Can these bones live?
Drawn from teaching by Brandon Biggs of Last Days.
Ezekiel stood in a valley full of bones, and they were very dry. God asked him, “Son of man, can these bones live?” Ezekiel answered, “Sovereign LORD, you alone know.” (Ezekiel 37:3, NIV). Then God told him to speak: “Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life.” (Ezekiel 37:4-5, NIV).
That valley looks familiar. There’s dryness in the land, in our churches, and in worn-out believers and pastors. We can pray for rain and fresh breath, and read Ezekiel 37 all the way to the bones standing up as “a vast army” (Ezekiel 37:10, NIV). The people in Ezekiel’s valley said, “Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.” (Ezekiel 37:11, NIV). A lot of people sound like that right now.
Scripture tells us to watch for both sides of that picture. Amos warned of a different kind of drought: “not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD.” (Amos 8:11, NIV). Peter, quoting Joel, says the last days also bring the opposite: “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.” (Acts 2:17, NIV). Creation itself is leaning in: “For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.” (Romans 8:19, NIV).
So the marker isn’t a date. It’s a condition: dryness on one side, God pouring water on thirsty ground on the other, and His people called to pray in between. James gives us the posture: “Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains.” (James 5:7, NIV).
I’m not dating a revival. I’m not reading headlines as a scorecard. I’m noting what Scripture already told us to expect and to do. And Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior, still says, “Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.” (John 5:25, NIV).
What we can do
- Pray for the dry places by name: your church, your pastor, the believers you know who are worn out.
- Speak the Word over the valley. Ezekiel didn’t fix the bones. He said what God said.
- Be patient like the farmer. Pray for rain and keep working the field.
- Keep the invitation simple for anyone who’s ready: declare “Jesus is Lord” and believe God raised Him from the dead (Romans 10:9, NIV).
- Refuse date-setting. “But about that day or hour no one knows…” (Matthew 24:36, NIV).
Again: teaching drawn from Brandon Biggs of Last Days. Test everything by Scripture.