"Dry Bones Breathe!"
(Or, Dead Men Live!)
Ez. 37:1-14
Intro:
Don’t give in to the temptation to yawn and think, "oh, just the vision of the valley of dry bones." One of the hardest things we have to combat in our reading of the Scriptures is the bland monotony of reading and re-reading a familiar passage numerous times through the years. We lose the freshness and the intensity of the most powerful book the world will ever know by reading the Bible in a ho-hum manner. When you read a passage, even a familiar one, put yourself in the sandals of those who experienced it firsthand.
The vision of dry bones must have been revealed to Ezekiel with startling reality and vividness. It must have seemed even more real than those dreams that you wake up from and are confused if it happened or if you dreamt it.
In this vision I can almost see Ezekiel as he is set down in the middle of this huge valley full of bones... (Remember touching dead things made the Old Testament saints "unclean.")
The Holy Spirit causes him to pass completely around this valley for the full ariel view, and the impression sinks deep into his thoughts. It is a sobering experience as he realizes, "This valley is FULL of bones!" (Imagine it were you.)
I think there were that questions must have weighed heavy on Ezekiel’s mind as he was brought through this vision. As I see it he must have asked himself at least a few questions as he was presented with such an awesome scene as an entire valley, completely full of bones, filled all he could see.
WHO WERE THEY?
It stands to reason that, as he is made to view all these bones, the first question he might have asked was, "Who were these people?" 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. 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.
Who are they?
Verse 11, they are God’s people. "These bones are the whole house of Israel." At the time of this vision Israel was in Babylonian captivity. They were the slaves of Babylon. I also take it from this verse that as they mourned over their captivity they said, "Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost: we are cut off."
Walk around Nashville for a while. Drive around the side streets and look at the houses. Look at the people. Look at their lives. We have two bars for 1700 people. I haven’t been in the VFW Hall but I bet it is well-stocked too. Then, "Southend" party store is a liquor store. Carl’s and both convenience stores sell at least beer. That means some people, in this little town alone, have 7 places from which to buy alcohol.
Look at the videos offered at the rental places. Dirty movies, scary movies with all sorts of evil, movies that are made just to shock the senses and numb the conscience.
See the video games they hope your kids will be allowed to rent.
Listen to the radios turned up way too loud in the cars.
Show up on Sunday and see the half-empty churches.
It all adds up to dead people. Nothing but bones. And to echo the prophet, they are "very dry." (v:2)
Now couple this with the fact that probably no less that 500 of them have passed through the doors of this very church over the last 46 years. Many of that number made professions of faith right here at this altar. But now they are bleached white, completely without life and cracking in the weather. They are dead. God’s own people, and they are dead.
There is a valley full of them. This is referred to as "Maple Valley." It’s just as aptly called "Ezekiel’s Valley." There are just as many signs of death around us as there were in Babylon that day. People who were once called by His name are now gone. People who once called on His name are no more.
WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM?
The second question that seems logical Ezekiel would have asked is, "What happened to all these people? How did they die? Why did they die? What could have caused all the death and decay?
In his case, we could rule out war. Israel were God’s people. No enemy that rose up against them could win over God.
It wasn’t a famine. He fed them manna in the wilderness. He led His sheep in green pastures beside still waters. There could be no shortage of His supply.
It was no outside force that killed these people. What filled this valley with their bones was sin. The book of James says, "When sin is finished it brings forth death." (1:15)
It didn’t happen all at once. They didn’t jump right up from the altar of God one moment and bow in the shrine of an idol the next. Just like most backsliders today, it was more gradual than that. Spiritual death came as they allowed themselves to grow cool towards God and the things of God.
Don’t ask me why it happens this way but it nearly always does. They start missing Sunday School. It becomes too much trouble to attend. Then it’s Sunday evenings. Next comes Wednesday nights. First thing you know they’re a Sunday morning Christian, and before long, even that becomes sporadic. Now they’re "Chreasters," coming only on Christmas and Easter. Eventually even that will cease.
They will be laying out in some valley with no life and less sense than it takes to realize it.
Sin is so cunning, so subtle, so fatal.
CAN THEY LIVE?
The third question is provided for us in the text itself. It actually comes early in the vision. The Lord asks Ezekiel in v:3, "Son of man, can these bones live?" Surely that question stuck with him and he puzzled over it in the back of his mind as the revelation progressed.
Ezekiel’s answer was so wise, "O Sovereign LORD, You alone know." "Lord, it doesn’t seem possible, but You know if they can live."
Their own prayers seem to reflect no hope. "Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off." (v:11)
There is no faith in "death valley." Those who once knew God, but whose soul have dried up, are among the most hopeless. They are cut off. Their whole life is a discouragement. That’s because life wasn’t meant to be lived without the Lord. They are as lost as they were before they first came - only now they claim it’s just not for them.
Can they live? Boy, it seems doubtful. They’re so dry.
Only God knows. (But He does know! Hallelujah!)
The Lord tells Ezekiel to prophesy. He is a prophet, so he prophesies.
(As an interesting side note, the book of Ezekiel has the prophetic formula, "Thus saith the LORD" - ‘This is what the LORD says’- more than any other book in the Bible.) The fantastic thing here is he is commanded to prophesy to a bunch of old, dry, sun-bleached bones. This is not a living congregation. Talk about missions. This is starting from scratch. But as he prophesied to the bones, "There was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked and tendons and flesh (muscles) appeared on them and skin covered them..." They had all the appearance of full-fledged people. "But" something was still wrong - something was missing- "there was no breath in them." No life.
v:9, "Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’"
Have you ever noticed that every time the word "life" is used in this chapter it is in connection with the word "breath"?
v:5 "I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life"
v:6 "I will put breath in you, and you will come to life"
v:9 "O breath, ...breathe into these slain, that they may live"
v:10 "breath entered them; they came to life and stood on their feet-a vast army."
v:14 "I will put My Spirit in you and you will live"
(In Hebrew the word ruach is used for "wind," "breath" and "Spirit.")
I can’t read this chapter without being reminded of the words in 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 there was life! God’s breath.
Zech. 4:6 puts it so ably, "‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty."
God calls to His people in v:14, "I will put My Spirit in you and you will live!"
That is the hope of Nashville. That’s the only hope for the hundreds that have knelt at these altars and have fallen away. Here is the only hope for our backslidden loved ones. They CAN live again, but only through God’s Spirit breathing life into them.
Close:
I want to focus on backsliders in a moment. But before we can effectively deal with them, we who are here have to be ministered to first.
Perhaps you came tonight with a bit of "dryness" in your bones. Your relationship with God has cooled off a bit. Let Him breathe life into you again. Let Him refresh the touch of His Spirit in your soul. Let Him give you a little reviving. And let Him do it tonight.
Then turn your attention to interceding for the "dry bones" He lays on your heart.
Are there some "dry bones" you are concerned about tonight?
I believe God has the same plan for them as He had for the house of Israel in Ezekiel’s day. He wants Spirit-filled people to prophesy to them.
E. M. Bounds said it about prayer but it applies equally well to winning the lost. He said, "The church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men." (Preacher and Prayer, p. 5) God’s method for winning the lost is Spirit-filled men and women. His method of reaching the backslider is men, not gimmicks.
Pray until you’re on fire for their soul, then go, as the Lord directs (and expect Him to send you!) and speak to them about their soul. Allow Him to put His Spirit in you and to flow through you into them.
They can’t do it themselves. They need your help.
And don’t you forget, there IS hope in the Lord!
They CAN live. They need Him.
Let Him breathe on me,
Let Him breathe on me,
Let the breath of God-
Now breathe on me.
