BibleProject | One Story That Leads to JesusSample

Israel’s severe judgment has arrived. Jerusalem has gone down in chaos and flames. The catastrophe leaves Ezekiel and the Israelites reeling. How could God let this happen? Has Yahweh abandoned his people for good?

Yahweh’s answer is an emphatic no. God is more powerful than Israel’s rebellion. He promised, all the way back in Ezekiel 11, to restore his people, to transform them by giving them a new heart and a new Spirit. God keeps every promise he makes.

To drive this point home, Yahweh takes Ezekiel on a gory field trip. The prophet finds himself in a valley filled with dry bones, bleached white by the scorching sun. There, Yahweh gives Ezekiel a strange command: Prophesy over these bones!

Ezekiel shrugs. Living humans never listened to him anyway. At least this audience of skeletons can’t gripe about his message. As the prophet speaks, the bones around him begin to shake. Jawbones clatter toward skulls. Femurs snap into hip sockets. A spine slithers over a sternum on its way to reunite with a ribcage. Ezekiel ducks out of the way as a skeleton clacks to its feet.

God’s Spirit has come to breathe life into even the most dead and desolate places. These no-longer-dry bones are just the beginning. Watch the video to learn about Yahweh’s message of hope in the second half of Ezekiel.

Reflection Questions

• Compare the description of Israel’s corrupt leaders in Ezekiel 34:1-31 to Jesus’ description of himself in John 10:1-18. What contrasts do you notice between the false shepherds of Ezekiel’s day and Jesus, the good shepherd?
• Take a moment to review Moses’ prayers in Exodus 32:11-14 and Numbers 14:13-19. How do Moses’ appeals to Yahweh’s name—that is, to Yahweh’s character and reputation among the nations—help you understand Yahweh’s promise to restore Israel for the sake of his name in today’s reading? What might these passages reveal about the second line of the Lord’s prayer: “Let your name be recognized as holy” (Matt. 6:9)?