Life to Dry Bones | Ezekiel 37:1-14

foreign [Music] our way in your word we pray that you'd prepare our hearts to receive it we know Lord that when we come together it's not just some academic or intellectual exercise we need to open up ourselves to you truly Lord on every levels that you could speak to us so we lay aside our distractions and our defenses and we ask that you would speak to us now Lord in The Wonderful Name of Jesus Amen chapter 37 let me read to you the first three verses the hand of the Lord me and brought me full of Bones then he caused me to pass by them all around and behold there were very many in the open Valley and indeed they were very dry and he said to me son of man can these bones live so I answered O Lord God you know when you spend some time studying The Book of Ezekiel you find that the early chapters up until chapter 33 where Joel rosenborg spoke to us about this afternoon up until chapter 33 it is thick with judgment and sometimes scathing judgment sure there are several chapters about judgment on the Nations surrounding but the core of the first 33 chapters of the Book of Ezekiel is Judgment against the kingdom of Judah and man Ezekiel inspired by the Lord he lays into him and he explains in Vivid sometimes almost offensive detail how ripe they are and deserving they are of the Judgment of God receives a message from a messenger who came from Jerusalem and this is the message the message was that what Ezekiel had prophesied for years had finally come to pass Jerusalem was completely conquered and destroyed by the Babylonians the Temple was burned the city was in ruined virtually depopulated and it was over everything that Ezekiel said was going to come had come to pass he was utterly Vindicated but you can know he wasn't happy about it at all his own City his own people under the severe Judgment of God now here's what's remarkable about this after that in the Book of Ezekiel [Applause] did everything he possibly could to turn his people from the course of judgment or to prepare them for what was going to come after the Judgment came God said now we can look to brighter days now I can announce you about the work that will come and in the chapters after chapter 33 that would be chapter 34 to the end of the book Lings of God's discipline throughout Grace and renewal and refreshment and chapter 37 is right along in that line God LED Ezekiel in a vision at least that's what we gather when it says the hand of the Lord Came Upon me and then it says he brought me out in the spirit of the Lord it doesn't exactly say that this was a vision but it almost seems certainly that that's what Ezekiel experienced at that place and at that time and God gave him a vision of this Valley full of dry bones he looked out upon it and that's all he could see everywhere he looked he saw a valley filled with these Dr Bones now let's cut to the chase with it right now I can kind of play Coy with this but why do that verse 11 specifically tells us in this chapter that this is Israel this is the entire house of Israel by the way it's interesting and I'll speak about it when we get to verse 11. he's not just speaking about just the kingdom of Judah or just the Northern Kingdom of Israel he's talking about the entire house of Israel this is what is represented by this valley of dry bones it's important for us to realize that that more than anything Ezekiel chapter 37 is about God's promise to renew and refresh Israel and in the larger context to bring them back into the land I have to tell you something Brothers after spending time in Ezekiel over the past few months I have been struck in such a remarkable way about the clarity and the strength and even the eloquence of God's promises to give the land to Israel that nobody can believe that those promises were fulfilled by the return from the Babylonian captivity they just weren't and so it has to point to a glorious work that God would yet do that we see the beginnings of it in our own day at least since 1948. so what we're talking about here is I need to remind you of a larger context here especially when you go into the previous chapter Ezekiel chapter 36 you find that we are in now New Covenant territory what does that mean well New Covenant territory tells us that the New Covenant was something that God in the Old Testament was made to the Jewish people in the Old Testament there was very little indication I won't say none but that was very little indication in the Old Testament that Gentiles would be brought into the New Covenant as Gentiles that was a mystery not to be revealed until Apostolic times so when we see these new talking about the restoration of Israel but you're talking about it as part of the New Covenant and we know we know that even we have some share spiritually in the New Covenant so I tell you that to tell you this we're going to take a look at this text in front of us yes talking about how it refers to what God would do about the Jewish people and reassemble gather them as a nation and plant them in the land we're going to see that but we're also going to see what this passage says to us as believers because I don't know if you've ever experienced it I know if you've ever experienced it in your personal life in your family life in your church life maybe in the broader Christian world where spiritual experience feels just like a valley full of dry bones matter of fact isn't that the first thing that God told