594. Man's regeneration is described in Ezekiel by the "dry bones" which were clothed with sinews, then with flesh and skin, and at last had spirit breathed into them, whereby they lived again (37:1-14). That regeneration was represented by those things, is evident from what is there said:
These bones are the whole house of Israel (Ezek. 37:11). A comparison is also there made with graves, for it is written, That Jehovah would open their graves, and cause the bones to come up out of their graves, and put spirit in them, and bring them together into the land of Israel (Ezek. 37:12-14). "The land of Israel" there and elsewhere means the church. Regeneration was here represented by bones and graves, because the unregenerate man is called dead, and the regenerate alive; for in the latter there is spiritual life, but in the former spiritual death.
This page is part of 
© 2000-2001 The Academy of the New Church