God’s Word causes Dry Bones to become Living, for the Lord is the Savior of the Dead

In Ezekiel 37 God gave the prophet a vision of a valley full of dry bones, which represented the house of Israel, and He told him to prophesy over them; the result was that the Spirit came in, breathed on them, enlivened them, and produced a great army.

We may think that these dead, dry bones (which were “very dry”) represent the unbelievers, who are dead in sins and offenses, and we are partially correct; these bones also represent us.

The Lord asked Ezekiel, Son of man, can these bones live? to which he said, Lord, You know. Many times when the Lord asks us something, the answer is in the question; often the Lord may come to us with a question seeking an answer, and the answer is actually the question itself.

It is the Lord’s desire that these dry bones would live – otherwise He wouldn’t ask such a question.

To us it may seem impossible for dead and very dry bones, which are not only lifeless but also disjointed and dismembered, to live; but the Lord can speak, we can be one with Him in His speaking to prophesy, and the Spirit can come in to enliven any dead and dry bones to enliven them and form them into a corporate Body, the Body of Christ, forming them into an army, and building them as God’s dwelling place.

It is God’s desire to impart life to man and make man His corporate expression; He created man in His image and according to His likeness, and He wants to impart His own life into man so that man would live by the divine life for the fulfillment of God’s purpose.

However, even after man is regenerated, he may fall, he may become not only sick or sinful but even dead, lifeless, and disconnected from the Body of Christ; in such situations, the Lord wants to come in to breathe in His life as His Spirit into His people and make them His Body, His army, and His building.

May we open to the Lord for His speaking in His word to realize that even we as believers in Christ may be held in graves as dead and dry bones, and we need the Lord’s Spirit to breathe on us so that we may be enlivened and formed into His army fighting for His interest and purpose on earth.

The Vision of the Dry Bones shows that before God came in, we were Dead and Buried in “Graves”

The bones in the valley full of bones in Ezek. 37 are not the bones of pagans or gentiles but the bones of the house of Israel; these were the bones of God’s people.

In other words, we as the Ezekiels of today need to see a vision of the fact that many of God’s people – the believers in Christ, the saints of God, our brothers and sisters, God’s elect – are dead spiritually like dry bones; they are dried up, cut off from life, lost, and even buried in the grave.

The vision of the dry bones shows that before God came in to renew and regenerate us, we were not only sinful and filthy (Ezek. 36:25) but we were also dead and buried in “graves” of various sinful, worldly, and religious things (Ezek. 37:12-13).

God’s salvation is not only for those who are sinful but also for those who are dead. In God’s sight, when we were fallen – either as a sinner or as a backslidden believer – we were dead and buried in a grave.

We may think that as believers we are full of life and living, but there may be many “graves” where our dead and dry bones are buried; we may be buried in various sinful things, worldly entertainments, or dead religion.

If we look at the situation among Christians today, all of them are living outwardly – humanly, but inwardly and spiritually they are like dry bones, dried up, with no life in them, but scattered and dead.

God wants to come to enliven His people, that is, to regenerate them, revive them, renew them, put His life into them, breathe Himself into them, so that they would come out of their entombment and submerged condition.

The situation in Christianity in general today is quite sad, very much like the vision of Ezekiel in Ezek. 37; there’s just deadness here, fragmentation, dismemberment – not just corpses but bones, dry bones everywhere.

This is the situation not just in the secular world but also in the religious world of Christendom; here we have not only sin, dirtiness, or filthiness, but death, deadness, and believers are buried under the earth in graves of various sinful, worldly, and religious things.

What about us? Are we in any kind of grave? Is anything holding us and burying us as a grave? Our job, our business, our marriage, our family life, and all these legitimate, normal, and good things can be some kind of a grave in which our bones are dry and dead.

Furthermore, the worldly things, the sinful things, and the religious things are graves to us. We were like dead and dry bones, disjointed and scattered, having no oneness; death not only kills us and renders us lifeless and useless, but it also makes us disconnected, disjointed, and separated from the fellow members of the Body.

The poor condition of God’s people today is such that they are disjointed, separated, divided, and scattered all over the place, with no oneness whatsoever.

