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. 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. And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord GOD, you know. (Ezekiel 37:1-3, ESV)
We could easily label the 2014 PGA Championship at Valhalla “Death Valley.” After all, in Norse mythology, Valhalla means “the place of the slain warriors.”
The weather was threatening. Dark clouds hovered over the course. Lightning flashed in the background. Controversially, the final two pairings played the 18th nearly together in the dark. Amid the mayhem, an official got an earful from an unhappy Phil.
Every second was intensifying. After Rory birdied the 17th, Phil and Ricky were now two strokes off the pace.
On 18, Phil almost holed out for an eagle, finishing 15 under. Rickie had a putt for an eagle but three-putted in the dark. Rory made par from the green-side bunker and won by one over Mickelson.
As darkness shrouded Valhalla, Rory stood triumphant over a field of slain warriors. Valhalla had become, as its name suggests, “Death Valley.”
The Lord leads Ezekiel in a vision to another “Death Valley.” Judah is in captivity, exiled in Babylon—symbolized in the vision by skeletal remains scattered across the valley floor.
Ezekiel knew what this scene signified. There, on the valley floor, lay the bones of dead Israel. Not their corpses, but their dry bones.
Ezekiel would have understood that this horrific vision signified Israel’s ultimate demise—all was lost! In the prophet’s moment of despair, God asks, “Can these bones live?”
Ezekiel understood that nothing on Israel’s part could repair the damage caused by a broken covenant. So, he responds, “Oh Lord God, you know.”
With that, God commands his prophet to prophesy to these bones. As he does so, the bones reorganize into flesh and blood, yet there is no “breath in them.”
At God’s command, Ezekiel prophesies again, and the Wind (the Holy Spirit) from the four corners of the world breathes life into these lifeless bodies.
As Old Testament scholars Iain Duguid and Christopher Wright recognize, Ezekiel’s vision echoes Genesis 2, where God first forms Adam from the dust and then breathes Spirit-life into his newly formed body.
We eventually discover that Judah’s historical return from captivity was only a partial fulfillment of this vision of “life from the dead.”
Ezekiel’s vision not only echoes the events of Eden’s past but also foreshadows future eschatological events. Scholars agree that it primarily points to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the embodiment of Israel, as “life from the dead.”
Because the old-covenant prophecies have multiple horizons, we see the fulfillment of Ezekiel’s vision not only in the resurrected Jesus but also in first-century Jews who follow the Messiah and are brought to life by the Spirit at Pentecost.
Fascinatingly, we also see Gentiles grafted into God’s remnant as they, too, receive the life-giving Spirit (see Ephesians 2:1-10; Acts 15).
With great anticipation, we also look forward to the final ingathering of countless ethnic Jews, breathed on by the Spirit and ushered into Christ’s Kingdom before the second coming (see Romans 11).
Finally, this vision foreshadows the final horizon when all believers—Jew and Gentile—will be raised from their graves in immortal bodies to live forever, ruling and reigning in a new heaven and a new earth under the rightful King of kings, Jesus, the firstborn from the dead.
We would be hard-pressed to list all the ways these profound truths apply to our life in the Spirit, but suffice it to say, “nothing is impossible with God.”
That wayward family member, that aimless friend trapped in the consequences of endless bad decisions, that country club opposed to anything ‘religious,’ and any other obstacle to kingdom impact can and will bow to the power of the preached word and the Holy Spirit.
Prayer: Spirit of the living God! Stir in us a deep and lasting faith that “all things are possible with God.”