Ezekiel 37 · The Lantern

The Valley of Dry Bones

The hand of the LORD was on me, and he brought me out in the spirit of the LORD and laid me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones.

The mystery of the resurrection is great and difficult for many of us to understand. It is mentioned also in many other passages of the Scriptures and is proclaimed no less through these words in Ezekiel.

There were at all events many wonderful and great prophets among ourselves who spoke many things about the future, and they in no way used to bid those who asked them to dig up the bones of the departed. Ezekiel standing near the bones themselves was not only not hindered by [the bones] but added flesh, and nerves and skin to them and brought them back to life again.

Again this is the spirit of contemplation; he did not see these bodies that were shown to him with his eyes, but he had them revealed to him by the Holy Spirit.

And he made me pass over them all around, and see: very many on the face of the valley; and see: very dry.

And he said to me: Son of man, can these bones live? And I said: Lord GOD, you yourself know.

And he said to me: Prophesy over these bones and say to them: Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.

Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: See, I am bringing breath into you, and you will live.

And I will put sinews upon you and bring flesh up upon you and draw skin over you and put breath in you, and you will live; and you will know that I am the LORD.

And I prophesied as I was commanded. And there was a sound as I prophesied, and see: a quaking; and the bones came near, bone to its bone.

For the prophets have proclaimed two advents of His: the one, that which is already past, when He came as a dishonoured and suffering Man; but the second, when, according to prophecy, He shall come from heaven with glory, accompanied by His angelic host, when also He shall raise the bodies of all men who have lived, and shall clothe those of the worthy with immortality, and sha…

If you are skeptical that ashes can be reassembled into bodies and souls restored to their vessels, Ezekiel will be your witness, for long ago the whole process of resurrection was revealed to him by the Lord.

The proclamation, he says is made by me, by divine command. The bodies that were bound together came back to life, and they experienced a resurrection, and the multitude of those who rose again was not small.

And I looked, and see: sinews were upon them, and flesh came up, and skin was drawn over them above; but there was no breath in them.

And he said to me: Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord GOD: From the four winds come, breath, and breathe into these who were killed, and let them live.

And I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet — a very, very great force.

And he said to me: Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. See, they are saying: Our bones are dried up and our hope has perished; we are severed, for our part.

Therefore prophesy and say to them: Thus says the Lord GOD: See, I am opening your graves and bringing you up from your graves, my people, and I will bring you to the land of Israel.

And you will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and when I bring you up from your graves, my people.

And I will put my spirit in you, and you will live; and I will lay you down on your own land; and you will know that I the LORD have spoken and have done it, the utterance of the LORD.

One Nation with One King

And the word of the LORD came to me, saying:

And you, son of man, take for yourself one piece of wood and write on it: For Judah and for the sons of Israel his companions. And take one piece of wood and write on it: For Joseph, the wood of Ephraim, and all the house of Israel his companions.

And bring them near, one to the other, for yourself into one piece of wood; and they will become one in your hand.

And when the sons of your people say to you: Will you not tell us what these are to you? —

speak to them: Thus says the Lord GOD: See, I am taking the wood of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his companions, and I will put them with it, with the wood of Judah, and make them one piece of wood; and they will be one in my hand.

And the pieces of wood on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes.

And speak to them: Thus says the Lord GOD: See, I am taking the sons of Israel from among the nations where they went, and I will gather them from every side and bring them to their own land.

And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king will be king for all of them. And they will no longer be two nations, and they will no longer be divided into two kingdoms.

And they will no longer defile themselves with their idols and with their detestable things and with all their transgressions; and I will save them from all their dwellings in which they sinned, and I will cleanse them; and they will be my people, and I myself will be their God.

And my servant David will be king over them, and one shepherd will be for all of them. And they will walk in my judgments and keep my statutes and do them.

And they will dwell on the land that I gave to my servant, to Jacob, in which your fathers dwelt; and they will dwell on it — they and their sons and the sons of their sons — forever; and David my servant will be their leader forever.

And I will cut for them a covenant of peace; an everlasting covenant it will be with them. And I will set them and multiply them and set my sanctuary in their midst forever.

And my dwelling will be over them; and I will be their God, and they will be my people.

And the nations will know that I the LORD am sanctifying Israel, when my sanctuary is in their midst forever.

Ezekiel37

The Valley of Dry Bones

One Nation with One King