The Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah were both conquered. The Northern Kingdom fell to the Assyrians in 722 BC, and the Southern Kingdom fell to the Babylonians in 586 BC. On three occasions, the Babylonians invaded Judah and took captives back with them to Babylon. The first captives were taken from Judah in 605 BC, including Daniel and other young Jewish nobles. The second group came in 597 BC with the priest Ezekiel. Jerusalem fell to Babylon in 586 BC, and the final captives were taken then.
At that point, most of what remained of God’s chosen people, the Israelites, lived in exile. Exile is a theme in the Old Testament, starting back in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve rebelled against God, and they were exiled. Abraham’s descendents were exiles in Egypt, then slaves in Egypt, before they were able to return to claim the Promised Land.
When Nebuchadnezzar left Jerusalem at last, he took the best and brightest people of Israel with him. The prophet Jeremiah stayed behind in the ruins of the city. And Jeremiah, who is known as the weeping prophet, began to talk about hope. “‘In that day,’ says the Lord, “when people are taking an oath, they will no longer say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who rescued the people of Israel from the land of Egypt.’ Instead, they will say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the people of Israel back to their own land from the land of the north and from all the countries to which he had exiled them.’ Then they will live in their own land” (Jeremiah 23:7-8 NLT).
Jeremiah, more than anyone, knew how hopeless it must look for the exiles. They looked over their shoulders as they left Jerusalem in chains and they saw a city destroyed, a temple destroyed, a nation destroyed. There wasn’t anything to come back to.
God told them through Jeremiah that that wasn’t the case. There was hope beyond exile. Exile was just a season in their history, and it would pass. What felt like the end of the story was only the middle. God was going to bring them back home
They spent 70 years in exile in Babylon. God sent words of hope to those who were left behind through Jeremiah, and God sent words of hope to those who were taken to Babylon through a prophet named Ezekiel. One day, God sent Ezekiel a vision of a valley filled with dry bones. God asked him if the bones lived. All Ezekiel could see was that these used to be alive but no longer were. They once had life, vitality, strength, and purpose. Now they were just dry bones.
God commanded Ezekiel, “Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say, ‘Dry bones, listen to the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again! I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’” (Ezekiel 37:4-6 NLT). Ezekiel did, and the bones assembled themselves back into bodies. Then God had Ezekiel call breath back into them, and he did. The bodies came alive and formed a great army standing at the ready.
He said to Ezekiel, “these bones represent the people of Israel. They are saying, ‘We have become old, dry bones—all hope is gone. Our nation is finished.’ Therefore, prophesy to them and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: O my people, I will open your graves of exile and cause you to rise again. Then I will bring you back to the land of Israel. When this happens, O my people, you will know that I am the Lord. I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live again and return home to your own land. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken, and I have done what I said” (Ezekiel 37:11-14 NLT).
God promised to bring them back to Israel, and 70 years later, He did. God did so in a way they didn’t expect, though. They hoped that everything would be as it was before – the city repaired, the Temple restored, with God residing there in the Holy of Holies again. God had a different plan, though. God had a better plan. He didn’t come to reside in the Holy of Holies; He came to live among them as a baby born in Bethlehem.
So when your life seems like a valley of dry bones, remember that this is only the middle of the story. God can breathe life into our dead situations. He did it for Israel at the end of their exile, He did it for everyone on the first Christmas, and He does it for you and me every day.
