If you've ever played a Mario Kart video game, name your favorite character and why you chose them. For those who haven't played the game, have you ever driven a real go kart?
The Brewery Ministries Paraphrase
Ezekiel's life was stolen. He was a 25-year-old priest-in-training with a promising future. Then the Babylonians came. They raided the city, shackled him, and dragged him across the desert. Now he lives in a resettlement camp in the land of modern-day Iraq.
When he turned 30—the year he was supposed to be ordained—he didn't get his priestly robe; he got a horrifying vision of God leaving the corrupt Temple. The people wondered if God had abandoned them.
Years later, Ezekiel's wife dies. While grieving, another refugee knocks on his door with the worst news possible: Jerusalem, his hometown, had been burned, and the Temple was gone. Now his community is experiencing severe, collective depression and PTSD. They weren't just sad—their entire spiritual, political, and personal lives had been erased.
But on this day Ezekiel has a vision—God picked him up and dropped him in a valley covered in bones—old, brittle, and scattered everywhere. It was like a trip to the underworld itself. But as he stares at the bones, God asks a strange question: "So... do you think these dry bones can live again?"
Ezekiel stares at the destruction—then says, "I dunno… they look way past dead… You tell me." But God says, 'I'm not going to do this without you. Speak to the bones. Watch what I do."
So, feeling ridiculous, Ezekiel tells the scattered bones to live again. To his surprise, bones start lifting up off the dirt. They float towards each other, reorganizing into full skeletons right before his eyes. Tissue, skin and tendons begin covering the bones. But they were lifeless and still.
Then God says, "Tell the breath of life to enter them." Ezekiel calls out and a deep breeze rushes into the valley. Lungs expand. Eyes open. The graveyard was gone. Now a vast army stands in its place.
Work Through the Evidence
There's a common religious stereotype that a strong faith acts as an emotional shield against depression. Yet here is Ezekiel—the top of his class spiritually—sitting in a refugee camp completely traumatized and chronically depressed. How does his story challenge the modern idea that depression is just a 'spiritual failure' or a lack of trust in God?
In the story, the bones being described as "dry" is actually an important clue. It means they've been dead for a very long time; months to years, maybe even decades. The skeletons were no longer assembled either. Now imagine you saw this scene and God said to you, "Hey, do you think these bones can live again?" What would you say?
We cannot always control what happens to us in life. But that also doesn't mean we're trapped feeling nothing but hopelessness and despair forever. Neuroscience tells us that the brain's wiring isn't permanent; it's what they call "plastic" meaning you can "rewire" your brain by changing how you think. It's much easier said than done, but where do you see this concept in Ezekiel's story and how can you apply it to your own story?
Not long after this, Ezekiel disappeared from history. He and his people probably died in Babylon. This means God restored their hope without changing the situation they faced. Similarly, the bones were brought to life in the vision, but not until long after they had died. What can you learn from this?
Let's look at the situation from Ezekiel's point-of-view. In the Bible, land is said to be managed by territorial spirits or "gods." Originally, Ezekiel lived in the territory that God watched over; Israel. But when the Babylonians dragged him away, he suddenly lived under the territory of hostile Babylonian gods. Think of it like living in a place that's supervised by a rebelling angel. Spiritually, how do you think it would feel to be taken to this land by force?
This vision is a metaphor for our inability to see hope. But it's also a vision of what God said He'll do in the future; resurrect everyone. Daniel 12:2 (ESV) explains, "...many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." As they say in movies, "We're all gonna die!" It will seem like the end for a time. But eventually… God will bring you to life again and your story will resume. Discuss the vision of dry bones as it applies to you. Is this a new idea for you? What's it mean to you personally?
Why It Matters
In this story, Ezekiel and his community faced a hopeless situation. One important takeaway is that God is able to renew a person's mind by bringing hope even if their circumstances don't change.
When we think of the word "resurrection," we usually think of Jesus' return from the dead. But that's actually only part of what "resurrection" means in the Bible. Jesus' resurrection was just the beginning. God actually plans to resurrect us, bodies and all, just like what we saw in the vision. Resurrection also meant that God will "resurrect" the earth too, remaking it into a better world. We imagine our spirits going away to heaven when we die, and it seems they will for a time… but ultimately we'll end up back here. Revelation describes God bringing heaven down to earth and remaking everything. The world might look dead and hopeless to us now, but the premise of this story reminds us that God can fix anything no matter how hopeless it seems.
1 The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. 2 And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. 3 And he said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" And I answered, "O Lord God, you know." 4 Then he said to me, "Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. 6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord."
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them. 9 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live." 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.
11 Then he said to me, "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, 'Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.' 12 Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. 13 And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. 14 And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord."
I Will Be Their God; They Shall Be My People
15 The word of the Lord came to me: 16 "Son of man, take a stick and write on it, 'For Judah, and the people of Israel associated with him'; then take another stick and write on it, 'For Joseph (the stick of Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with him.' 17 And join them one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand. 18 And when your people say to you, 'Will you not tell us what you mean by these?' 19 say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am about to take the stick of Joseph (that is in the hand of Ephraim) and the tribes of Israel associated with him. And I will join with it the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, that they may be one in my hand. 20 When the sticks on which you write are in your hand before their eyes, 21 then say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and bring them to their own land.
22 And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. And one king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms. 23 They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
24 "My servant David shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes. 25 They shall dwell in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children's children shall dwell there forever, and David my servant shall be their prince forever. 26 I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. 27 My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 28 Then the nations will know that I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary is in their midst forevermore."
What Did You Find?
My Overall Conclusions
I Learned This About God
I Learned This About Myself
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