6.26.2026 - Lisa Liou

Friday, June 26, 2026

Ezekiel 37:4-6

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.’”

Of all the prophets in scripture, Ezekiel is probably the strangest. To name a few oddities, he

had to lie on one side of his body for 390 days and the other side for 40 as well as cook his food

over human excrement, though he protested and God let him use cow dung instead. He did

these things as prophetic symbols for God’s punishment and frustration with his people and to

explain what they would have to face.

But, Ezekiel 37 shows one of the more hopeful parts of the book. It’s a vision where detached

skeletal bones laying in a valley are commanded to hear the word of the Lord and come alive.

Harkening back to the Spirit’s breath in Genesis, God promises to make breath enter them as

well as connect the bones with tendons and cover them with flesh. Even more prophetic than

the New Testament resurrection where bodies come alive again, like Lazarus or Jairus’

daughter, these are just scattered remnants of life. The vision shows God’s promise to renew

these very old, dry, dead pieces of humanity and restore them back to living, breathing humans.

The valley of dry bones is a symbolic picture. God’s people are as good as dead. Spiritually

they, and all of us, are as helpless as dry bones apart from God. No matter how many times

God gives grace, we still keep on sinning and walking away, individually (like David), and

corporately (like the whole Israelite nation in exile). Ezekiel’s vision is not dissimilar from John’s

in the book of Revelation. “Behold, I am making everything new.” These bones are being

renewed, reborn, and recreated.

We are so accustomed to a culture of scarcity and limited resources that it is hard for us to

imagine a being such as God who has unlimited resources and a spiritual power that exists to

renew everyone and everything. Christ's healing and renewing power never runs dry, and the

Holy Spirit is the one who breathes that life into us, making us new creations.

God can take a stubborn-hearted people and give us hearts of flesh again.

Where do you see evidence of God’s people living like dry, dead bones? Spend some moments

in silence getting in touch with God’s heart to renew those dead parts with breath, tendon, and

flesh through the Holy Spirit. Offer your prayers to God for this type of renewal for the Church.