Ezekiel 37 (NIV)
The Valley of Dry Bones
37 The hand of the LORD was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”
I said, “Sovereign LORD, you alone know.”
4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! 5 This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath[a] enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’”
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin 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 it, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.
11 Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel.13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.’”
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Ezekiel was a prophet and a young one at that. He was full of the word of God at a very difficult time in his nations history. His nation was in exile and it was as if they were dead and buried. Gone for all money. Exekiel and his contemporary Jeremiah had warned the nation – they had refused to listen and here they were in exile – a nation shattered and scattered beyond it seems redemption – In our current era we have watched the brutalisation of Aleppo in Syria it’s largest city ‘Everything is a nightmare’
Before the conflict started to unfurl in July 2011, Syria had been a popular tourist destination, with ancient Aleppo as its jewel.
Now it is a brutalised ruin – not totally destroyed but a mess.
Imagine if you can Israel in the times of Ezekial – due to it’s rebellion against God it was devastated and wrecked – the People were taken into captivity it was reduced to be seen as a valley of dry bones.
When devastation is complete there can seem to be no hope and history is scattered with dead and buried civilisations. Israel was now in that situation dead and buried.
In the midst of it’s devastation the Prophet is taken to a valley of dry bones and asked can these bones live?
As Christians we face uncertain times.
We look at what once was in Christianity and are amazed at how God has moved in the past. Many have forsaken God or watered down his word to the extent that we have felt only the bones have remained.
In such a situation we can ask can these bones live?
CPR will not work on a skeleton and watered down religion is not revival.
Yet Globally Christianity is in the greatest shape it has ever been and where early missionaries hacked through jungles in remote regions and planted seeds of faith in remote areas often dying in droves to do so – the Gospel is flourishing – the Christian population in Africa exceeded that of the United States in the 1970’s and China’s Christian population is now subject to wild estimates but it is agreed that it is growing rapidly expected to reach 300 million by mid century.
Can these bones live – the answer is a resounding yes.
But in New Zealand where a programme of cultural manipulation has been undertaken over the last fifty years by the educated grandchildren of past revivals the church has been forced into retrenchment and rearguard actions by the Great grandchildren of it’s founders. .
The question then remains for the church in this nation – Can these bones live?
The answer is a resounding yes and Ezekiel in our reading this morning indicates how.
37 The hand of the LORD was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry.
The first thing that God does with Ezekiel is expose the truth. Israel is dead and buried. Gone for all money as the saying goes.
We need to live in reality.
What is the situation not just in the church or the nation but in our own lives?
You cannot live on what God did yesterday.
We had some mussels in the fridge they are off and to eat them would be disastrous. They were great and nutritious yesterday but not now.
So it is with God – First we need to see how we are.
What is our personal state with God.
You may say Well great God significantly moved in me and through me last year. Yes but what is the situation now are you moving and breathing in him.
Exposing the current situation is really important. If you want new life with Christ you need to understand where youa re now. Ezekiel is shown the state of Israel a valley of dry bones. Nicodemos was like that. In John chapter 3. We find him coming to Jesus in the darkness of night to discover what it was that Jesus had. You would have to say, in the Jewish religion in which he was embedded he smelt bones and in Jesus he sensed something very very different.
Nicodemus was a ruler of the Jews. This is to say that he was a member of the elite 70 member Sanhedrin. It is amazing that Nicodemus should come to Jesus at all.
Nicodemus came to Jesus because he wanted flesh on his spiritual bones and Jesus profoundly tells him how to get that flesh. Be born again!!!! Yet he was a good man.
But everything had to die to be reduced to death that he might live.
But there was something missing in his spiritual life and Jesus has the answer.
Ezekiel stretches forward in history in chapter 37 and comes to the same conclusion – Jesus has the answer.
For example
verse
The passage reads
24 “‘My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd. They will follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees.25 They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your ancestors lived.
How did David become king again?
By Jesus.
So God has restored his Kingdom through the Spirit of God and the blood
First point in this process is reveal the situation – uncover the death =
Jesus reveals this principle in John chapter 8 verse 32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. It is this revelation of truth that produces the tears that we often see in revival – before people have been proud and haughty but when the truth is exposed and hey face their wn darkness and death tears follow.
Long before the Welsh revival of the early 20th century a young man was exposed to his own lack in America what happened to him was a key part of that revival.
A Welsh pastor with a thriving church in Pennsylvania was thrilling his audiences with his oratory and intellect, when suddenly he became broken before God and saw that he was not a true prophet of the New Testament type. As he was filled with remorse over this true state he came into a glorious experience of the fullness of the Spirit. At once his preaching changed - eloquence had been replaced by passion. He became burdened for his beloved Wales and resigned from his church in Scranton to return to his homeland.
