March 18, 2015
Ezekiel : God Still Reigns
I Who Was Ezekiel 1:1-36:38, 37:15-48-35
II The Valley of the Bones 37:1-14
Dem Dry Bones
Lyrics for the Children’s Songs
Trad.,Arranged by Paul.Austin.Kelly
for Walkingoliver.com
Quality Music for Children
This Song is featured on the album: Sing-Along 2
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Dem Dry Bones
Ezekiel connected them dry bones
Ezekiel connected them dry bones
Ezekiel connected them dry bones
Now, hear the word of the Lord!
Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones
Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones
Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones
Now, hear the word of the Lord!
Your toe bone connected to your foot bone
Your foot bone connected to your ankle bone
Your ankle bone connected to your leg bone
Your leg bone connected to your knee bone
Your knee bone connected to your thigh bone
Your thigh bone connected to your hip bone
Your hip bone connected to your back bone
Your back bone connected to your shoulder bone
Your shoulder bone connected to your neck bone
Your neck bone connected to your head bone
I hear the word of the Lord.
Them bones, them bones gonna walk around
Them bones, them bones gonna walk around
Them bones, them bones gonna walk around
I hear the word of the Lord.
Disconnect them bones, them dry bones
Disconnect them bones, them dry bones
Disconnect them bones, them dry bones
I hear the word of the Lord.
Your head bone connected from your neck bone
Your neck bone connected from your shoulder bone
Your shoulder bone connected from your back bone
Your back bone connected from your hip bone
Your hip bone connected from your thigh bone
Your thigh bone connected from your knee bone
Your knee bone connected from your leg bone
Your leg bone connected from your ankle bone
Your ankle bone connected from your foot bone
Your foot bone connected from your toe bone
Now hear the word of the Lord!
Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones
Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones
Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones
Now, hear the word of the Lord!
Ezekiel connected them dry bones
Ezekiel connected them dry bones
Ezekiel connected them dry bonee
Now, hear the word of the Lord!
(Tell the story of Dr. England and Medical School)
In my mind, there is no stranger, nor more glorious books in the Bible, than the book of Ezekiel. And while there are certainly, sections in this book, that are more odd than this one about a valley of bones coming to life, there are none, that have the imagery that captures the imagination, and sets it on fire, quite like this valley of bones. This vision of dry bones coming to life, taking on flesh and blood and breath, has not only stimulated the minds of theologians and preachers, but has also fueled the imagination of artists and composers, all over the world. And it has inspired such diverse cultural expressions, as the American Negro spiritual, “Dem Bones”, from the 1800’s, to a political and current events, cartoon strip, in a modern Israeli newspaper, The Jerusalem Post, called Dry Bones, which has appeared daily since 1973.
The vision has been interpreted, as a direct prophecy, of the resurrection of the nation of Israel ,and as an equally direct prophecy of the resurrection of individual human beings.
The book of Ezekiel was written after the defeat of the southern kingdom of Judah by the Babylonians. The Northern Kingdom had already ceased to exist; the Assyrian empire had defeated the north some 130 years earlier. The time of judgment for Judah had come
If you remember, right after Solomon, who was the third king, of the kingdom of Israel, died, a revolt and near civil war erupted. God intervened, and although war was averted, the kingdom was divided in two. There was a king to the north, and one to the south, and the two kingdoms were never united again. One day, when Jesus comes again, they will be, but not until then…. The modern Israeli state is not really the same size or composition of the ancient kingdom. The Northern Kingdom lasted around 210 years, and they never had a single king that honored God and did what was right in His eyes.
The southern kingdom of Judah had nine kings ,out of a total of twenty, who walked after the Lord, but the kingdom of Judah eventually became so wicked there was really no difference between them, God’s chosen people, and the pagan people that surrounded them. The reality is, those who were supposed to be God’s people were often worse.
