God had called His people, the Jews, out of captivity in Egypt. For over 100 years, they had been in Egyptian captivity. God brought them into the Promised Land, and gave them a land and a king, and made them a nation. But – they turned against God, and God allowed them to go into captivity once again.
Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian army invaded Israel. They had reduced Solomon’s Temple to ashes, and had taken many of the Jewish people back to Babylon as captives. This is the condition Ezekiel is in. The nation of Israel is dead. The exiled captives have last all spirit and energy. But with the restoration will come a restored energy to the people.
This anointed man, with God’s Spirit on him, was given a vision and in that vision he was taken to a valley. In the valley he saw a heart-breaking sight. The valley was covered with bones. God led him all around and had him look at the valley and at the bones from several angles and several viewpoints. Everywhere he looked there were bones.
As Ezekiel looks at the bones he notices several important truths about the bones.
#1. The Condition of the People
#A. God’s People were Dry – v. 2
For years Ezekiel had tried to encourage the captives living in Babylon. For years he had tried to remind them of the power, and the might, and the faithfulness of God. Every time he tried to encourage them, he was met with skepticism.
“ . . . the bones are very dry and crumbling into dust."
Though not actually buried, they are slowly burying themselves in their progressive decay. The evidence of death is complete. It is beyond the power of any known physical law to breathe the ghastly fragments into life. A nation, or an individual, so utterly defunct seems beyond the possibility of recovery.” – (The Preacher’s Homiletic Commentary)
I believe there are several reasons that can lead to a dryness in your life, to dryness in your spiritual life. These will sap the joy from your life and leave you just trying to make it from day to day.
#1. Disobedience
Disobedience, unconfessed and undealt with will leave your life dry.
Psalm 51:8 “Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice.”
This verse is from the Psalm David wrote describing his condition and praying for God’s forgiveness after he sinned with Bathsheba and had her husband killed. David said, “Lord, since I have sinned, You’ve crushed my bones. The joy is gone. The energy is gone from my life. My excitement and enthusiasm is gone. I’m just hanging on. God, my sin has done this.”
Unconfessed sin will leave you dry.
#2. Discouragement
Continual difficulties, setbacks, and just plain old discouragement will leave you dry.
For 10 years the Israelites had been captive. At first they thought God was going to work in a great way. At first they thought He was going to rescue them. They thought things were going to be okay. Now the bondage continued day after day. The captivity continued. They saw no hope in sight.
Do you ever feel like that? You try to get ahead, you work on your finances, but it seems like just about the time you are about to get your head above water, an unexpected bill comes your way.
Have you ever give up hope on a friend or family member? You’ve prayed for that person again and again. You cannot count the nights you’ve shed a tear. You’ve prayed and yet it seems that nothing ever improves.
Are you dry today?
Ezekiel looked around and he saw the bones, the people were dry. He also noticed a second characteristic about the bones and that is that they were scattered.
#B. God’s People were Disjointed – v. 7
v. 7 “. . . the bones came together”
Most of the time when we see skeletons on TV and such, regardless of how old they are or how dry they are, those skeletons are usually together for the most part. They may not be in perfect shape, but at least the bones are together.
Not here. The bones, God’s people, were disjointed. The people, when they had gotten dry, when they fell into disobedience, when they got discouraged, they became disjointed. They had so many things going on in their lives, that when they became dry and lost the purpose for their lives, they started going everywhere and doing everything. They had looked for more hours in the day so they could do more things and it just didn’t work. They forgot what was supposed to be central in their lives and they came apart.
Are you ever like that? Do you ever ask yourself – am I going or coming? We have to remember we were created by God, for God. When you get dry, when you are disobedient, when you are discouraged, it is easy to become disjointed.
God’s people were dry, disjointed and thirdly. . .
#C. God’s People were Distracted – v.2
As Ezekiel looked in the valley, he noticed that there were bones all over the place. There was no rhyme or reason to where they were.
Sometimes that happens with us as Christians today. We get discouraged and become dry. We take our eyes off of God and in our individual lives we find ourselves running around this way and that. Then, we get distracted and after a while we forget we’re fighting an enemy. We can forget there’s a battle going on.
Have you ever found yourself so busy you found yourself taking your spouse or your kids for granted? You didn’t mean anything by it. You got busy and distracted.
The same thing can happen in church. Sometimes we get so busy that we begin to take one another for granted. We quit taking care of each other. We quit praying for each other. We figure someone else will teach that class or give financially or help out with that ministry. We get so busy doing stuff we forget we’re called to work together.
God doesn’t want us to get disjointed. He has the cure for dryness. He has the cure for disjointed lives and families. He has the cure for distractions.
#2. The Cure for the Problem
#A. Hear and Apply God’s Word – v. 4
READ: v. 4
I am reminded of the prayer of David in Psalm 119:25, “Quicken Thou me according to Thy word;” and the Lord Jesus has told us, “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life” (John 6:63).
So when the life-giving Word goes forth in the energy of the Holy Spirit even dry bones will be revived and will know that God has spoken.
Notice that Ezekiel doesn’t proclaim his own message, but that of the Lord’s. He spoke the words of God.
Look with me at the results of the bones hearing and applying the proclaimed message – READ: vv. 7-10
What I want you to see is that in verses 5-6, God told Ezekiel exactly what He would do. In verses 7-10 we see it come to be.
“The people could not be truly restored unless they were reformed and renewed in heart and character. . . What happened to ancient Israel happens to all the people of God. They are restored to true life and prosperity by means of a spiritual resurrection. Souls are dead in sin. The world is like a valley of dry bones – ugly in its wickedness, helpless in its confusion, utterly unable to save itself. But Christ has come to give new life to the souls of men. . . The gospel is thus supremely a message of life. It comes to us in our most degraded, desolate, despairing condition. It brings life and incorruptibility to light.” – (The Pulpit Commentary)
When God tells us in His Word what he will do, we must trust Him. However, don’t miss the part that Ezekiel had to do his part – the preaching – before God would do His.
#B. Pray that God will Work – vv. 8-10
They became an army again. They became a nation. They became what God wanted them to be.
READ: James 5:16-18
CONCLUSION:
A short while before Dr. J.B. Chapman passed away, he was addressing a gathering of preachers, when he said, “We have reached the place where one plays a handsaw and another gives a ‘life story’, gathering a big crowd and we call that revival. No! That is not a revival; that is a farce. Tears, sweat, and blood are the price of revival, and some of us are not willing to pay the price.”
Can dry, dead bones live? With God, nothing is impossible. Sometimes we look around us, and all we see is a valley of dry, dead bones. It looks pretty hopeless . . . it looks pretty devastating . . . it looks pretty grim.
But God’s got a plan. Get into His Word and He’ll speak to you. Yield to the Holy Spirit, purge the sin in your life and God will give you a new life.
Can dead, dry bones live? With God, nothing is impossible. If you have never trusted Jesus to save you, you are still living in the graveyard of dead, dry bones. Believe His Word when it says that Jesus paid your sin-debt on the cross. Trust Him to save you and He will give you a new life.
Can dead, dry bones live? That’s up to you!
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