath in them.” Speaking of God to a dead culture has an impact. It creates movement, but it doesn’t necessarily create life. The best strategies are just that – the best we’ve got – and they will work to a point. They will transform an empty arena into seats filled with movement, but life doesn’t come until we stand between that culture and our God and speak to the breath.
Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.” (Ezekiel 37:9)
Ezekiel did just that. He understood where the breath came from and he understood why the breath was coming. It came from somewhere far beyond him, and it came to bring the dead to life. The Spirit of God isn’t worked up in us so that He can be poured out on us only for us. The Spirit of God – the very breath of God – comes as we call to Him: Come, mighty breath of God, and breathe life into those who are slain and who need what only You can give. The people who will stand in the middle of death and see God give life back to old bones will be intercessors. They will be the ones always standing somewhere between what is and what is coming, and when what’s coming becomes more of a reality to them than what is, they’ll seem a little odd to the bones around them.
Bone whisperers are unique. They are bold. They are untiring in their proclamation of the truth that God’s word will accomplish all that it is sent to do (Isaiah 55:11). They see people who others say are dried up and dead, and they offer the hope that there is a Spirit Who brings life, and that He is coming to revive them.
They whisper to the bones that there is more to this life than what they have known; that there is a God Who has great plans for them and will glorify Himself through their resurrection. And they whisper to God. They ask Him to send the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead (Romans 8:11) to the valley of bones waiting to be an army.
Can these bones live? Only God knows, and His answer is a resounding, “Yes.”
