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DEAD MEN’S BONES

Part VI

Dead Men’s Bones is based on the scathing denunciation, directed to the Jewish religious authorities, that was issued by JESUS CHRIST throughout the Gospels. From the time the glory of God was removed during the Babylonian captivity, and on through the Persian, Grecian, and Roman eras, the nation of Israel never recovered her independence, nor do we see any Spiritual resurgence inspired by the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  

This action, wherein God removes His divine presence from the evil which had encroached upon the temple in Jerusalem, also testifies of the unscriptural notion the LORD would ever administer a so called “divine council,” in which devils participate (see Part IV of the present work for details on the faulty idea of a “divine council”). It is the very nature of the Holy God revealed in the Scriptures that He continues apart from all iniquity.

When the life which exists in the Holy Spirit decisively moved away from Israel, it is as if the physical nation was transformed into a flesh and blood people, without the presence of the Spirit of the LORD. Although the Jews continued to observe the rituals and religious norms of their existence, the inner reality of the nation could best be characterized as comprised of Dead Men’s Bones. 

Through His prophets, God repeatedly pronounced what had happened to the people who were called by His name. It is late in his writings the prophet Ezekiel documents the LORD’s perspective of Israel’s desperate condition, as God imaged the nation as a large valley filled with Dead Men’s Bones. 

“[And when] the spirit of the Lord.…set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of [Dead Men’s] bones, [He] caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry” (Ezekiel 37:1,2 ).

It doesn’t take a prophet to see the picture of a large cluster of bones which are “very dry,” is an indicator the bones represent people who have been Spiritually dead for a long time.    

“Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live” (Ezekiel 37:4, 5).

Ezekiel is told by the LORD to prophesy that these bones will come together, and then sinews and flesh will come upon them – but there will still be no breath in them.

“There was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them” (Ezekiel 37:7, 8).

The LORD then tells Ezekiel that before He breathes life into these Dead Men’s Bones, they will have abandoned hope, and acknowledged the desolation which has overtaken them.

“Behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off….” (Ezekiel 37:11).

The next passage is astonishing, for God then pronounces that He will breathe life into the assembled Dead Men’s Bones, and He will open their graves and place His spirit within them.

“Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves….And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live” (Ezekiel 37:12, 14).

Although most Christians are still being taught the Jewish family is still “chosen,” even though they broke the covenant under which they were chosen, the New Covenant involves the promise of God to put His Spirit within the “dry bones” assembled in the “valley” Ezekiel was shown. This allocation of the Spirit of the LORD is part of the New Covenant God makes with Israel, which is characterized as the arrival of the kingdom of God in the Gospels.

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the [Good News] of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:14, 15).

When the leaders of the nation refused to embrace JESUS as the prophesied Messiah who mediates the New Covenant between God and man, Christ pronounced those who reject Him are as Dead Men’s Bones who choose to remain in graves that cannot be seen.

“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them” (Luke 11:44).

In this regard, it’s instructive to remember Ezekiel’s prophecy said that when God puts His Spirit within the Dead Men’s Bones, He would cause His people to come up out of their graves. He also said this would occur when His people know that He is the one who opens their graves:

“Behold, O my people, I will open your graves…And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, and shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live” (Ezekiel 37:12-14).

Obviously, the “scribes, and Pharisees [and the] hypocrites” did not know that Jesus is the LORD who desired to resurrect them through His blood sacrifice, followed by the pouring out of the Spirit of God, which the Father promised He would place within His people. Remember, those who remained in the grave are the “hypocrites” who dealt “treacherously” with God, and they are the flesh and blood people (still in the Dead Men’s Bones state of existence), who God referred to through Ezekiel.

“For thus saith the Lord God; I will even deal with thee as thou hast done, which hast despised the oath in breaking the covenant. (Ezekiel 16:59, 60).

Thus, God will judge the flesh and blood people who remain in the grave because they refuse the life found in the Spirit – even as He blesses the people who respond favorably to His Life. Regarding that phase of the promise, where Ezekiel says God will bring His people up out of the grave and revive them through His Spirit, it was only the born again portion of physical Israel who obeyed Christ’s instructions to wait for the rest of the promise from the Father. After His resurrection (but just before He ascended to heaven), Jesus said the following.

“And being assembled together with them, [He] commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father…And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind…And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost…and they were all amazed” (Acts 1:4; 2:2, 7, 12).

With this exceedingly Good News, those who know that