And so God sent His prophets….. He sent prophet after prophet, after prophet….. those fiery, passionate men who loudly and boldly proclaimed, “Thus saith the Lord…..” They weren’t popular men, because, men who come proclaiming God’s purity and holiness, and mankind’s sinfulness and depravity, don’t usually win popularity contests. These prophets were made fun of, they were reviled and ridiculed and ostrasized; and hey were persecuted and killed by their own people….God’s chosen people chose to ignore and oppress God’s chosen messengers. So, God sent His promised judgment.
We could stand here, all day, listing all the sins of the nation of Israel, but an easier way to get a perspective on it, is to look at America and do a little comparison. The similarities between ancient Israel, and our nation, are so striking you wonder why God hasn’t visited us yet.
The nation of Israel ignored its poor; worse, it oppressed them. Sexual immorality was the norm; to even speak of purity invited the ridicule and scorn of others. Worship of the one true God had been replaced with a hodgepodge; a crazy-quilt patchwork of all kinds of gods and religions and idols added onto the pure worship of the living God. Off and on in her history, Israel even practiced child sacrifice, horribly putting their sons on the altar of false gods and burning them in the fire. Our political leaders can say all they want to about abortion, but when a nation chooses to end the lives of over 40,000,00 babies on the altar of convenience, you better watch out This can’t last much longer Everyday in The United States 4,000 abortions are performed. You can call it what you want, but this is genocide, and God destroyed Israel because of her wickedness,,,how long will it be, before He destroys us too?
But in our study this week, we, once again, find a merciful and gracious God. A God, who will judge sin But He will also forgive sin… He will forgive the woman who aborts her baby, and the person who ignores the poor, and the person who is sexually immoral, and even the person who puts other gods before Him…. and He will provide new life for anyone who chooses to ask Him to be their savior…. If truth be told, most of are living, or have lived, in our own valley of dry bones, in desperate need of the resurrection life that God is willing and able to supply to us individually, and to our nation.….
I Who is EzeKIl
Like I said earlier, being a prophet was not a cushy job…. The life expectancy of the prophet of God wasn’t typically, very long. Tradition has it, that Isaiah was sawn in half–not a real good way to go…and that Jeremiah had a heartbreaking ministry…. nobody paid the slightest bit of attention to him…. he was thrown into a dungeon; and was left sitting there in mud up to his waist. He was rescued from the dungeon, but legend has it, that he finally died in exile in Egypt, far from the land of his fathers; and Daniel was put in the lion’s den, and was only rescued from the lion’s mouth because God wasn’t through with him yet, and he eventually died in exile. Jonah was swallowed and thrown up by a big fish, before he finally went up to Ninevah; and John the Baptist had his head cut off at the whim of a jealous, frivolous little girl…. the list goes on and on.
The Bible tells us in Hebrews 11:37-38 that the prophets were, . . . . stoned, sawn in two, tempted, slain with the sword: that they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; that they were often destitute, afflicted, and tormented, and that they often lived by themselves like hermits, in deserts, and i mountains, and dens and caves.
But, I think that their WAS a wonderful fringe benefit that must have gone along with the job….. which was that the relationship between God and His prophets must have been one of such intimacy and power, that it more than made up for the persecution and neglect that they suffered at the hands of their people. And Ezekiel was no exception, in fact, most theologians would say that Of all the prophets, Ezekiel (Who’s name means "God strengthens") was probably the most colorful. He used pantomime, he would cry and wail and slap his thighs, he did weird things with his hair, he ate a scroll, and did many other strange and unusual things, that God commanded for him to, in hopes that his messages would be burned into the minds of the people.
In 586 BC Jerusalem was totally ruined by Nebuchadnezzer and his great Babylonian army. Solomon’s Temple, which had been the pride and glory of Israel for almost 400 years was reduced to ashes; all the inhabitants of Jerusalem had been taken either to Chaldea or to Babylon in captivity, including Jehoiachin, the last king of Judah who was blinded and taken in chains to Babylon (present day Iraq). They had been warned repeatedly, by God, through His prophets, but the people had turned their faces, their ears and their hearts away, so they lost their entitlement to their Promised Land.
