[The following is the manuscript of my sermon delivered on July 13, 2014.]
Close your eyes for a minute… Perhaps you’ve seen a scene in a movie of a secluded valley of glen. The sun is coming up. Scattered wisps of mist and light fog hover near the ground. A few tree trunks lay here and there. The air is dry despite the mist, and burns your throat.
As you walk into the valley, you begin to see evidence that a mighty battle took place here, but long, long ago. Everywhere you look, you see nothing but skeletons, without a shred of flesh on them.
The mist clears, the sun beats down. Everything is dry, withered, lifeless…
As you walk into the valley, you begin to see evidence that a mighty battle took place here, but long, long ago. Everywhere you look, you see nothing but skeletons, without a shred of flesh on them.
The mist clears, the sun beats down. Everything is dry, withered, lifeless…
1 The hand of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones. 2 He caused me to pass among them round about, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and lo, they were very dry. 3 He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, You know.” 4 Again He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.’ 5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones, ‘Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life. 6 I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will know that I am the Lord.’”
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 And I looked, and behold, sinews were on them, and flesh grew and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them. 9 Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they come to life.”’” 10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.
Let us pray... Lord God, today is the day You have made and we thank You and rejoice in it, for in it is life. Still our minds for these moments we are together so we might discern Your will. May Your Spirit speak through Your servant so that all might hear Your message. In the glorious name of Jesus Christ we gather here this morning and we pray. Amen.11 Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope has perished. We are completely cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel. 13 Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, My people. 14 I will put My Spirit within you and you will come to life, and I will place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken and done it,” declares the Lord.’”--Ezekiel 37:1-14 (NASB)
The children of Israel are in captivity in Babylon. They know nothing but despair. They see their situation as hopeless, with no way out. Then God shows the people, through Ezekiel, the promise that He will restore them to their land. The people are dead inside, because the Spirit is not in them. God breathes the Spirit back into them and they come to life.
We can easily find other instances of God breathing life in man. In Genesis chapter 2 verse 7, we read that…
7 Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.--Genesis 2:7 (NASB)
God gave mankind its first breath when He breathed life into Adam. And in the book of Job, chapter 33 verse 4, one of Job’s so-called “friends”, Elihu, acknowledges God’s role when he says…
4 “The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life."
--Job 33:4 (NASB)
Looking forward from the Old Testament, we can draw some parallels to what Ezekiel experienced with what Jesus did for us. Let’s specifically look at Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus, in the second chapter. I’m going to read from verses 1, 4 through 6, and 12 and 13 from Ephesians 2…
1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins…--Ephesians 2:1, 4-6, 12-13 (NASB)
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus...
12 remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
In verse 1 Paul tells us Jesus came to us when we were dead in our sin. Everywhere Ezekiel looked he saw dead, dry bones, so dry they had almost turned to dust. Just as God breathed life into the dry bones, Ephesians 2:13 gives evidence that Jesus “breathed” life into us by His blood. And Ezekiel watched as God raised up those that man would consider dead, just as Paul assures us we will be raised in verses 4 through 6.
When we look out across that valley of dry bones, or at our own condition as Paul describes in Ephesians 2, we are faced with that question God asked Ezekiel: “can these bones live?” Are we, like the Israelis, lifeless, cut off from all hope? Has our hope perished, as Ezekiel puts it in his verse 11 and Paul in his verse 12?
Ezekiel sees the reality of death – a valley littered with lifeless, completely dried up bones. But God says this is not the finality of death. His perspective is quite a bit different from Ezekiel’s, or from ours. God promises through Ezekiel verse 37:5 that He will bring us back to life, and through Ephesians 2:5 that He will make us alive!
When God asked if those bones could live, Ezekiel didn’t really know for sure if they would. but he had no doubt that God could make them live if He wanted to. He was at least trying to look at the situation from God’s perspective rather than from man’s.
The dry bones represent our current situation. We are without hope, all dried up and withered. But this doesn’t have to be our future. If we allow Him to, God will revive us. He’ll restore us to health, to life, physically and spiritually. Notice in Ezekiel’s account, in verse 10, that the bones became “an exceedingly great army”. We won’t just be restored, but made better than ever!
So do you think we can do what God did? Can we breathe new life into old, dry bones? Yes, we can! Ezekiel did not put limits on God and neither should we.
But consider that God did not do anything until Ezekiel actually spoke the words God gave Him to repeat. Verses 7 and10 both begin with Ezekiel proclaiming “So I prophesied as He commanded me.” To prophesy is quite simply to speak the word of God.
