Brings Us To Life

Sovereign Lord, You Alone…

5.19.26 [Ezekiel 37:1-14] River of Life (The Festival of Pentecost)

Do you remember the first time you saw a movie on IMAX?

The movie wasn’t a blockbuster. It was one of those programs that historical places put together. You know the kind of thing that runs on the half hour and aren’t that great. But I was in awe as soon as I sat down. The screen was huge. Almost too big. Part of me wondered if they would even use all of that screen. Then the lights dimmed. The whole screen lit up and I was surrounded. At one point, we were in a helicopter. It really felt like you were diving down to survey the landscape. It felt like you were there. It was totally immersive.

Sometime after that, they came out with 4-D movies, where the seats move and shake. In those movies, if it’s misting or foggy, you’ll feel it. It’s not just immersive. It’s an encounter. An experience.

The difference between Ezekiel and the other Old Testament prophets of the Lord, like Isaiah and Jeremiah, is like the difference between an IMAX or 4D movie and a movie in the regular theater. With Ezekiel, it was always immersive. It was an experience.

When the Sovereign Lord called Ezekiel to be his prophet, he made him eat a scroll. When the Sovereign Lord wanted Ezekiel to convey that Jerusalem would endure siege warfare, he had his prophet build a diorama of the city with siege ramps and battering rams. When the Sovereign Lord wanted Ezekiel to show how miserable things would be inside Jerusalem he had him make ration bread and bake it over dung. Ezekiel was never forwarding a message. He was experiencing it and living it out. Yet even in a lifetime of perplexing prophecies, chapter 37 is weird, wild stuff.

In this vision, the hand of the Lord grabs Ezekiel and the Spirit of the Lords leads him on a tour of a morose valley. Everywhere Ezekiel looked there was death. That can send chills down your spine. Most of us don’t like to spend extra time in a graveyard.

But Ezekiel wasn’t walking through a graveyard. He was walking through an abandoned battlefield. The sun-bleached bones that were scattered in this valley—disregarded by their next of kin, forgotten by all—were not just deceased. They were (Ezk. 37:9) slain. They were a mass of many nameless, mysterious massacre victims.

After Ezekiel was led back and forth through these skeletal remains which were strewn everywhere, the Sovereign Lord asked Ezekiel a simple question. (Ezk. 37:3) Son of Man—the Lord’s nickname for Ezekiel—can these bones live?

Live? Can these bones live? They can’t even bury themselves! They’re a cluttered, chaotic, and confusing mess. They had been baked in the sun and dried out like a longhorn skull. Can these bones live? A living, breathing, committed and skilled person might not even be able to organize these bones accurately!

But Ezekiel didn’t say any of that. Not because it wasn’t true, but because he knew who was asking the question. When God asks silly seeming questions, he’s like a skilled lawyer cross-examining a witness on the stand. You know there’s a purpose to the question, there’s a method to the madness, even if you can’t see it right away.

So Ezekiel simply says: (Ezk. 37:3) Sovereign Lord, you know.

Then the Sovereign Lord who made the world and everything in it commanded Ezekiel to speak to these dry bones on his behalf.

(Ezk. 37:5-6) I will make breath enter you. I will attach tendons, make your flesh, and cover you with skin. You will come to life and you will know that I am the Lord. So Ezekiel (Ezk. 37:7) prophesied as he was commanded. The bones began to rattle and move and come together. Then they were given tendons, flesh, and skin, too. They were no longer dry, scattered bones but they looked like people. But they still weren’t alive. (Ezk. 37:8) There was no breath of life in them. God had to give them breath.

It’s a weird, wild experience. Even for Ezekiel. But God explains why he gave Ezekiel this vision. Israel had been complaining that as a people they were done for. Their bones were dried up. Their hope was gone. And they were cut off from the Promised Land, from the people of God, and from the Lord himself.

They were right. But they were wrong about why. They figured the reason they were dried up, hopeless, cut off, and dead was because the Babylonian empire had overwhelmed them with superior might.

The Sovereign Lord as the chief coroner had a different report. The people of Israel were dead because they had lost a different battle. They rebelled against the Lord. They had given in to the idolatry of their neighbors. They were obstinate and stubborn. They had revolted against the God who had rescued them from slavery in Egypt and brought them to the Promised Land. Just like he warned them in the days of Moses (Dt. 28), Israel experienced diseases & disasters, plagues & calamities. They were clobbered in battle and carried away in exile. God hid his face from the stiff-necked people who rejected him and rebelled against him. They chose death and God let them have it. They cut themselves off from the Lord.

