FROM DEATH TO LIFE

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

The hand of the Lord was on me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

I said, “Sovereign Lord, You alone know.”

Then He said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.

Then He said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, My people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put My Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.’”

Ezekiel 37:1-14

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Did you know that you can look alive but be very dead?

I’m not talking about zombie-like behavior like you see on television these days but rather people who look like everyone else, living and breathing as if life is teems within them when it really isn’t.

Trust me when I say it’s happening and as a foundation to build my case, I present to you the opening verses of Ezekiel 37:

The hand of the Lord was on me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

I said, “Sovereign Lord, You alone know.”

Then He said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.

Then He said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, My people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put My Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.’”  Ezekiel 37:1-14

Ezekiel, God’s faithful prophet which this book was named after, is taken into a vision by the Spirit of the Lord, one which produced a miraculous (and perhaps scary) scene. Imagine if you were him, standing in a valley full of dry bones. It was a place that was hardly alive. Rather, it represented death in its most startling form as people who once lived were now stripped of their life and reduced to the bones which served as the framework for their bodies.

It was here, in the midst of the aftermath of dying that God asked His messenger a very quizzical question:

“Son of man, can these bones live?”

How would you respond to such a question?

I’m pretty sure our reply would not have been like Ezekiel’s. We probably would have said something like, “Huh?” or “Yeah, right God?” or “You’re kidding, right God?”

But the prophet spoke words that were amazing to me, words that showed He would not discount the possibility that the bones might be able to come back to life. Truly, only God, the One through which all things are possible, was the only One who knew the answer to the question.

I believe the Lord rewards Ezekiel’s willingness to trust that a great miracle could happen within the valley of bones when He gives His prophet the opportunity to command the bones to come to life in His name. We see that Ezekiel does indeed prophesy as the Lord commanded and no sooner did he give the order that he heard an amazing “noise, a rattling sound” as the “bones came together, bone to bone” with “tendons and flesh” appearing on them before being covered by skin. The bodies looked human but there was one more important step needed for look at what God told His messenger to say next:

“Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’”

Ezekiel again followed the Lord’s directives and breath entered each of the newly formed bodies, bringing them from death to life. And scriptures tell is they stood up before Ezekiel, forming “a vast army”.

It was an incredible revelation, one for the ages for Ezekiel, but what did it all mean? What was God getting at anyways?

Well, looking back at our passage for today, we find the Lord giving us the answers. For the Israelites had become dead in their faith, so dead that they no longer honored the Lord but gave their devotion, adoration, and worship to gods and idols that were as lifeless as their belief in the very God who was their Maker and Master.

And so God sent them away from their holy land into a seventy year exile, a literal valley experience where they would see what life would be like cut off from the very God they disregarded and disrespected. They had abandoned Him and now they would see what it would feel like to be abandoned. And hopeless without God, they would become the very dry bones that were in the valley of Ezekiel’s vision.

But there was good news because God was getting ready to breathe life back into His people, opening up the spiritual graves they had buried themselves in and resurrecting them from their “dry bone” state. Note this would happen as He put His Spirit back within them, bringing them from death to life so they could return home and settle once again in the land He had blessed their ancestors with.

It was an amazing true story of renewal and restoration and it reminded me of two verses from Jesus and the Apostle Paul which came later in the Bible, words that would give us a new twist on the idea of bringing dead things to life:

 Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by Himself; He can do only what He sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all he does. Yes, and He will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom He is pleased to give it. Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent Him.”

“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.”  John 5:19-24

“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.” Ephesians 2:1-5

You see, many people today are among us looking very much alive when they are dead in their transgressions and sins, blissfully and willfully following the ways of the world while gratifying the desires and cravings of their flesh with a disobedient spirit. These people live apart from Jesus, refusing to believe in the Son God sent to save them, the Son who God entrusted with the judgment of all mankind, the Son who is the only One through which someone can cross over from death to life.

These non-believers are the dead bones in today’s valley but as there was for the Old Testament Israelites, good news still exists for those who are dead in their transgressions. For if they would receive Jesus as their Savior and commit their faith, belief, and hope to Him, then like the scene in Ezekiel’s vision, God would breathe breath back into them and bring them to life, a life that will not only last now but endure forever when this life ends. It’s the greatest demonstration of God’s mercy, grace, and love, a fulfillment of His desire to not have anyone perish but share everlasting life with Him through His Son (John 3:16).

If you have not yet come to Jesus, make today the day that you do and bring your dead bones to life. For these words from 2 Corinthians are ready to come alive in you:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 2 Corinthians 5:17

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark
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