Dry Bones

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.040 --> 00:00:04.240 O, Lord, we thank you for the mercy and pity that you show 2 00:00:04.280 --> 00:00:07.120 on us. We thank you that as we cry out to you, as 3 00:00:07.160 --> 00:00:11.800 so many have UM, we receive answer UM, that you come to us 4 00:00:11.800 --> 00:00:16.879 in our distress, and you rescue us and bring us healing. This is 5 00:00:16.920 --> 00:00:22.199 not always um in the timing that we think is best. But Lord, 6 00:00:22.239 --> 00:00:28.199 what do we know? You are the all wise God. You are You 7 00:00:28.280 --> 00:00:33.399 see the beginning and the end. Um. You ordain all the ends and 8 00:00:33.439 --> 00:00:39.640 the means. Help us to be your servants, not try to be your 9 00:00:39.759 --> 00:00:45.799 rulers. Help us to look to you in every moment and wait and anticipate 10 00:00:46.439 --> 00:00:50.960 that which you have promised to do. Give us this spirit even now, 11 00:00:51.039 --> 00:00:59.880 this this holy anticipation at the grace, the powerful grace of your word. 12 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:04.200 Okay, bless us as we hear it. We pray this in Jesus name. 13 00:01:04.400 --> 00:01:11.599 I'm in. Let's turn to Ezekiel chapter seven. Ian may remain standing 14 00:01:11.640 --> 00:01:48.120 if you're able Ezekiel seven one through fourteen. Mm hmmmm. Ezekiel chapter seven. 15 00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:52.200 The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out 16 00:01:52.640 --> 00:01:56.400 in the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the 17 00:01:56.519 --> 00:02:01.040 valley. It was full of bones. And he led me around among them, 18 00:02:01.200 --> 00:02:06.920 and behold there were very many on the surface of the valley. And 19 00:02:07.000 --> 00:02:12.120 behold they were very dry. And he said to me, son of man, 20 00:02:12.159 --> 00:02:15.960 can these bones live? And I answered, a, Lord God, 21 00:02:16.639 --> 00:02:22.840 you know. Then he said to me, prophesy over these bones, and 22 00:02:22.919 --> 00:02:25.319 say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 23 00:02:27.159 --> 00:02:30.439 Thus says the Lord God to the bone, to these bones. Behold, 24 00:02:30.479 --> 00:02:35.680 I will cause breath to enter, and you shall live. And I will 25 00:02:35.759 --> 00:02:38.919 lay sin us upon you, and I will cause flesh to come upon you, 26 00:02:38.280 --> 00:02:42.759 and I will cover you with skin and put breath in you, and 27 00:02:42.879 --> 00:02:47.560 you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord. So 28 00:02:47.639 --> 00:02:51.919 I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a 29 00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:57.080 sound, and behold a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to 30 00:02:57.199 --> 00:03:01.120 its bone. And I looked and behold there sinews on them, and flesh 31 00:03:01.159 --> 00:03:06.080 had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no 32 00:03:06.199 --> 00:03:08.599 breath in them. Then he said to me, prophesy to the breath. 33 00:03:08.680 --> 00:03:13.120 Prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, thus says the 34 00:03:13.159 --> 00:03:16.120 Lord God, come from the four winds, O breath, And breathe on 35 00:03:16.159 --> 00:03:21.800 these slain that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, 36 00:03:21.919 --> 00:03:24.599 and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet 37 00:03:25.280 --> 00:03:30.439 and exceedingly great army. Then he said to me, son of Man, 38 00:03:30.599 --> 00:03:36.560 these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, our 39 00:03:36.599 --> 00:03:40.400 bones are dried up, and our hope is lost. We are indeed cut 40 00:03:40.439 --> 00:03:45.759 off. Therefore prophesy and say to them, thus says the Lord God. 41 00:03:45.840 --> 00:03:50.159 Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O, 42 00:03:50.319 --> 00:03:53.759 my people, and I will bring you into the land of Israel. 43 00:03:53.360 --> 00:03:57.800 And you shall know that I am the Lord. When I open your graves 44 00:03:57.840 --> 00:04:00.039 and raise you from your graves, O, my people, and I will 45 00:04:00.039 --> 00:04:04.120 put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place 46 00:04:04.159 --> 00:04:08.840 you in your land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord. 47 00:04:09.400 --> 00:04:15.280 I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord may be 48 00:04:15.360 --> 00:04:36.240 seated. I'd like to begin considering this passage um In in three sections. 