10/18/2026
Can These Bones Live?
A Teaching on Ezekiel 37:1–14
Introduction
Every one of us has stood at the edge of a valley. It may be a marriage that looks finished, a child who has wandered, a body worn down, a ministry that has gone quiet, or a dream that dried up years ago. In Ezekiel 37, God takes His prophet to a place like that and asks a question that echoes into our own valleys: “Son of man, can these bones live?”
1. God Brings Us to the Valley (vv. 1–2)
Ezekiel says, “The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones.” Notice three things.
God led him there. Ezekiel did not stumble into this valley. The Spirit of the Lord carried him. Sometimes we find ourselves in a dry place not because we have failed, but because God wants to show us something there.
He was set down in the midst of it. He was not allowed to view the valley from a safe hilltop. He had to see it up close.
He was made to walk around the bones. Verse 2 says God “caused me to pass by them round about.” God wanted Ezekiel to take in the full extent of the problem: “there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.” These were not recent losses. This was long-dead, bleached, scattered, past-all-hope bones. God does not want us to pretend the valley is not there. Faith does not begin by denying the dryness. It begins by seeing it honestly with God beside us.
2. The Question That Searches the Heart (v. 3)
“And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live?”
This is a question God already knew the answer to, and He asked it anyway. He asks us the same kind of question in our valleys. Do you believe I can do this?
Ezekiel’s answer is a model for all of us: “O Lord GOD, thou knowest.” He does not say, “Yes, surely!” because nothing he sees supports that. He does not say, “No, it is hopeless,” because he knows who is asking. He puts the matter in God’s hands: You know. I don’t see how, but You know.
That is mature faith. It does not pretend to understand how. It trusts the One who does.
3. The Word Spoken Over Dead Things (vv. 4–8)
God gives Ezekiel a strange assignment: “Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.”
Think about how that looks. A man is standing in a graveyard preaching to skeletons. Yet this is how God works. He does not ask Ezekiel to feel hopeful first. He asks him to obey and speak what God has said.
God’s word to the bones is a promise: “Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live.” Then He describes what He will do: sinews, flesh, skin, breath.
And Ezekiel obeys: “So I prophesied as I was commanded.” Look at what happens next: “as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.”
Notice that the word came first and the change followed. The noise, the shaking, and the connecting all came as the word was spoken. Bones that were scattered began to find their place. Sinews and flesh came up, and skin covered them.
Yet verse 8 ends with a sobering note: “but there was no breath in them.”
This is important. Something real had happened. The scene had gone from chaos to order, from scattered to assembled. Many of us have experienced that in our lives. Things come together, we get organized, we look restored on the outside, and yet something is still missing. Form is not life. Structure is not life. Only the breath of God brings life.
4. The Breath of God (vv. 9–10)
God now tells Ezekiel to speak again: “Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.”
In Hebrew, the word ruach means breath, wind, and spirit all at once. That is why this passage can speak of the wind, the breath, and the Spirit with the same word. God is Spirit, and He is the One who gives life.
This takes us back to the beginning. In Genesis 2:7, God formed man from the dust and “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Creation is happening again here. The form is there, and now the breath comes.
“So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.”
Look at the last part. They did not merely survive. They stood up, and they became an exceeding great army. Dry bones became a force. What God restores, He restores for a purpose.
5. What the Valley Means (vv. 11–14)
God then explains the vision: “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.”
Here is the real condition behind the vision. The people had lost hope. They were in exile, cut off from their land, their temple, and everything that made them who they were. They felt dead.
God does not scold them for feeling that way. He answers with a promise that is repeated several times:
“I will open your graves.”
“[I will] cause you to come up out of your graves.”
“[I will] bring you into the land of Israel.”
“And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live.”
Then comes the purpose: “Then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD.”
Notice what God promises here. He does not just promise to improve things a little. He promises to open graves. Where we see an end, He sees a beginning.
6. Threads for Our Own Lives
Hope lost is not hope destroyed. The people said their hope was lost, but God’s promise did not depend on their hope. It depended on Him.
Speak the word. Ezekiel did not wait until the bones looked promising. He spoke what God told him to speak. In our own valleys, we are called to stand on what God has said, not on what we see.
Restoration often comes in stages. First came the rattling, then the connecting, then the covering, and finally the breath. If you are in the middle of a process, do not conclude that nothing is happening. Some of the most important work is the unseen assembling.
We need more than reform. We need the Spirit. Without God’s breath, even a well-ordered life is lifeless. That is why we pray, “Come, Spirit of the Living God.”
The Spirit that raised Christ gives life. Romans 8:11 says, “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” The promise of Ezekiel 37 finds its fullest meaning in Christ’s resurrection and in the life His Spirit brings now.
Related Scriptures: Genesis 2:7; Job 33:4; John 3:8; John 20:22; Acts 2:1–4; Romans 8:11; Ephesians 2:1–5.
Questions for Reflection or Discussion
What is the “valley of dry bones” in your life, your family, or your church right now?
Ezekiel answered, “O Lord GOD, thou knowest.” What would it look like for you to answer God’s question that way instead of with despair or with forced optimism?
Which stage are you in: the rattling, the coming together, the covering, or waiting for the breath?
Where have you tried to fix things with structure when what you needed was the Spirit of God?
Who might God be sending you to speak a word of life to?
Closing Prayer
Heavenly Father, You are Spirit, and You are the giver of every breath we draw. We come to You in the valleys of our lives, where hope has grown thin and things look dry and scattered.
You know. We do not always understand, but You know, and we trust You.
Speak Your word into the places that seem dead. Breathe on every dry bone, every broken relationship, every weary heart, and every dream we thought was finished. Where we have settled for form without life, send Your Spirit to quicken us.
Give us the faith of Ezekiel, to speak what You have said even when we cannot yet see the result. And make us, once You have raised us up, a people who stand on our feet to serve You.
We thank You that the same Spirit who raised Christ from the dead gives life to us. Let us know that You are the LORD, who has spoken and performed it.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
