Can these bones live?

We all know that bones need connection to live. There is no such thing as a skeleton walking without skin, sinew, and life connected to it.

Today we are going to look at one of the most solemn and utterly serious chapters in the prophecy of a young priest.

It describes an unusual scene and a most incredible happening.

The scene:

a valley filled with disjointed, bleaching human bones.

there are four winds that converge on the valley.

the mysterious winds sweep accross the eerie boneyard.

things start happening that are out of the ordinary.

Bones come together.

Sinew stretches like elastic across them.

flesh appears over the bones and sinew.

the blowing wind enters the nostrils of the lifeless bodies.

suddenly these bodies live!

they stand up on their feet.

a mighty organized army!

But you say ok pastor we need some explanation here to make sense of all this.

Ezekiel 37:1–10 NLT

The Lord took hold of me, and I was carried away by the Spirit of the Lord to a valley filled with bones. He led me all around among the bones that covered the valley floor. They were scattered everywhere across the ground and were completely dried out. Then he asked me, “Son of man, can these bones become living people again?” “O Sovereign Lord,” I replied, “you alone know the answer to that.” Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say, ‘Dry bones, listen to the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again! I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’ ” So I spoke this message, just as he told me. Suddenly as I spoke, there was a rattling noise all across the valley. The bones of each body came together and attached themselves as complete skeletons. Then as I watched, muscles and flesh formed over the bones. Then skin formed to cover their bodies, but they still had no breath in them. Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to the winds, son of man. Speak a prophetic message and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, O breath, from the four winds! Breathe into these dead bodies so they may live again.’ ” So I spoke the message as he commanded me, and breath came into their bodies. They all came to life and stood up on their feet—a great army.

Ezekiel 37:3 NLT

Then he asked me, “Son of man, can these bones become living people again?” “O Sovereign Lord,” I replied, “you alone know the answer to that.”

Prayer: Lord let these words come to life as the bones did in Ezekiel.

When Ezekiel looked to his left and right as far as his eyes could see there were dried bones. It was a boneyard of dried, bleached bones of soldiers who had fallen into battle.

There was no movement, no sound, no indication of life at all. There was no wind, no breeze - just abandoned, forsaken, utter stillness.

When I think of this I cry Lord may your presence still tarry with me. Let me still feel you are with me in the midst of such loss, desperation, quiet, and death.

There is a divine question

The Lord, Jehovah, is Ezekiel’s “tour director” who asks the stunned prophet a strange question:

“Son of man, can these bones live?”

Or to paraphrase Ezekiel, you’ve got the picture. You have had the grand tour. You have seen the who valley filled with bones. Now what do you think?

Any hope here?

Any chance, possibility that these bones could live again?

What a strange question hey?

Slowly this young man possessed by the nature of a vivd imagination, began to let God push this question through his mind.

Again it rang in his ears, echoing and reverberating through the valley of death.

Like the slow rising sun

Like the gentle unfolding rosebud

Ezekiel began to see.

Suddenly!!!!!!!!!

Suddenly!!!!!

Those dead

dry

bleached

bones began to take on familiar resemblances.

The grotesque, staring skulls began to look like his own people back in pagan Babylon.

The longer Ezekiel allowed the spirit of God to bombard his mind with the scene, the more he began to perceive the picture God was painting before him.

“O Lord, this must be how you see them - while they are physically alive in their world they are spiritually dead! And now you ask, “Can these bones live? O my God! Only you can know that! The answer from my human standpoint is No!”

Death has won in this valley, Lord.

The Grim Reaper is supreme here.

BUT!!!!

Don’t you love when there is a but when it comes to God?

But

I learned a long time ago, Lord, that your ways are not our ways, and that your power far exceeds our power. Only you hold the answer to that question, Lord!”

The Human Dilemma

Ezekiel faced a human dilemma in the symbolic vision that God gave him.

What is spiritual death?

It is a figure of speech not a medical report.

A person who is spiritually dead may be vibrant with physical health and energy.

She may be intellectually brillant and successful.

Yet spiritually as far as her relationship with God is concerned, she may be dead and void of live as Ezekiel’s boneyard.

Spiritual death - describing someone who has no basis for genuine hope unless he/she responds to the Spirit of God.

What about Ezekiel’s people?

If you asked them if they believed in God, they would have replied, with a shrug of their shoulders, Sure, we believe in God.