Historians tell us that Ezekiel was probably only about 25 years old when he was taken into captivity. Here was a young man who had been raised literally in the shadow of the great Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem. He was supposed to follow in the footsteps of his father, a Zadokite priest. Under Jewish law a man didn’t enter the priesthood until he’d turned 30, so Ezekiel had undoubtedly been training for it, his entire life. ( This explains why Jesus didn’t start his public ministry until he was 30)
In 586 BC Jerusalem was totally ruined by Nebuchadnezzer and his great Babylonian army. Solomon’s Temple, which had been the pride and glory of Israel for almost 400 years was reduced to ashes; all the inhabitants of Jerusalem had been taken either to Chaldea or to Babylon in captivity, including Jehoiachin, the last king of Judah who was blinded and taken in chains to Babylon (present day Iraq). They had been warned repeatedly, by God, through His prophets, but the people had turned their faces, their ears and their hearts away, so they lost their entitlement to their Promised Land.
Historians tell us that Ezekiel was probably only about 25 years old when he was taken into captivity. Here was a young man who had been raised literally in the shadow of the great Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem. He was supposed to follow in the footsteps of his father, a Zadokite priest. Under Jewish law a man didn’t enter the priesthood until he’d turned 30, so Ezekiel had undoubtedly been training for it, his entire life. ( This explains why Jesus didn’t start his public ministry until he was 30)
I‘m sure that Ezekiel had planned, with great and eager anticipation, to be ministering in great Temple of Solomon after his 30th bday…. He would have enjoyed being revered and respected by the entire nation. And I think probably, that he would have become one of the high priests, eventually, so I think that he was more-than-likely, grief-stricken, as he watched his plans and dreams go down the drain......while he camped there by the River Chebar with the other refugees. But God had a plan! He had not misplaced Ezekiel. He had not lost track of where he was. Ezekiel was not there because of some strange twist of fate.
Ezekiel 1:1,3: says " Now it came about in the thirtieth year, on the fifth day of
the fourth month, while I was by the river Chebar among the exiles, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God. The word of the LORD came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and there the hand of the LORD came upon him.”
the fourth month, while I was by the river Chebar among the exiles, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God. The word of the LORD came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and there the hand of the LORD came upon him.”
God showed Ezekiel that his captivity didn’t matter at all,,,,He showed him that he didn’t have to be in Solomon’s Temple to minister to God’s people. When he was taken into captivity, He may have felt like he would never be effective for God, again…; or that he would never again experience God great power or His limitless glory.
But prophets had dreams, heard the audible voice of God, and saw visions that took them to some incredible places and scenes.
And In one of the more stunning visions in the Bible, Ezekiel had an incredible, life-changing vision of the living God. This passage, in the very beginning of the book, is one of the more amazing passages you will ever read in Scripture. Ezekiel was with his people in Babylonia, far from the sight of the glory of God’s earthly temple. Surrounded by the pomp and circumstance of idolatry, by the magnificence of a mighty pagan empire, Ezekiel received a vision of the far greater majesty and wonder of the glory of the living, unseen God of Israel, than anything that he could ever see or experience in this world, as beautiful as it is….. Ezekiel goes on to describe the creatures, that he sees… attendants to the living God. These angelic creatures he saw in this vision were so mighty and transcendent that the words Ezekiel used in describing them seem to trip over each other in a confused clamor of ever-increasing grandeur. And all of this vision, the creatures, the wheels, the throne–all of it, was suffused with the Shekinah glory of the infinite and everlasting God….and when Ezekiel saw what appeared to be the likeness of the glory of the living God, he fell face down…He was too glorious to look at
What a vision!!! God commissioned His prophet by giving him a glimpse of the likeness of His glory. He did so because times were tough for the people of God. Their sin, their steadfast refusal to keep faith with the one true God, had finally brought God’s judgment on them. They were in captivity, far from home, and all they had left were the prophets God sent to His people. But in His mercy, in the midst of terrible anguish, God gave His prophet Ezekiel , a glimpse of His glory……and then when the time was right, in another vision God took him to a valley of dry bones, And in the valley of bones, God asked Ezekiel a question… a question. In Ezekiel 37: 1-3 it says “there the hand of the LORD came upon me."
