I Kings 20:28, "Then a man of God came and spoke to the king of Israel, and said, ’Thus says the Lord: "Because the Syrians have said, ’The Lord is God of the hills, but He is not God of the valleys,’ therefore I will deliver all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am the Lord."’" All right, the 9th century BC was dark for the nation of Israel. The northern kingdom of Syria was very powerful. Israel was very weak at this time; at low ebb spiritually, morally, financially, militarily. They were at low ebb.
The king of Syria at that time, a fellow by the name of Ben Hadad, was a very wicked, opportunistic man - a perfect type of the devil. You know the devil prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. He likes to exploit weakness. Well, that’s the way the devil is; that’s the way Ben Hadad was. Ben Hadad saw the weakness of Israel and he sent this message to the king of Israel. He said, listen, "Your silver and your gold are mine. Your wives and your children, they are mine." What are these things - gold, and silver, and finances, and family? What have we been saying? That’s your what? That’s your seed. And he comes to devour your seed. So Ben Hadad sends this message to weak-willed Ahab and said, "Your gold and your silver are mine. Your children and your wives are mine." And weak Ahab just acquiesced and said, "It is as you say. I will forfeit these things to you. I will hand my seed over to you."
But let me tell you something about Ben Hadad and the devil - they are never satisfied. The Bible says in the Book of Proverbs that "death and destruction are never satisfied." The devil will never steal from you so much that he finally says, "Well, that’s enough." He will never make you so miserable that finally he has a little bit of pity and says, "Well, maybe I ought to lighten up on them." The devil is not constructed that way. And when Ben Hadad saw how easily Ahab acquiesced, it created a further lust in him. A killer instinct rose up on the inside of him and said, "No, I will increase my demand." He sends a second message and said, "This is what I’m going to do. I will send my soldiers throughout your kingdom. They will enter your houses and whatever is pleasant in their eyes, they will reach forth their hand and take it."
Now, don’t just sit here and not feel something today. When I tell you that Satan wants to get a platoon of demons together, give them your address, and charge them to come into your life and take everything that is pleasant and desirable in your eyes away from you and take it back as a trophy of hell, how does that make you feel? I mean, there needs to be something on the inside of you that says, "Well now, I just don’t think so! No, that’s just not ? no, that’s just completely unacceptable! That is not going to happen."
Well, with this second message, the elders of Israel finally found their courage and said, "Look, we may be weak and we may be outnumbered; we might not have much of a military anymore; but you know what? That’s just too much, and we cannot submit to that. We would rather go forth and die as free men on the field of battle with our hand clasping our sword, than to surrender like cowards and let our lives just be ravished by Ben Hadad. No, we will meet you on the battlefield." And they went forth, and they fought on the mountains of Israel. And even though it was hopeless and the odds were against them - you must understand this principle, that when God’s people rise up and face the fight for their inheritance, God shows up and fights by their side. And God delivered them and gave them an improbable victory.
Ben Hadad, no doubt shocked, went back to Syria to lick his wounds, and he stayed there for half a year, but six months later he came back. Everybody say, "He came back." You know, you can believe for a lot, but you can’t believe for the devil not to be the devil. You know, what else is the devil going to be but the devil? The devil can’t get born again; the devil can’t get saved; the devil can’t renew his mind; the devil can’t change his spots ? he’s going to be the devil. And when you beat him he may slink away for a while, but be sure that he’s going to come back.
Six months later he came back. Ben Hadad had a new logic. This was his reasoning - he said, "Well, you know, we fought them on the mountains and it must be that the God of Israel is the God of the mountains; but I’ll bet He’s not the Lord of the valley. If we fight them in the valley, we can win there." Ah, that’s exactly the theology of the devil. He said, "Well, you know, the God of those Christians is a god of the mountaintop experiences of life. When they’re on top of everything emotionally and spiritually, then it’s very easy for God to give them the victory and for them to be strong. But I’ll just wait until they’re in the low ebb of life, and they’re down in the dark valley where they can’t really feel or see anything good happening in their life, and everything is dark and dreary. I’ll come into the valley of their life, and there I will devour them."
