Ezekiel

Dry Bones – Part 6
Ezekiel 37:1 - 14

We have been taking a look at the book of Ezekiel and even though it mostly relates to Israel and Jerusalem, we have asked the question, how would this book be relevant for us today?  What can we learn since “all scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness?”  The book was written over a 20-year period while the Israelites were in Babylonian captivity and God asks Ezekiel to do some strange things to illustrate how the Israelites had departed from Him and of the discipline to come and the destruction of Jerusalem.  “Sin is a serious matter and bears consequences.”  We have discovered that God is loving, patient, and just, but God will discipline his people in order to bring them back into a loving relationship with Him.  God gave Ezekiel an illustration of a young girl that had been abandoned and left for dead, and how He nurtured her back to health and gave her all she needed until she became of age and then took her as his wife relating to Israel; and how that she had prostituted herself with other gods and nations.  Ezekiel addressed the surrounding nations in chapters 25 – 32 making it clear that God is concerned is for the whole world.  Even though God had a covenant relationship with Israel, God’s intentions were to bless the whole world through the Israelites as God would bring forth His revelation and His Son through the lineage of Abraham to save the whole world (Gen. 12).  Then in Ezekiel 33, a man who had escaped from Jerusalem came to Ezekiel and said, “the city has fallen!”  Sure enough, just as Ezekiel had prophesied, the city of Jerusalem and the temple had been destroyed.  But in Ezekiel 34, once again, Ezekiel begins to prophesy concerning Israel.  But this time it is different.  It is a prophetic word concerning Israel’s future and their redemption and the redemption for all of mankind referring to the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ.

Ezekiel 36:1 – 14  (Watch Video)

Let me ask you this morning, have you been on pins and needles with everything that is going on in this world?  If so, you are not alone!  For almost the last two years, there is something that is new to all of us and not something that we have ever experienced before.  There is no precedent for those of us living in the 21st Century.  There is no established response, and therefore, you may find your emotions all over the board.  We have discovered that our social structures are not impassable; we aren’t God.  Human-made security is but an illusion!    How have you been dealing with this crisis?  Do you have hope?  Or do you feel yourself giving in to fear and anxiety?

In our Scripture Passage this morning, the utter hopelessness of Israel kind of mirrors our situation.  It was a very dark time for Israel.  Think about it, everything Israel had ever trusted, everything that had given their lives shape and meaning was gone (their temple and way of life).  Israel was not only in exile, but they are having a crisis of faith—and what could be worse?    What a dark night of the soul that must have been!

Have you ever had a “dark night of the soul”?  Have you ever looked around at your life and your situation and seen nothing but, metaphorically speaking, of course, a valley of dead and dry bones?  Imagine Ezekiel’s situation.  God gives him this vision and all he sees as far as the eye can see are bones.  Old, dead, dry bones!  We are talking about old bones with no flesh on them.  They have been exposed to the elements for who knows how long?  There is no life in them whatsoever.  Where is the hope?  Where is the life?  What good can come from here?  How would you feel about Ezekiel’s situation?

And then, suddenly God is asking Ezekiel a question: “Son of man, can these bones live?”  What would you say?

Let me ask you a question: Have you ever wanted to write someone off because you got so frustrated with them and the decisions they were making?  Have you ever said, “There is no hope for that person?”  “They will never change.”  “They will never accept Christ.”  “They will never get out of the mess they are in.”  “They are just going to keep on doing whatever they are doing until they die.”  “I give up!”?

Or how about a situation?  Do I ever think, “This ministry will never bear fruit?”  “I don’t see anything good coming from all my efforts.”  “What’s the use?”  I know I do.  How about you?  That’s kind of like the situation Ezekiel is in.  God’s people are at the lowest of the lowest points in their entire history.  They are in exile.  Things have hit rock bottom.  And these “dry bones” God is showing Ezekiel is an image of their condition.

They are dead.  They have no more life.  All hope is gone.

God asks Ezekiel, “Can these bones live?”  How would you answer that question?  Ezekiel chooses faith over despair and he answers God, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”

The story of Ezekiel reminds us that life itself is utterly and totally reliant on God.  It offers us a glimmer of hope…Hope that God and God alone can, indeed, bring new life, even when everything seems to be completely hopeless, completely dead.  For absolutely nothing is impossible with God!!!  The valley of dry bones is such an image that seems so final like it’s the end of the road.  It is sometimes hard to have hope in these moments.  And if you have lost your job or you feel like you’re going to lose due to the situation our nation is in, you may be feeling that way this morning.  Here in our Scripture Passage for this morning, we read some of the first hints of our ultimate hope…some of the first hints of Resurrection.  God instructs Ezekiel to prophesy, to preach to these dry, brittle, dusty, well-beyond life bones.  Why? Because this is not the end of their story!  Ezekiel hears a rattling as the bones begin to come back together and as sinews and muscles and skin again cover the bones.  Then Ezekiel is ordered to speak to the winds as God breathed His breath into them.  The word for breath here is the same word used back in Genesis when God created the first humans and breathed in them the breath of life.  It’s also the same word used for the Holy Spirit who comes and lives and brings new life to all who will believe in Jesus Christ.  We see that absolutely nothing is impossible with God, absolutely no situation is beyond repair, absolutely no life is beyond the possibility of redemption, salvation, transformation.  Just as God breathed new life into the valley, putting the lives of these dead people back together, God’s promise is always a promise of new life!

Let us remember that we worship a God of Resurrection, even though we may feel as if we are in a valley of dry bones or tombs of darkness.  In these difficult places where hope seems lost and all seems to be at the end, God gives us breath…Life-giving breath.  God breathes new life even into the most difficult places and offers us true hope—new Life—Resurrected Life!

Notice what Jesus said to Martha in John 11:17 – 44.

(Story of mom in hospital and breathing). Having this new life can be as simple as taking a breath of God’s Spirit!  Why not when things feel dead, breathe in God’s Holy Spirit, and become more aware of God’s presence in you?  So, let’s take deep breaths…let’s take lots of them.  And as we do, may God’s breath(spirit) be a gift to us that we accept, and may we encounter new life when we are in a valley of dry bones.