Ezekiel to do Ezekiel Saw this large expanse this Valley he saw what you might call the true Death Valley because everywhere it was strewn with bones bones baked in the Sun and what did he do verse 2 says that God commanded him to walk all around and noticed that there were very many in the open Valley God told Ezekiel Walk Out Among the bones and see what's out there get up close and spiritual about the spirit and I'll close them personal I should say about the spiritual condition of your people look at it don't kid yourself brothers and I'll speak to you as pastors and as men in Ministry pastors and Men serving the lord doesn't it kind of get you a little bit sick to your stomach when you think that you may be overestimating the spiritual health of your congregation there may be things in their life that look pretty good on the outside but you scratch underneath and it could just be a pile of dead bones God told Ezekiel go out and see the bones walk all around them and this is what he noticed he noticed that the lives represented by those bones they weren't only dead but they were also disgraced you understand this don't you that in the thinking of ancient Israel and the ancient near East in that part of the world there was a fate worse than death and the Fate worse than death was to die and have your corpse exposed and unburied to be left for whatever scavengers or Predators or just to be eaten by insects and worn away that was truly a fate worse than death and when he sees a valley full of unburied corpses these are people not only dead but utterly disgraced these are people that have no life and in a sense no dignity we wonder if maybe this didn't connect with a memory that Ezekiel had I imagine him on his journey from Jerusalem to the kingdom of Babylon and along the way him passing battlefields where there's strewn bones everywhere from soldiers that were too numerous to bury after a battle and he sees it and he sees this death and disgrace everywhere and they've been out there a long time look at verse two it says that they were very dry you see apart from their presence in a living body bones are dead I suppose that bones inside of us they live all the time there's marrow there's functioning cells and such but take them out of a living body bones die and these bones had been long dead you see bones are what remains when life has passed if something never had life it wouldn't leave Bones but bones are a dual reminder it reminds you right then in the present day that there's no life but it also tells that there was life in the past because if there was never life to begin with it would never leave behind bones then the question comes God speaks to the prophet did you see it there in verse three what was the question son of man that was the address that God usually used in addressing Ezekiel son of man can bees bones live I wonder how long it took Ezekiel to respond to that question I wonder if he thought what's the right answer but I'd say he gave the right answer did you see what his answer was at the end of verse 3 what did he say oh Lord God you know I think that was a brilliant answer you see without presumption Ezekiel anticipated God's work one somebody might hope that a recently dead corpse might somehow resuscitate you know you have the Widow's son and the days Elijah he rose you have um the girl that Jesus ministered to the the synagogue ruler's daughter she Rose you have the boy the Widow's son that was risen on the way to you have Lazarus you have these people recently dead there's a corpse there's something that looks like it become reanimated you look at a pile of dead bones what hope is there for that yet he had the only hope that could be found he said oh Lord God you know I'm not gonna presume Lord I'm not going to tell you what is your business to do but I'll tell you this God it's not impossible with you I know you could do it there's no hope on an Earthly basis but you are able to do this I've got no hope in the bones whatsoever but I am full of Hope in God but at the same time isn't it wonderful that Ezekiel didn't presume to know what God would do sometimes we're kind of bad at telling God what his business should be isn't it sometimes I think we spend a lot of times fruitless time I don't know if God's annoyed but I think he probably just Smiles in heaven oh my son you think you know my plan don't you you're just telling me my business all over again and you can't see the things I see you don't know I'm going to work in a different direction you can't anticipate at all no Ezekiel wouldn't tell God what his business was but he was confident that God did know you know God you would not have brought me to these bones unless you had a plan for him can anybody possibly conceive that God would bring Ezekiel in this Vision to the valley of dry bones show them the bones ask him the question and then God said yep that's it they're dead now go home what's the point God you've quickened my heart to it you've the spiritual condition of Israel for a reason man when you are awakened to the dry spiritual condition in your own life it's for a reason God wants to do something about it when you are awakened to the dry spiritual condition in your family in your congregation it's because God wants to do something about it he's not just kind of hey can these Dr Bones live no I don't know okay good go home it's not that at all so now look at what God tells him to do in verse 4.

