Episode 74 - Recreated, Reclaimed, and Brought Back to Life: Ezekiel and the dry bones

Welcome back to the Sojo Show! In this episode, we're looking at Ezekiel 37, comparing it to Romans 8, and showing how even when you are in the middle of your despair, when there seems to be no life left,  the Spirit of God will breathe new life into your circumstances. 

And… today we are talking about skeletons! Oooh spooky, lol! What we are talking about actually is an interesting story in the Old Testament: Ezekiel 37. Like skeletons, this is  very fascinating and picturesque of what we experience as New Testament believers who trust in Christ. 

Ezekiel was a prophet when the people of God, the Israelites, were in rebellion. And today’s story is about his vision. 

Ezekiel was set in the middle of a valley full of bones and the Lord led him among them. He prophesied as he was commanded, and as he prophesied, there was a sound and behold a rattling and the bones came together. Then the Lord breathed life into these dry bones!

This analogy is not hard to get. If you go back to verse 14 where it says, 

“I will put my spirit within you. And you will come to life.”

That is the picture of what He does for us spiritually. When we are dead, we are dried, we're absolutely helpless and hopeless apart from Jesus Christ. And yet He breathes his new life into us and we are actually dwelt by the very spirit of God. 

We have compared this with Romans 8: 9-11 which says “However, you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the spirit of God dwells in you.:

We can just see that so clearly demonstrated in this Old Testament story of the Valley of Bones.

This is one of the times where the Old Testament clearly points to this truth in the New Testament, but this is also one of the rare times that the idea of resurrection actually comes into play too in the Old Testament.. 

Now we have the full canon of Scripture.

We have the full knowledge of the cross of Calvary, and we see that this spirit of resurrection and the resurrection of Christ is what allows this next part where the Holy Spirit breathes on us and makes us alive! 

We can put ourselves in this valley of dry bones. The spirit of God dwells in us. That's who we are. 

And sometimes we feel that we are sitting, dried and used up, in our own failure. 

That's what this story represents of all of the things: He created those people with those bones initially, but then he recreated them to give them new life. He made us in his image when we were still in our mother's womb. He knew everything about us. But that was not where our story ends. 

When you are in despair, when you don't have enough faith to even know the answer to the question. REMEMBER that's not the end of it. He didn't just make us and create us, but he recreates us. He created in us a new heart. The scripture says he breathed new life into us and that is why we can turn to him and say we are going to trust HIM. 

When I am at the end of it, when all I see is dry bones, when all I see is despair, when all I see are circumstances that I'm in no control of, I can trust HIM.  

Remember that God has reclaimed us. 

And I think that is the culmination of not just this story and the old Testament, but the gospel:

It's the culmination of the gospel and of the work of Christ on the cross. We can see God. And in doing so, we can show that to others through our lives and through our testimonies.  

Remember to call out to God. He is faithful. He'll meet you where you are and he will put your dry bones back together. 

We encourage you to read Ezekiel 37 and Romans 8. Read those two chapters together today and let God speak to you through them.

Are you ready to embark on an exciting journey through many of the familiar (and a few not-so-familiar) stories in the Old Testament to see how they connect with the themes of Romans 8?

Well, grab your gear because that’s exactly what we’re getting ready to do inside Sojo Academy throughout April's Bible study.

Join us HERE.