You know what? I want you to understand that God is both King of the hill and Lord of the valley. And when this message was presented that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob may be God of the hills, but He was not God of the valley, God took offense at that. You know, it’s possible for God to get offended. You can ? I wouldn’t recommend it - but you can offend God. And this offended God, and He said, "Because the Syrians have said that I’m God of the hills, but I’m not God of the valley, therefore, I am going to show you a mighty deliverance." And God was with them in the valley and they slayed over a hundred thousand of the Syrian soldiers.
Now, when the devil tries to propagate the lie that you can be delivered on the mountaintops of life, but that God is incapable of delivering you in the valley of life, He takes offense at that and says, "I’m going to show up on your behalf. I’m going to prove that I’m not only God of the mountains; I am God of the valley. I’m not only King of the hill; I’m Lord of the valley." Praise the Lord. And so what we’re doing on these Sunday mornings is we are walking through some of the valleys of life that are common to all, and finding out how to have victory in the valley.
Last Sunday we began with David in the Valley of Rephaim. Rephaim means "Giants." That’s the valley in life where the problem seems so big - just like a giant - and you feel so small - like a grasshopper. But we found out that in the Valley of Giants, you need a breakthrough, and to quit calling that place the Valley of Rephaim, the Valley of Giants, and start calling it Baal Perazim, the Master of Breakthroughs; because I want you to know your God has a Master’s Degree in breakthroughs. He’s very good at breakthroughs. He knows when you are up against it, and it seems like the problem is a gigantic problem. God says, "This is the very place that I can master your breakthrough." Hallelujah.
So last week we learned that you have to break through in the Valley of Giants. Well, this morning I have a second valley for us to walk through together. I want you to turn in your Bibles, please, to Ezekiel, chapter 37. We’re going to discover another valley that is common to all of us. We all have to walk through it at one time or another and we’ll see what to do in this particular valley. Please turn in your Bibles to the Book of Ezekiel, the third of the major prophets out of the Old Testament - Isaiah, Jeremiah, then he’s got his Lamentations, then Ezekiel. Ezekiel, chapter 37, verse 1, "The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. 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."
All right, let’s take a moment and let’s learn a little bit about this man, Ezekiel. We know, really, quite a bit about him. We know that he was born about the year 622 BC in Jerusalem, and his father was a priest. His father had an unfortunate name for a preacher. His father’s name was Buzi. I didn’t think that was a very good name for a preacher, but anyway, his father’s name was Buzi and he was a priest, and Ezekiel was raised up for the priesthood, and undoubtedly served in some capacity in priestly ministry. Ezekiel was about twenty years younger than Jeremiah, and would have been growing up under the prophetic preaching ministry of that great prophet, Jeremiah. And Ezekiel lived in Jerusalem, a godly man, seeking the Lord, serving God, until about the age of twenty-five. And when he was twenty-five years of age he was among the second group of people to be deported by King Nebuchadnezzar and taken out of Jerusalem, out of Judea, and carried away to the land of Babylon to live as exiles. So at the age of twenty-five he’s forcibly removed from his beloved homeland and taken away to Babylon to live among the rest of these Jewish exiles.
Now, he’s there for about five years until the age of thirty. And at the age of thirty, the priest, Ezekiel, a Jewish exile in Babylon, had a life-changing experience. While he was by the River Chebar in the land of Babylon, he had a vision of the glory of God, and he was called into the prophetic ministry ? you can read about that Ezekiel in the first chapter of his prophecy, some time later ? a very powerful and profound experience that completely changed the rest of his life and ministry, and he became a prophet.