And the spirit of the LORD, brought me out, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, 2And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. 3And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, only you know.".
II The Valley of the Bones
It would take great power, to make bones come to life…It would take resurrection power….
So to show His great power and the enable Ezekiel and the people to trust His sovereignty, Not only was this graveyard filled with bones, but it was filled with dry bones. Not only were the bones dry, scripture graphically portrays them as very dry. These corpses had undoubtedly been dead a long while. If Ezekiel had been taken to a valley filled with people who were dying there would have been a glimmer of hope. Maybe then, there would be a chance for some to be healed and live…. some would be If the valley had been filled with the corpses of people who had just died, there would have been the possibility of a mass resurrection. Even if the valley had been filled with complete skeletons, there would be some hope. But this valley was filled with very dry, scattered bones. This points to the absolute hopelessness of the situation. There was only a remnant left of what once was!
We realize that this vision given by God, was to show that H was well aware of the spiritual state of His people…. 19 times, the Old Testament tells us that the children of Israel “had. prostituted themselves after other gods”
We realize that this vision given by God, was to show that H was well aware of the spiritual state of His people…. 19 times, the Old Testament tells us that the children of Israel “had. prostituted themselves after other gods”
Many years before this vision, in Deuteronomy 30:16-19, as the Israelites wondered in the desert for 40 years… God had made a promise to His people: He said…"In that I command you this day to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that you will live and multiply: and the LORD your God will bless you in the land when you go to possess it.
But if your heart turns away, so that you won’t hear, but will be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; then I tell you this day, that you will surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, when you pass over Jordan to go to possess it. I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, tin hat I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both you and your seed may live" (Deuteronomy 30:16-19)
God’s people chose death --- and the results are seen in this valley of death! Those people who had once been feared by the nations, now lay in a heap of very dry bones! Those who once had dreams and aspiration,s were reduced to rubble.
God always gives man a choice. His desire is to be a blessing to mankind, but He’s a gentleman, He doesn’t force His will on anyone. But, there are consequences to our actions. Choosing God’s way ,brings life and blessing. Choosing to walk away from God, in any situation,,,,brings destruction and death. The man and woman who choose to do "their own thing" to the exclusion of God, will find that they will become (spiritually speaking) a part of the "valley of very dry bones."
God’s people chose death --- and the results are seen in this valley of death! Those people who had once been feared by the nations, now lay in a heap of very dry bones! Those who once had dreams and aspiration,s were reduced to rubble.
God always gives man a choice. His desire is to be a blessing to mankind, but He’s a gentleman, He doesn’t force His will on anyone. But, there are consequences to our actions. Choosing God’s way ,brings life and blessing. Choosing to walk away from God, in any situation,,,,brings destruction and death. The man and woman who choose to do "their own thing" to the exclusion of God, will find that they will become (spiritually speaking) a part of the "valley of very dry bones."
As Ezekiel gazed around, the situation must have had impossible written all over it…but he must have felt a flicker of excitement in the air, because I believe we knew who God was and what He could do….