again he said to me prophesy to these bones and say to them oh Dr Bones hear the word of the Lord thus says the Lord God to these bones surely I will cause breath to enter into you and you shall live I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you and cover you with skin and put breath in you and you shall live then you shall know that I am the Lord all right let me get out of preacher mode just for a moment I'll speak as objective let's just say I'm a guy who doesn't know anything about the Bible listen I'm brand new to the Bible I just read this and I read verse 4 and I say that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard in my life preach to a bunch of skeletons that's what you're gonna you're gonna preach to to things that have no faculty to hear to things that are dead what's the point now in the previous verse Ezekiel deliberately left the matter with God he said God I'm leaving it to you Lord God you know and what did God do in turn God gave the prophets something to do because it says God says I know God says Ezekiel you preach you prophesy to those bones you speak to them and by every outward observation this was a vein a foolish Act but you know what it meant it meant that for Ezekiel to do this he had to have what you might even call a foolish confidence in God's word brothers that's what I'm calling you two here right now tonight I want you to have a confidence in God's word that is so great that on looking world would look at it and say are you a fool you really believe this is the word of God you really believe this can be trusted you believe this can be trusted so much that you believe that you can teach from this book and really make the point of your message the point of this book and make this your focus this your theme of course you'll throw in some illustrations you'll throw in the anecdotes but those things that's at the core of your message the core of your message is this book other things may come along and illustrate or supplement or that this is your message and you think that this thousands of year old book is going to change lives and do things you say yes indeed I do believe that I believe it with all my heart I've seen God do it time and time again I'm not going to make a speech I'm not going to recite the Gettysburg address to the dead bones Shakespeare wrote some beautiful stuff that's not going to help them but the word of the Living God that can make the difference this is it amen now many years later the Apostle Paul acknowledged that the message of the Cross God's rescue for lost humanity and the person and work of Jesus Christ what did Paul say about it he said that it was foolishness to those who are perishing it was just about as crazy as preaching to a bunch of dry dead bones and Paul says I'll do it we do it and brothers if we want to see God move we must continue to preach God's word I know that in our current atmosphere it makes us feel like dinosaurs it really does if you know what's sure and maybe it's better if you don't but sometimes when you look what's out there you go really I'm really going to teach them the Bible I'm really going to believe that this has the power to transform lives to bring life to that which was dead and yet we say yes it does yes it has that power so what does he do this is what he's going to say verse 4 I love this can you just imagine Ezekiel preaching to a valley full of Bones now you say of course I can imagine that you say that's what I do every Sunday some of you guys right now in your mind's eye you're picturing you standing before a congregation full of skeletons well go right ahead and imagine them that way that's fine preach to those dry bones preach it nevertheless what did you want an easy calling that's not this it's not what you're doing now verse four I love this oh Dr Bones hear the word of the Lord that's a message you can only preach full of faith in God hear the word of the Lord they don't have ears but God's word is powerful he was confident that if he spoke the word of the Lord then God's word had a supernatural power he spoke with great faith in God's word and sometimes I think God just needs to excite our faith in his word we feel sometimes that what we do is a bit of a drudgery week in week out every Sunday every Wednesday comes pretty quick doesn't it and you get in that Rhythm and then all the other things you got to do during a week and it's easy it might even be a snare of the devil to get it locked into a routine a drudge or anything is this really doing anything good I don't see listen you're preaching to dry bones sometimes you just preach away and you do it with full confidence in the power of God's word because this was his promise this is what he was to preach full of Faith to those skeletons verse 5 . surely I will cause breath to enter into you you shall live God promised to fill the dry bones with breath he promised to bring flesh upon them in verse six and to cover them with skin God would take those once alive people now dead and make those bones live and I'll just emphasize it again this is a work of Revival it's restoring life to that which once had it if it never had life it would never have bones and this was God's declaration God said it would happen and as the word of the Lord was proclaimed over them they received God's promise of life and that life would be marked it says there by breath living once again in them now we're going to see the breath come in later on starting at verse 9. but I just need to tell you something about that breath and then most of you know this already I I could probably pick out randomly any four of you and invite you up and just explain this point right here and you can do it from the top of your head you could explain that in the Hebrew language the word for breath the word for wind and the word for Spirit are all the same word and their meaning or interpretation is based on context so when he says breath living in them once again it has the connotation of wind it also has the connotation of spirit because it's the same word in the ancient Hebrew and by the way in the ancient Greek language as well uh let me just say one thing as well before I move on to verse seven sometimes you'll see people take this passage and apply it to the resurrection of the Dead in the very last days this is not what this passage is speaking about this passage is speaking about the national Revival of Israel particularly in the last days as a function of the New Covenant and by spiritual analogy how God brings life to his people today those who need Revival verse 7.