Then a few more years went by and he was thirty-six years old. He’d been in Babylon for I guess what would it be about eleven years or so. He’s been in Babylon, and of course, among these Jewish exiles there was always the hope, there’s always the hope, "Someday we’re going to go home. Someday there’ll be a political change. Someday there’ll be a change in the government’s policy and we’ll be allowed to return to our beloved homeland, the land that God promised unto Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and his seed forever. Oh, how we long to see the temple. Oh, how we long to worship in the courts of the Lord. Oh, how we long to gaze upon Mount Zion. We want to go home. Someday we’re going to go home. There’ll be a change. I know it’s going to happen ? it’s going to happen."
Well, eleven years into their exile, they one day heard ? in the year 586 BC ? they heard the absolutely devastating news that the city of Jerusalem had been completely laid to waste. The temple had been absolutely destroyed and all of the holy articles carried away. The people of Judea had been forcibly removed from the land and carried away, and nothing ? listen to me ? nothing of the land of Israel remained. It was gone; it was obliterated. A nation was no more! Now think about that. Think about being a young man, who all of your hopes concerning the purposes of God are wrapped up in this covenant nation, and then you hear the news that that nation is no more.
Now, in that year that he received that report ? which must have thrown him into the deepest of despair, depression, and despondency ? in the year that he heard that report the Lord gave him a vision. And in the vision the Spirit of the Lord picked him up and carried him away, and took him into a dark, deep, valley and set him down in that valley, in his vision. And as Ezekiel looks around in this valley where the Spirit of the Lord has placed him, he notices that it is full of bones, human skeletal remains, but they’re not even entire skeletons - they’re all just scattered. You know, here’s a leg bone here, and here’s a human skull over here; here’s a bone from a ribcage. They’re just all scattered all over. And do you understand - do you understand what Ezekiel was seeing? He was seeing the death of his dream - the bones in the valley. In the vision was the picture of what Jerusalem and Judea had become - they were no more. It’s the Valley of Dry Bones; it’s the valley of dead dreams; it’s the valley of failed visions.
How many of you have ever been in the Valley of Dry Bones? You had a dream, a hope, a vision; an aspiration that you believed with all of your heart was from God. It was a good thing, and it lived as a dream in your heart, and it was the thing that kept you going through life. It’s the thing that gave purpose and meaning to your existence. And then something happened that made it seem as if it was absolutely impossible for the dream to live and the vision to succeed. You arrived in the Valley of Dry Bones of dead dreams and failed visions. That’s exactly where Ezekiel was.
And walking around in this valley of utter bleakness and hopelessness, God asks Ezekiel a question. You see it in verse 3. He said, "Son of man, can these bones live?" We have often established the fact that when God asks a question of humanity, He is not seeking information He does not have. God is not asking you to be His counselor. Rather, when God asks a question of a human being, He is seeking to reveal something of that person to themselves. And God says, "Son of man, can these bones live?" What’s He saying? He’s saying, "Ezekiel, there was once a dream of a covenant nation," the seed of Abraham, the people of God that had His law as their law; and they would bring light to the Gentiles, and they would fulfill the purposes of God. But now their temple is gone; their city is gone; their land is gone. The people are scattered to the four winds. "...can these bones live?" And God awaits Ezekiel’s reply.
Ezekiel has had a defining moment. How will he answer? Yes or no? Faith or unbelief? Possibility or impossibility? What will he say? And Ezekiel finds a way to wiggle out of it. He says ? and I have to quote in Kings James ? he says, "O, Lord God, thou knowest." I would remember that if I were you, because you could use that you know. If the Lord asks you a really hard question and you’re not sure how to answer, it’s better to say it in Kings James because it sounds more spiritual that way. You can say, "O, Lord God, thou knowest." I don’t think that’s exactly what God was looking for, but it was, at least, a witty way to get out of that jam. Then God began to speak further to Ezekiel and He says there in verse 4, "Again, He said to me, ’Prophesy to those bones, and say to them, "O, dry bones, hear the word of the Lord."’"
