In the prophet Ezekiel’s startling vision of The Valley of Dry Bones, scattered human bones reassemble at the prophet’s God inspired command, and with restored flesh and skin are then revived to stand up as a great army. This striking vision shows us how God has for 77 years been reassembling, reconnecting, restoring and reviving His once scattered people. The “dry bones” in Ezekiel’s vision are the Jewish people who had been “cut off, without hope” — broken in spirit since being scattered by a Roman Army in the 2nd century AD It was Rome that renamed the land of Israel “Philistia” — derisively — after the last, final revolt by the Jews (Ezekiel 37:11; Proverbs 17:22).
In principle, the vision can also portray the sad condition but possible reassembly, reconnection, restoration, and revival of churches once filled with life, whose members are now dead, dry, dislocated, and scattered.
As Ezekiel prophesies, the dry, scattered bones lying in the valley come together, reconnecting perfectly, as God reassembles them in their proper order.
Likewise, God can inspire us to speak the reconnection of scattered and disconnected members, and their return and play their parts in the Church, the Body of Christ. When Ezekiel did so they came together noisily! God can inspire us to prophesy the return into fellowship of former members of churches, and in so doing can expect some noisy reconnections!
Then, as Ezekiel continues to prophesy, the dead are restored to their original form, as new flesh, skin and ligaments are added to the skeletons. Ligaments hold the body’s joints together.
When prophesying the restoration of a church body, we need to speak that they will be held in place with strong ties, so the restored body will be bound together. Loving personal relationships and ongoing fellowship are ties that bind us best.
Finally, Ezekiel prophesies life into reconnected and restored bodies. We need to do the same for our churches. Adam was a perfectly formed clay person, but it was only when God breathed into him that he became a living being. A church body without the Spirit is as dead as a physical body without breath (James 2:26). We need to speak spiritual life into reconnected and restored church members.
Adam’s physical body was God’s final act of Creation — its supreme showpiece, but it was the breath of life that animated him and put him on his feet. Likewise, it is the life of the Holy Spirit that revives dislocated fellowships and puts them back on their feet spiritually.
Reassembly, reconnection and reconstruction take place on the horizontal level, as scattered bones reconnect and skeletal structures are renewed. After the restoration of flesh and skin, ligaments are added. Each reconnected and reformed body is then all but complete, needing only one element that will move it from a horizontal to a vertical position. That element is the breath of God.
When Ezekiel prophesied life, the “whole house of Israel” stood to its feet! Not just as a reconnected, restored and revived people, but as a mighty army! “I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live.” (Ezekiel 37:14) This pictures the reconnected, restored and revived modern nation state of Israel! Israel was “born in a day” in 1948 when the UN recognized it as a nation.
After reconnection and restoration, it is time to speak revival! Revival enlivens the reconnected relationships that have brought about firm and recognizable forms! Just as the body must breathe in order to live, so too must churches receive the vital breath of the Spirit of God. A church fellowship can be well-connected and look good, yet it can be lifeless.
We need to prophesy spiritual life into our churches, so that, like natural Israel, those who have come together will stand together as a mighty army! In the West there are many churches in Valley of Dry Bones condition!
If the Lord were to show you a spiritually dead church and ask: “Can these bones live?” would you be prepared to speak to it in the order of the 5 R’s – Regathering, Reassembly, Reconnection, Restoration, and Revival? Ezekiel’s prophecy set the precedent.