In Pirates of the Caribbean, the Curse of the Black Pearl, Elizabeth Swan is kidnapped by an unruly mob of pirates because they believe her blood holds the key to lifting the curse they are under. However, these weren't just any pirates. These rowdy bootleggers were dead but had been condemned to a life as phantoms, walking amongst the living. They were lost to the ages. Their unearthly and ghostly figures reflected against the moonlight revealed nothing more than translucent skin, decaying flesh, and rattling, dry bones. They couldn't taste, they couldn't feel, they couldn't sleep. It was a fate far worse than death.
They were dead men walking.
Dead Bones
It must have felt hopeless for the Israelite people, as many were living as exiles in Babylon. During this time, God gave the prophet Ezekiel a vision where he found himself standing in a stark, cavernous valley. There, underneath his feet, scattered as far as the eye could see, covering the entire floor of the valley, were the human remains of dry, bleached bones baking under the scorching sun, picked clean by scavenging vultures. It was a valley of death—not a single sign of life, not a drop of blood to be found. It was an open graveyard—a panorama of skeletons. Nothing could be more disgraceful and detestable to a people who honored the dead with sacred burials. But the feeling of hopelessness and revulsion was about to end.
God directs Ezekiel to speak to the dead bones saying, "Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life…. Then you will know that I am the LORD." In Hebrew, "breath" (rûaḥ) is translated as "wind" or "spirit," an agent that could bring transformative change and renewal—very life itself. It's God's breath, His wind. It's the same breath that animated Adam, making him a living soul.
Only God could breathe new life into the dead bones scattered in the valley—this hollow graveyard of despair.
As Ezekiel prophesied these words, he watched as the bones found their frame (Ezek 37:7), tendons and flesh began to form as if woven together seamlessly, and skin started to stretch and cover the body like a fitted garment (v 8). Still, these newly-formed bodies were just a shell - until breath entered them and they exhaled (v 9). Then, miraculously, as soon as their lungs filled with air, they each began to find their footing, and without a knee buckling or giving way beneath them, they stood like an army (v 10).
Although a peculiar vision, one that seems humanly impossible, God gave Ezekiel a message of hope for His people. It couldn't have come sooner! The exiled Israelites felt abandoned and hopeless, scattered and torn from their homes —a disassembled, defeated army of dry bones scattered in the valley. Charles Dyer writes "Like unburied skeletons, the people were pining away and saw no end to their judgment: Our hope is gone; we are cut off. The surviving Israelites felt their national hopes had been dashed. Israel had "died" in the flames of Babylon's attack and had no hope of resurrection"
However, in their anguish, this vision was God's promise of restoration, a national revival for the house of Israel, which would also come with spiritual renewal.
Hope Arises
God would not only revive them, but the dry bones of the people would become living warriors (v 10). The new life God breathed into them would result from His strength, not their own---"I will put my Spirit in you and you will live…" God's fulfillment of this promise was not contingent upon external circumstances but on His word alone. There is no hope for restoration without God's saving presence.
This Vision Continues to Instill Hope Today.
As we stand in our own valley of dead bones, our situation, too, might feel impossible—the death of a dream, a marriage, a friendship, or a job. Over time, life has drained away – the skin, the flesh, the tendons – leaving nothing but bones to the seemingly uncontrollable, unforgiving forces of nature. Hope, once alive, has gradually dimmed, leaving not even a flicker. But we must answer God's question: "Son of man, can these bones live?" We may not feel confidant that these dead bones surrounding us can come alive. It may appear like our life, too, resembles a valley of dry bones. But there is hope. God will not leave you scattered like a discarded, lifeless, hopeless corpse amongst menacing vultures. Instead, just as God brought to life the dead bones in the valley, He longs to revive those places in your life that feel as though they are too far gone.
He wants to breathe new life into you.
What area of your life needs to be breathed into right now? What places in your story have dried up? What feels as if there is no hope? (Where do you feel hope being lost?)
God can breathe life into our most hopeless situations
Two thousand years ago, the very breath of God, the eternal, all-powerful Word of God, appeared in human flesh. Jesus came into a world marked by despair and brokenness, the effects of the fall now in full bloom as sin flourished, darkness prevailed, and hope dwindled. The world, long dead in trespasses and sin, resembled live men slumbering, unaware that eternal death awaited them in the grave. Jesus, rejected by men, dying on the cross, spoke, "It is Finished," and the giver of life breathed his last. The earth shook, the sky grew dark, the heavens rumbled, the temple curtain tore in two, graves opened – and dead men walked. But then Jesus walked out of the grave and gave newness of life. The power of Jesus' life has overcome death and hell. He has come to make the world of dying, decaying flesh and bones live again by His Spirit. We are not dead men walking. Jesus gave His blood on the cross, thus breaking the curse we were under, and we have been invited to breathe in the new life He has offered us.
Up out of our ashes, we call out to dry bones, come alive!
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