The God that he knew created a man and a woman out of dirt…He gave a baby to a 100 yr. old octogenarian and his 90- year old wife…He wrestled with Jacob, and didn’t kill him…He sent plagues to Egypt, He parted the Red Sea, He caused water to pour from a rock, He rained manna down from heaven (for 40 yrs), and He rolled the stone away to reveal an empty tomb ….if this God who did all those things, and more, spoke the entire universe into existence out of absolutely nothing, then putting a little flesh on some bone would be a piece of cake…
And so this vision God gave to Ezekiel of a valley of dry bones having flesh and blood and breath given to them by a sovereign and omnipotent God is not too far-fetched at all. And this vision of life coming to the remains of those long dead, of those whose skin has long since rotted, leaving nothing but the ivory of bones, applies to us now as well, applies to us whose skin has not yet fallen off the bone. God is able to give us life, new life., today, right where we are…..
( In the town of Sedlec in the Czech Republic there is a famous cemetery that dates back to the 13th Century. Some 40,000 people who died from the Black Plague in the 14th Century and in the Hussite wars in the beginning of the 15th Century were buried there. Around the year 1400 AD, a Gothic church of All Saints. was built at the center of the cemetery. Underneath it a chapel was built as an ossuary, or a facility for the storage of human bones, to hold the bones unearthed in the mass graves during the construction of the church. This church of bones contains the skeletal remains of these 40,000 people. It is literally a church of bones.)
On the great Resurrection Morning, a lot of those bones in that church will live again….God has promised that those who hear His voice, who listen to his Word, can have life…. We can have new life in our nation and in our personal lives, and for all eternity, but only by the Spirit of God……
There is coming a time, at the end of the age, when the Father is going to come to the Son, and say, “Go get my children” When the very last soul is saved, the Lord Himself will descend….
1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 says, “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”
And it is a great comfort, isn’t it? We don’t like the idea of death. But the truth is we don’t like the idea of being separated from our bodies very much either… Let me tell you something: Heaven is not about us wandering through eternity as disembodied spirits, like ghosts….. That notion is as far away from a Biblical notion of the afterlife, as Chattanooga, TN is from Antartica…. The Bible tells us that there will be a new heaven and a new earth. There will be a solidity to our eternal destination. We will not be hanging around on clouds playing on our harps.
Revelation 21:1-4 says, “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”
Heaven is going to be a real place inhabited by real people. There will be real flesh and blood people, there in this new Jerusalem, in this new heaven and new earth. Will we be the same as we are now? No When Jesus was resurrected, although initially His disciples didn’t recognize Him, once He allowed it, they not only recognized Him, but they understood that although He was changed, there was still a connection to the body that was placed in the grave. It was the same Jesus, but with a glorified body, whatever that looks like…. And when He comes again, we will have one just like His.
1 John3:2 says, “ Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
This should be an enormous comfort to us. It should keep all our fears at bay… All the self-help chatter, of the modern therapeutic schools of thought, those people who teach that the-power-of-positive-thinking, type of theology, pale into nothing, beside the truth that promises, not just an afterlife, but one that has the very thing we crave most, right now, a relationship with our Heavenly Father, through the Lord Jesus….. When life gets to be too much, as it does from time to time……. we need to focus on Jesus, and what He has promised us----- He has promised us a new, real body, not just a cloud to hang around on; and most wonderfully, Jesus has promised us Himself…
And this image from Ezekiel, this vision of the valley of dry bones coming to life, is a wonderful example of God’s resurrection power. The image speaks to our own personal resurrection, that will come to pass when Jesus comes in glory; but it also speaks to the coming resurrection of a new, national Israel, when God will bring His chosen people, out of the ashes of history. It was partially fulfilled in 1948, but it won’t be complete until Jesus accomplishes it, some glorious day in the future…
In Ezekiel 37:3., God says: "Son of man, can these bones become people again?" God was asking: "What do you think about it, Ezekiel? Is this a hopeless situation?" But the very asking of this question brought a glimmer of hope and confidence, to the prophet. "Lord, you alone know the answer to that."
Only God ever has the answer. He always has the answer, the purpose and the plan…And Thank God, He has a plan for restoration!
Scripture reminds us that "with God all things are possible."
Could those scattered, dry bones live again? Absolutely, they could! Because God has a two-fold plan! God’s response to Ezekiel was priceless…..