But things don’t have to get that bad for people to say Our strength is gone. We are hopeless & feel like we’ve been cut off at the knees.

We feel that way from time to time, don’t we? When we are facing a terminal diagnosis or a loved one is, we can feel like our strength is no more and our hope is gone. When our bills pile up and pull us into the breakers of bankruptcy, we feel weak and hopeless. When our relationships are always stormy and never peaceful or when our country seems to have gone off the deep end, we feel like no matter what we do nothing is going to change. We feel useless & hopeless. When we see open scorn for the Church and experience personal disdain for the Word of God from our friends and neighbors, we tend to think the backbone of the Church has dried up, our hope is gone, we are cut off from Christ our head.

Sometimes these kinds of things happen to believers and it is not a direct consequence of sinful thoughts or choices. Bad things happen to God’s people in a fallen world.

But there are times when these things happen to us because individually or collectively we have rejected God’s will for our lives. Christians get sick because they make sinful choices that take their toll on the physical flesh. Christians get into debt because they don’t steward their money well. Christians struggle in relationships because they lie, gossip, or refuse to deal with sin as God calls them to. Nations are punished with weak and wicked leaders because their people have ignored and disobeyed the Word of God. The local Church struggles because they’ve grown selfish & lost sight of their divine calling. Sin brings ugly consequences. Even death.

But why does God do this? It’s not because he’s petty or vindictive. He (Ezk. 33:11) takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He wants his people to repent, to turn to him and live. He is merciful.

The Sovereign Lord opens graves and brings the dead up out of them. He does that for people who think they are as good as dead. Think about Joseph in prison in Egypt. God raised him up out of that grave to be Pharaoh’s right-hand man. God did the same for Moses. He even did the same for the people of Israel. They did not stay in exile in Babylon. God brought in another superpower, the Medes and Persians, to dismantle Babylon and fund the rebuilding of Jerusalem. Then the Roman ruler, Herod, built a better temple. The city of God looked like it was alive. But Israel still had no breath.

So the Lord sent his servant to Israel. The Spirit of the Lord was on him. And wouldn’t you know, he liked to call himself the Son of Man?

Jesus came to bring life back to the people of God. But they were not willing. Again they chose death. Not just their own. But his, too. And God gave them what they wanted. But he had the final word.

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord raised Jesus back to life. The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord moved frightened disciples to speak boldly on Pentecost, too. Peter pointed out the wickedness in the people of Israel and called them to repentance and faith in Christ’s name. On that day the Spirit of the Sovereign Lord brought 3000 to life.

And that same Spirit is living in you, today. This Spirit has made you alive to see and know that sin never brings the happiness it promises, but only death. This Spirit has breathed life into you through God’s powerful Word to believe God’s Word, to trust in God’s Son, and to desire God’s will.

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord has breathed life into you so that you can navigate challenging circumstances. The Sovereign Lord who has made you alive will also provide for your daily bread. The Sovereign Lord who has made you alive will protect your body and soul and bring you to heaven’s eternal bliss. The Sovereign Lord who made you alive has also given you wise counsel for your relationships. He has called you to speak the truth in love, to rebuke sin with patience and gentleness, and to forgive as you have been forgiven.

This Spirit of the Sovereign Lord has also breathed life into his Church. At times, we may feel a little like Ezekiel, surrounded by dried out, hopeless bones. So the Lord asks us: Can they live? You know his power, don’t you. The same Sovereign Lord who has made us alive has stood us up on our feet and made us a vast army. The Sovereign Lord alone has made us alive and he can and will do the same for many others through us.

It’s one thing to read about evangelism. It can be thrilling. It’s another to see it happen before your very eyes. That is exhilarating. It’s totally different to live it. That’s like seeing a movie in IMAX. To meet with someone who has been living but is spiritually dead and then by the power of God’s Spirit, they are brought to life through the words we speak. Because the Sovereign Lord has given us life, our bones are reinvigorate, our hope is renewed, and we are connected to the Lord of life. He speaks and he does. Amen.