(REFLECTIONS ON EZEKIEL 37:1-14)

We often talk about revival in the church, but what is true revival? Is revival simply about a church that is not growing and all of a sudden starts getting an increase in attendance because of some special programs? Is revival about individuals that were once on fire for God, for one reason or another have lost that flame, and then through certain circumstances getting that spark once again? Yes, these are things to celebrate, but is this all that we expect? Is this all the Lord is capable of? Is this the fullest extent of God’s Revival?

Today the Lord challenges Ezekiel with a question,

1 The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

Is revival only possible when there is still life, albeit just a faint pulse? What did Ezekiel see? He saw in the middle of a valley, a great many bones on the floor of the valley, and these bones were dry. Who knows how long the bones had been there, but it was long enough where there was no evidence of the flesh and life that had once covered those bones. The bones were very dry, not even an ounce life in them any longer.

How can these bones live? There is no flesh, there is no blood, there is no life. The spirit that once filled the bodies built upon these bones has long gone. What would our response to God’s question be? Can these bones live? Impossible? Not a chance?

However, what was Ezekiel’s response?

I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”

Ezekiel knew that he shouldn’t limit what God could do, by his impossible, by his not a chance, but to trust that God is the God of the impossible, and only the God of Revival knows the full extent of what is possible. Do we sometimes limit God to what is possible, or can we also learn to say to the Lord, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know, and I trust in you.”

The Lord commanded Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones, that is to speak the word of God into the bones. The Lord then did the impossible, by turning these dry bones, lifeless bones, spiritless bones, into new life.

The God of Revival is not only limited to turning lives around, which sometimes already seems impossible to us, but He can bring new life. If the God of Revival can bring new life, from lifeless dry bones, then what are our expectations for God’s Revival now? Of course we do not want to diminish God’s work within the church when He turns lives around, but at the same time, let us not limit God to do only that.

The God of Revival turns lives around, is the spark in the church and in our lives that can reignite our flames for Him again, but He is also the God of Revival that when our bones are completely dried up and all hope is gone, can turn dry bones into an army of living flesh.

May we believe that the God of Revival can make the impossible happen and even when it is too difficult for us to believe, don’t be too quick to say to the Lord, “no, that is impossible,” but to say, “O Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”

Pastor Michael Lu 
Enduring Word Bible Commentary: Ezekiel 37