he's actually gonna do it so I prophesied as I was commanded and as I prophesied there was a noise and suddenly a rattling and the bones came together bone to bone indeed as I looked the sinews and the flesh Came Upon them and the skin covered them over but there was no breath in them so can you have picture Ezekiel mine he adjusts his prophet's mantle or whatever it is he's wearing the belt okay me me preaching to an utterly dead audience you're not the only one who's ever had to do that you think your first service is dead look at Ezekiel he preached to that audience and what happened verse 7 says the bones came together bone to bone you see as Ezekiel prophesied first there was a noise among the bones a rattling and as he continued the bones began to assemble themselves together in skeletons now look let's be honest the text does not specifically say that they assembled themselves into weird shapes we assume that the assembly was proper that they didn't look like freakish skeletons God wouldn't do it that way they assembled it's an interesting thought though God brought them together and assembled them in order but notice how it began it began with a rattling I just love to Picture This Vision that Ezekiel must have had there he stands he's preaching in front of these driest bones he's declaring the word of the Lord to them and then he pauses for a moment what does he hear among his dead as Dr Bones audience he hears just a little rattling well what's that they can't be snoring they're dead what is it what is it and that smallest rattle must have been to him the most immense encouragement a rattling may not seem like much but it was the sign of much greater things to come it was a small beginning just like the cloud the size of a man's hand that Eliza saw in First Kings chapter 18. it was a small thing that was the size of something much greater and I want you to notice this that Ezekiel noticed every small aspect of what God was doing man sometimes you just gotta look for the small things that God does I don't see much Lord I wish that those bones would just come together all in the instant but I hear a rattling it's like the sound of the wind and the mulberry trees it's some small sign that you are on the move and I'll take encouragement in that and as he did look what happens in verse 8 the sinews and flesh Came Upon them after the bones were assembled the muscles and the tissue Came Upon the bones the and the bones were full of activity yet they still did not have the Breath of Life in them notice there was a process at work here it's really remarkable isn't it first you have the stirring of the bones then you have the Assembly of the bones then you have the sinews coming upon the bones I gather that's the ligaments that would join the bones together then you have the flesh going upon the bone I imagine that to be the muscles and the tissue coming upon the bones then you have the skin coming upon the bones and then finally you have what seems to be a resuscitated man down there in the valley all he's waiting for is what the Breath of God to fill him now I'll talk about that Breath of God in just a few moments when we get to verses 9 and 10. but notice this when God did this work he did it in a process you know man sometimes that's how God works now God is sovereign if he wanted to in a moment he could create the fully functioning being right there but oftentimes God says first I'm going to Rattle the bones then I'm going to assembled again then I'll bring the ligaments then I'll bring the tissues and as you've been watching this I wonder if you've thought about the old congregation where you serve you're a pastor you're a man active in Ministry there at your church and you're thinking about your own congregation thinking about your own youth group that you serve you're thinking what they're not dead but then if I would ask you this are they a mighty Army for the kingdom of God and say well no they're not there yet either now that's where we're going to end up we're going to end up not with just a bunch of fully functioning people lying down on couches watching television we're going to end up with a mighty Army for God's Kingdom so you say you know what look they're not dead bones they're spiritual life there neither are they the mighty armor they're somewhere in between and I want you to notice God works these things oftentimes in process I I don't want to get overly spiritual with every detail but just by analogy you could say Okay Lord I see that the ligaments are there would you now bring the muscles the muscles are there would you bring the skin over it Lord now Lord that now bring the next step wherever step you're at can you perceive it and ask God do what's next to develop it I don't want to rest Lord until the people that you have given me to minister unto until they are a mighty Army energized by your spirit that's what I want to see Lord and I'm not going to rest until I see it sometimes I think and maybe this is my confession to you sometimes I think that I've satisfied myself with seeing some skeletons with a few ligaments well they're not dead anymore there's not dry bones strewn all about the valley that looks terrible at least skeletons well that's something to look at there isn't it say no no no no don't stop short don't stop short in the longing into your heart until you see that Mighty Army raised up well that's what we come to here in verses 9 and 10.

