WHEN DRY BONES LIVE
TEXT: EZEKIEL 37:1-14
THEME: THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD GIVES THE POWER TO LIVE
Have you ever walked through a graveyard at night? It is a quiet place. It is a place of reflection and fear. It is a place that we avoid at night. We do because of all the dead bodies in the ground. You are reminded of the silence voice of the dead. You cannot hear it but it screeches in your ears. The message is loud and repeated. The message is what keeps us away from graveyards at night. The message is “you will die too.”
Have you ever walked through a dead church on Sunday morning? It is a quiet place. It is a place of reflection and fear. It is a place that we avoid on Sunday morning, but not because of dead bodies in the ground, but spiritual dead bodies in the pews. In the church building, you are reminded of the silence of the voice of the dead. You can hear it in your ears. The message is loud and repeated. The message is what keeps you out of dead churches. The message is “you will die too”.
If you are like me you want nothing to do with a dead church. Dead churches are all round this nation. I have been in them. I have preached in them. And I have seen congregations die. And to be part of a dead church is to be part of dying yourself. In certain congregations you get the sense that a church is dead or not. There is this feeling in the church. It is an atmosphere in the building when you go to worship.
Recently, my father-in-law was traveling to Edmond to see the family for Christmas. On the way back they stopped at a little church for worship services in the morning. When they showed up there was maybe two people at the building. They went in and sat down. As soon as they did, an older lady, the only person in the church at the time turned around and asked “Is your church liberal or conservative?” No hello, no where are you from, but just a point blank question. Liberal or conservative---what is the answer? Nick said “conservative” which in these cases is the best answer because probably this is what the woman was hoping for. After the answer the woman shot back, “we are a liberal church.” After the services where the man who was to preach did not show up, and after a man got up and gave a lesson from the moment. The people left. Nick made a wise comment. “This was not a liberal or conservative church, it was a dead church.”
And what do you do to insure that this congregation never becomes part of the living dead. Fortunately God gives the answer in a vision to Ezekiel. It is the vision of the valley of dry bones. It is a vision of how people who are dead can come alive again. The text tells the story in Ezekiel 37:1-14 “The hand of the LORD was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones. And He caused me to pass among them round about, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and lo, they were very dry. And He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" And I answered, "O Lord GOD, Thou knowest." Again He said to me, "Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, ’O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.’ "Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones, ’Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life. ’And I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin, and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will know that I am the LORD.’" So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And I looked, and behold, sinews were on them, and flesh grew, and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them. Then He said to me, "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, 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 come to life."’" So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they came to life, and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army. Then He said to me, "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold, they say, ’Our bones are dried up, and our hope has perished. We are completely cut off.’ "Therefore prophesy, and say to them, ’Thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel. "Then you will know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, My people. "And I will put My Spirit within you, and you will come to life, and I will place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken and done it," declares the LORD.’"
Imagine this scene in Ezekiel’s life. He is taken to this valley with dry human bones throughout it. Imagine yourself a stranger to history and stumbling upon photographs of the wagons loaded with hundreds of emaciated bodies stacked like cord wood - the holocaust victims. If there was ever a moment of sobriety it is this. But where did all these dry bones come from? You would wonder who they were. You would want to know who could do such a thing. You would want to know why this happened, and how.
It is that fresh and that real to Ezekiel. He wants to know who they were. Although there were only bones it is obvious they are human bones. There are pelvic bones and skulls that make them easily identifiable. Verse 11, they are God’s people. "These bones are the whole house of Israel." It is an image of a people who were once alive to God. But the nation of Israel has forsaken the Lord. The people who were to be God’s people are not dead. And this happens in churches, churches that were once alive are not dead. Church builders are closing. Church is open but the people in the pews are spiritually dead. There is no life in the church. It is just a group of people who have lost the passion for Christ. It is just a group of people who are going through the motions but the heart is dead. There is no life in these Christians any longer. God’s people are dead. And I am afraid that are congregations that are dying in America just like the nation of Israel died to God. In the recent book in 2006 of the directory of churches of Christ in America it indicated that the numbers are declining. But I suspect that the numbers of people in the pew is not a true gage of the truth in the church. I suspect there are thousands of people in the pews that are dead spiritually. There is no spiritual life at all.
And there will never be spiritual life in these dry bones unless the word of God is preached to them. God says “Again He said to me, "Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, ’O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD” (Ez. 37:4). There will never be life in dead bones or dead Christians unless the word is proclaimed. But the first step of revival is hearing the word of God again. Some people have not read the word of God by themselves for months, perhaps years. There is no connection to the life giving word. The word of God must be heard. You must hear preaching, you must be studying or you will become like these dry bones. You will become spiritual dead. You need to have a connection to the word of God. There will be no revival in this congregation or in any church across the nation unless we are studying God’s word, unless we are looking for a message for the Lord, because God tells Ezekiel to preach to these people. Let them know about the will of God, because God’s word is what can transform you. You need to be engaged with God’s word. Hebrews 4:12 states “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” It is the word that will bring about revival.
I was there. It really happened this way. I remember this lesson that was preached by Steven Guy. It happened at Highland Park church of Christ. On this day, he preached this lesson. It was after a week long revival with a Gospel Meeting preacher. He was a throw back preacher. But during this whole week, there was nothing. The attendance was down. There were no responses to the preaching. It seemed dead. And that was when Steven Guy preached this lesson. He called sin, sin. He called people to task. He called people to repentance because the congregation was spiritual dead. And it was time to make it right. On that Sunday morning 40 people came forward to repent from sin. To confess that their spiritual life has become dry, as dry as these bones in the valley, and those people needed to become alive in Christ again.
And the people did, the spirit worked through the word. The spirit convicted these people through the preaching of the word. The spirit never convicts apart from the word, but through the word, when the word is preached the spirit works in the person, because man is dead spiritually without the holy spirit in man. Look at the text. Ezekiel 37:6 “’And I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin, and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will know that I am the LORD.’" The breath of God will make these dry bones live again. It was this way since the beginning. Gen. 2:7 concerning the original creation of man, "(God) breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul." There was no life in the lump of fashioned clay. There was no life in the bones, nor in the tendons; no life in the muscle or skin - but in the breath their life! God’s breathe. Ezekiel 37:14 declares “"And I will put My Spirit within you, and you will come to life.” And this promise of life continues in the Christian age. God has promised to give us the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the seal to know that we are God’s people. We become spiritual alive when we allow the Holy Spirit to word through the Word of God. We become a Christ fashioned people when the spirit of God is working in our lives. But without the Holy Spirit we are as dry as the dry bones in the valley.
So this week, I want you to pull out that Bible. I want you to read this Bible. Maybe it will be the first time you seriously read the word in month’s maybe years. But this week you are to read the word of God. The spirit cannot work unless you read the word. You cannot restore your dry soul unless you read the word of God. There will be no revival in your heart if you do not allow the word to penetrate your heart. If you read the word the same thing can happen. Your dead soul will have the breath of the Lord in it. You will be blessed through the work of the Holy Spirit. You will be more passionate. You will be more serving. You will be more dedicated to the work of the Lord. But if you do not you will stay as a dry soul. You will be dry and dead. But there can be life if you will read his word this week.
Howard Spring said “The kingdom of God is not going to advance by our churches becoming filled with men, but by men in our churches becoming filled with God.”