Let me tell you something, almost, if not literally, every God-given dream will spend some time in the Valley of Dry Bones. It’s part of the way it happens. Yes, I wish I could just bound from here to heaven on the mountaintops. I wish I could go from spiritual ecstasy, to spiritual high, to the greatest day of my life, and tomorrow even better, and land in heaven when I’m done. I wish I could. Somehow the Lord, though, vetoes that and says, "No, Brian, you’ll have plenty of mountaintop experiences, but in between you’re going to go through some valleys. I don’t want to hurt you; I want to help you. There are things that I cannot build in you any other way. I know there’s a devil in that valley that seeks to devour you, but if you will follow Me, he will not be able to harm you; he will only help you even though that is never his intent."
Every one of us is going to have some moments of dry bone dreams - dead dreams and failed visions. Now listen - it’s not over when the devil says it’s over. Do not let Satan be the umpire of your life. Don’t let him say when you’re out. Don’t let him tell you to go sit on the bench of life. Don’t listen to him. It’s not over when the enemy says it’s over; it’s over when you say it’s over.
Well, in the Valley of Giants you must break through, but in the Valley of Dry Bones you must prophesy, son of man. "Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ’O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!’" You must prophesy. Sometimes I think we have a bit of a mystical, over-spiritual view of what it means to prophesy. To prophesy simply means to cause the word of the Lord to be heard. You might write that down. To prophesy simply means ? sometimes we say, "To preach." "Preach son of man. Come on, preach, preach." To prophesy simply means to cause the word of the Lord to be heard.
Look again at verse 4. "Again He said to me, ’Prophesy to these bones and say to them...’" Don’t think about the bones; don’t worry about the bones; don’t pray about the bones. "’...say to them, "O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!"’" Make the word of the Lord audible. In any situation or circumstance, that’s what it means to prophesy.
Now, in the Valley of Dry Bones, God will give you a word. Look at it; this is the word that God gave to Ezekiel. Verse 5, "Thus says the Lord God to these bones," this is what God is saying to Ezekiel he’s suppose to say to the bones, "’Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.’"
When you are in the Valley of Dry Bones ? dead dreams and failed visions ? God will give you a word, but that is not enough - you must speak the word. Psalms 62:11 says, "God has spoken once, twice I have heard this." See, when God speaks something into your heart - a word of prophecy; a word of encouragement; a word of faith - okay, you’ve heard it once in your spirit man, but you need to hear it again as you audibly speak that word. God is continually looking for a son of man - a son of Adam or a daughter of Eve - to speak His word on the earth.
Amos 3:7 says, "Surely the Lord God does nothing except that He reveals His secret counsel to His servants, the prophets." God is not going to do anything in your life until He speaks a prophetic word into your heart, and then He waits for you to dare to prophesy that word; to speak the word out loud; to say right out loud, "Thus saith the Lord," and speak it even though you might look ridiculous.
Here’s old Abram, his name ? he has a funny name ? his name means "Exalted father." Abram, the exalted father, can’t have any kids; his covenant wife, Sarah, is barren; so God changes his name. But understand that God only spoke to Abraham; He didn’t go tell everybody else. If Abram was going to be called Abraham by everybody around him, he had to tell them. Just imagine that little scenario. He goes out, you know, one morning to pick up his newspaper, and there’s his neighbor. Well, it’s a little bit of an imagination, I know. And the neighbor says, "Good morning, Abram," and he says, "No, don’t call me that anymore, I’ve changed my name." "Oh, well I can understand. You know, exalted father and all, it’s a bit embarrassing, you know. You don’t have any children with your wife, Sarah, so I can understand that you would want to change your name. What are you changing it to?" "From now on I will be called ’Father of a Multitude.’" What was he doing? He was prophesying.
See, you must understand that prophecy is not merely predictive - prophecy is causal. When God said, "Let there be light," He wasn’t predicting light - He was causing light. When Jesus spoke to the storm, "Peace, be still," He wasn’t predicting a sudden calm - He was causing it; He was speaking it with His word. He was prophesying it; He was causing it to happen.
