Ezekiel is told to prophecy to the dry bones. Their bodies were long gone, only their bones remained, and those had been dead so long they were dried out.

God tells Ezekiel that these bones represent Israel, and that includes Judah, all of them.

God is going to give them life.

The bones earned death. They didn’t earn life. They aren’t doing anything to get God to do this for them.

God is choosing to breathe life into them.

He uses Ezekiel to participate in bringing them to life.

He gives Ezekiel repeated commands to prophecy. Ezekiel just says what God is going to do. He doesn’t command the life.

One interesting note is that at first he prophecies to the bones. Then he prophecies to the breath. He’s to tell the breath to come.

In the New Testament, we don’t find prayers to the Holy Spirit. I can feel cringy when I hear people talking to the Holy Spirit in prayer. 1 John 1:3 talks about our fellowship with the Father and the Son. We experience that fellowship through the Holy Spirit with us. The Holy Spirit in each believer is what connects us all in fellowship with one another, all through the cross of Christ.

I heard a David Wilkerson sermon where he talked about this verse where Ezekiel is told to prophecy to the breath and called it the Holy Spirit. I am perfectly fine calling it the Holy Spirit. It comes and breathes on the bodies and gives them life. Only God gives life.

So, here we have a prayer to the Holy Spirit as commanded by God to Ezekiel. He says, “Come.” He says to come and breathe life.

The Holy Spirit does and they form an army.

God also promises to bring His people back to their land and to unite all His people as one. He promises they won’t sin anymore. He will cleanse them. He will make an everlasting covenant of peace with them and will dwell with them. He will be their God and they will be His people.