The longest prophetic books in the Bible are Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. Isaiah was God’s messenger before Assyria overtook Israel in the north. Jeremiah was God’s messenger as Babylon overtook Judah in the south. And Ezekiel was God’s messenger while the people were exiles in Babylon. Ezekiel announced the bad news of Israel’s sin, the good news of God’s deliverance, and the glorious news of a brand-new world to come.

Ezekiel also announced good news to a valley of dry bones.

One day, the Lord carried Ezekiel away in the Spirit and set him down in the middle of a valley. The valley was full of bones, lots and lots of bones, very dry bones. It must have been a strange sight, maybe even a little scary.

God said to Ezekiel, “Do you think these bones can live?” “Um, you know the answer to that,” Ezekiel answered. Then the Lord God told Ezekiel to do something odd. “I want you to talk to the bones,” he said. “I want you to prophesy over these bones and say, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!’”

And that’s exactly what Ezekiel did. Very strange. But not as strange and amazing as what happened next. As Ezekiel was speaking, there was a rattling and the bones started coming together. It looked like an army of skeletons. And then skin wrapped around the bones.

But they still couldn’t move. There was no breath in the bones. So the Lord told Ezekiel to call forth the wind to fill the dead bodies. And breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet. The dry bones had come to life.

Why did God give Ezekiel such a vision? Was he making plans for Halloween? No. The vision was not about haunted houses but about the house of Israel. “These bones represent my people,” the Lord said. “They’re dried up. They’re cut off. They’re hopeless and dead. But I will bring them back to life.” This is the way it is with all of us without God in our lives. We may be alive in our bodies, but we are spiritually dead. Only by the word of God can we be brought back to life.

“I will put my Spirit within you,” the Lord told his people, “and you shall live.” God had not forgotten the covenant he made with Abraham. “My dwelling place shall be with them,” he said, “and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

Praise God that he remembers his covenant, even when we forget. Praise God that he gave us life when we were dead. Praise God that he knows how to make dry bones stand up and breathe.