THE VALLEY OF DRY BONES
Ezekiel 37, John 5:25, Ephesians 2

The valley of dry bones stands as revelation of resurrection before resurrection is seen in history (Ezek 37:1-14). The passage begins not with searching or partial life, but with death, carried by the Spirit to a valley full of bones, and with a verdict upon those bones: very dry (Ezek 37:1-2). Christ Himself interprets all Scripture (Luke 24:27; Luke 24:44-45). The Scriptures testify of Him (John 5:39). God spoke in former times through prophets, and in these last days has spoken by the Son (Heb 1:1-2). All things were created through Him and for Him, and in Him all things hold together (Col 1:16-17). The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy (Rev 19:10). He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). From Him, through Him, and to Him are all things (Rom 11:36). The valley must therefore be read in Him, not as a picture of human possibility, but as a display of what God alone does with the dead.

THE DEAD ARE WHOLLY DEAD, AND DRYNESS IS THE DOCTRINE

The hand of the Lord brought Ezekiel out in the Spirit and set him down in the middle of a valley full of bones (Ezek 37:1). The prophet was made to pass among them, and the bones were very many upon the surface of the valley, and very dry (Ezek 37:2). Dryness is the measure of death. Bones scattered and dried declare long death, total death. Scripture teaches that this is the condition of man apart from God. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick (Jer 17:9). The mind set on the flesh is hostile to God, does not submit to the law of God, and cannot do so (Rom 8:7). The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God (1 Cor 2:14). The bones contribute nothing to their own rising.

The Lord asked whether these bones could live (Ezek 37:3). The prophet answered that the Lord God knows (Ezek 37:3). The answer confesses that life, if life comes, belongs to knowledge and power outside the bones. Jesus said that with man salvation is impossible, but with God all things are possible (Matt 19:25-26). The law brings knowledge of sin (Rom 3:20). The command to live does not imply ability to live. The command exposes death and magnifies the Giver of life. The valley is not a summons to bones to improve. The valley is a stage for God to show that He raises the dead.

THE WORD COMES FIRST, AND PROPHECY IS THE INSTRUMENT OF RAISING

The Lord commanded Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones (Ezek 37:4). The prophet was told to speak to dry bones and to say that they should hear the word of the Lord (Ezek 37:4). Hearing here is not a capacity exercised by the dead. Hearing is created by the word spoken. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ (Rom 10:17). The word of God is living and active and pierces to division of soul and spirit (Heb 4:12). Prophecy in Ezekiel is therefore not prediction alone. Prophecy is proclamation that effects what it announces, because the Speaker is the Lord.

Ezekiel prophesied as commanded, and as he prophesied there was a sound, and a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone (Ezek 37:7). The rattling marks the power of the word to order what was scattered. The word gathers. The word joins. The word appoints each bone to its place. The bones did not assemble themselves. The word assembled them. Resurrection begins not with breath, not with feeling, not with decision, but with the word of the Lord spoken over death.

SINEWS, FLESH, AND SKIN SHOW FORMATION WITHOUT LIFE

After the rattling, Ezekiel looked, and sinews appeared upon the bones, and flesh came upon them, and skin covered them (Ezek 37:8). The vision proceeds in stages, and the stages carry doctrine. Sinews bind. Flesh fills. Skin covers. The bodies become complete in outward form. Yet the text adds a decisive qualification: there was no breath in them (Ezek 37:8). Formation is not life. Order is not life. Completeness of structure is not life. A body can be assembled and still be dead.

Scripture draws the same distinction elsewhere. The Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and only when He breathed into the nostrils the breath of life did man become a living creature (Gen 2:7). Formation preceded animation. Jesus taught Nicodemus that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit (John 3:6). The flesh profits nothing where the Spirit is absent (John 6:63). The stage of sinews, flesh, and skin therefore rebukes every doctrine that mistakes reformation for regeneration. Reformation arranges the corpse. Regeneration raises it.

THE BREATH IS THE SPIRIT, AND THE SPIRIT IS THE LORD

The Lord then commanded Ezekiel to prophesy to the breath (Ezek 37:9). The prophet was told to call upon the breath to come from the four winds and to breathe upon the slain, that they might live (Ezek 37:9). The Hebrew word for breath in the passage is the same word for spirit and wind. The three meanings are one doctrine: the Spirit comes as wind, unseen in origin and irresistible in effect, and imparts breath where death reigned. Jesus taught that the wind blows where it wishes, and its sound is heard, but its origin and destination are not known, and so it is with everyone born of the Spirit (John 3:8). The Spirit is not summoned by the dead. The Spirit is sent by the Lord. The Spirit is sovereign in movement, free in operation, and effectual in result.

Ezekiel prophesied as commanded, and the breath entered them, and they lived and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army (Ezek 37:10). Life entered from outside. The bodies did not inhale by effort. The breath entered them. The grammar preserves the order: breath first, life second, standing third. Standing follows living. Living follows breathing. Breathing follows prophecy. Prophecy follows command. The chain begins in God and ends in a standing army. The Lord then explained the vision. The bones are the whole house of Israel (Ezek 37:11). The people said that their bones were dried up, that hope was lost, and that they were cut off (Ezek 37:11). The Lord answered that He would open their graves and bring them up out of their graves (Ezek 37:12). The Lord promised to put His Spirit within them, and they would live (Ezek 37:14). The promise joins two acts that must not be separated: opening graves and indwelling Spirit. The same joining appears in the promise of the new heart, to remove the heart of stone and to give a heart of flesh, and to put His Spirit within to cause obedience (Ezek 36:26-27).

