We are going to continue to look at the Valley of Dry Bones vision. (See Ezekiel 37:1-14) Last week we discussed what is true prophecy.
Valley of Dry Bones and Baptism
Something I noticed when reading the prophecy of the Valley of Dry Bones is that this is a great description of what happens during the 3 Baptisms a believer should go through.
What are the Three Baptisms
A few years ago I taught on the 3 baptisms Christians go through. I’m going to briefly review that before moving on to the next point.
- The first baptism is when we actually surrender our lives to Jesus. We call this salvation. We are baptized into the body of Christ at salvation. It is the Holy Spirit who leads us into salvation.
“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body…” 1 Corinthians 12:12-13a (ESV)
- The second baptism is what we typically think of as baptism. This is the complete immersion of water baptism.
One time I was at a baptism of a friend of my youngest daughter. As I was watching people get baptized, the Lord started speaking to me. He was showing me what happens to people when they are water baptized. He showed me that as they went under the water, their old man died. As they came up, that old man was cut off and Jesus wrapped them in their new man. It was incredible to learn that!
“In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.
And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.” Colossians 2:11-14 (ESV)
This circumcision is the cutting away of our old, sinful man. Our old man dies and we are made brand new!
- The third baptism is being baptized in the Holy Spirit. This is you, the saved new person being fully immersed in the Holy Spirit. This is the power of the Christian life.
How the 3 Baptisms Relate to the Valley of Dry Bones
The Spirit led Ezekiel to a valley filled with dead, dry bones.
“The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry.” Ezekiel 37:1-2 (ESV)
Before we are saved the Bible says we are dead in our trespasses and sin.
“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins” Ephesians 2:1 (ESV)
While some may see our death in sin as impossible to recover from, God sees something different. Afterall, how can one come back from death? We are told in Romans that our payment for sin is death. This is a payment we can not ever pay. There isn’t enough good that can pay the payment of death for even one little sin.
Likewise, the dead bones God showed Ezekiel seemed to be the end. It’s obvious these people had been dead for a long time.
According to my research “A body buried without a coffin, which doesn’t have protection from insects and other elements, typically skeletonizes within five years,” A body buried in a coffin can take up to a decade to decompose to a skeleton.
We see that Ezekiel and God both saw the pile of bones differently.
“And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” Ezekiel 37:3 (ESV)
While Ezekiel wasn’t so sure that those bones could live, he also knew that God could do anything.
When God saw those dead bones and saw life. Likewise when God looks at his children, he doesn’t see sin as a death sentence.
“even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—” Ephesians 2:5 (ESV)
Thus, God tells Ezekiel to prophecy – put his identity of life – to the bones.
“Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.” Ezekiel 37: 4-6 (ESV)
When we come into agreement with God’s identity over our lives, he takes the sin that causes us death and in return gives us his identity of life.
He takes that which is dead and brings it back to life through placing his identity on us and our situations.
2nd Baptism
We see that after Ezekiel prophesied the words God told him to declare over the bones, that they came together, had skin, and muscles, but there was no breath. They were simply a body with no ability to do anything.
“So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them.” Ezekiel 37:7-8 (ESV)
These bodies were made new and were fully immersed in skin, muscle, and all the things that make a human body a human body. They were covered and brought back to life in a sense. They were made new, but still lacked one vital thing – breath.
3rd Baptism
These bodies needed to be fully immersed in their new identity of life. Furthermore they needed the power of the Holy Spirit to empower them to become the great army that God saw when he looked at the pile of bones.
God tells Ezekiel to prophecy breath over the bones.
“So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.” Ezekiel 37:10 (ESV)
This reminds me of the interaction Jesus had with his disciples after his resurrection.
“And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” John 20:22 (ESV)
Likewise, when you are fully immersed in your new God given identity, and receive the power of the Holy Spirit in your life you are filled with the very breath of God. You are no longer just a body walking around without power. Rather, you are filled with the power that only comes from being continually filled with the Holy Spirit.
Now you, and all your fellow brothers and sisters can come together to form an army to defeat the works of Satan. Why else would God give you spiritual armor if he didn’t see you as a mighty warrior? Remember the king only gives armor to the people in his army, not the common citizen.
There’s More to Come!
Not only did the dry bones come back to life, but God takes it a step further. He says he will open the graves and bring his people back to the Promised Land. And he will put his Spirit in them, they will live, and know that Yahweh is the true
God who has power to do what he says he will do.
“Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.”” Ezekiel 37:12-14 (ESV)
Not only did the bones get renewed life, but God promised to bring back his people to the land He gave them.
He didn’t give up on his people just because they chose to turn their backs on him and serve false idols.
This opening of the graves reminds me of what happened when Jesus died on the cross.
“The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.” Matthew 27:52-53 (ESV)
One day we will see the dead in Christ raised once again.
“For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 (ESV)
When Jesus completely fulfilled his scroll on the earth, we saw a great shake up happen. Not only did the curtain in the Temple tear from top to bottom, but the saints who were long dead came back to life and went into the Holy city.
Then when the time is complete, Jesus will show up again and shake up the dead. We will see more saints who have long been dead rise first.
Then those who are still alive on the earth will be caught up with Jesus in the clouds.
That will be an amazing day.
All 3 Baptisms are Important
As followers of Jesus, we need all three baptisms. When we fail to see the significance of each baptism, we fail to be fully immersed, and protected to be and do all we are called to as Christians. I encourage you to go through all three baptisms if you have missed one! I promise it will be life changing for the good!
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