Wake the Walking Dead

Ezekiel 37:1–14

Introduction

At first glance, it appears that this Ezekiel passage was chosen for this Day of Pentecost because of the giving of the Spirit in Acts and the promise that God would breathe His Spirit into All the People of Israel.

But it’s a little more involved than that. And in order to understand what’s really happening in the Book of Acts, we have to also understand how it relates to what happened in and to the nation of Israel, and to Ezekiel in particular.

Culture in Historical Context

Ezekiel was a priest’s son (sort of like a pastor’s kid).

As we learn from the book of Exodus, Numbers, Judges, the book of I and II Kings and I and II Chronicles, Israel’s history was one of nearly constant rebellion and turning away from God.

Over and over again they fell away and wandered in the worship of Baal, or Molech, and so many of the histories of the kings of Israel started with And he became king in Judah (or Israel) at the age of XX, “nd he did evil in the sight of the Lord, allowing the Baals to be set on the heights and the Asherah poles to be erected on the high places.”

There were a few exceptions, like Josiah and his reform, and Hezekiah and his reforms, calling the people back to Yahweh and to true worship, but by and large they were the exception not the rule.

The Northern ten tribes fell away first, God’s protection was lifted, and Samaria fell in 721 to the Assyrians (modern day Iraq) .

By Ezekiel’s time, around 598 BC, this evil had reached full fruition, and the rebellious king Jehoiachin revolted against the Babylonians (lower Iraq near what is now Iran), and Nebuchudnezzar sent his armies down into the Kingdom of Judah (now only 2 tribes) and carried off all the political and spiritual rulers and resettled them in Babylon.

Ezekiel was one of those carried off and separated from the land of Israel. And one of the visions given him was was what happening in Jerusalem while he was in exile…and it wasn’t pretty—abominable things, statues to other gods placed in the temple courts, and wicked writings on the wall of the storage rooms, and wicked sexual practices carried out in the back rooms. And had a vision of glory of Yahweh leaving the temple and that land, because it was so defiled by the very people who should honor him.

And the city fell in 587 B.C.

Now to the Ancient Near Eastern mind. gods only had their power in a limited geographical boundary, and to the Israelites that meant that they were cut off from any connection to Yahweh, could not call on His name, and could not participate the any future salvation of Israel.

They thought other nations were the walking dead, and now they were too.

And to them it was an utter impossibility for them to live.

“Our bones are dried up!!!”

Ezekiel was no different, even though a prophet, and what must he have thought in that valley filled with dried, desolate, withered bones as far as the eye could see.

Indeed It was impossible to him… for when Yahweh says, “Son of Adam, can these bones live?” He doesn’t say, “Oh yeah! they can” He says, “Lord, You know”.

He looks around mile after mile....What a disaster had fallen the whole nation of Israel. Imagine his thoughts at what looks like something completely impossible: Could any preacher have any more of a dead congregation?

Israel Hadn’t Learned Anything

The Jews in Jesus’ time hadn’t learned anything in the 400 years since the exile either.

They still thought that the Messiah and Salvation was only for the Jews, setting up the same kinds of barriers.

When the Messiah came, their expectation was that he would kill all the sinners, Gentiles, other nations, drive out the Romans, and set up a new Kingdom of God where they would be the leaders and the guides of the world.

And when the Messiah came and proclaimed to them that God’s love and grace extended not just to them, but to the very people they hated, and healed a Roman centurions daughter, and healed those that they thought of as unredeemable sinners, giving the blind their sight and the dear hearing and the lepers cleansing and restoration, they were enraged.

Because to them these people were the walking dead....and that they could be saved by God for the Kingdom—these things were an impossibility. “Can these bones live?” Their answer was “No way” , and they rejected the Messiah they had been longing for centuries.

So now we come to Acts 2 and Day of Pentecost and it was the same story.

So many were there in Jerusalem from all over the known world for the Feast of Weeks, and God’s resounding answer to Ezekiel and to the people there in Jerusalem in Jesus time and on the day of Pentecost “Can these bones live?” Yes… watch and see!

He poured out His Holy Spirit and opened up the hearing and prophesying of God’s word to every tongue!

Because his grace and His love and His forgiveness is not bound by the barriers His people tend to set up....

His answer is that to the whole nation of Israel dried up and withered, and those who thought they were the walking dead with no hope, and those who set up barriers and boundaries as to who shall be saved and alive and who shall not , to the question, Can these bones live? Can these walking dead live?

His answer is yes—just watch and see. because He breathes life and doesn’t hold back His Grace from anyone

That’s the lesson of the valley of dry, withered bones and the day of Pentecost.

Still True Today

So here’s the question. Do we look around at our society and and city and our culture and see the walking dead around us?

Do we see the people of our nation and in our shops and in our towns and give up bringing the Good News of Jesus Christ to them because we think it won’t make a difference, or that it’s impossible?

What barriers do we set up on who should hear and who shouldn’t hear that good news that Jesus loves them and died for them and rose for them too?

Do we see the walking dead suffering, and feeling cut off from hope? Do we feel for them the way God does?

Jesus looked at Jerusalem and wept over it, and longed to reach out and heal and restore it. Do we look at our culture and do the same? “Can these bones live?”

We Used to be the Walking Dead

I hope your answer and my answer is Yes: Because, you see, we were once the walking dead, too, until Jesus came and found us:

AND you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body1 and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.2 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; cit is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

God saw our hopeless situation and said “Yes,” These bones can live.

And no matter how hopeless you feel your situation might be, How impossible the odds for great blessing to happen in your life, or no matter how deep a hole you’ve dug and can’t get out of, no matter what depth of sin to which you have fallen or how far you’ve drifted away, His grace and love reaches deeper and farther and wider.

He sees you, he knows your plight, your sorrow, your pain, and He can and will restore you —because He is the one who is greater than anything this world can throw at you or any guilt or shame you feel. There is no barrier you can throw up that He can’t break down.

And as far as our community is concerned, no matter where we see the walking dead who have lost hope, who feel cut off from hope and who feel all tired and dry and withered in their spirits, God Can make them alive again, even if it seems like an impossibility.

One more thing—Remember that God told Ezekiel to prophecy very specifically, and He prophesied JUST AS Yahweh told him.

And the disciples Prophesied just as the Holy Spirit entered them.

God still needs people to Prophesy—speak God’s word to those walking dead whom he loves still today.

We proclaim, we prophesy HIs word But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith.

So here is the crucial question for you and for me today.... Son of Adam, Daughter of Eve, Can these bones live?

The answer is ........ “Yes”.