Statistics reveal that if asked today 90% of Americans would answer “Sure, we believe in God”

According to the Toronto Star - one in four people do not believe in God.

Fewer than three-quarters of Canadians believe in a god, suggests a new Canadian Press Harris-Decima survey.

“This is evident in the fact that one in four people feel comfortable saying they do not believe in a god."

The poll found 72 per cent of respondents said they believed in a god, while 23 per cent said they did not believe in any god. Six per cent did not offer an opinion.

Now with that in mind look around your neighborhoods. Here is a man who is holding down a responsible position. He may be earning a good salary, living a in a comfortable home, driving a nice car. He has never been in jail, nor involved in a scandal. He does not drink in excess or use drugs. He is faithful to his wife, provides for his kids. Long ago he joined a church. And today he will tell you with a quiet, disarming smile “Well, church is fine. My wife and children attend. It just really isn’t important to me. Don’t get me wrong - I think it’s a good thing for those who need it”.

Yet when Ezekiel describes his friends and neighbors as a collection of dry bones, he was talking about nice, successful people - but a people whose faith had fizzled out”.

The Ultimate Solution to this Problem

God gave the solution to Ezekiel in an unforgettable way.

Ezekiel reached a new plateau of understanding.

first step - comprehend the symbolism of the valley of dry bones.

They were his people, God’s people, those whom God had a purpose and plan.

They had turned from that plan and were following their own schemes.

Result - spiritual death

The second platueau of understanding for Ezekiel.

He saw his people as victims of spiritual death.

He was overcome with the hopelessness of the situation

“Dear God! Is this all there is? Is this the end of your plan and purpose for your people? What of my mission, O God? They will not hear me! They will not listen!”

What did Ezekiel see among his people?

In the years of captivity in Babylon, they had become COMFORTABLE!!!!

Some even materially succcessful

They were learning to love a pagan land.

Archaeological discoveries have confirmed this. Hebrew prosperity in Babylon have been found among the ruins of that acient pagan civilization.

In the midst of this hopeless twilight, God spoke to Ezekiel again. He said to that distressed prophet:

“Ezekiel, Preach to the wind!”

What a humbling experience for Ezekiel.

We don’t know what he said but the winds responded.

Gently at first, like whispering zephyrs, they blew across the valley of bones. Then slowing the velocity increased. The winds reached gale intensity as they rushed through those dry dones.

Ezekiel saw his miracle.

The bones began to move!

The bone found its bone.

Our of chaos and hopelessness and despair there came order and purpose and meaning.

Out of the impossible came the possible.

Then as the speechless Ezekiel watched, sinew and flesh come upon the bones.

Though the bones had come together to form skeletons with purpose and design, they lacked cohesiveness and unity until rthe sinews and flesh appeaered .

Wait a minute!

Although fantastic transformation had taken place something vital was missing.

These perfectly formed bodies were still lifeless.

Everything was there except that which spelled the difference between death and life - THE BREATH OF GOD or GOD’S SPIRIT!

Ezekiel’s people in Babylon knew the Hebrew scriptures.

They knew the law of God, the scribes had continued to teach it faithfully in the synagogues they had established. They had the form of religion, the institution of religion, even the divine law itself. But they were still victims of spiritual death.

“Preach to the wind Ezekiel! Breathe upon these bodies, O Wind of God!”

And once again the winds came and filled the nostrils and lungs of these bodies, and Ezekiel saw them stand to their feet, by rank, companies, battalions, a mighty army for the Lord.

Conslusion:

The spirit gives life!

The songwriter wrote:

“All is vain unless the Spirit of the Holy One come down”

We too have the superstructure.

We have the bones and sinew and flesh.

We have the institution

We have the organization

We have the intellectual know how

Yet the impact of the church on its community and the world is pityfully weak.

The influence of many Christians on those with whom they associate is heartbreakingly ineffective.

The church needs desperately to be alive, breathing, pulsating with the Spirit of God in this day in which we live.

As a nation our affluence has honeycombed us spiritually.

We lie on the battlefield, for the most part like Ezekiel’s army.

But all is not lost.

There is hope.

The stentch of spiritual death can be taken away by the wind of God’s spirit moving among us.

Let us preach to the wind!

Let us stand firm in our battalion.

We cannot give up!

Spirit move in our lives, in our families, in this church, in this town, in this province and nation.

We will not give up.