All right, then pick up the story in verse 7, "So I prophesied..." He gave me a prophetic word, I just didn’t sit and think about it, and muse about it, hide it in my heart - I focused. "So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise..." When was there a noise? See, we want it the other way. Say, "Lord, You make a little noise. Lord, if You could just bring a couple of bones together; just a couple. I mean, it doesn’t have to be a big deal, just maybe two finger bones; put them back together. That’ll be a sign for me, and then I’ll start prophesying and say, ’This thing’s going to happen.’" No, it’s going to be nothing. It’s going to be quiet. It’s going to be dry bones lying on the surface of a valley until you dare to prophesy and say what God says even though it looks impossible. "So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone. Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them. Also, He said to me, ’Prophesy to the breath, son of man, and say to the breath, "Thus says the Lord God: ’Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.’" So I prophesied as He commanded me..." You see, God and man working in conjunction here.
Do you understand to what extent God respects the dominion of man? The heavens are the heavens of the Lord; but the earth He’s given to the sons of men. He does nothing but He reveals His secret counsel to His servants, the prophets, and then stands back and says, "I wonder if they’ll prophesy it or not." Why did it take so long from the Garden of Eden to the virgin birth to get the Savior into the world? Because it took that long for all the prophesying to get done, for God to find enough holy men and holy women to bring forth the prophetic oracles.
When God gave dominion to Adam and placed him in a garden, his one task, other than to enjoy God and to fellowship with Him, was to care for the garden ? to tend the garden; to work in the garden; to take care of it. Now how did Adam do that? Did he, you know, fire up his roto-tiller and work by the sweat of his brow? No. The sweat of the brow came after the fall. How did he do it? I’m sure he did it the same way that God did His work ? Adam was taught by God how to do work. How did God create the heavens and the earth? Did He sit around on a workbench and tinker away? No, He spoke them into existence.
God and man need to work together to accomplish something on the earth. God would inspire your heart with a word in the spirit, but He waits for you to be the human voice to make it audible - to prophesy. "So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army. Then He said to me," verse 11, "’Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, "Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!"" I want you to note that. "They..." ? who are they? I don’t know, but you’ve got them in your life. We all have the "They." We’re in the Valley of Bones, and it looks like the dream is dead and the vision has failed, and it’s not going to happen. "They" show up right on cue and say, "Well, I guess it’s not going to happen. Too bad. Condolences. Here’s a little sympathy card." "Our bones are dry, our hope is lost..." You know, the devil doesn’t have to look very far to find somebody that will come to you, well meaning, but ignorant of the things of God, to tell you your hope is lost.
Verse 11, "Then He said to me, ’Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel.’" This was Ezekiel’s dream. "They indeed say, ’Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves were cut off!’ Therefore prophesy and say to them, ’Thus says the Lord God: "Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves. I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, and have spoken it and performed it," says the Lord.’" And thus it came to pass. When it looked like Israel could not live, dry bones scattered to the four winds, and yet within seventy years Ezra and Nehemiah are leading the people back into the land, and they’re rebuilding the temple, and they’re living again.
Sixty years ago it looked as if Hitler’s final solution might prevail. And if you go back exactly sixty years from now, was there ever a time when the hope of the seed of Abraham living as a nation in their land of promise was more of an impossibility? And yet within three years of the conclusion of World War II, Israel was again founded as a modern nation according to the promises of all the prophets.
Here’s the principle that applies to you, because it’s more than just a history lesson, the seed of a God-given dream always goes through the divine process. And what is the divine process? Death, burial, resurrection. Why do I call it the divine process? Well, because it’s what Jesus went through, but beyond that, it’s how you will always know that the dream was never your own accomplishment. God allows it to die and be buried so that when He resurrects it, it is forever sanctified to His glory. And you’ll know, "It wasn’t my whit, or my wisdom, or my ability, or my strength that brought this dream to pass. Oh, no; it was dead and gone. It was in a valley of dry bones, spread out without any hope, and God raised it from the dead."
