Live, Alive: Finding Hope in the Valley of Dry Bones

Today as we conclude our sermon series, I have the privilege and honor of wrapping it up with 3 points that stood out to me from this series. I pray that as we dive in that these points may impact you as well.

Ezekiel 37:1-14 (NLT2)
1 The LORD took hold of me, and I was carried away by the Spirit of the LORD to a valley filled with bones. 2 He led me all around among the bones that covered the valley floor. They were scattered everywhere across the ground and were completely dried out. 3 Then he asked me, “Son of man, can these bones become living people again?” “O Sovereign LORD,” I replied, “you alone know the answer to that.” 4 Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say, ‘Dry bones, listen to the word of the LORD! 5 This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again! 6 I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’” 7 So I spoke this message, just as he told me. Suddenly as I spoke, there was a rattling noise all across the valley. The bones of each body came together and attached themselves as complete skeletons. 8 Then as I watched, muscles and flesh formed over the bones. Then skin formed to cover their bodies, but they still had no breath in them. 9 Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to the winds, son of man. Speak a prophetic message and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come, O breath, from the four winds! Breathe into these dead bodies so they may live again.’” 10 So I spoke the message as he commanded me, and breath came into their bodies. They all came to life and stood up on their feet—a great army. 11 Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones represent the people of Israel. They are saying, ‘We have become old, dry bones—all hope is gone. Our nation is finished.’ 12 Therefore, prophesy to them and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O my people, I will open your graves of exile and cause you to rise again. Then I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 When this happens, O my people, you will know that I am the LORD. 14 I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live again and return home to your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken, and I have done what I said. Yes, the LORD has spoken!’”

There is a difference between looking alive and actually being alive. You can take a dead plant and prop it up. You can straighten the leaves. You can put it in a beautiful pot. You can put it in the perfect spot in the house. But none of that gives it life. And I wonder how many of us have gotten really good at propping things up.

We know how to smile when somebody asks how we’re doing. We know how to come to church. We know the songs. We know when to raise our hands. We know the Christian answers. We know how to make everything look okay on the outside. But if we were honest, there are places inside of us that feel dead.

Maybe your joy feels dead. Maybe your relationship with God feels dry. Maybe your marriage feels like it’s barely hanging on. Maybe you’ve given up on a dream. Maybe you’ve prayed about something for so long that you don’t even expect God to do anything anymore. Maybe you’re physically here, but spiritually you’re just going through the motions.

And that’s where Ezekiel finds himself in Ezekiel 37.

God doesn’t take him to a beautiful garden. He takes him to a graveyard.

Ezekiel 37:1 NLT
“The LORD took hold of me, and I was carried away by the Spirit of the LORD to a valley filled with bones.”

Not sick people. Not injured people. Bones. And verse 2 makes the situation even worse. The bones were scattered everywhere, and they were completely dried out. In other words, whatever had died here had been dead for a long time.

There was no human solution. No doctor could fix this. No motivational speech could change this. No amount of positive thinking could resurrect these bones. And then God asks Ezekiel one of the strangest questions in Scripture:

“Son of man, can these bones become living people again?”

I love Ezekiel’s answer: “O Sovereign LORD… you alone know the answer to that.” That’s basically Ezekiel saying, “God, I don’t see how, but I’m not going to tell You what You can’t do.”

And maybe that’s where somebody needs to start today. You don’t know how your situation changes. You don’t know how the relationship gets restored. You don’t know how the addiction gets broken. You don’t know how your family gets put back together. You don’t know how you’re ever going to recover from what happened.

But faith doesn’t require you to know how. Faith requires you to know Who. Because when God steps into a valley full of dead things, death doesn’t get the final word.

YOU CAN LOOK ALIVE AND STILL BE DEAD

Ezekiel begins speaking to the bones, and something incredible happens.

Verse 7 says, “Suddenly as I spoke, there was a rattling noise all across the valley. The bones of each body came together and attached themselves as complete skeletons.”

Can you imagine seeing this? Bones start moving. Things start coming together.

Then verse 8, “Then as I watched, muscles and flesh formed over the bones. Then skin formed to cover their bodies…” If Ezekiel stopped right there, it would look like a miracle.

They have bones. They have muscles. They have flesh. They have skin. They look alive. But the verse finishes, “…but they still had no breath in them.” Don’t miss that. They looked alive, but they were still dead.

Jesus said something very similar to the religious leaders in Matthew 23:27–28. He said they looked good on the outside, but inside there was death. And that is one of the dangers of religion.

Religion can teach you how to look alive without actually being alive.

You can attend church and still be spiritually empty. You can know Scripture and still be far from God. You can serve on a ministry team and still be running on empty. You can lift your hands during worship while your heart is a million miles away. You can post Scripture on social media and still be dying inside. Because Christianity isn’t about learning how to look alive. It’s about Jesus making you alive.

The question isn’t, “How do I look?” The question is, “Is there breath in me?”

Is there life? Is there passion for Jesus? Is there conviction? Is there transformation? Is there something happening inside of me that only the Spirit of God can produce? Some of us don’t need better behavior. We don’t need another coat of religious paint. We don’t need to become better at pretending. We need breath.

Ezekiel 37:9 says, “Come, O breath, from the four winds! Breathe into these dead bodies so they may live again.”

And verse 10 says, “Breath came into their bodies. They all came to life and stood up on their feet—a great army.”Notice the difference.

Structure made them look alive. Breath made them live alive.