One of my brother pastors related a story to us recently of a local man that he thinks lives somewhere in the Salisbury area. This man’s father was deathly ill, having been septic for 3 or 4 days and because nothing the doctors did helped any, they didn’t expect him to last through the week. The man reports that he sensed God telling him to read Ezekiel chapter 37 to his father. With nothing to lose except a little time, the man went to the hospital, opened up his Bible, and read Ezekiel 37 to his unresponsive father. He provided no extra commentary, no interpretation - the man simply read the scripture out loud to his father. He prophesied the word of God. The next day the man’s father was completely healed and left the hospital once the doctors finally agreed to let him go. The man’s wife confirmed all this. Now I have neither actual citations nor names to give for verification of this story, but I trust my brother who related it to me.
Sometimes all we need to do is what God tells us to, just to read His word. Some will think this little story to be apocryphal; just something made up to make a point. But we need to remember that God lives right here in us. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead dwells within us. With the power of the Holy Spirit working from us, we can speak life into the dry places. We can restore a withered spirit to health. We can breathe renewed vigor into what others might think is a dead heart. Remember the words of our song: “Look into the eyes of the brokenhearted; watch them come alive as soon as you speak hope, you speak love, you speak life.”
In the 107th Psalm, verses 19 and 20, the psalmist tells us the children of Israel…
We need to say the words of God in our withered valley. We need to cry out to the Lord in our troubled areas.
Are there dry bones in our lives? Are we dead because the Spirit is not in us? Is the Spirit not in us because we have rejected Him? Our society certainly has. We’ve kicked God out of our schools, out of our government, out of our lives. We chase after everything but God, putting material and emotional gain ahead of spirituality, convenience ahead of worship and service.
But what about us, here today? Do we see dry bones around us? Are we in some withered place with no visible signs of life? Do we sometimes feel that there just isn’t any life left in us, we no longer have hope for a good resolution to the situation we find ourselves in? Are we just enduring, not living? Do we feel cut off from any chance of enjoyment or pleasure or happiness or satisfaction or even contentment? Have we given everything there is in us and there’s nothing left? Do we trust God but we just don’t see any way He could possibly help?
If any of that describes you, then I want to invite you to come join me here at the altar or just stand there at your seat and let’s speak life into our dry places. Let’s speak life to the deadest, darkest night. If the sun don’t shine and we don’t know why, then let’s speak life…
O merciful Father in heaven, we stand here staring at the dry bones scattered throughout the valley of our lives. You ask us, “Can these bones live?”, and we hesitate in our answer. Father we know You can do anything, we know miracles still happen, but we can’t fathom why You would care enough about us to want to help us. We’ve gotten to the point in our despair over the mess we’re in that we just feel it would be a waste of our efforts to even ask Your help yet again, when we’ve asked time after time.
Forgive us, Father, when we doubt you. Encourage us, mighty Lord, to stand in the midst of this dry valley and to prophesy in Your name. Embolden us, please Lord, to face the dry bones in our lives and repeat the words You gave Ezekiel: “O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. ‘Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life. I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will know that I am the Lord.’”
Heal our hurts, Lord, whether they are in our body or in our spirit. Clothe the bare skeletons of our innermost self with new flesh and make us whole. Listen, please Father, as we confess to You from our hearts just what our dry bones are to us, so that You might breathe Your Spirit into them. Hear us now, Lord, as we pause in silence… [* pause for reflection *] And now, dear Lord, we speak life into our dry places. We speak hope where there was once only hopelessness. We speak love to those places in our lives where love has been all but forgotten. O wonderful and gracious Father, we speak life. In the precious name of Christ Jesus, we speak life and we pray. Amen.
When we look out across that valley of dry bones, or at our own condition as Paul describes in Ephesians 2, we are faced with that question God asked Ezekiel: “can these bones live?” Are we, like the Israelis, lifeless, cut off from all hope? Has our hope perished, as Ezekiel puts it in his verse 11 and Paul in his verse 12?
Ezekiel sees the reality of death – a valley littered with lifeless, completely dried up bones. But God says this is not the finality of death. His perspective is quite a bit different from Ezekiel’s, or from ours. God promises through Ezekiel verse 37:5 that He will bring us back to life, and through Ephesians 2:5 that He will make us alive!
When God asked if those bones could live, Ezekiel didn’t really know for sure if they would. but he had no doubt that God could make them live if He wanted to. He was at least trying to look at the situation from God’s perspective rather than from man’s.
