An early morning fire that completely destroyed the historic Hortop Mill in Everton on this past Thursday, Jan. 19 is being treated as suspicious. The original fire call came in at about 3:30am and when firefighters arrived at the mill, located on Evert Street, just south of the Eramosa River, it was fully-engulfed with flames. Crews from Guelph-Eramosa, Puslinch, Guelph, and Hillsburgh, could not prevent the total destruction of the Mill. (http://www.wellingtonadvertiser.com/comments/index.cfm?articleID=34275). When all is said and done, neither the residents of Everton, the GRCA, nor the remnants of the mill itself can bring the mill back to its previous glory with what is left there. Any hope for the site must come in a complete rebuilding.
The situation in Ezekiel 37 was bleak. It is proclaimed to the exiles, probably sometime between the dates presented in 33:21 and 40:1, around 572 B.C. (Lind, M. (1996). Ezekiel (p. 296). Scottdale, PA: Herald Press.) Israel was a defeated nation. It had been crushed militarily, its people had been separated from one another in exile, and it had suffered the inevitable result of its abandonment of the Lord. Alone, exhausted, discouraged, and impoverished, Israel was indeed as good as dead. (But the vision to Ezekiel was fitted to dispel such despondent reflections.) (Stuart, D., & Ogilvie, L. J. (1989). Ezekiel (Vol. 20, p. 332). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.)
How do we move on after times of discouragement or loss? It’s easy to see past greatness or success in relationships or opportunities and long for what was. God however doesn’t want us to live in the past, but consider what can be. Revival is God taking what seems hopeless and showing what He can do. Using human secondary means, God can accomplish what seems impossible from a human standpoint.
How does revival happen? God uses three means to accomplish it. He uses: 1) The Preaching of the Word (Ezekiel 37:1-6), 2) The Prayer of God’s Servant (Ezekiel 37:7-9), The Power of the Holy Spirit (Ezekiel 37:5-14).
In order to accomplish Revival, God uses:
1) The Preaching of the Word (Ezekiel 37:1-4)
Ezekiel 37:1-6 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. 2 And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. 3 And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord GOD, you know.” 4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. 5 Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. 6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the LORD.” (ESV)
Ezekiel’s beginning in chapter 37 where he says that: “The hand of the LORD was upon me” appears to indicate something extraordinary and unusual in the prophet’s experience. In this whole vision the prophet was the subject of a special and intensified inspiration. The process described that God: “brought/carried” him. That Ezekiel was “brought/carried …out in the spirit” notes how this was not a physical moving but a vision.( Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 1, p. 610). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.)
What makes this vision extraordinary is that this valley “was full of bones”; i.e. of men who had been slaughtered there (cf. ch. 39:11), and whose corpses had been left unburied upon the face of the plain (ver. 3), so that they were seen by the prophet. At the same time, such a plain as is here depicted may well have been a battle-ground on which Assyrian and Chaldean armies had often met.
• Bringing us to the valley is where Revival often starts. God desires that we come to the end of ourselves in order to grasp the fullness of God. When we are humble, teachable and seeing our need for God, He takes such a person, family, congregation and community to the heights of His glory.
The result of the prophet’s inspection of the bones in verse 2 was to excite within him a feeling of surprise which expressed itself in a twofold behold; the first occasioned by a contemplation of their number, very many, and their situation, on the surface/in the open valley i.e. not underground, where they could not have been seen, but upon the surface of the soil, and not piled up in heaps, but scattered over the ground; and the second by a discernment of their condition as very dry, so bleached and withered as to foreclose, not the possibility alone, but also the thought of their resuscitation. This pictures the dead nation lifeless, scattered, and bleached, just as a dry tree (17:24) pictures a dead nation, to which only God can give life (MacArthur, J., Jr. (Ed.). (1997). The MacArthur Study Bible (electronic ed., p. 1204). Nashville, TN: Word Pub.).
• If God is not the center of our existence, then there is nothing but withering and decay. Without eternal life there is nothing but rotting death.