Scripture reminds us that "with God all things are possible."
Could those scattered, dry bones live again? Absolutely, they could! Because God has a two-fold plan! God’s response to Ezekiel was priceless…..
Ezekiel said in verse 4, "Then he told me to speak to the bones and say: ’O dry bones, listen to the words of God,". That’s plan #1 -- The Word of God. Life comes through His Word! His Word will bring a change in the life of an individual, a church, a community! His Word is life!
In verse 7 we see the results of the Word of God: "So I spoke these words from God, just as he told me to;"
In verse 7 we see the results of the Word of God: "So I spoke these words from God, just as he told me to;"
The word of God stands alone…we don’t need to….
water it down
try to improve upon it
try to rationalize it
water it down
try to improve upon it
try to rationalize it
feel like we have to apologize for it
philosophy over it
be timid with it
philosophy over it
be timid with it
We just need to tell the Word like it is --- just like the Lord tells us to tells us to! It’s not our Word, it’s His Word! It didn’t originate with us -- it originated with Him! It’s not called the Word of Debra Jenkins or Beverly Choquette, it’s called the Word of the Lord!
The Lord knows that there will be people who won’t accept what His Word says, but He wants us to tell it anyway! Romans 3:3-4 asks: “For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? 4God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar;. . ." God’s plan to shake the dry bones includes His Word!
The Lord knows that there will be people who won’t accept what His Word says, but He wants us to tell it anyway! Romans 3:3-4 asks: “For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? 4God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar;. . ." God’s plan to shake the dry bones includes His Word!
God’s plan to resurrect the bones was two-fold. The first ingredient was His Word, and the 2nd one is found in verse 9: "Then he told me to call to the wind and say: ’The Lord God says: Come from the four winds, O Spirit, and breathe upon these slain bodies, that they might live."
By our own strength and wisdom crowds can be gathered -- our advertising and marketing strategy can accomplish this. By our own strength and wisdom we can devise programs that will be enticing to the world. By our own strength and wisdom our church can grow. By our own strength and wisdom we can touch people’s minds. But, make no mistake about it -- if our goal is to see the spiritually dead raised to life in Christ, it will have to come from the Holy Spirit….we cant do it… He has come and "breathe" on them!
That’s what Ezekiel is trying to tell us. You see, in verse 7 & 8 we read that “.suddenly there is a rattling noise from all across the valley, and the bones of each body came together and attached to each other as they used to be. 8Then, as I watched, the muscles and flesh formed over the bones, and skin covered them, but the bodies had no breath." They looked alive, but they weren’t. They were still only bodies --- not living beings. There was a multitude there in the valley, but they were still dead! And they stayed that way, until touched by the Holy Spirit of God.
By our own strength and wisdom crowds can be gathered -- our advertising and marketing strategy can accomplish this. By our own strength and wisdom we can devise programs that will be enticing to the world. By our own strength and wisdom our church can grow. By our own strength and wisdom we can touch people’s minds. But, make no mistake about it -- if our goal is to see the spiritually dead raised to life in Christ, it will have to come from the Holy Spirit….we cant do it… He has come and "breathe" on them!
That’s what Ezekiel is trying to tell us. You see, in verse 7 & 8 we read that “.suddenly there is a rattling noise from all across the valley, and the bones of each body came together and attached to each other as they used to be. 8Then, as I watched, the muscles and flesh formed over the bones, and skin covered them, but the bodies had no breath." They looked alive, but they weren’t. They were still only bodies --- not living beings. There was a multitude there in the valley, but they were still dead! And they stayed that way, until touched by the Holy Spirit of God.
The truth is, that is the way it is for us… all our efforts in the Kingdom are lifeless and powerless without the touch of the Spirit in them. All our programs; all our projects; all our promotionals; all our proddings; all our proclamations; even though they might be many, and they might be really smart and really good, they are dead until they are energized by the Spirit of God!
