Ezekiel 37:1-14 – 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.” [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.” [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 clean 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.”
Can the bones we preach to live? Does your heart believe that they can, as you go to work or school or church? Do you believe it when you look at your culture and see where it is heading? Do you believe that God can make the bones live? Do we believe He has got us where we are so that He will save people through us? Do we see that Providence has placed us where we are as part of the fulfillment of the Great Commission and that God has people in this place? Is it only for judgement that church has been placed in the world?
We need to believe that God has us where we are because He intends to save people. He has not sent us out on a fool’s errand. The bones we preach to are not more dead (and not less either) than the ones Ezekiel preached to and God has not brought us into this valley for nothing. We need to give the Gospel believing that our call is not Isaiah’s, (Isaiah 6:8-13), until God tells us that it is. In other words, we need to live our lives with the belief that God intends to save people through us. The doors of our church are open because God has people in this place. The Gospel is the power of God and it will save. God will see to it that it does. He calls us to be a part of that happening. Preach to the bones.
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