49 00:04:36.279 --> 00:04:42.199 First a dark place, a dark place than a probing question, and then 50 00:04:42.240 --> 00:04:49.079 a powerful word. It is a dark place that Ezekiel is brought to in 51 00:04:49.120 --> 00:04:55.639 the spirit of the Lord. He's brought not to a high place, but 52 00:04:56.199 --> 00:05:00.480 a low place. I'm dark. I don't mean this is early in the 53 00:05:00.519 --> 00:05:04.639 sense of of light, but um in the sense of depressing in a way. 54 00:05:05.439 --> 00:05:10.279 Um, it is a depressed place, a low place, a valley, 55 00:05:11.360 --> 00:05:17.480 and it's full of bones, full of bones and bones a lot of 56 00:05:17.519 --> 00:05:19.920 times. If a valley was full of bones, if you read about that 57 00:05:19.959 --> 00:05:24.800 in the newspaper, you would expect that they'd be talking about dinosaurs or something 58 00:05:24.920 --> 00:05:30.079 like that. Right buried bones, uh, discovered bones. Um. Imagine 59 00:05:30.120 --> 00:05:35.120 a valley full of bones where the bones are all sitting right on top. 60 00:05:36.800 --> 00:05:42.959 Imagine that they were not just random bones that you couldn't identify, but they 61 00:05:42.959 --> 00:05:50.680 were very clearly human bones everywhere you looked. It would be maybe one of 62 00:05:50.720 --> 00:06:00.000 the most disturbing things you'd ever see. Not buried and we are told, 63 00:06:00.079 --> 00:06:06.240 and very dry. I don't know much about this, but from a little 64 00:06:06.240 --> 00:06:13.079 bit of looking up I did. It takes a while for bones to dry. 65 00:06:13.600 --> 00:06:16.279 It's not something that just happens right away. Perhaps you know this, 66 00:06:16.480 --> 00:06:21.040 uh, leaving a carcass out or something like that, or you throw it 67 00:06:21.079 --> 00:06:24.839 away in the trash and you open up your trash a few days later and 68 00:06:24.839 --> 00:06:29.600 it's basically that's still the same thing right before the garbage service comes and picks 69 00:06:29.600 --> 00:06:33.079 it up. It takes time for bones to dry out, um if they're 70 00:06:33.199 --> 00:06:36.560 left exposed. There's different ways that can happen if they're left exposed. A 71 00:06:36.560 --> 00:06:42.399 lot of times animals start right, they pull off the various pieces of flesh 72 00:06:42.480 --> 00:06:46.480 and sinew, and then eventually, you know, microbes and tiny creatures work 73 00:06:46.560 --> 00:06:51.120 their way into the um blood vessel cavities and things like that and clean it 74 00:06:51.160 --> 00:06:56.759 all out. But it takes it takes time. UM. One set of 75 00:06:56.800 --> 00:07:00.519 instructions I read, a man who sort of does this for a living, 76 00:07:00.639 --> 00:07:03.879 collects bones and then displays them and maybe it's a museum work or something like 77 00:07:03.920 --> 00:07:09.279 that. UM. As I understood what it was reading, he buries them 78 00:07:09.319 --> 00:07:14.040 into the ground um um to speed up the process and it takes like a 79 00:07:14.120 --> 00:07:19.720 year or something. It's a while. So we're in a place that's not 80 00:07:19.839 --> 00:07:27.199 just recently dead or on its way to death. This is a place that 81 00:07:27.279 --> 00:07:34.439 has been in uh, this state of death for a long time, a 82 00:07:34.480 --> 00:07:42.360 long time. The bones aren't just they're they're dry, and even very dry. 83 00:07:44.879 --> 00:07:50.240 This describes so much the spiritual condition of Israel, as as we read 84 00:07:50.360 --> 00:07:57.439 later in the chapter, we read of the people crying out and saying, 85 00:07:57.600 --> 00:08:01.199 our bones this is verse eleven, are not verse yes, verse eleven. 86 00:08:01.279 --> 00:08:05.279 Behold they say, our bones are dried up, our hope is lost. 87 00:08:05.360 --> 00:08:09.879 We are indeed cut off. God is giving this picture to us through his 88 00:08:09.959 --> 00:08:16.240 equal of their spiritual state. And it's honestly the spiritual state of all who 89 00:08:16.279 --> 00:08:22.959 are cut off from the Lord, all who are caught in their sin and 90 00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:28.439 put to death by it. Sometimes we can hide these things, um, 91 00:08:28.480 --> 00:08:33.919 we can hide our spiritual state, but it can come out, like we 92 00:08:33.039 --> 00:08:39.960 hear in their words here, voices of desperation and sadness, and anxiety, 93 00:08:39.639 --> 00:08:46.240 in rebellion and anger in various ways. The the death that is sometimes covered 94 00:08:46.279 --> 00:08:52.039 and on the inside comes out. But here, for the sake of clarity, 95 00:08:52.080 --> 00:08:56.559 and for the sake of understanding exactly what the condition is and what God 96 00:08:56.679 --> 00:09:03.440 is going to do, he uses this picture of these bones, many bones 97 00:09:03.919 --> 00:09:09.320 on the surface of the valley, And behold, they were very dry from 98 00:09:09.320 --> 00:09:15.720 this dark and low place. Then and God bring her brings Ezekiel there. 