to the breath thus says the Lord God come from the Four Winds o breath and breathe on these slain that they may live so I prophesied as he commanded me and breath came into them and they lived and stood up on their feet as an exceedingly great Army isn't that awesome all right now the first thing the work of the spirit was absolutely essential in this you could have reanimated corpses that did not have the Breath of Life in them yet until the spirit was breathed in them into fullness I don't know what you're gonna say you say well wait a minute David wasn't the Assembly of the bones of work of the spirit yes it was wasn't the coming of sin news and flesh was that yes that was a work of the spirit what wasn't it a work of the spirit to see the skin coming yes that was all a work of the spirit but you and I know there's just a different dimension of the spirit's work there's a different dimension when these are filled with the spirit in a remarkable and and a manner filled with great measure and he finally says okay this is what I want you to do Ezekiel pause now in the assembly procedure all this has happened now you have these corpses that have been reanimated but this is how the spirit's going to come upon them now let me say before I say anything about this and look at what Ezekiel says about the spirit coming upon them you need to track with me on this I don't think there are formulas for the work of the Holy Spirit I don't think I can say okay you do a b and c and d will come as the work of the spirit we see a pattern right here in the text I'm going to talk about that pattern but I want does everybody understand I'm not giving some magical formula or something like that we see a pattern we ask the spirit to use in our life maybe maybe the holy spirit will speak to somebody and say that's what I need that's what I need for my individual life that's what I need for my congregation I can't say exactly but listen look at what happened here and it's fascinating what God told Ezekiel to do was to speak to the spirit of God himself look at this verse 9. prophesied to the breath breath ruach Spirit Wind it could just as well be translated prophesied to the spirit prophesy son of man and say to the breath breath slash wind slash spirit and what what do you say to the spirit what do you say to the breath look at it it's right there thus says the Lord God come from the Four Winds o breath and breathe on these slain that they may live God told Ezekiel to pray a bold prayer imploring the Holy Spirit to come and fill those reanimated Corpses and I'll tell you the thing that really strikes me about this the thing that just sort of makes me I don't stagger just a little bit one you noticed it too is you notice the boldness that God told Ezekiel to have Brothers I Wonder if we forget to be as bold in prayer as God asks us to be what did he tell us there in Hebrews chapter 4 let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace boldly and God is honored by our boldness and I know there's a line between boldness and presumption sometimes we don't know where it is ask God to cleanse out of your heart every every ounce of presumption but ask him to fill you with more and more boldness to come before God and say God to the best of my ability this is what I perceive as needed here would you please do this God I call upon you to do it Lord you promise to do it you're the one who told me to do this so Lord do this and to pray boldly our father is honored by our bold requests you think of a little child coming up to their father say Dad I I'd like you to to give me something well what do you want and the child dreams are the biggest thing it could ask for dad I want five dollars you know and the child's trembling just a little bit you know really am I so bold to ask for that much from my father the father smiles to the father that's nothing I mean he spent that much on you know cup of coffee that morning to the father that's nothing to the child it's everything the Father Knows son I have resources that you know nothing of you think you're making a big request it's not so big to me but I am delighted by your boldness I'm delighted that you love me that you think I'm a big enough father to provide something like that for you and so Ezekiel was commanded but the other aspect of it that just sort of floors me about this man this happened after he had already preached the word to them it wasn't it enough I preached the word done right not in ezekiel's case and man please as I said before I'll repeat it again I'm not trying to establish some kind of formula but I'm just saying in ezekiel's case it wasn't enough for him to only preach the word he had to preach the word and that's what came first but after he preached the word he had to