While You’re Trusting God

Speak a prophetic message to these bones.   Ezekiel 37:4

Belief in the sovereignty of God is never an excuse to sit back and do nothing. Ezekiel had trusted God with the future, but now God had something for him to do: preach to the bones.

This is one of the strangest commands in the Bible. Imagine what was going on in Ezekiel’s mind: You want me to talk to bones? Do I have to speak out loud? I’d feel stupid. Can’t I just think my sermon?

Why would God want the prophet to preach in a situation where hearing, understanding, and responding are impossible? The point of the exercise is simple—every time someone presents the Word of God to an unbelieving person, it’s like appealing to dry bones. The Bible says that until God makes us alive through Jesus Christ, we’re spiritually dead (see Ephesians 2:1-5).

There’s something inherently absurd about sharing the gospel. Maybe you’ve felt the pain of this. You speak to a friend about Christ, and there’s no response! Ezekiel might have objected that God was calling him to do something that had no chance of success. But God called him to preach anyway. So he did.

As he spoke, an amazing thing happened: there was movement in the graveyard. Nothing had moved in that valley for years, but now as Ezekiel preached, he saw bones coming together to form skeletons, he saw tendons connecting the bones, and then flesh and skin (see Ezekiel 37:7-8). It was incredible!

Bones speak of structure, tendons of unity (holding the bones together), flesh (which includes muscle) of strength, and skin of appearance—but there was still no breath. The church can have marvelous structures, united people, the great strength of resources, and an attractive outward appearance yet still have no life.

God does amazing things when his truth is proclaimed. Parents can teach their children God’s truth; churches can run magnificent programs. We can pass out tracts and go on marches. All such activities are good. Yet none of these things, in themselves, will raise the spiritually dead. Our only hope is the Spirit of God breathing life into the dry bones.

For further reading, see Ephesians 2