The dry bones represent our current situation. We are without hope, all dried up and withered. But this doesn’t have to be our future. If we allow Him to, God will revive us. He’ll restore us to health, to life, physically and spiritually. Notice in Ezekiel’s account, in verse 10, that the bones became “an exceedingly great army”. We won’t just be restored, but made better than ever!
So do you think we can do what God did? Can we breathe new life into old, dry bones? Yes, we can! Ezekiel did not put limits on God and neither should we.
But consider that God did not do anything until Ezekiel actually spoke the words God gave Him to repeat. Verses 7 and10 both begin with Ezekiel proclaiming “So I prophesied as He commanded me.” To prophesy is quite simply to speak the word of God.
One of my brother pastors related a story to us recently of a local man that he thinks lives somewhere in the Salisbury area. This man’s father was deathly ill, having been septic for 3 or 4 days and because nothing the doctors did helped any, they didn’t expect him to last through the week. The man reports that he sensed God telling him to read Ezekiel chapter 37 to his father. With nothing to lose except a little time, the man went to the hospital, opened up his Bible, and read Ezekiel 37 to his unresponsive father. He provided no extra commentary, no interpretation - the man simply read the scripture out loud to his father. He prophesied the word of God. The next day the man’s father was completely healed and left the hospital once the doctors finally agreed to let him go. The man’s wife confirmed all this. Now I have neither actual citations nor names to give for verification of this story, but I trust my brother who related it to me.
Sometimes all we need to do is what God tells us to, just to read His word. Some will think this little story to be apocryphal; just something made up to make a point. But we need to remember that God lives right here in us. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead dwells within us. With the power of the Holy Spirit working from us, we can speak life into the dry places. We can restore a withered spirit to health. We can breathe renewed vigor into what others might think is a dead heart. Remember the words of our song: “Look into the eyes of the brokenhearted; watch them come alive as soon as you speak hope, you speak love, you speak life.”
In the 107th Psalm, verses 19 and 20, the psalmist tells us the children of Israel…
19 …cried out to the Lord in their trouble;--Psalm 107:19-20 (NASB)
He saved them out of their distresses.
20 He sent His word and healed them,
And delivered them from their destructions.
We need to say the words of God in our withered valley. We need to cry out to the Lord in our troubled areas.
Are there dry bones in our lives? Are we dead because the Spirit is not in us? Is the Spirit not in us because we have rejected Him? Our society certainly has. We’ve kicked God out of our schools, out of our government, out of our lives. We chase after everything but God, putting material and emotional gain ahead of spirituality, convenience ahead of worship and service.
But what about us, here today? Do we see dry bones around us? Are we in some withered place with no visible signs of life? Do we sometimes feel that there just isn’t any life left in us, we no longer have hope for a good resolution to the situation we find ourselves in? Are we just enduring, not living? Do we feel cut off from any chance of enjoyment or pleasure or happiness or satisfaction or even contentment? Have we given everything there is in us and there’s nothing left? Do we trust God but we just don’t see any way He could possibly help?
If any of that describes you, then I want to invite you to come join me here at the altar or just stand there at your seat and let’s speak life into our dry places. Let’s speak life to the deadest, darkest night. If the sun don’t shine and we don’t know why, then let’s speak life…
O merciful Father in heaven, we stand here staring at the dry bones scattered throughout the valley of our lives. You ask us, “Can these bones live?”, and we hesitate in our answer. Father we know You can do anything, we know miracles still happen, but we can’t fathom why You would care enough about us to want to help us. We’ve gotten to the point in our despair over the mess we’re in that we just feel it would be a waste of our efforts to even ask Your help yet again, when we’ve asked time after time.
Forgive us, Father, when we doubt you. Encourage us, mighty Lord, to stand in the midst of this dry valley and to prophesy in Your name. Embolden us, please Lord, to face the dry bones in our lives and repeat the words You gave Ezekiel: “O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. ‘Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life. I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will know that I am the Lord.’”
Heal our hurts, Lord, whether they are in our body or in our spirit. Clothe the bare skeletons of our innermost self with new flesh and make us whole. Listen, please Father, as we confess to You from our hearts just what our dry bones are to us, so that You might breathe Your Spirit into them. Hear us now, Lord, as we pause in silence… [* pause for reflection *] And now, dear Lord, we speak life into our dry places. We speak hope where there was once only hopelessness. We speak love to those places in our lives where love has been all but forgotten. O wonderful and gracious Father, we speak life. In the precious name of Christ Jesus, we speak life and we pray. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment