“I Am the Resurrection and the Life”: Encountering the God Who is Hope
In Ezekiel 37, God takes the prophet into a valley of dry bones — lifeless, scattered, and beyond repair — and asks, “Can these bones live?”
Humanly speaking, the answer is no. Yet God speaks life into the valley.
Centuries later, in John 11, Jesus stands beside Lazarus’ tomb as Mary and Martha grieve. Hope itself seems buried beneath the stone.
Once again, God speaks life where death seems final.
The Most Hope-Filled Words Jesus Ever Said
Before calling Lazarus from the grave, Jesus tells Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life.” (John 11:25) Martha, knowing Scripture, believed resurrection would happen someday in eternity, but she did not yet realize resurrection was standing in front of her.
Jesus was not merely offering hope for the future. He was revealing Himself as the source of hope itself.
The valley of dry bones in Ezekiel points forward to the same truth revealed at Lazarus’ tomb: when God speaks, dead things live again.
Jesus Is Our Greatest Hope
The raising of Lazarus was more than a miracle. It pointed to the victory Jesus would accomplish through His own death and resurrection. Because He conquered sin and death, hopelessness no longer has the final word for those who belong to Him.
We may still be surrounded by dry bones, but we don’t have to live like them — trapped in shame, fear, old habits, or spiritual defeat. Resurrection changes everything.
The same God who breathed life into dry bones and called Lazarus out of the grave now offers new life to us. In Christ, your past is not your identity, and your failures are not your future.
Jesus is our greatest hope because He does not simply improve lives. He makes dead things live.
Jesus Meets Us in the Middle of Suffering
One of the most powerful moments in John 11 is when that Jesus wept.
Even knowing He was about to raise Lazarus, Jesus still entered into the grief of Mary and Martha. The God who rolls away stones is also the God who sits with us in sorrow.
Some valleys look like loss; others look like anxiety, disappointment, loneliness, or unanswered prayers. Yet the resurrection reminds us that God is still present in the valley.
Because Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life, suffering never gets the final word.
Resurrection Hope Changes People
When Lazarus walked out of the tomb, Jesus told the crowd, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
Jesus raised Lazarus, but the community helped remove the remnants of death still wrapped around him. In the same way, God told Ezekiel to prophesy life into the valley of dry bones.
The Church is meant to be a resurrection community speaking life into one another and helping others leave behind shame, fear, and hopelessness.
Jesus is still calling people out of graves.
The Holy Spirit is still breathing life into dry bones.
And because Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life, hope is still alive today.
This post is inspired by the fifth message of Mt. Bethel Church’s “I Am” sermon series, delivered by Pastor John Freeland. Want to go deeper in encountering the God who reveals Himself? Order your copy of Dr. Freeland’s book and study guide, which supports this series, today!