THE DEAD HEAR THE VOICE OF THE SON AND LIVE

Jesus interprets the valley in His own words. He said that an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live (John 5:25). The resurrection is not only future. The resurrection is present wherever the voice of the Son sounds. The dead who hear are not the physically deceased alone. The dead are those dead in trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1). The voice of the Son is the word that raises.

The connection between Ezekiel and John is exact. In Ezekiel, the bones hear the word of the Lord (Ezek 37:4). In John, the dead hear the voice of the Son of God (John 5:25). The Speaker is one. The Son is the Lord who speaks in the valley. The Word that formed the bones is the Word that became flesh (John 1:14). The breath that entered the slain is the Spirit that the Son sends (John 15:26). The Father raises the dead and gives life, and so the Son gives life to whom He will (John 5:21). Life is in the Son (John 5:26). Whoever hears His word and believes Him who sent Him has eternal life (John 5:24). Faith is present possession. He who believes HAS eternal life (John 6:47). The same truth appears in the new birth. Unless one is born again, the kingdom of God cannot be seen (John 3:3). Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, entrance into the kingdom is impossible (John 3:5). The birth is not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:13). Man is either slave to sin or slave to righteousness (Rom 6:16-18).

THE DEAD IN TRESPASSES ARE MADE ALIVE TOGETHER WITH CHRIST

Paul expounds the same valley in Ephesians. Paul teaches that men were dead in trespasses and sins, walking according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, among whom all once lived in the passions of the flesh (Eph 2:1-3). Deadness in Ephesians is moral and spiritual, not merely physical. The dead walk. The dead follow. The dead obey the prince of the power of the air. The activity of the flesh is not life. The activity of the flesh is the motion of death.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved, even when the dead were dead in trespasses, made them alive together with Christ (Eph 2:4-5). The turning point is not man. The turning point is God. Mercy is the motive. Love is the ground. Making alive is the act. Grace is the means, for by grace salvation is given (Eph 2:5). The dead are made alive together with Christ. Life is given in union with Christ. The resurrection of Christ is the resurrection of His people. The Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead dwells within those who belong to Him, and the same Spirit will give life to mortal bodies (Rom 8:11).

Paul continues that God raised the dead up together with Christ and seated them together with Christ in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph 2:6). The standing army of Ezekiel becomes the seated assembly of Ephesians. The valley ends with feet upon the ground. Ephesians ends with a seat in the heavens. The two pictures are one doctrine at two distances. The seating is present possession, not future aspiration. The one who believes HAS eternal life (John 6:47). The purpose of the seating is display: God shows in the coming ages the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward His people in Christ Jesus (Eph 2:7). Salvation is therefore by grace through faith, and faith itself is not from man, but is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast (Eph 2:8-9). His people are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand (Eph 2:10). Good works follow the making alive, as standing followed breathing in the valley. Works are the fruit of life, not the price of life.

THE ARMY THAT STANDS IS THE BODY RAISED FOR WAR AND WITNESS

The valley ends not with scattered individuals but with an army (Ezek 37:10). The army is exceedingly great. The greatness belongs to the Lord who raised it. The army stands upon its feet. Standing in Scripture is the posture of resurrection, of readiness, and of witness. The saints stand before the throne (Rev 7:9). The army is a new host, formed by the word, animated by the Spirit, and appointed to the service of the King.

The New Testament names the same host as the body of Christ. Christ is the head of the body, the church (Col 1:18). The body is the organism raised from death by the Spirit. The members were once dead, and now live together in Christ (Eph 2:5-6). The unity of the army is the unity of the Spirit (Eph 4:3). The weapons of warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds (2 Cor 10:4). The warfare is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, authorities, and spiritual forces of evil (Eph 6:12). The army stands, therefore, not by its own might, but by being clothed in the armor of God (Eph 6:11). The historical layer shows Israel restored from exile, brought up out of graves of captivity, and given the Spirit (Ezek 37:12-14). The gospel layer shows sinners dead in trespasses made alive together with Christ (Eph 2:1-6). The eschatological layer shows the final resurrection, when the dead hear the voice of the Son and come forth (John 5:28-29). Christ is the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep (1 Cor 15:20).

CHRIST IS THE RESURRECTION, AND THE BRIDE IS THE END OF THE RAISING

Christ is the center of the valley because Christ is the resurrection. Jesus said that He is the resurrection and the life, and that whoever believes in Him, though dead, shall live (John 11:25). The resurrection is not only an event. The resurrection is a Person. To be joined to Him is to be raised. To be separated from Him is to remain in death. The bones live because the Breath enters them, and the Breath is the Spirit of Christ (Rom 8:9). The Spirit indwells, and indwelling is union. The union is the new birth. The new birth is the valley fulfilled.

The end of the raising is the wedding. Scripture teaches that Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, to sanctify her, to cleanse her by the washing of water with the word, and to present her to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, holy and without blemish (Eph 5:25-27). The presentation is the goal of the raising. The valley produces an army, and the army is the bride made ready. The marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready, clothed in fine linen, bright and pure (Rev 19:7-8). The readiness is not self-made. The linen is the righteous deeds of the saints, and the deeds are the workmanship of God prepared beforehand (Eph 2:10). The bride is presented because the Bridegroom raised her. All things move toward one end: the presentation of a spotless bride to the Son (Eph 5:31-32). The mystery is profound, and the mystery is Christ and the church (Eph 5:32).

The valley of dry bones therefore teaches one doctrine from beginning to end. The dead are wholly dead. The word speaks. The Spirit breathes. The dead live. The living stand. The standing become a bride. From Him, through Him, and to Him are all things (Rom 11:36). The glory belongs to the Lord who opens graves, puts His Spirit within, and raises an exceedingly great army to stand before Him (Ezek 37:10; Ezek 37:14).