Revive (Physical Restoration I)

Description: God restores us in a physical sense as well, and that isn't just some charismatic mumbo-jumbo! Our God heals. We see it time and time again. It is just as central to the story of our redemption as anything else. The reason physical restoration is so critical is because it is the most dramatic and tangible corollary to what God has done to our souls that we can sense in this mortal world. One of the most stark examples of physical restoration is what we see in Ezekiel’s vision of the dry bones. Not only does God bring us back together, but He breathes into us something divine to make sure truly alive, perhaps for the first time.

Breath of God

The idea of the “Breath of Life” appears several times in the Bible, always referring to more than physical breath, but something divinely inspired.

Genesis Applications of “Breath of Life”

Creation...

Genesis 1:29–31 CSB

29 God also said, “Look, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the surface of the entire earth and every tree whose fruit contains seed. This will be food for you, 30 for all the wildlife of the earth, for every bird of the sky, and for every creature that crawls on the earth—everything having the breath of life in it—I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good indeed. Evening came and then morning: the sixth day.

Mankind...

Genesis 2:7 CSB

7 Then the Lord God formed the man out of the dust from the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.

Salvation...

Genesis 7:14–15 CSB

14 They entered it with all the wildlife according to their kinds, all livestock according to their kinds, all the creatures that crawl on the earth according to their kinds, every flying creature—all the birds and every winged creature—according to their kinds. 15 Two of every creature that has the breath of life in it came to Noah and entered the ark.

“Breath of Life” Points to Divine Intention; Not Physical Reality

Look against Genesis 2...

Genesis 2:4–9 CSB

4 These are the records of the heavens and the earth, concerning their creation. At the time that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, 5 no shrub of the field had yet grown on the land, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not made it rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground. 6 But mist would come up from the earth and water all the ground. 7 Then the Lord God formed the man out of the dust from the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being. 8 The Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he placed the man he had formed. 9 The Lord God caused to grow out of the ground every tree pleasing in appearance and good for food, including the tree of life in the middle of the garden, as well as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Man Created THEN Earth Created —> Points to...

Act of "creation” is in God’s eye, not Creation’s eye (spiritual, not physical)

Your identity as a created entity is not defined by your context, environment, or the framing of the world; God created you and determine you as “good” prior to definition of the world... so do not be defined by that which came AFTER your design.

You are given life by God’s nature, not the world’s sustenance.

Our life is defined by being imbibed with the Creator’s very breath, not by what the world has done for us or what we can do in the world. Only God.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Read Genesis 2:4-9 and note that mankind was created OUTSIDE the context of the world and THEN all living things were created as a setting for us. 1) What are ways being define themselves (personality, identity, etc) according to the world? 2) What does it look like to define yourself by something other than the world? 3) How does being defined by who God is cause you to prioritize different things in your life than you might otherwise prioritize if you were defined by the world?

Dry Bones

The fact that your creation is defined by God’s divine nature directly ties to what we see God doing across scriptures.

Our physical restoration is a symptom of God demonstrating His divine restoration in our lives.

John 9:1–11 CSB

1 As he was passing by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” Jesus answered. “This came about so that God’s works might be displayed in him. 4 We must do the works of him who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 After he said these things he spit on the ground, made some mud from the saliva, and spread the mud on his eyes. 7 “Go,” he told him, “wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means “Sent”). So he left, washed, and came back seeing. 8 His neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar said, “Isn’t this the one who used to sit begging?” 9 Some said, “He’s the one.” Others were saying, “No, but he looks like him.” He kept saying, “I’m the one.” 10 So they asked him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 11 He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So when I went and washed I received my sight.”

The affliction, and the restoration, didn’t exist for vain purposes —> Divinely oriented

The peak of turning all things towards good.

It is easy, in our trials, to say “why has God done this to me?” or “why is God testing me?”

We must realize that those bad things are not occuring because of God; they occur because of the decay caused by Sin

...However, God uses those bad things to demonstrate His glory.

