Before God asks Ezekiel whether the bones can live, He tells him how Israel came to ruin. That is where I want to begin. If we hurry to the valley, we may see the miracle and miss the condition that made it necessary.

How the bones got there

In Ezekiel 34, God speaks against the shepherds of Israel. They feed themselves while the flock goes hungry. They fail to strengthen the weak, heal the sick, or seek the lost. The people entrusted to their care are scattered. There is something especially grievous about that kind of ruin. The very people who should have held the community together were using their place in it to serve themselves.

By Ezekiel 36, the indictment reaches the whole house of Israel. God speaks of the blood they shed in the land and the idols with which they defiled it. He scattered them among the nations, and even there His name was profaned. The nations saw a people driven out of their land who were still known as the people of the Lord. What Israel had done had become part of what the world understood about its God.

Yet the Lord says He will act for His holy name. He will gather His people, cleanse them, take away the stony heart, and give them a heart of flesh. Then comes the promise that carries us into the valley. “And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes” (Ezekiel 36:27). A people returned to their land still need to learn how to live there together. God’s answer reaches all the way down to the heart.

The Word in the valley

Ezekiel is set down among bones that are very dry. When God asks, “Son of man, can these bones live?” the prophet answers, “O Lord GOD, thou knowest” (Ezekiel 37:3). Then God tells him to speak.

As Ezekiel prophesies, the bones come together. Sinews and flesh come upon them, and skin covers them. I want to pause there. The prophet can see that something has happened, and he can also see what is missing. Everything is in place, and nobody is breathing.

Then the Lord tells him to prophesy to the breath. The breath comes, the slain live, and they stand on their feet. God identifies the bones as “the whole house of Israel,” a people who say, “Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost” (Ezekiel 37:11). The Lord answers their despair by promising to open their graves, bring them into their own land, and put His Spirit in them.

The chapter goes on to show us two sticks, one for Judah and one for Joseph, joined in the prophet’s hand. The people who stand again are to become one people under one shepherd. God promises to dwell among them. The vision of resurrection ends with a people learning to live together in His presence.

The promise in Joel

Joel begins with another sight of devastation. Locusts have stripped the fields. The grain and drink offerings have ceased, and the priests are called to mourn. By the second chapter, the call goes deeper than the outward signs of mourning. “Rend your heart, and not your garments,” the Lord says (Joel 2:13). The God who calls the people to return is gracious and merciful.

He promises to restore the years the locust has eaten, and afterward to pour out His Spirit upon all flesh. Sons and daughters will prophesy. The old will dream, the young will see visions, and servants will receive the Spirit. Joel carries the promise through the day of the Lord. Those who call upon His name will find deliverance, the nations will face judgment, and the Lord will dwell in Zion.

I hear Ezekiel’s promise alongside Joel’s. In Ezekiel, God puts His Spirit within a people who have lost hope. In Joel, the gift reaches sons and daughters, young and old, and people whose standing in the community might have led others to overlook them. When Peter stands up at Pentecost, it is Joel’s promise he reaches for to explain what the people are hearing.

Jesus of Nazareth, whom God raised

In Acts 1, the risen Jesus tells His disciples to wait for the Father’s promise. They ask whether He will now restore the kingdom to Israel. Jesus tells them that the Holy Ghost will come upon them and give them power to be His witnesses, beginning in Jerusalem and reaching to the ends of the earth.

In Acts 2, a sound like a rushing mighty wind fills the house. The disciples are filled with the Holy Ghost, and people gathered in Jerusalem hear them speak in their own languages. Peter stands up and says, “This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel” (Acts 2:16). Then he tells them what has happened to Jesus of Nazareth. He was crucified. God raised Him from the dead. Exalted at the right hand of God, Jesus received the promise of the Holy Ghost from the Father and poured out what the people were seeing and hearing.

When the people ask what they should do, Peter calls them to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. He tells them that they too will receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. The promise Peter has just explained is now something he invites his hearers to receive.

What resurrection looks like among us

At the temple gate in Acts 3, a man who has been lame from birth asks Peter and John for alms. Peter speaks in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, and the man rises to his feet. He goes into the temple walking, leaping, and praising God. When the people gather around, Peter asks why they look at him and John as though their own power or holiness had made the man walk. He directs their attention to Jesus, whom God raised from the dead.

In Acts 4, the rulers demand to know by what power or name this was done. Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, names Jesus again. The One they crucified is the One God raised. When the rulers threaten the disciples, the believers pray for boldness to keep speaking His Word. And then Luke shows us what is happening among the believers themselves. They are of one heart and one soul. They share what they have, and what is given is distributed according to each person’s need.

Luke tells us that the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus with great power. In the very next verse, he tells us that there was no one among them who lacked (Acts 4:33–34). I want to hold those two verses together. The shepherds at the beginning had fed themselves while the flock went hungry. Here, among the people gathered around the risen Christ, those who have something to give see to it that their neighbors are fed.

That brings me back to the valley. When the breath came, Ezekiel saw a people stand. In Acts, a man stands on feet that have never held him, and a community begins to take responsibility for those who would otherwise go without. Peter declares with his mouth that Jesus Christ is risen. Among those who receive that Word and the gift of the Holy Ghost, a hungry person can begin to see what that testimony means.

Lenwood León Jack · Cornerstone 1131

Scripture quotations are from the King James Version.

Primary Scripture · Ezekiel 34 and 36–37 · Joel 1–3 · Acts 1–4