Whether or not the question was directed in verse 3 to meet despairing thoughts which had arisen in the prophet’s own mind, it seems reasonable to hold. Israel’s restoration appeared as unlikely an occurrence as the reanimation of the withered bones that lay around. The extreme improbability, if not absolute impossibility, of the occurrence, at least to human reason and power, is perhaps pointed at in the designation “Son of man” here given to the prophet. The prophet’s answer, “O Lord God, you know” expresses the prophet’s sense of the greatness of the wonder suggested to his mind, with perhaps a latent acknowledgment that God alone had the power by which such a wonder could, and therefore alone also the knowledge whether it would, be accomplished (comp. Rev. 7:14).
• This is where revival happens. It doesn’t happen with presumption: I/we can do it. It doesn’t happen with unbelief: It’s hopeless, but it happens though faith: “O Lord God, you know”. When our faith is not in ourselves but God, then He works. No faith is needed to do the possible. Again and again, God asks people not to do what they can, but what they can’t. God’s dealing with us is not intended to show us how clever we are if only we would try, but rather the opposite, that no matter how hard we try, in the realm of the Spirit, we are helpless. We need to learn to trust God and realize that we can do all things—but only through Christ (Jeffery, P. (2004). Opening up Ezekiel’s Visions (p. 112). Leominster: Day One Publications.).
Please turn to Ephesians 2
The instruction in verse 4: “Prophesy over these bones” was an injunction to utter the Divine word through which the miracle (of creation, as it really was) should be performed. God promised to use Ezekiel’s preaching to accomplish His revival. Although Ezekiel had been so often troubled with the sense of impotence and failure, he would see now that revival does not come from the prophet’s desire, ability or skill, but in the power of the word preached itself. It has the power to transform those who are dead in trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1–22) and make them new, living creatures in Christ (2 Cor 5:17). God has always used the “foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe” (1 Cor 1:21) (Cooper, L. E. (1994). Ezekiel (Vol. 17, p. 325). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.).
This was the message of Paul in Ephesians 2:
Ephesians 2:1-17 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 body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 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; it 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. 11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.(ESV)
• Like the dry bones of Ezekiel, Human beings (as verse 1 specifies) enter the world spiritually dead. They have no inclination or responsiveness toward God and no ability to please God. Neither Ezekiel, the bones themselves or humanity today can change the situation. To escape this hopeless imprisonment requires nothing short of a new birth or a new creation by God (Eph. 2:5). God brings revival, regenerates/makes alive. This does not occur because of our own doing/works (Eph. 2:8-9, but because of God unmerited favor (grace) given through the gift of faith. The glorious job of preaching (v.17) is the gift of proclaiming this message, so the Spirit can use the words to bring life.
Verse 5 explains how the revival will occur: “Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you”. The word translated breath is translated in other places as wind or Spirit. The breath sent by God into the lifeless bodies symbolizes the Holy Spirit (v. 14), who brings renewal, regeneration, and rebirth (see vv. 6, 9; John 3:5–8; 6:44; 7:37–39; 16:5–15; Rom. 8:9–11) (Radmacher, E. D., Allen, R. B., & House, H. W. (1997). The Nelson Study Bible: New King James Version (Eze 37:5). Nashville: T. Nelson Publishers.).
The real agent, therefore, in the resuscitation of the bones, revival, was to be, not the prophet or the word itself, but the breath/spirit (ruach) of God working through the word. The Spirit is the breath of life, as in Gen. 6:17 and 7:22 (comp. Gen. 2:7; Ps. 104:30; Isa. 26:19). The breath/spirit (rûaḥ) represents the divine animating force without which no life is possible (Judg. 15:19). Only God, from whom all life derives (Eccl. 12:7), can revive these bones (Block, D. I. (1997–). The Book of Ezekiel, Chapters 25–48 (p. 376). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.).
• Like a deflated balloon, the breath brings it to fullness. For a fire that is nothing but smoldering, the breath can bring it back to a roaring flame. The Holy Spirit will bring the spiritually dead to life and the spiritually inert to Revival.
