Lord God Breathe Upon These Bones
CHAPTER 37
1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, 2 And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valleya; and, lo, they were very dry. 3 And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest. 4 Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. 5 Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: 6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD. 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. 8 And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them. 9 Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the windb, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.
INTRODUCTION
**Nation of Israel & Judah at the time of Ezekiel’s prophecy.**
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 Mattaniah, last king of Judah who was blinded and taken in chains to Babylon. Although they had been warned repeatedly by God through His prophets, including Ezekiel, they had turned a deaf ear! Now they were spiritually dead. They were saying, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ They had come to complete despair in their Babylonian Captivity. They thought that God would never take them back. Since they had no hope, they also had completely lost their faith in God.
That’s the way that God describes EVERY unbeliever. As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins. (Ephesians 2:1) The mind of sinful man is HOSTILE to God. (Romans 8:7)
Speak the Word of God to bring life to a dead situation
THE VALLEY
1. These people had PERISHED in the “Valley.”
2. The INTENTIONS of Satan is get you into the LOWEST valley of life possible and ATTACK you!
3. Satan was to get you on HIS LEVEL!
4. 2 Kings 20 God’s people had fought and soundly defeated the Syrians upon the hills.
5. The Syrians mistakenly assumed that Israel’s God was only a God of the hills; therefore they decided to attack them in the valleys. – “Because the Syrians have said, The LORD is God of the hills, but he is not God of the valleys, therefore will I deliver all this great multitude into thine hand, and ye shall know that I am the LORD.”
6. You may be in a valley, but God is a God of the valleys!
THE BONES – A Picture of the Present Day Church.
1. These Bones were the “REMAINS” of the Army of God.
2. This is the way God viewed Israel SPIRITUALLY.
3. This army had, at one time, been a great number of people who were very much ALIVE!
4. The Bones were the REMAINS of people who had FAMILIES, who WORKED TOGETHER, LOVED each other, and SERVED GOD.
5. But now, they were VERY DRY because their LIFE had been GONE for a very, very long time.
6. These Bones were BAREN & LIFELESS. – No Strength or Ability.
7. These Bones were SCATTERED – No Organization and no Structure.
8. The ONLY thing these Bones could do was EXIST. (Just LAY there in the sun)
THE REMEDY
1. A man in touch with God who will PREACH what God tells him.
2. God told Ezekiel to PROPHESY (speak) unto these Bones (People) the WORDS (Message) of God. (Inspired words).
3. People must be told what God say about what must be done.
4. Because God knows EVERYTHING! – God knows EXACTLY what needs to be done!
5. As Ezekiel began to speak to God’s people there was a NOISE and “A Coming TOGETHER.” – Communicating & Organizing, Structure.
6. Then the MUSCLES & FLESH Formed on the Bones. – Potential Strength.
7. Then the SKIN Formed to Cover their Bodies. – Appearance, they began to LOOK like an army again!
BUT GOD DIDN’T STOP THERE NEITHER SHOULD WE!!!
1. “Son of man, Prophesy to the WIND!” – Everything seemed to be there, but there was no LIFE. – Organization, Structure, Potential Strength, Appearance, but they were still lying flat of their BACKS!
2. It took the BREATH of God to bring Adam to his feet in the Garden of Eden and give him the ABILITY to STAND.
3. It took the WIND of Heaven in the Upper Room to bring 120 people to LIFE and put them on the streets for the Lord.
4. Without a DOUBT it will take God’s Word, His Instructions, His Spirit, and our OBEDIENCE to be His ARMY
107 registered sex offenders in Pittsburg
128 registered sex offenders in Antioch
More robberies and murders than ever before, helicopters flying over head every night
If you’ve been living in the middle of a graveyard, what’s the news for you, then? There’s hope!
- If God could bring a graveyard of dead bones to life, then he can breathe life into your situation!
- No matter what the situation, there is hope for a resurrection!
- If you’ve given up on your neighbor, thinking, “he’ll never come to faith,” think again!
- IF YOU’VE BEEN PRAYING FOR AN UNSAVED HUSBAND OR AN UNSAVED WIFE FOR YEARS AND YOU THINK HE’LL NEVER CHANGE, THERE’S HOPE FOR THAT RASCAL – GOD’S WORD!
- If you think that our church will never grow, don’t give up! Why? The word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)
I see so many congregations drawing corpses into their churches with a nice basketball league, or a good daycare, or a fancy building. They do an excellent job at bringing people in. But the sad thing is, that once they bring them in, they are afraid of offending these prospects with God’s law or specific doctrine.
· They have watered down the Word so the Ten Commandments are just ten suggestions.
· The threat of eternal hell is never mentioned.
· The promise of forgiveness is never laid out.
· And so if these prospects only hear funny stories during sermons,
· if you only hear how about 5 steps to your blessing,
· 10 keys to unlock your prosperity,
· money cometh, what good does it do them? It’s like taking a dead corpse and trying to put nice clothing on it. It still stinks on the inside if that’s all you do.
So Ezekiel says today, “go to the graveyard! See the dead and dry bones! Look at the filth! And then, listen to the Word - and speak the Word - and watch the dead come back to life!” What a miraculous sight it is! What a powerful weapon we have in the Word! Amen.
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a valley: or, champaign
b wind: or, breath