pray and pray that the Holy Spirit would use the word in a powerful way that the Holy Spirit would come upon those bones that he had just preached unto Charles Spurgeon said this first the prophet preaches to the bones he here is praying the preaching has its share in the work but it is the praying which achieves that the result for after he had prophesied to the Four Winds and not before the bones began to live I just note that Ezekiel prayed after he had proclaimed God's word I'll speak to those of you now because I know there's many of you here you have some kind of ministry in preaching or teaching God's word and I'll speak to myself as well we often neglect this aspect of our work in some church Traditions there's the custom of what they call the Vestry prayer in some classic traditional churches think kind of Anglican kind of thing the Vestry is the room in a more modern architecture we call it the Green Room it's it's the room from which the pastor or the choir enter to the service and the idea would be in these Church Traditions that there would be a Vestry prayer there would be a Vestry prayer before the service but there would also be a Vestry prayer after the service where the pastor after preaching the word would go and he would pray and I'm not trying to promote a tradition but I'm saying that there's a principle behind that tradition that has Merit and I'll just speak to myself I need to give more attention to prayer after the preaching and pray boldly I need to pray for a general blessing on those who hear God's word Lord these people came I can't believe it Lord they could be doing a thousand other things there's all these things tugging at him pulling at him you think about the people who aren't there why don't you start thinking about the people who came they could be doing other things they came bless them Lord bless them for coming and then I pray I pray God bless the spiritual seed that was sown water it fertilize it cultivate it Lord we can pray for a hindrance to anything or anyone that would steal the spiritual seed that was sown Lord keep away those birds those emissaries of Satan keep away the choking weeds that would extinguish life protect those seeds that were sown we can pray that our hearers would remember what they should remember from the sermon you know how it works guys fantastic message pastor and they forget it all by the time they reach the car in the parking lot Lord help them to remember what they should remember what they should forget from your sermon for some of us that's a big prayer we pray Lord God lord make these people doers of your word and not merely hearers Lord don't let them be a congregation that keeps up condemnation to themselves by receiving the word but not doing anything about it and then we pray for ourselves Lord would you forgive me in ways that that sermon fell short this was such a glorious passage Lord and I I just feel I didn't do it justice would you forgive me for that we can pray for humility for whatever way the sermon was used by God isn't that an important prayer to pray and then we can always pray for the grace to preach better next time man I just think we need to do more praying after the message that's what Ezekiel did so he did it verse 10 I prophesied as he commanded me and maybe this was an easier message to preach no longer was he preaching to dead bones scattered throughout now he was preaching to at least animated corpses but he prayed and he prophesied in the power of faith and verse 10 says that breath came in them after his faithful proclamation of the word after his prayer that the Holy Spirit would come upon them the work was completed and look what happened verse 8 this is what we all want isn't it oh Lord send it an exceedingly great Army those bones were not revived to become a group of spectators God was not trying to raise up a great crowd of couch potatoes he didn't want expert video game Warriors No what he wanted was a great Army for his kingdom they lived to act under the orders of the one who gave them light he saw an army assembled for action here I'm I'm gonna say this with all word and no Spirit we may become an army of the Dead assembled solid but without the true Breath of Life we have to say that when we look at what God has done in our whole Calvary Chapel family over the last 50 years it has been a profound work of the word and the spirit working together and we're going to be old enough to believe that we don't have to sacrifice one or the other that God we will remain faithful to proclaiming your word just as Ezekiel did and at the very same time we will pray we will boldly pray we will implore you for a mighty outpouring of your Holy Spirit well let me conclude just with these verses here verse 11 through 14.