The Blessedness of the Plan is found in the Word of God and the Spirit of God. These two work in tandem to bring life out of death -- victory out of defeat! The very dry bones found scattered upon the valley floor have been miraculously returned to life by the Word and the Spirit! And my prayer this evening is: "Do it again, Lord!"
The Blessedness of the Plan is found in the Word of God and the Spirit of God. These two work in tandem to bring life out of death -- victory out of defeat! The very dry bones found scattered upon the valley floor have been miraculously returned to life by the Word and the Spirit! And my prayer this evening is: "Do it again, Lord!"
The prophet saw the miracle of the nation of Israel that was going to be reborn. He saw the miracle of a great army rising up from the ashes of a cataclysmic defeat. The nation of Israel was destroyed, the Temple of God itself torn down, yet God showed His prophet how life could come from destruction and decay/////
God literally means God-breathed. Ezekiel saw a vision of his nation coming to life….. From the ashes of God's judgment he saw His God, breath life into the lifeless and dry bones of a dead nation: a nation both spiritually dead and physically dead. America as a nation needs new life breathed into her, I pray thatl we will see God breath new life into our nation too…
Eze. 37:11-14) has to do with the coming restoration of Israel, that will not completely happen till after the Rapture…. In these verses God gave Ezekiel the interpretation of his vision…. God told Ezekiel that it doesn’t matter that Judah was lying in tatters, the nation dispersed, and the temple destroyed. God was telling Ezekiel that He, the LORD God, was powerful enough to give life to dead, dry bones and He is more than powerful enough to give life to each one of us too….
And He wants us to see that and glorify Him for His splendor! It isn’t that God is an egoist, it is just that there is nothing more marvelous in eternity than Him!
My prayer is that in this lesson this week that we have caught a glimpse of the awesome glory and splendor of God… that In Ezekiel’s stumbling way, that we have felt God touch us with His glory. And that we understand that He is why everything exists! It exists to glorify this God who loves so much that the love spilled over into a creative act of such proportion that it takes our breath away. He sent Jesus to create a new life, in anybody who will believe…
(There was a divinity school once that hosted an annual picnic, to which they invited the greatest minds to lecture in the theological education center. One year, the guest lecturer was a professor, who spoke for two and one-half hours "proving" that the resurrection of Jesus was false. The professor quoted scholar after scholar and book after book. He concluded that since there was no such thing as the historical resurrection, the religious tradition of the church was groundless, emotional mumbo-jumbo, because it was based on a relationship with a risen Jesus, who, in fact, never rose from the dead in any literal sense. Upon finishing, he then asked if there were any questions. After a pause of silence lasting 30 seconds, an old black preacher with a head fullof white hair stood up in the back of the auditorium. "Docta Professer, I got one question", he said as all eyes turned toward him. He reached into his sack lunch and pulled out an apple and began loudly eating it. CRUNCH, MUNCH, " he chewed on that apple. Between bites, he asked, “My question is a simple question",....CRUNCH, MUNCH... "Now, I ain’t never read them books you read"...CRUNCH, MUNCH... "and I can’t recite the Scriptures in the original Greek"...CRUNCH, MUNCH... "I don’t know nothin’ about Niebuhr and Heidegger"....CRUNCH, MUNCH...He slowly, but finally finished the apple. "All I wanna know is: This apple I just ate------was it bitter or sweet?" The professor paused for a moment and answered in exemplary scholarly fashion: "I cannot possibly answer that question, sir, for I haven’t tasted your apple". The white-haired black preacher dropped the core of his apple into his crumpled paper bag, looked up at the professor and said calmly, "Neither have you tasted my Jesus." The 1,000 plus in attendance could not contain themselves. The auditorium erupted with applause and cheers. The professor thanked his audience and promptly left the platform. )
Every day, because of what Jesus did for us, because of what we’ve been spared, because of what we’ve been given, we should ask everybody we talk to, “Do you know my Jesus?”
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