“The hand of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones. He caused me to pass among them round about, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and lo, they were very dry” (Ezekiel 37:1-2).
“So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And I looked, and behold, sinews were on them, and flesh grew and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them. Then He said to me, ‘Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, “Thus says the Lord God, ‘Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they come to life.’ “ ‘ So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army” (Ezekiel 37:7-10).
” ‘I will put My Spirit within you and you will come to life, and I will place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken and done it,’ declares the LORD” (Ezekiel 37:14).
Ezekiel found himself in a valley of exceedingly dry bones. Ezekiel prophesied as God commanded him and the bones were covered with muscle, tendons, flesh, and skin. But no life flowed through them. Ezekiel prophesied again and the four winds blew. The awakening bones were filled with breath and became a great army.
God follows Ezekiel’s vision with an explanation that this wind of breath is a picture of the new spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ that will come to us as part of the promise and provision of the new covenant (see Ezekiel 37:11-14).
The wind that brought the bones to life was the Spirit of God. And it is a foreshadowing of the same wind that will bring life to us. “The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8). “And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent, rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting … And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:2,4).
God’s rushing wind, the Spirit of Christ has brought life to us. “Since the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you” (Romans 8:11)
Jesus was in the valley of dry bones, because Jesus was there from the beginning!