Whether we were an unsaved sinner or a backslidden believer, this was our situation; not only unbelieving sinners need to be delivered from their graves, but even many brothers and sisters need to be revived and delivered from death and from their graves. We need to tell the Lord honestly,

Lord Jesus, You know our real condition and situation, and You know what graves keep us dead as dry bones. Come in, Lord, to renew us and regenerate us. We admit that we are not only sick, filthy, and sinful, but we are also dead and buried in graves of various sinful, worldly, and religious things. Oh Lord, we need You! May Your Spirit come in to enliven us and build us as Your corporate Body, form us into Your army, and build us up as Your dwelling place! Lord, we pray for all the brothers and sisters who are like the dry bones in Christianity: come in as the Spirit and bring life to them, build them into Your Body, and form them as Your army!

The Lord is the Savior of the Dead and God’s Word can cause a Dead Person become Living

Today so many Christians are “buried” in the “graves” of denominations, divisions, independent groups, sects, and all kinds of missions, ministries, and movements; they are dead, dry, scattered, disjointed, and not connected to anyone.

Many of them realize their dead situation and condition, and they cry out tot he Lord. The Lord wants to come again and speak as He did in Ezek. 37:12-13,

Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord Jehovah, Now I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, O My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel. And you will know that I am Jehovah, when I open your graves and bring you up out of your graves, O My people.

We need the Lord’s light to shine on us and expose what grave keeps us slain, dead, and dry, and we need to come to the Lord again and again, so that His life would work in us to tear open the grave, cause us to come up out of this grave, and be revived.

Our Lord is not only the bread of life, the light of life, the resurrection life, and the Redeemer, but He is also the Savior of the dead; He said, An hour is coming, and it is now, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live (John 5:25).

It is a blessing to realize that we are dead and that we need the Lord to enliven us. We need to pray for ourselves and for all our fellow brothers and sisters in all the denominations and groups in Christianity, that we all may see how much we need the Lord come in to revive us, enliven us, and build us up as His Body.

Typically next to a “church” (a church building, that is), there is a graveyard with dead people; many times when you pass by a Catholic church, an Orthodox church, an Anglican church, etc you see the graveyard next to it. This is a sad yet real illustration of the church today – Christendom is a humongous place with dead bones in it….

Formerly we also were in such graves; we were dead, dry, scattered, disjointed, and not connected to anyone, but the Lord as the Savior of the dead spoke to us, called us out, and enlivened us! God’s word can cause a dead person to become a living person (Eph. 2:1-8).

There’s nothing that God hates more than death; He hates death even more than He hates sin. This is why He came as the tree of life to man. Our ultimate problem is not the problem of filthiness or sin, but death and scattering.

When we are dead in our offenses and sins, we are scattered, and we cannot be one with anyone; everyone is for himself, existing independently. We need to experience the Lord as the Savior of the dead, hear His voice, and be enlivened by His Spirit.

Lord, thank You for being the Savior of the dead. May all those who are dead hear Your voice and live! Oh Lord, open the graves of all the dead and dry bones, the believers who are held in graves in Christianity, and enliven them, revive them, renew them, and bring them into the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ as the good land. Lord, come in to open the graves and bring up out of the graves all those from Your people who hear Your voice! Amen! Lord, we confess that even we ourselves are dead and dry – we’re like a pile of dead, dry bones. We need Your life to come into us. We need You to breathe the breath of life into us so that we may live!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Ezekiel, msg. 18 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of Ezekiel (2), msg. 1 (week 13 in the HWMR), The Dry Bones being Enlivened to Become an Exceedingly Great Army and the Two Pieces of Wood Being Joined Together for the Building of the House of God.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Lord, speak Thy Word, upon us breathe; / Behold, dry bones fill all the earth / In graves and scattered ‘round in death; / Lord, speak and breathe upon us! (Hymns #844)
  # While we yet were weak and helpless, / Christ the Son of God did come. / By His word we’re now enlivened; / He’s the life-imparting One! / Hallelujah for this Jesus, / He’s the Word of life to men; / From law’s bondage He releases, / Death is turned to life again! (Hymns #1185)
  # I once was dead—dead in my sins; / Behaved myself in lust of flesh. / By nature such a child of wrath, / Even as the rest. / But God being so merciful / Because of His great love to me / Enlivened me I’m now in Christ / Seated in the heavenlies. / But that’s not all! I’m with the saints. / Together we’re His workmanship, / His masterpiece expressing Him / In the heavens and on earth. (Song on being dead in sins)