To close off this section in The Preaching of the Word, the process of revival in verse 6 is now divided into two stages—a preliminary stage which should effect the reconstruction of the external skeleton, by bringing together its different parts and clothing them with sinews, flesh, and skin (comp. Job 10:11); and a finishing stage, which should consist in animating, or to “put breath in,” the reconstructed skeleton; corresponding to the two stages into which the process of man’s original creation was divided (Gen. 2:7). The result would be that the resurrected and reanimated bones, like newly made person, who would know the Lord. Therefore, Yahweh’s goal in reviving these bones is not simply the biological-chemical reconstitution of the body or even the restoration of physical life. He desires spiritual revival: a new recognition of and relationship with himself (Block, D. I. (1997–). The Book of Ezekiel, Chapters 25–48 (p. 376). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.).
Illustration:
The valley of dry bones speaks of the spiritual condition of the nation. And if we are to learn anything from this, we have to see that it also speaks of our nation. Do we see our people as God does? Can we see the true spiritual condition of (Canada) as spiritually dead? God caused the prophet to pass back and forth among bones—and we do this every day in the shops and on the streets of our towns and cities. Do we see? Do we feel the situation? Jesus did, and he wept over Jerusalem. Paul did, and his heart’s desire and prayer for his nation was that they should be saved. Consider how John Elias saw his homeland of Wales in 1841: “They walk in darkness, without knowing whither they go; and the ministry leaves them in that condition. Oh how sad! God, no doubt, is hiding himself! There is strength, light, and warmth wherever his gracious presence is found. Oh! that he would return to us, for his name’s sake! Oh! that he would turn to revive us! We have deserved this on account of our great iniquities, but he can visit us in his grace. Oh! that I might see one gracious and powerful divine visitation, in Anglesey, before I sleep in death”. (Jeffery, P. (2004). Opening up Ezekiel’s Visions (pp. 111–112). Leominster: Day One Publications.)
In order to accomplish Revival, God uses:
2) The Prayer of God’s Servant (Ezekiel 37:7-9).
Ezekiel 37:7-9 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them. 9 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 may live.”
Even though God may have promised something, he invariably links the promise with the prayers of his people. He commands and will use the secondary means of our prayer to accomplish His primary purpose. The words uttered in verse 7 were the application in prayer of verses 4–6. The effect produced is depicted in its various steps. First, there resulted a noise—literally, a sound/voice—which could have been like “a thundering;”, the trumpet-blast or “voice of God,” which, according to certain New Testament passages, shall precede the resurrection and awaken the dead (John 5:25, 28; 1 Cor. 15:52; 1 Thess. 4:16) Next, a rattling/shaking, σεισμὸς (LXX); which could have been an earthquake, as in 1 Kings 19:11; Amos 1:1; Zech. 1:1; 14:5 (comp. Matt. 27:51). Previously in Ezekiel there was “a peal of thunder running through the entire announcement,” as in ch. 3:12, 13 and 38:19, 20. The sound could also have been the rustling proceeding from a movement among the bones. Thirdly, “the bones came together” in the body as a whole, and in particular “bone to its bone”; i.e. each bone to the bone with which it was designed to be united, as e.g. “the upper to the lower part of the arm”. A familiar African-American spiritual describes the macabre scene from verse 7 in joyous sing-song (“the foot bone connected to the ankle bone, the ankle bone connected to the leg bone …”), punctuated by “Now hear the word of the Lord!” The song reaches its climax, as does Ezekiel’s vision, with an image of life brought from death, and joy from sorrow: “Them bones, them bones gonna walk around.” For the victims of the slave trade in America, as for Ezekiel’s audience of exiles, this text spoke of hope for the hopeless, freedom for the captives, and life for those who had thought themselves as good as dead (Tuell, S. (2012). Ezekiel. (W. W. Gasque, R. L. Hubbard Jr., & R. K. Johnston, Eds.) (pp. 250–251). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.)
Lastly, in verse 8, we see the body coming together: “the sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them”. This had happened precisely as Jehovah had announced to the prophet would take place (ver. 6). Yet, though the external framework of the bodies was finished, there was no breath in them—ruach having still the same import as in ver. 5. With this the preliminary stage in the reanimating process still to be accomplished.
• It is easy to think that outward reformation will bring inward revival. If we just start a new program, or make a slick ad campaign, or change some surface element we will attract new life. God showed Ezekiel that this outward dressing did not produce the inward revival.
