A number of years ago I was visiting some people who lived in the desert southwest in the U.S. In their backyard, among the rocks, cactus, and other desert plants, they had a large cow skull, which in a somewhat dark way, fit in with the hot, dry, desert setting. I have seen skeletons in science museums, and though maybe not quite as dry as the cow skull in the desert, they are equally as lifeless. Only in cartoons do we see a skeleton walking around. Never in real life. They are dead and will lie where they fall. In our Scripture for today from the Book of Ezekiel, we read about bones, and what the Lord God does with them. Let’s look and see.
The prophet Ezekiel ministered to the people of Judah during the many years of their Babylonian exile. The messages in his book date from about 593 - 571 BC. As Ezekiel recorded, God brought him in a vision to a valley. There in the valley he saw bones, possibly many hundreds of bones, all lying scattered upon the ground (vs. 1-2). These were human bones. A skull here, a leg bone there, a rib and some vertebrae lying over there, many hundreds of them, all scattered around. They were all dry and lifeless. What a macabre sight to see!
Then God asked him whether those bones he saw could live (vs. 3). We would naturally think that the answer would be no. However, Ezekiel knew that the Lord was going to teach him something, that He had a special message to give him, so he answered that only He really knew the answer. God then proceeded to tell him to prophesy and speak to the bones, telling them to live (vs. 4-6). And rather than scoffing at God, thinking that was nonsense, Ezekiel obeyed and spoke the words. Just as the Lord said, as the prophet spoke the bones came together, muscle and skin coming upon them (vs. 7-8). However, though the bones now looked like humans, they still had no life in them. Rather than dead skeletons, they were now dead bodies. So God spoke again to Ezekiel, and told him to prophesy further, calling for His breath to come upon the dead bodies, bringing them life. The prophet did so, and they lived (vs. 9-10).
What did all of this mean? The dead bones and the dead bodies represented the spiritually dead nation of Israel. They were like dried and bleached bones, spiritually lifeless, which only God could bring to life (vs. 11-14). Due to their sin and rejection of God, and frequently turning to worship false, pagan gods, they were spiritually as dead as the dry bones. The proof of this was that they were currently in exile, away from their land. Ezekiel was to prophesy that God promised the resurrection of Israel, and its spiritual regeneration.
The Jewish people returned from captivity to their land under the Persian emperor Cyrus. Following another Jewish dispersal when the 2nd Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD, they returned again to their land in 1948. However, in neither time was there really any spiritual revival among the people. They are still like the dead bodies (vs. 8). The overwhelming majority of them have never accepted their Messiah, Jesus Christ. Israel was then, and still is now, spiritually dead.
There is hope, though, as Ezekiel prophesied that the Holy Spirit would come upon them and bring them spiritually to life again. During the Great Tribulation, many Jewish people will accept Jesus as Savior. When He returns at His Second Coming, following the tribulation, the nation will accept Him then, and be revived.
This message can also be applied to anyone who is spiritually dead. Most of us know plenty of people who are as spiritually dead as that pile of dry bones. Many of them may be seemingly as unlikely to ever get saved as those bones were to come alive. Many of us know spiritually dead churches, as well, churches where the true Gospel hasn’t been honestly preached for years. Dry bones, hopeless, lifeless, existing and nothing more.
The Holy Spirit, the Breath of God, is the only thing that can bring them life. Just as God promised to restore spiritually dead Israel, He can restore spiritually dead people and spiritually dead churches today. We, as believers, need to pray for revival. Pray for a spiritual revival in our families and revival in the Church. When we commit to praying for revival, then the Holy Spirit will bring those bones together, and breathe spiritual life into them, and revival will spread.
No comments:
Post a Comment