Ezekiel 37:5 

In Ezekiel 37, it is a clear message of hope that the prophet endeavors to so earnestly share with his compatriots and his audience. More and more I am coming to the realization that the prophet must present a balanced message. Judgement and condemnation must be pronounced upon sin, but people in exile and captivity also clearly need to hear a message of restoration and hope.

It is also evident that prophesying and reception of the Word are essential to the revival of hope and survival, in our most dire and depressing of circumstances. This is how Ezekiel survived Babylonian captivity, and was sustained, and this is how a revival of the nation of exiles is effected – by hearing the Word of the Lord (37:4). It is necessary for our very existence.

The passage also addresses the need for God’s Spirit to be prominent and operational in all our efforts and endeavors. Without His Spirit, there is no real life. There may be some noise and movement, but real life only comes when His Spirit breathes upon us and is allowed to enter and saturate our lives (v9). Only His Spirit can transform the wasteland. It remains a hauntingly eerie scene, an appalling wasteland, without the activating of His Spirit upon us. It’s only through the Spirit that the superlatively negative can be transformed into the superlatively good.

I take Ezekiel’s vision here as a pledge that God does not abandon a good cause, however, dark and dismal the prospect may be. The exiles felt hopeless, spiritually dry and wasted, but Yahweh intervened. By the prophetic, life-giving word and the infusion of the Spirit the entire landscape of the valley is supernaturally transformed, invigorated and revitalized, From the atrocity of death, it becomes an oasis of life and irrepressible energy. The prophet reveals “So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them and they lived and stood upon their feet, an exceeding great army” (v10).

The passage radiates with hope. It speaks most poignantly to the lowest, the most despondent, the most alienated and the most downtrodden among us. It speaks to the lost, the discouraged, the abandoned and especially to those who feel cut off from God. It ministers to the wretched of the earth. It is a marvelous picture of God’s saving action.

They were slain, defeated, helpless and hopeless. There was nothing they nor the prophet could do, until divine speech is heard, and a divine intervention transpires. Divine speech is heard throughout the passage. As defeated and devastated as the nation of exiles were, even in this strange land, God reaches out to them and calls them still . . . O my people” (vv.12,13).

In a strange land where they were invariably mistreated as foreigners, dehumanized as immigrants, denigrated as inferiors, ridiculed as refugees – Yahweh still reaches out to them and speaks to them in terms of endearment. No matter how messed up we are, we are still His people! He remains our lifeline and life-giving source!

It still blesses me that Yahweh speaks and everything changes. The negatives are completely transposed by the positives. The thesis of despair is overruled by a counter thesis of hope. From complete wreckage and ruin, the Lord builds the ruined places and orders revival and restoration. The prophecy gives hope that no matter how dark and dry it gets, He can bring hope and transform the entire landscape of our lives “. . . and ye shall live” (v5).

Presiding Bishop – Northeast Region

October 28th, 2023