Please turn to Psalm 65
The finishing stage began in verse 9 by the prophet receiving a command to prophesy to the breath/spirit/wind, and to summon it “from the four “winds/breaths, and breathe on these slain that they many live”. To “prophesy to the breath/spirit/wind”, is to pray that God would act to revive. The four winds represent the four corners of the earth (cf. 7:2). Notice that, throughout this vision, Ezekiel has acted under orders and has even described his own implicit obedience to God’s commands (7, 10). In so doing he emphasizes that this work of revival is God’s work from start to finish. If (people play) any part in it, it is only in obedience to God’s direction. The same can be said of (a human) contribution to any spiritual revival (Taylor, J. B. (1969). Ezekiel: an Introduction and commentary (Vol. 22, p. 231). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.).
This is how the Psalmist understands Revival:
Psalm 65:1-5 1 Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion, and to you shall vows be performed. 2 O you who hear prayer, to you shall all flesh come. 3 When iniquities prevail against me, you atone for our transgressions. 4 Blessed is the one you choose and bring near, to dwell in your courts! We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, the holiness of your temple! 5 By awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness, O God of our salvation, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas; (ESV)
• Because of iniquity/sin (v.3) all flesh is dead. The atonement and revival of that flesh can only be accomplished by God alone. Not only does He choose (v.4) in election, bring near (irresistible call). Pray (v.2) is a secondary means by which He brings about that life from the dead. It is not the dead that pray, but the one who would pray that God would revive the spiritually dead. It is awesome (v.5) that he hears and answers our prayer. A people individually and collectively will never rise above their prayer life. You show God how important something is in your life by your prayer. If it comes from a repentant heart, earnestly and in faith, He hears and He acts. He desires that we would pray as if life itself would depend on it, because it does.
Quote:
Too often God’s people are like that standing army, lifelike but not alive. How does the life come? Through the Holy Spirit using the faithful proclamation of the Word of God. Charles Spurgeon said: “Decayed churches can most certainly be revived by the preaching of the Word, accompanied by the coming of the heavenly breath from the four winds.” (The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vol. 10, 426.) From time to time, in response to His people’s prayers, the Lord has seen fit to send a new “breath of life” to His church and His servants, and for that blessing we should be praying today.( Wiersbe, W. W. (2000). Be reverent (pp. 166–167). Colorado Springs, CO: Chariot Victor/Cook Communications.)
In order to accomplish Revival, God uses:
3) The Power of the Holy Spirit (Ezekiel 37:5-14)
Ezekiel 37:10-14 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army. 11 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 is lost; we are indeed cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. 13 And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. 14 And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the LORD.” (ESV)
Verse 10 harmonizes with the feature in the vision which describes the bones as those of slain men, while also it may be viewed as foreshadowing the future destiny of Israel. “The bones of the slain on the field of battle, having been brought together, clothed with flesh, and a new life breathed into them, now they stand up, not as ‘a mixed multitude,’ but as ‘an exceeding great army’ prepared to take their part in the wars of Jehovah under new and happier conditions. (On the phrase, “to stand upon the feet,” comp. ch. 2:1; Zech. 14:12; Rev. 11:11.)
Verses 11–14 contain, the Divine interpretation of the vision. On the principle that “God is his own best interpreter,” in verse 11, it should not be difficult to see that, whatever foreshadowings of the final resurrection of the just may be contained in the vision, its primary intention was to depict the political and national restoration of Israel (Ephraim and Judah), whose condition at the time the field of withered bones appropriately represented. The complaint: “Behold, they say” was manifestly taken from the popular sayings current among the people of the exile. Broken up, dispersed, expatriated, and despairing, the members of what had once been “the whole house of Israel” felt there was no hope more of recovering national life and unity. The cheerless character of the outlook they expressed by saying, Our bones (not the bones of the dead, but of the living) are dried up—Though quantitative time may be implied by the dryness of the bones, the emphasis of the interpretation was on qualitative spiritual deadness—“our hope is lost/gone” and “we are indeed cut off” (v.11). Second, the bones (Israel) declared that their hope had perished. The people of Israel, having been deceased as a nation for so long, had lost all hope of becoming a nation again or of seeing God’s covenants fulfilled. Third, the bones (Israel) said that they were separated from one another, i.e., the people would be separated and dispersed from one another immediately before their restoration. That was their current condition. (Alexander, R. H. (1986). Ezekiel. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel (Vol. 6, p. 925). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.)