...Sometimes physically, sometimes emotionally, sometimes spiritually… but always for glory!

Valley of Dry Bones —> Effectively connects the idea of physical trial/restoration to God’s glory

Ezekiel 37:1–14 CSB

1 The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by his Spirit and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me all around them. There were a great many of them on the surface of the valley, and they were very dry. 3 Then he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I replied, “Lord God, only you know.” 4 He said to me, “Prophesy concerning these bones and say to them: Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! 5 This is what the Lord God says to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you will live. 6 I will put tendons on you, make flesh grow on you, and cover you with skin. I will put breath in you so that you come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.” 7 So I prophesied as I had been commanded. While I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 As I looked, tendons appeared on them, flesh grew, and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. 9 He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man. Say to it: This is what the Lord God says: Breath, come from the four winds and breathe into these slain so that they may live!” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me; the breath entered them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, a vast army. 11 Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Look how they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope has perished; we are cut off.’ 12 Therefore, prophesy and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord God says: I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them, my people, and lead you into the land of Israel. 13 You will know that I am the Lord, my people, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I am the Lord. I have spoken, and I will do it. This is the declaration of the Lord.’ ”

God’s glory —> The point; Physical restoration —> The vector.

The bones were restored, but LIFE only comes AFTER THE BREATH of the divine!!!

When we crave physical restoration, we should ask ourselves a hard and convicting question: for what purpose do I want physical restoration?

Example: Billy Graham (and anti-Example)

In 1996, I attended Billy Graham’s “Last Crusade” in Charlotte, NC at Ericsson Stadium

Had 8 more “last crusades”; final in 2005

Billy Graham was doing the opposite of “asking for restoration”. He felt he was done. However, God restored his physical energy time and time again because God wasn’t done with him.

Physical restoration is a very real thing, but when we ask for restoration do we ask because it is what we want or do we ask because of a desire to know God more? There is a difference.

MY CAUTION: Physical restoration is a mystery to us; some get it and others do not. We do not know the criteria or plans for God’s restoration, ...

...neither do we know God’s plans for ANYTHING in our life. Physical restoration is merely another extension of those mysteries of God’s plan.

...what we do know is that we are not entitled to God’s physical healing and restoration any more than we are entitled to immense wealth, popularity, or comfort.

...this leads us to stop thinking, “How could God not give me what I want!” and start thinking, “I thank God for giving me anything, for I am entitled to nothing!”

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Read about restoration being an object of God’s glory in John 9:1-11 and then read about restoration of the dry bones in Ezekiel 37:1-14. Consider how physical restoration is meaningless without an accompanying spark of the divine. 1) Have you ever felt you overcame some physical obstacle as a result of God’s work in your life? Maybe even something simply like being healthy immediately before an important day or having an unusually positive medical screening that was unexpected? 2) Especially in those “small miracles”, would you have thought God unfair if you hadn’t recieved healing? 3) When someone is mad that God didn’t heal them or heal their loved one, do you think they are truly mad AT GOD for their affliction? Would it be more accurate to say they are mad at their lack of entitlement to infinite wealth, health, and prosperity? It may sound harsh, but when people say, “If God loved me, why wouldn’t ______”, are they treating God as the sovereign Lord or are they treating God as a disobedient house servant?

Focused on Forever

Contemplating our physical restoration should reinforce the futility of worldliness.

Blessings of this world aren’t forever; they point towards God’s generosity and mercy.

Blessings of health and restoration are glimpses into the eternal restoration we have with the Creator.

God created you to be more than your physical self, so do not limit your understanding of God’s goodness to only “what He does for you”.

Instead, shift your thinking away from being a creation OF the world, and instead a creation designed BEFORE the world.

With this perspective, you gain a better appreciation for what God is doing when He blesses you with restoration; not restoring you TO the world, but demonstrating that His ultimate desire for you is GREATER THAN the world's death and decay.

Our God is Life; and he shows us with every breath that we still have left to breathe.