Abraham, the believer, had a barren wife and a dead body - but he still got his sons. Joseph, the dreamer, was in the pit, and in the prison - but he still made it to the palace. And Jesus, the Savior, was three days dead in a tomb - but on the third day He arose! Abraham, the believer; Joseph, the dreamer; Jesus, the Savior; all went through the valley of dead dreams and failed visions - and you will, too. But just remember - it’s just a phase. It’s just part of the divine process - death, burial, and then resurrection. Don’t give up, son of man; your dream can live again. Don’t give up, son of man; the vision can succeed in the end. Prophesy, son of man; prophesy, son of man; prophesy son of man. As the Lord inspires you with hope against hope, dare to call those things which be not as though they were. Prophesy to the dead dreams and failed visions of your life, and refuse to believe it’s over. Refuse to believe that all hope is off. The devil is a liar.
And so Jairus had a daughter, the damsel, and she was the darling of his heart, and she was sick - she was even at the point of death. But Jairus heard that Jesus was near and he went to find Jesus - Jesus being his only hope. And he was just about to explain to Jesus the condition of his little daughter, twelve years old, lying at home, sick of a fever, on a bed at the point of death. And he was just about to say, "Jesus won’t You please come and heal her?" And just at that moment, somebody came and said, "Jairus, all hope is lost. All hope is cut off. It’s now the valley of dead dreams and failed versions. Why trouble the Master any further? Your daughter is dead. The dream is dead. The damsel is dead." But Jesus was right there. He was right there and He immediately looked Jairus right in the eye. He said, "Jairus, do not be afraid; only believe. Do not be afraid, Jairus; only believe. Come on, let’s go home together."
Listen, I’ll tell you something else about the Valley of Dry Bones - you will never be there alone. God did not leave Ezekiel in the Valley of Dry Bones by himself to be haunted by ? God was right there with him. And when Jairus received the report that the damsel was dead, Jesus was right there to say, "Come on, we’ll walk through this together. Just don’t be afraid. Just believe. Stick with Me, Jairus. I’m not leaving you. I’m with you. I’m here. We’re sticking together." And they made their way back to the house, and there were the weepers and mourners, wailing and carrying on. Listen to the Son of Man prophesy. Come on, she’s dead. The coroner has been there. There’s no pulse; there’s no sign of life; there’s no respiration. Her color is ghostly pail; her flesh is cold and clammy. The mourners have been summoned - they’re wailing; they’re weeping; they’re playing their sad songs; and here comes the Son of Man to prophesy. He walks up and says, "Why make this commotion and weep? The damsel is not dead, but sleeping!" Ah, I like it when the Son of Man prophesies. "The damsel is not dead, but sleeping!" And they began to mock Him and to scorn Him. And their wailing turned to jeers, and they said, "Do you think we’re stupid? Do you think we don’t know when somebody is dead?" I can imagine Jesus saying, "Yeah, I don’t think you know when someone is dead. I don’t think you know that the Resurrection and the Life is standing among you." And He walks into that room, and He throws everybody out but the mother and the father. And He walks up to that lifeless little girl that was the dream of Jairus’ heart, and He stands over the damsel that they had pronounced dead, that Jesus had prophesied was not dead, but merely sleeping, and He said, "Talitha Cumi! Little girl, I say, ’Arise!’" And she woke up, and she got up, as the Son of Man had prophesied, and the damsel was not dead. The damsel lived again.
And I want to prophesy to you. You may be in the valley of dead dreams and failed visions, but it’s not over. Prophesy, son of man. Prophesy, son of man. Those bones can live again; they can come together. Flesh can cover them; sinews can join them. The Spirit of God can fill them. The damsel is not dead. It can live again. Prophesy, son of Adam. Prophesy, daughter of Eve. Dare to speak the Word of the Lord in the midst of a dead dream and a failed vision. God can resurrect it!
