Ezekiel 37:1 - Meaning and Application

Here we have a vision of resurrection from death to life, and it is a glorious one. This is something nature cannot explain and cannot produce. We would not think of it at all unless God spoke it to us, yet his word makes it certain.

Some have used this vision to support the final resurrection of the dead. They argue that, otherwise, it would not be a fitting sign to strengthen faith in the promise of deliverance from Babylon, just as the promise of the Messiah strengthened faith in an earlier rescue (Isaiah 7:14). Whether or not that is the main point, the vision clearly gives a vivid picture of three kinds of resurrection, besides the one it was first meant to sign.

First, it pictures the resurrection of souls from the death of sin to the life of righteousness. This is a holy, heavenly, spiritual, and God-centered life, brought by divine grace working with the word of Christ (John 5:24-25). Second, it pictures the resurrection of the gospel church, or any part of it, from a suffering and persecuted condition into freedom and peace, especially under the bondage of New Testament Babylon. Third, it pictures the resurrection of the body on the great day, especially the bodies of believers, which will rise to eternal life.

We should notice the details of the vision. The prophet was first shown the miserable condition of these dead bones. By a prophetic impulse and divine power, he was carried in the vision into a valley, probably the same plain mentioned in Ezekiel 3:22, where God had spoken with him before. The valley was full of bones, dead men’s bones, scattered across the ground. It looked like the remains of a terrible battle, where the dead had been left unburied until the flesh was gone and only the bones remained, broken apart and scattered everywhere.

He walked around among them and saw that they were very many. That is true of the dead in general, for multitudes have gone to the grave. He also saw that they were very dry, long exposed to sun and wind. Bones that once held marrow lose all moisture after death and become dry like dust. The body is now protected by bones, but then the bones themselves are helpless.

The Jews in Babylon were like those dead, dry bones. They seemed unlikely ever to come together again, unlikely even to become a skeleton, much less a living body. Yet they lay unburied in the open valley, which gave hope for resurrection, as it did for the two witnesses in Revelation 11:8-9. The bones of Gog and Magog were to be buried, because their ruin was final (Ezekiel 39:12, 39:15). But Israel’s bones were in the open valley, under heaven’s eye, because there was hope for them in the end.

The prophet was also made to confess that their case was hopeless unless God himself intervened. The Lord asked him, “Son of man, can these bones live?” in other words, is this possible at all? Can you figure out how it could happen? Can human wisdom restore life to dry bones, or can human policy bring back a captive nation? The prophet answered, “Lord God, you know.” He did not say, “They cannot live,” because he did not want to limit the Holy One of Israel. He left the matter with God, as if to say, “If you do not give them life, then they certainly cannot live.” God knows both his own power and his own purposes perfectly, and he wants us to trust them. His wonderful works can be done only by his own counsel and power.

The means used to gather these scattered bones and give life to them was prophecy. Ezekiel is told to prophesy over these bones (Ezekiel 37:4, 37:9) and to prophesy to the wind. He obeyed as he was commanded (Ezekiel 37:7, 37:10). He had to preach, and he did so, and the dead bones lived because God gave power to his word. He also had to pray, and he did so, and the dead bones lived in answer to prayer, because the breath of life entered them.

This shows the power of the word and prayer, and the need for both, in the raising of dead souls. God tells his ministers to prophesy over dry bones. They must say to them, “Live,” and say it again, and again: “O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.” Yet if we call and call, and still they remain dead and very dry, we must pray earnestly for the Spirit to work with the word: “Come, O breath, and breathe on them.” God can save souls without our preaching, but our preaching cannot save them without God’s grace, and that grace must be sought by prayer.

Ministers must use the means of grace faithfully and diligently, even when there seems little hope of success. To prophesy to dry bones seems as hopeless as watering a dry stick. Yet whether people listen or refuse, we must do our duty and prophesy as we are commanded, in the name of the One who raises the dead and gives life.

The result of these means was wonderful. Those who obey as they are commanded, even when the work looks discouraging, need not doubt that God will bless his own appointed means. Ezekiel spoke over the bones in the valley, and they became human bodies. First, he was to tell them that God would surely bring them to life: “Thus says the Lord God to these bones, You will live” (Ezekiel 37:5-6). The one who speaks the word will also do the work. The one who says, “They will live,” will make them alive. He will cover them with flesh and skin, as he did at first (Job 10:11). The God who made us in such a wonderful way can remake us too, for his arm is not too short.

