Ezekiel-Rattling Bones That Came To Life

By Mary Vee
Ezekiel 37

From Ezekiel's Journal

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My name is Ezekiel. I am a prophet, a person sent from God to give messages to the Israelites who were taken captive to Babylon.

A man from Jerusalem found me. He had escaped from the fighting in Jerusalem. I gave him food and drink and asked him to tell me what had happened back home.

He said Jeremiah warned the people, even king Zedekiah to stop worshiping idols. Jeremiah told the people about the punishment God said He would bring. The people didn't listen. 

Nebuchadnezzar brought his army, just like Jeremiah said, and destroyed Jerusalem. O Jerusalem, the city of David. How terrible.

The messenger left and I sat down to think about what had happened. God spoke to me as I sat and said, Those who led the people away from worshiping Him would be punished. One day, though, after the people repent, they will be able to go back to their homeland.

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As I sat looking at the valley in Babylon, God placed his hand upon me and showed me a vision. It was as though I walked away and followed Him to the middle of a valley. 

The whole valley was full of bones. We walked through the valley among all those bones. There were so many bones and they were dry. Brittle.

The Lord said to me, "Can these bones live?"

I didn't know what to say because God could do anything. I answered, "O Sovereign Lord, only you could know."

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He said to me, "Say to the bones, 'Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. He says, 'I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and put skin on you. I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.'

I did as the Lord said. And as I spoke there was a noise, a rattling sound. The bones came together, bone to bone. Tendons and skin appeared on them and covered the bones, but they did not breathe.

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The Lord said, "Speak to the breath. Prophesy, and say to it, 'this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these who are slain that they may live.'"

I did as the Lord said. Before my eyes, breath came into those who laid on the ground. they came to life and stood up on their feet. It was a huge army. 

The Lord said to me, "These are the bones of the whole house of Israel. I have heard them say, 'Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone. We are cut off.' Tell them I will open your graves and bring you up. I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live and I will settle you in your own land.

"Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken and I have don all of this."

The Lord walked me back to where I sat. The men sitting around me asked, "What happened?"

I told them about the bones the dry bones that came to life..

Come back to see what happened next.
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1.  What did the messenger tell Ezekiel about Jerusalem?
2.  Who visited Ezekiel?
3.  Where did the visitor take Ezekiel?
4.  What did Ezekiel see?
5.  What did the visitor do?
6.  Why did the visitor do this? What was the message?