#DailyDevotion Before Christ We Were As Dead As Very Dry Bones
Ezekiel 37:1–14 1The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. 2And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. 3And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” 4Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 5Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. 6And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.” 7So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them. 9Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” 10So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.
The LORD was showing Ezekiel a vision; A valley of dry bones. These bones were very dry. They had no life in them. He asks Ezekiel if these bones can live to which he can only reply, “Lord Yahweh, you know.” And so the LORD commands Ezekiel to prophesy over the bones speaking to them what the LORD is going to do to them. As Ezekiel spoke the bones came together, the foot bone to the ankle bone, the ankle bone to the leg bone, the leg bone to the hip bone and so forth, now hear the word of the LORD. Sinew and flesh came upon them but there was no breath and the LORD commanded him to prophesy again and the Spirit came upon these dead men and gave them life.
Now, the LORD will tell Ezekiel in the following verses, these bones are Israel. And indeed they are. The LORD will raise Israel from the dead. But we too, like ancient Israel walking around as we are, are just as dead as those dry bones. Paul tells us, Eph. 2:1 “You, too, were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in which you once followed the ways of this present world and the ruler whose power is in the air, the spirit who is now working in the people who disobey.” Yes, our minds were set on the flesh which is death. You were as dead as very dry bones.
But the LORD our God was kind to us. He sent men in the spirit of Ezekiel to prophesy to us,
“Turn from your sins and believe in the LORD Jesus Christ. He died for your sins and gives the gift of eternal life to all who believe in him.” The Spirit took that word, implanted it in us and gave us life. Whenever the Scripture is read and proclaimed the Spirit accompanies it convicting men of their sins and converts their hearts, makes them alive so they may believe in Jesus and have his life in them unto all eternity. When he has us baptized with the water and the word, the Spirit is there with the word raising us from our spiritual death and giving eternal life to us. Don’t close your ears to the Spirit’s witness. Repent of your sins and believe the good news of Jesus that in him you have the forgiveness of all your sins.
Heavenly Father, give us your word of prophecy concerning your Son Jesus Christ, so the Spirit may accompany that word, give us repentance and faith so we may no longer be dead but have eternal life in his name. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.