Ezekiel 37:6, commentary and pictures

The verse belongs to the vision of the valley of dry bones, where life is restored to the slain as they answer the prophesying and stand as an exceeding great army, to show that no work of restoration is too hard for God and none who trust Him need say hope is lost. It also means that in His own time God will call forth the dead, giving the breath of life again and bidding them live in the same form and individuality so friends recognize friends, though not from the same particles, but in a perfected body free from disease and defect as a new creation. The bones are God's own people and churches in a spiritually dead and lifeless condition, professing truth with icy hearts and outward form and ceremony in place of its vitalizing power. The breath put into them is the Holy Spirit and life of God moving upon the heart, without which truth remains a dead letter and He cannot use them for steady advancement in His word. That life returns through the life-giving message of Christ and His righteousness believed and obeyed, changing purposes into the purity and meekness of Christ and fitting the living to work with God in self-denial to carry the last message of mercy to new fields.

Vision of Dry Bones

The promise belongs to the valley of dry bones, where the command to prophesy to the wind was answered by life returning to the slain until they stood up as an exceeding great army. That figure was given to show that no work of restoration is too hard for God to accomplish. None who trust in Him need ever say that hope is lost.

It also means that God in His own time will call forth the dead, giving the breath of life again and bidding the dry bones live. The same form will come forth with the same individuality of features, so that friend will recognize friend. Every person will keep his own character, with personal identity preserved, though not from the same identical particles of matter that went into the grave. The righteous dead will receive a body that pleases God, free from disease and every defect, made of much finer material as a new creation and a new birth.

Breath of Spiritual Life

The dry bones are the house of Israel, God's own people, His churches and backslidden people, seen in a spiritually dead and lifeless condition like a valley of dry bones. A church can become that valley, needing to be stirred by some power that will give it life so its members can stand up and live. That stirring is the Spirit and breath of God breathed into them, energizing the dead to live again.

More particularly they are those with icy hearts and only a legal religion. They profess to believe the truth yet lack an experiential and experimental knowledge of its vitalizing and sanctifying power. Among them outward form has taken the place of spiritual power, its simplicity has been lost in a round of ceremonies, and spiritual power with its simplicity is gone.

The breath promised to be put into them is the Holy Spirit and the life of God breathed into them. It is the deep moving of the Spirit of God upon the heart with life-giving influence. It is brought to bear upon hearts that are at ease and asleep.

Until the Lord breathes that life into His people He cannot use them. Without it truth becomes a dead letter. Without it there is no steady advancement in seeking and following the word of the Lord.

How Life Returns

What makes the dry bones live is a life-giving message sent with power from God, which is Christ and His righteousness. That message is the Bible subject of sin and atonement, showing those with icy hearts and only a legal religion the better things provided for them. This life comes by opening the door to light and knowledge, but when those in responsible positions close the door they keep out just what the people need. Unless earnest work and prayer break through that resistance and secure a hearing for the needed light, many souls will be lost.

God puts spiritual life into churches on a dead level when organized workers are sent into them to set the principles of health reform before them. That work is to combine medical missionary work with the proclamation of the third angel's message, as the means by which the breath of life returns to spiritually lifeless churches. When the word of the Lord is believed and obeyed with that life given, steady advancement is made in seeking and following it. Purposes then change, and more of the purity and meekness and lowliness of Christ is brought into the work.

Those made alive can see Christ, give the light to others, and work together with God in gathering in and bringing home the sheep of His fold. With self-denial and self-sacrifice they proclaim the last message of mercy and the third angel's warning before Christ's second coming in new fields where it has never yet been heard. Receiving this life requires giving the will like clay into the hands of the potter and cooperating with God to become a vessel molded unto honor. That means being passive and susceptible to divine impressions, standing in the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness where no earthly or selfish motive is suffered to live, so as to be renewed in the divine image. The breath is brought to bear on hearts that are at ease and asleep, that they may no longer sleep but watch and be sober, because the end is near and steals upon the unready suddenly and noiselessly like a thief in the night.