It is this brokenness before God the discovery of poverty in oneself the dry bones that is the doorway to life itself.
The second thing that we find in our reading this morning is that God is able to overcome the impossible
It was God who raised the three days dead Lazerus to life and astounded all around him. Those who were there who had been at the funeral saw the stumbling Lazerus emerge from his grave having previously buried him and now unwrapping him – healthy well and healed.
When faced with a rich young ruler once – in Matthew chapter 19 20
Jesus said speaking of the rich getting into heaven:-
26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
With God all things are possible says Jesus.
Whatever situation of impossibility of death or destruction you might face it is smaller than God.
But it requires faith.
. Can these bones live?
The truth is no. Bones cannot live it would take a miracle. We cannot be restored to great Spiritual life without a miracle of life.
The scriptures are full of encouragements to understand God can do it.
George Mueller was an amazing man who believed that God would give life to dead bones.
Once:-
…the Mueller's set off for the United States in August 1877 aboard the Sardian…Off Newfoundland the weather turned cold and the ship's progress was seriously retarded by fog. The captain had been on the bridge for 24 hours when George Mueller appeared on the bridge.
"Captain, I have come to tell you I must be in Quebec by Saturday afternoon."
"It is impossible," said the captain.
"Very well, " said Mueller, "if your ship cannot take me, God will find some other way--I have never broken an engagement for 52 years. Let us go down into the chart-room and pray."
The Captain wondered which lunatic asylum Mueller had come from.
"Mr. Mueller," he said, "do you know how dense this fog is?"
"No, my eye is not on the density of the fog, but on the living God, who controls every circumstance of my life."
Mueller then knelt down and prayed simply. When he had finished the captain was about to pray, but Mueller put his hand on his shoulder, and told him not to.
"First, you do not believe He will' and second, I believe He has, and there is no need whatever for you to pray about it."
The captain looked at Mueller in amazement.
"Captain," he continued, I have known my Lord for 52 years, and there has never been a single day that I have failed to get an audience with the King. Get up, captain, and open the door, and you will find the fog is gone."
The captain walked across to the door and opened it. The fog had lifted. It was the captain himself, who later told the story of this incident, and who was subsequently described by a well known evangelist as "one of the most devoted men I ever knew."
"It is not enough to begin to pray," he Most frequently we fail in not continuing in prayer until the blessing is obtained, and in not expecting the blessing."
George Mueller was a living demonstration of the reality of the Scripture,
But my God shall supply all our need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:19
Thirdly - Co-operate with the Holy spirit. By faith says Hebrews 11 but we need to hear the voice of God and co-operate with the spirit
That is what Ezzekiel does
And dramatic it is in the reading too.
9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.
When the Spirit of God is co-operated with Great things happen and we can’t do God’s things in the old way.
God always is new every morning expect him to work in new ways.
Isaiah chapter 43 18"Do not call to mind the former things, Or ponder things of the past. 19"Behold, I will do something new, Now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, Rivers in the desert. 2
.’” Here is a condensed version of revival in India early in the 20th century
REVIVAL
(At Mukti, India 1905)
Chapter 12 Of Her Book ‘Pandita Ramabai’
by Helen S. Dyer
This is a brief but thrilling account of an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, which occurred in India in 1905. It was sparked by news of the Revival in Wales and another outbreak of Divine power in the Khassia Hills in Assam. Hundreds met for daily prayer until the fires of Revival swept throughout the Mukti mission.
Several months were spent in Australia and New Zealand by Miss Abrams Miss Abrams had been giving teaching on the subject of the baptism of the Holy Spirit as power for service, and one morning she was awakened by one of the senior girls, saying, “Come over and rejoice with us. J. has received the Holy Spirit. I saw the fire, ran across the room for a pail of water, and was about to pour it over her when I discovered she was not on fire.”
..all the girls in that compound were on their knees, weeping, praying, and confessing their sins. J. sat there exhorting the girls to repent, and telling them she had received the Spirit. There was real power in her testimony. She said, “O Lord, I am full of joy, but forgive and cleanse my sisters as you have me; give me strength to bear this sorrow for their sins.” Then she would exhort them and break out into new and beautiful praise. She said, “O Lord, we must have a revival; we must have it; begin it today.”
The next evening, while Ramabai was expounding John 8 in her usual quiet way, the Holy Spirit descended with power, and all the girls began to pray aloud so that she had to cease talking. Little children, middlesized girls, and young women wept bitterly and confessed their sins.
Some few saw visions and experienced the power of God and things too deep to be described. Two little girls had the spirit of prayer poured on them in such torrents that they continued to pray for hours. They were transformed with heavenly light shining on their faces.
Three things
Expose your situation
Practise faith
Allow the Holy Spirit to move.
