Sermon Tone Analysis

Revival In A Bone Yard

Could be called Hope in a Valley of Dry Bones!

Many times in the midst of despair and depression God will bring Hope!

Judah was at the end of the rope..

All was lost but hope could be found even in the Valley of Dry Bones

Jerry Vines

I suppose that , the vision of the valley of the dry bones, is the most familiar chapter in all of the book of Ezekiel.

It was the setting for a very familiar Black spiritual.

"Them bones going to walk around."

It is found in the concluding section of the book of Ezekiel which gives to us Judah's future.

God is trying to say to his people-there is a future.

The Bible is a book of judgment.

We read much judgment in the Bible.

But the Bible is also a book of hope.

If it was only judgment there would be, indeed, great despair.

But the Bible doesn't leave us with a message of judgment.

The Bible leaves us with a message of hope.

The children of Israel had just about lost their hope.

In fact we are told specifically in verse 11 that the primary purpose for this vision is to encourage the children of Israel.

Despair and pessimism filled the air.

Some of the people of God who were in captivity were saying-it's all over, there's no hope, God can't do anything for us, the end is come.

Yet, God gives to Ezekiel this vision of the valley of dry bones to let the people know that there is hope and that there is a future for Israel.

ion of the glory of the Lord departing from the mercy seat and out to the door and out to the mount of olives and departed.

But when you come to the concluding chapters of the book of Ezekiel you will find out that God predicts that one day God's glory would return and God's glory would fill the temple and God's glory and presence would be with the people again.

They would experience a resurrection.

They would also experience a restoration.

God would restore to them the temple.

We will study about that at the end of Ezekiel.

God will do a wonderful spiritual work and there will be a spiritual revival among the people of Israel and there are predictions made about this.

The glory of the Lord is one day going to return.

In chapters 9 - 11, in the early chapters, Ezekiel saw this vision of the glory of the Lord departing from the mercy seat and out to the door and out to the mount of olives and departed.

But when you come to the concluding chapters of the book of Ezekiel you will find out that God predicts that one day God's glory would return and God's glory would fill the temple and God's glory and presence would be with the people again.

So, the primary reference is to the children of Israel.

But I'm going to make some practical applications tonight and I think we are certainly proper to do this if we understand the primary reference.

To make application to the nations, to make application to the church, to make application to the family, to make application to our personal life.

Let's consider the revival in a bone yard.

First of all, in the opening verse, I want us to take a look at the bones.

I.

The Bones.

ezk 37.1-3

it looks pretty bad

In these opening verses Ezekiel tells us that the Lord gave him a vision of a valley of dry bones.

We don't know if this was a literal valley and if they were literal bones or if this was just something that happened to him in the realm of the spiritual vision.

It could have been an ancient battle sight where God took Ezekiel and let him see this scene.

In these opening verses Ezekiel tells us that the Lord gave him a vision of a valley of dry bones.

We don't know if this was a literal valley and if they were literal bones or if this was just something that happened to him in the realm of the spiritual vision.

It could have been an ancient battle sight where God took Ezekiel and let him see this scene.

But we notice in these opening verses-what is shown.

Ezekiel is shown this valley.

He says that it is a valley that is full of bones.

Bones are strewn all over that valley.

He says in verse 2 that God caused him to "pass them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry."

They were dry and they were bleached.

What is a bone?

A bone is a relic of life.

It used to have flesh and substance.

A pile of bones means that there has been life there at one time, but now there are only relics of life.

Illustration - you used to be excited about God, your future and hope

But lately it dry bones

You are out in the woods hunting and you run across a skull and some bones and you realize that you have the remains of an animal.

Long ago the birds have come and they have plucked the flesh from these bones and now those bones are dried out.

That's what Ezekiel sees-these bones, these relics of life.

That's what Ezekiel sees-these bones, these relics of life.

God says, I want you to look around.

Ezekiel walks around them and gets a good view.

God wants the seriousness and apparent hopelessness of the situation to really settle into the mind and spirit of Ezekiel.

He wants him to get a first-hand view of the seriousness of the situation.

The seriousness of the condition

The first step toward doing something about a matter is to always get a fresh vision of it.

You may remember that God took Nehemiah outside at nighttime and let him get a vision of the wall that was torn down and let Nehemiah see the serious condition they were in before he was ready to do anything about rebuilding the wall.

You may remember that Paul took a stroll through the marketplace of Athens and saw all of those gods in Athens.

That was what God used to stir his soul to preach that great sermon about the resurrection of Jesus.

Of course, our Lord Jesus Himself, one day approached the city of Jerusalem and looking down from the mountainside, He saw the city of Jerusalem.

The Bible said that Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem and then later, you recall, He went right on into that city and right on out to the cross to die.

If you are not very careful you will get desensitized to the spiritual situation.

Look at our culture the place where our kids are being raised without God ...

We need a fresh view.

We need to look again at the bones.

We need to look again at the deadness and the dryness of the situation.

We can get so desensitized that things just pass us by.

We are in the midst of dry bones and don't even realize it.....

Illustration - we watch programs that mock God and curse his name and we just dont think about it .

God says its a valley of dry bones - look around at the condition ...

The nudity and the vileness and the filth that is pouring like an open sewer into the homes of America.

If you are not careful, you let those kinds of things come into your home and it won't bother anymore.

God says to Ezekiel- "Ezekiel, I want you to see what is shown here.

Look at this valley is full of dead bones, these relics of life, these museum pieces."

Maybe we need to take a little survey tonight and think about the home life of America.

Many homes, even so called Christian homes, have become like a pile of bones.

There is no love, no relationship between husband and wife.

There is no discipline in the children.

The home and the family has degenerated to the point in America, that if we are not careful, the institution of the family in America is going to become a relic of bones-a pile of bones-just a museum piece.

We'll just look on the family life of America as a relic of the past-something that used to be.

Look at the churches in America.

The churches have gotten away from their main vision and mission which is to win people to faith in the Lord Jesus.

They have become, in some places, liberal social movements.

Instead of preaching the gospel, they are preaching a watered down diluted message.

They have lost their identity and they are worldly and carnal.

They are filled with unregenerate people.

The Laodicean age of the church in America is rapidly becoming a pile of bones, relics of the past, museum pieces.