Then the bones were shaped together anew. We may picture the prophet speaking with growing strength as he saw what he said begin to happen. The opening, sealing, and applying of God’s promises are the usual ways he gives us a new, divine life. As Ezekiel prophesied in this vision, there was a sound from heaven answering his words. It may have been the movement of the angels, used as servants of God’s providence in delivering the Jews, since we read of the sound of their wings (Ezekiel 1:24) and the sound of their going (2 Samuel 5:24). And there was a shaking, a stirring among the bones.

Even dead, dry bones begin to stir when they are called to hear the word of the Lord. This was shown when Cyrus, the Persian king, proclaimed freedom, and those whose hearts God had stirred began to think about using that freedom and preparing to leave. When there was a sound, there was also a shaking. When David heard the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, he acted at once, and the ground seemed to shake. When Paul heard the voice say, “Why are you persecuting me?”, there was also a shaking of dry bones, for he trembled and was amazed.

But that was not all. The bones came together, bone to its bone, under God’s direction. Even though there are many bones in the human body, not one bone from those many slain was lost. None missed its way, and none missed its place. Each one seemed to know where it belonged and found its partner. The scattered bones came together, and the separated bones were joined again. God’s power supplied to these dry bones what every joint supplies in a living body.

This is what will happen in the resurrection of the dead. The scattered parts will be gathered and arranged in their proper place and order. Every bone will come to its bone by the same wisdom and power by which God first formed the bones in the womb of a pregnant woman. In the return of the Jews, it was much the same. Those scattered through different parts of Babylon came back to their own families, and all, as if by common agreement, gathered at the appointed place to return together.

Little by little, sinews and flesh came upon those bones, and the skin covered them (Ezekiel 37:8). This was fulfilled when the captives gathered their belongings and the people around them helped with silver, gold, and whatever else they needed for the journey back (Ezra 1:4). Even then, there was still no breath in them. They still lacked the spirit and courage needed for such a hard and risky task as returning to their own land.

Then Ezekiel looked up and prophesied to the wind, or breath, or spirit, saying, “Come, O breath, and breathe upon these slain.” Dry bones would have been no better than dead bodies. But God’s work is complete. He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. So the breath was called for, so that they might live. In response, the breath came into them at once (Ezekiel 37:10). This shows that the spirit of life comes from God. At creation, he breathed into man the breath of life, and at the resurrection he will do the same.

So the discouraged and hopeless captives were wonderfully strengthened. They gained courage to push through every obstacle in the way of their return. They set themselves to it with great energy. Then they stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army, not just living men, but useful men, fit for war and able to face anyone who opposed them. With God, nothing is impossible. He can raise children to Abraham from stones, and he can raise an exceedingly great army from dead and dry bones to fight his battles and defend his cause.

This vision also fits the miserable condition of the Jews in captivity. “These bones,” he says, “are the whole house of Israel,” both the ten tribes and the two. Here we see what they are now, and what they will become. First, they are brought very low, into deep despair (Ezekiel 37:11). They give up on themselves as lost. They say, “Our bones are dried up, our strength is gone, our spirits are gone, our hope is lost. Everything we looked to for help has failed, and we are cut off for our part. Let others keep hoping if they will, but we see no reason for hope.”

When troubles last a long time, hopes are often disappointed, and every human source of help fails. Then it is no surprise if people lose heart. Nothing but active faith in God’s power, promise, and care can keep their spirits from dying completely. Yet despite this low point, they are to be raised to great prosperity. Because things have come to their last extremity, Ezekiel is to prophesy to them and tell them that now is God’s time to act for them. “In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen” is the thought here, meaning God will provide where all seemed lost (Ezekiel 37:12-14).

They are to be told, first, that they will be brought out of the land of their enemies, where they are like people buried alive: “I will open your graves.” Those who are only scattered at the mouth of the grave are not the only ones who will be restored (Psalm 141:7). Even those who are buried in the grave will be brought out. The enemy’s power may seem like the bars of a pit, impossible to break, strong as death and cruel as the grave, yet God will overcome it. He can bring his people up from the depths of the earth (Psalm 71:20).

Second, they will be brought into their own land, where they will live in peace and prosperity: “I will bring you into the land of Israel” and “place you there” (Ezekiel 37:12, Ezekiel 37:14). God says he will put his Spirit in them, and then they will live. He gives spirit to us for a good purpose when he gives us his Spirit, so that we truly live. In all this, God will be honored. “You will know that I am the Lord” (Ezekiel 37:13), and that I have spoken and done it (Ezekiel 37:14). When God gives life to the dead, it brings great honor to him and to his word, which he has lifted above everything else in his name, and which he will continue to honor by carrying out every part of it exactly.