Church structure can’t give you life. Religious activity can’t give you life. Trying harder can’t give you life. Only God can breathe life into what has died. I felt like this for years. I looked alive but was dead on the inside, until Jesus changed everything. I was dead because I believed lies about myself. That brings me to the second point.

BELIEVE YOUR FUTURE IS GREATER THAN YOUR FAILURE

Then God explains what the bones represent. Ezekiel 37:11, “These bones represent the people of Israel. They are saying, ‘We have become old, dry bones—all hope is gone. Our nation is finished.’”

Listen to their language: “All hope is gone.” “We are finished.”

That’s more than describing their circumstances. They had allowed their circumstances to define their future. And some of us do exactly the same thing. We take something that happened and turn it into a prophecy about what’s going to happen.

I failed, therefore I’m a failure. My marriage is struggling, therefore it’ll never get better. I messed up my kids, therefore God can’t use me. I fell back into that sin, therefore I’ll never be free. I made terrible decisions, therefore my future is ruined.

But your worst chapter doesn’t have the authority to write the ending of your story. Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God…”

It doesn’t say everything is good. It says God can work it for good.

There’s a difference. The betrayal wasn’t good. The divorce wasn’t good. The addiction wasn’t good. The loss wasn’t good. The mistake wasn’t good. The pain wasn’t good. But God isn’t finished.

And if God isn’t finished, your failure doesn’t get to decide your future. Look at what God tells Israel: “O my people, I will open your graves of exile and cause you to rise again.”

They’re saying: “We’re finished.” God is saying:“I’m not finished.” They’re saying:“It’s over.” God is saying: “You’re getting up.” They’re saying:“There’s no future.” God is saying: “I’ve already planned what comes next.”

Here’s the truth: Never put a period where God has only put a comma.

Your failure may be part of your story. Your pain may be part of your story. Your disappointment may be part of your story. But Jesus gets the final word over your story. If He can take a valley full of dry bones and turn it into an army, imagine what He can do with the pieces you’re ready to throw away. Not only have I seen this, I have lived this.

That brings us to our 3rd and final point.

WHAT YOU LISTEN TO SHAPES YOUR HOPE

This may be the most important part of the passage. Look at verse 4: “Then he said to me, ‘Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say, “Dry bones, listen to the word of the LORD!”’”

That’s interesting. They’re dead. But God says: “Tell them to listen.” Why? Because life begins when dead things encounter the Word of God. Think about the voices Israel had been listening to: Their circumstances said, “It’s hopeless.” Their past said, “You blew it.” Their enemies said, “You’re defeated.” Their emotions said, “It’s over.” But then God spoke. And when God’s voice entered the valley, everything began to change.

The bones hadn’t moved yet. The situation hadn’t changed yet. But God had spoken. And sometimes you’ve got to decide: Whose voice gets the most volume in my life? Because what you continually listen to will eventually shape what you believe. And what you believe will shape how you live.

If all you listen to is fear, you’ll live afraid. If all you listen to is comparison, you’ll always feel inadequate. If all you listen to is your past, you’ll believe you’re permanently disqualified. If all you listen to is culture, you’ll constantly change depending on what’s popular. But if you listen to the voice of God, hope starts rising again.

Here’s what I love about Ezekiel: God tells him to speak before anything changes.

That’s faith. Faith isn’t looking at a resurrected army and saying, “God is good.” Anybody can do that. Faith is standing in a valley full of dry bones and saying: “God is still good.”

Faith says: I don’t see it yet, but God has spoken. I don’t feel it yet, but God has spoken. Nothing has moved yet, but God has spoken. The bones are still dry, but God has spoken.

And God’s Word is more reliable than what I see.

“BUT THERE WAS STILL NO BREATH”
There’s another important moment here.

Ezekiel obeys. The bones come together. Flesh appears. Skin covers them. But they’re still not alive. Have you ever obeyed God and things still didn’t turn out immediately like you expected?

You prayed. You obeyed. You took the step. And there still wasn’t any breath. Don’t quit halfway through the miracle. God wasn’t finished. Sometimes we see movement and think God is done. Sometimes we don’t see enough movement and think God isn’t working.

But God works in stages.

First there was a sound. Then there was movement. Then there was structure (Skeleton). Then there was flesh. Then came the breath. So don’t walk away because God hasn’t finished yet. I think God’s question to Ezekiel is still the question today: “Can these bones live?”

Can your marriage live? Can your faith live? Can your joy live? Can your calling live? Can your family live? Can your hope live? Can the part of you that you’ve given up on live again? And maybe your answer needs to be Ezekiel’s answer: “Lord, You alone know.”

Because maybe today isn’t about you figuring out how God is going to do it. Maybe it’s simply about believing that He can. You may have walked into this room feeling like Ezekiel 37:11: “My hope is gone. I’m finished.”

But God brought you here to hear Ezekiel 37:14: “I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live again.” That’s the Gospel. Jesus didn’t come to make bad people look better. Jesus came to make dead people alive. So stop pretending. Stop allowing your failure to define your future. Stop allowing the wrong voices to determine your hope. And start listening to the One who can stand in a valley filled with death and say: LIVE.

Because when Jesus speaks life, dead things don’t have to stay dead.

So ask yourself three questions:
Am I actually alive, or have I just learned how to look alive?
Have I allowed something in my past to convince me that my future is finished?
And whose voice am I listening to the most?

Because you weren’t created just to look alive. Through Jesus and the power of His Spirit;

YOU CAN LIVE ALIVE.