“REVIVAL IN THE GRAVEYARD” Ezek. 37:1-14
7/26/20 – FBCF
Jon Daniels
INTRO – I was in a cemetery, or a graveyard, earlier this week, & will be in one again this afternoon. And without fail, every time any of us go to a graveyard, there are 2 types of people there: living & dead. There are those who are still full of life & have more opportunities ahead of them, & there are those who have no life left in them & their opportunities to experience life are over, & there’s nothing more that can be done for them.
- For some people, cemeteries & graveyards represent nothing but hopelessness & unending grief. The tears just won’t seem to stop flowing b/c there is no hope of anything beyond the grave that is in front of them.
- For others, the graveyard is not filled w/ hopelessness & despair, but joy, peace, & even life. Sure there are still tears that are shed, but those tears are able to be endured b/c of the promise of what lies beyond that grave – the promise of heaven – the promise of eternal life – the promise of a glorious reunion – the promise of unending joy & happiness & peace b/c of the salvatoin that is given through Christ & Christ alone.
But as many times as I’ve stood in a graveyard, either as the officiant of the service or as a friend or family member of the deceased, I’ve NEVER seen what Ezekiel saw in Ezek. 37. I can’t say that I’ve ever seen a revival in a graveyard. But that’s exactly what Ezekiel saw. And that’s what we are going to see today.
EXPLANATION – Open your Bibles to Ezek. 37:1-14.
Book of Ezekiel – long book – 48 chapters to be exact. Not many preachers & pastors preach from Ezekiel very often for various reasons:
- Prophecies in the book require a pretty good understanding of the history of Israel & the OT covenant.
- Its length makes it hard to preach.
- Some of the apocalyptic literature is hard to fathom & comprehend.
- There several chapters which are devoted to nothing except numerical measurements & building descriptions.
But this certainly doesn’t mean that there aren’t important subjects & concepts that we can & should glean from this book. After all, God made sure that it was included in the Bible, so that in itself means that we should read it & try to comprehend it as much as possible. Some of the themes that Ezekiel tells us about are:
- The reliability of God’s Word
- The glory of God
- Our individual responsibility for our own sin
- God’s holiness
- God’s transcendence or His supremacy
There’s one more theme that is shown in this book: REVIVAL. When I opened one of my OT commentary books to Ezek. 37, there was one word as the heading over this section that we are looking at today – the word REVIVAL.
APPLICATION – Even though sometimes it may look hopeless, God is not through with us!
The immediate application is that God was not through with Israel, His chosen people, even though they looked dead at the moment. It's a companion text to Jer. 29, also delivered to Israel in Babylon, where the Lord says "You're going to be here for 70 years--but don't give up hope. I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you, not to harm you, plans to give you a future and a hope." If you back up a chapter to Ezek. 36:26-27, you’ll see the message of hope for new life that the Lord gave to them. What a promise!
In order to have revival in the graveyard, we must realize:
HOW DESPERATE THE SITUATION IS:
Here we are again in a time of desperation & destruction, only this time it’s not a wall around a city – it’s the people who’ve been destroyed. This graveyard full of bones represents the people of God – “the whole house of Israel” (v. 11). This vision that Ezekiel had was a terrifying picture of hundreds of thousands of bones. The destruction he saw was overwhelming!
This gives us a startling picture of the devastation that sin brings to our lives. The reason that there was such destruction before Ezekiel is b/c the people continued to turn away from God & His plan & purpose for their lives. And the same thing happens to us when we turn away from Him.
Until we realize how desperately we need the Lord in our lives, we will never change. Until we understand how sin destroys our lives, we will never change. The Bible is clear:
- Rom. 6:23 – “The wages of sin is death”
- James 1:14-15 – “…each person is tempted when he is lured & enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, & sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”
That’s what sin does! It brings forth death!
- It doesn’t bring forth happiness
- …joy
- …contentment
- …life
IT BRINGS FORTH DEATH! That’s why we are so desperate b/c we are utterly & completely helpless & hopeless apart from Jesus Christ! Do you realize how desperate you are today???
HOW DEPENDENT WE ARE:
Dependent upon whom? GOD!
- Do we believe that the W of G is true?
- Do we believe this story is true?
- Do we believe God really did this?
- Do we believe that God can work like this in our day?
- Do we believe that we truly need God? Or do we believe that we can probably make it on our own & we will let God know if & when we need Him?
We won’t depend on Him if we don’t BELIEVE!
- God asked Ezekiel if he believed – v. 3
- Ezekiel’s answer showed that he knew that God had the power & ability to do it b/c He is the Lord God, the almighty, all-powerful, all-knowing God of all creation who spoke the universe into existence. Nothing is impossible for Him. Even dead & dry bones can live. All God has do is just say the word & it will happen.
Much of the lack of power in the Church is b/c we don’t REALLY believe!
- We don’t believe God
- We don’t fear God
- We don’t worship God
- We don’t obey God
- Therefore, we have no power.
o We don’t stand in His authority
o We don’t expect His presence
o We don’t look for His hand
o We don’t walk in His boldness
Do we truly realize how dependent we are upon God today?
- If He doesn’t speak, then there’s nothing worth hearing.
- If His Spirit doesn’t work, then nothing will happen. No lasting change will come about.
- If Jesus doesn’t save us, then we are doomed & lost forever.
HOW DIFFERENT WE WILL BE:
But here’s the good news: God DOES want to work! He DOES want to revive us! He wants to restore us & give us life – the life that ONLY He can give!
Once Ezekiel showed his faith in God, then God told him to speak to the bones (v. 4-6). And when Ezekiel did what God told him today, the bones began to rattle & come together (v. 7). Those bones went from being dried out, bleached, lifeless, useless remains of dead bodies, to “an exceedingly great army” (v. 10) full of life & power & strength, ready to do whatever God wanted them to do.
God wants to breathe His new life into our lives. He wants to change us completely so that we might know Him & make Him known. 3 times in this chapter, God says, “And you shall know that I am the Lord.” In fact, there are at least 11 places where God says this in chapters 34-38. He wants us to KNOW that HE IS THE LORD!
Does your life give clear evidence that YOU know that He is LORD?
CONCLUSION – God rebuilt, restored, & revived a great army out of a graveyard of dry bones. And He wants to do the same thing in our lives here today!
