God Can And Will Do It Again!

That’s how Israel got into their sad circumstance. Circumstances don’t come into our lives by mere chance. The Sovereign God is at work in our lives. God was allowing the circumstances to call them to repentance. Could He solve their problem? Of course, He could; but He is the one who brought these circumstances upon them. The troubles have a purpose. They are God’s attention getters. God wants them to turn from their wicked ways and turn to Him with all their hearts. Anyone who does that will experience the grace and mercy of God.

Ezekiel, can these bones live? Look at:

I. The Condition of these Bones.

Verse 2”Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry.”

Ezekiel saw that the whole valley was full of bones. By the leading of the Lord, he walked all around them and inspected them. There were many bones and the bones were very dry. All the life had gone out of them. All the moisture had dissipated, as they lay bleached out by the sun.

It was an utterly hopeless situation. Nothing left but dry, bleached out bones. Humanly speaking there was no possibility of reviving these corpses. Dead and gone! Only the bones lay there as a reminder of what had been.

Then God engaged Ezekiel with a question in verse 3. “Son of man, can these bones live?” What a question? Humanly speaking, the answer is clear—no way! They are beyond hope. Sick people can be given medicine and perhaps they will recover. But there is nothing the best doctor can do for a skeleton of dry bones. The bones had even fallen apart so that they weren’t even a skeleton. You couldn’t tell which bones were originally connected with the other bones. It was a mess. “Son of man, can these bones live?”

II. Ezekiel’s Answer: “O Lord GOD, You know.”

It’s not the kind of answer you give when you’re on the mountaintop of faith. That answer would be “You can do it, Lord! You could make these bones live.” But Ezekiel’s experience is not a mountaintop experience. It’s a valley experience. He is a man living in the midst of much discouragement. A man like that gives this kind of answer, “I don’t know; You know. I don’t know much of anything these days. I’m not so sure I could give the right answer.” Ezekiel’s answer is not an arrogant answer. All that has been crushed. But it is also not the answer of a man who has lost his faith either. Ezekiel and all his companions have been through some hard times. Their captivity has brought despondency and discouragement. The trials of life have taken their toll. But there is something in Ezekiel that stands firm in God.

His answer sounds a lot like Peter after the crucifixion of Jesus. Peter has not lived up to his own ideals. He has denied the Lord after telling Him he would stand with Him through thick and thin. His self-confidence has been shattered. The resurrected Christ asked him a question, (John 21) “Do you love me?” Do you agape me? Do you love me with the God-kind of love? Peter answers with a diminished form of love. He uses the Greek word, phileo (a friendship kind of love). “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You." He doesn’t have the courage to use the word agape after his terrible failure; but he knows down deep that he does love the Lord.