• As with this condition of Hope, it makes a big difference what you put your hope in. The Israelites trusted in walls, cities and army’s, God allowed their defeat to teach them a lesson. Continued hard heartiness and misplaced hope can arouse God’s righteous jealously. It may become so bad that He removes the source of this misplaced hope, in order to draw you back to Himself.
If the prophet was to see the bones, it was requisite that these should be above ground rather than beneath, hence the description in verse 12. On the other hand, when one speaks of a grave, it is not needful to always think of an underground tomb. To all intents and purposes a person is in his grave when, life being extinct, his body has returned to the dust.
So, in verse 13 the opening of graves we see how the vision dearly demonstrated the restoration to life of a people who had been dead for some time. It was in two stages: first physical (or national) restoration and then spiritual renewal (keeping in mind that the word for breath, wind, and spirit is the same in Hebrew). The creation of man followed a similar pattern: the body formed first, then the breath received (cf. Gen 2:7).( Alexander, R. H. (1986). Ezekiel. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel (Vol. 6, p. 925). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.)
Finally, verse 14, indicated by the clause, and I will put my spirit within you, pointed, as in ch. 36:26, 27, to their future endowment with higher moral and spiritual life than they had previously possessed, and not merely, as in vers. 5, 6, to their political and national resuscitation.
Please turn to Acts 2
In order for the work of revival to occur, it must be through the power of the Holy Spirit. Ezra envisioned this, and it was fulfilled with what occurred at Pentecost, when 3,000 people came to faith as the result of preaching (Acts 2:14–39), prayer (Acts 1:14) and the powerful work of the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 2:18, 38).
Acts 2:14–18 14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. 15 For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: 17 “ ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; 18 even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. (ESV)
• Unlike the Holy Spirit coming upon a select few, for a limited time, in the new covenant, every redeemed male and female has the power of the Holy Spirit within them. Faithfully, they can be those secondary causes that God uses to bring revival. Through preaching the word and prayer, the Holy Spirit will bring life to dead bones.
The last step, the re-establishment of the reconstructed nation in Palestine, was guaranteed by the word, I will place you in your own land. The physical return of Israelite exiles to the Promised Land began with the decree of Cyrus, the Persian conqueror of Babylon, in 539 B.C., only a few decades after Ezekiel preached hope to the exiles on the basis of this vision. No one in Ezekiel’s day could have foreseen that event, however, without divine help. …Nonetheless, Israel did return to the Promised Land and reinhabit it beginning in 538 B.C.—never again as an independent nation and never with the level of blessings predicted by Ezekiel, because those predicted blessings, including resurrection, were meant to stand for something much greater than the recreation of one of the world’s smaller nations. But the end of the Exile and the beginning of an orthodox community of faith signaled the dawn of the new age, whose brightness could be seen only when Christ arrived, and whose fullness is yet to come (Stuart, D., & Ogilvie, L. J. (1989). Ezekiel (Vol. 20, p. 336). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.).
Nehemiah describes the revival that took place at the return of the exiles. He tells of a six-hour service in which the people fasted, read the Scriptures, wept, repented of past sins and committed themselves to renewed service (Neh. 8–10). Revival comes when God turns away his wrath, revitalizes the church by stirring the hearts of his people and gathers in a great number of the lost. It is a work of sovereign grace. ‘The only organizer of revival is God the Holy Spirit.’ As Ezekiel insists, it is something for which we should pray (36:37).
Format Note Outline from Thomas, D. (1993). God Strengthens: Ezekiel Simply Explained (pp. 242–245). Darlington, England: Evangelical Press. Some base commentary from Spence-Jones, H. D. M. (Ed.). (1909). Ezekiel (Vol. 2, p. 263). London; New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company.)
