CAN THESE BONES LIVE?

April 15, 2026

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This week's devotions have been focused on demonstrating that the theme of resurrection has a more promenent place in the Old Testament than many people realize. True, it doesn’t present the doctrine of resurrection with the clarity that the New Testament does, but the seeds are unmistakably there, in poetry, prophecy, narrative, and even in Israel’s national hope. What we discover is a rich vision that demonstrates that God brings life out of death.

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Ezekiel 37:1-14

37 The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. ² He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. ³ He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”

⁴ Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! ⁵ This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. ⁶ I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

⁷ So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. ⁸ I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

⁹ Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” ¹⁰ So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.

¹¹ Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ ¹² Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. ¹³ Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. ¹⁴ I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.’”

 

The Old Testament prophet Ezekiel is carried by the Spirit into a valley with a landscape marked not by life, but by death. The ground is covered with long abandoned bones. They are dry, scattered, and completely lifeless. Every possibility for life has been exhausted.

However, in the midst of such a valley, God asks a question, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

Ezekiel answers sincerely: “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.” He recognizes what we often struggle to admit, that the limits of human perspective are not the limits of divine power.

As our reading continues, God commands Ezekiel to prophesy, but not to living people, rather to lifeless bones. What we encounter is that as the word of the God is spoken, there is a sound, a rattling. Bones come together. Sinews and flesh appear. Skin covers them. What was once ground covered with dry, scattered, lifeless, long abandoned bones, is now reassembled into human form. But notice, even in this reassembled form, there is still no life.

Then God speaks again, this time to the breath, the Spirit, the wind. As the breath enters, the bodies come alive. They stand on their feet, no longer a valley of death, but a vast and living army.

Ezekiel’s  vision is not merely about physical resurrection; it is a profound declaration of God’s power to restore what is completely lost. In the context of our passage today, the transformation of these bones was to speak to Israel in exile. They were a people who believed their story was over, that their identity erased, and understandably they had lost hope. God’s message to them is clear: “I will open your graves and bring you up from them… I will put my Spirit in you and you will live.”

The God who created life and raises the dead also meets us in difficult times. He doesn't just fix what's broken, He brings the dead to life and turns endings into new beginnings.

I am sure that we all have been through seasons in our lives when things felt beyond recovery, where faith had grown cold, where dreams withered. Ezekiel 37 reminds us that no situation is too far gone for the Spirit of God.

God still speaks.
The Spirit still moves.
And what is lifeless can live again.

 

Reflect

Is there an area of your life that feels like a “valley of dry bones”, beyond renewal or restoration?

Are you willing to trust God’s power in this area today, even when you cannot see a path forward?

 

Let’s Pray

Spirit of the living God, You breathe life into places where none exists, speaking to the dry and weary parts within me. Where hope has faded, bring it back to life.Where faith feels lifeless, breathe new life. Help me to trust not in what I see, but in who You are, the God who raises the dead.  Amen.