99 00:09:15.759 --> 00:09:20.399 And then he asks this probing question verse three. And he said to me, 100 00:09:20.799 --> 00:09:28.720 son of man, Can these bones live? Can these bones live? 101 00:09:31.000 --> 00:09:35.000 It's interesting the way God asks questions. The question made me think a lot 102 00:09:35.039 --> 00:09:41.440 about Jesus throughout the Gospels, the questions that he asks that are often confusing, 103 00:09:43.080 --> 00:09:46.960 um, difficult to figure out exactly what he's getting at um, often 104 00:09:48.080 --> 00:09:54.000 very probing. Um. Jesus has a way, the Lord has a way 105 00:09:54.080 --> 00:09:58.360 of of turning over cards on a table. You're like in a magic trick, 106 00:09:58.399 --> 00:10:01.399 and that he's like, and it's that one right, and yeah, 107 00:10:01.480 --> 00:10:07.000 that's my card right. It's he has this way of of revealing things to 108 00:10:07.120 --> 00:10:13.879 us, and he asked this question, can these bones live? I want 109 00:10:13.879 --> 00:10:16.279 to pause here, and I am pausing here to meditate on this for a 110 00:10:16.320 --> 00:10:20.679 moment because I think it's a worthy question to apply to a lot of things 111 00:10:20.720 --> 00:10:26.320 in our lives. Um. There are things in our lives that we have 112 00:10:26.519 --> 00:10:33.759 given up on the long dried out left, long back and a long ago, 113 00:10:35.039 --> 00:10:39.159 things that maybe, um, the source of much trouble and sorrow, 114 00:10:39.320 --> 00:10:43.159 and we think, you know, there's no rescue from this, there's no 115 00:10:43.240 --> 00:10:48.960 hope in it. Um. Well, maybe look at ourselves, um, 116 00:10:48.080 --> 00:10:52.960 our need for forgiveness. Perhaps we look at other people and the salvation that 117 00:10:54.039 --> 00:10:58.559 they need. Um. We look at situations and we wonder what can be 118 00:10:58.639 --> 00:11:03.799 done, and then sometimes, if you're like me, you just kind of 119 00:11:03.799 --> 00:11:09.399 stop wondering and there can be some good in that. But sometimes God calls 120 00:11:09.480 --> 00:11:16.519 us to press a little more into places were uncomfortable and to ask hard questions. 121 00:11:16.519 --> 00:11:20.519 I think one of the things that God is getting at here and asking 122 00:11:20.559 --> 00:11:24.320 this question is one of the things he's doing, is he's He's kind of 123 00:11:24.360 --> 00:11:30.440 demanding that Ezekiel and us with Ezekiel think about it. Not just go a 124 00:11:30.480 --> 00:11:35.480 bunch of bones, but think about it. Can these bones live? If 125 00:11:35.519 --> 00:11:46.639 you say yes? Why if you say no? Why it's worth asking those 126 00:11:46.720 --> 00:11:50.720 questions. Ezekiel has a good answer, of course, Oh Lord God, 127 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:56.799 you know, I have a hard time not reading it as a kind of 128 00:11:56.159 --> 00:12:01.399 excuse answer, honestly. Um, But maybe it's not that as well. 129 00:12:01.440 --> 00:12:05.960 I'm not exactly sure what sort of tone of voice to to hear in my 130 00:12:05.080 --> 00:12:11.120 head when ek Ezekiel says it. Is it the voice of I don't know 131 00:12:11.159 --> 00:12:13.679 what to say, I don't know how to answer this question, So I'm 132 00:12:13.840 --> 00:12:18.679 just sort of bounce past this back to you. Um or is it a 133 00:12:18.759 --> 00:12:22.519 question or is it an answer of faith? I'm saying this is Many commentators 134 00:12:22.519 --> 00:12:26.120 take it this way, say Ezekiel says this as a sense of in the 135 00:12:26.200 --> 00:12:33.039 sense of I don't know it's a yes, and to know there isn't a 136 00:12:33.080 --> 00:12:35.720 clear answer to this, but my faith is in you, and I know 137 00:12:35.960 --> 00:12:43.039 that what you say and what you know is true. It's a good response. 138 00:12:43.279 --> 00:12:48.759 It's a good response. It doesn't invalidate the importance of the question. 139 00:12:48.799 --> 00:12:52.840 Though. Remember the question is not just when I'm proposing it's one, God 140 00:12:52.919 --> 00:13:00.120 asks Ezekiel. It's a good question. Even if we can't necessarily answer or 141 00:13:00.200 --> 00:13:05.879 it exactly with all the certainty we might hope for. It's still a good 142 00:13:05.960 --> 00:13:11.200 question because it's forcing him to think about the Lord in the context of the 143 00:13:11.360 --> 00:13:16.039 situation. That's very good. And so I'm inclined to think his answer is 144 00:13:16.039 --> 00:13:24.559 a good one. Oh Lord, God, you know, after this probing 145 00:13:24.639 --> 00:13:30.720 question, we come then to the powerful word. He says to Ezekiel, 146 00:13:30.799 --> 00:13:33.879 prophesy over these bones, Say to them, oh, dry bones, hear 147 00:13:33.960 --> 00:13:43.519 the word of the Lord. There are some really um, there's a lot 148 00:13:43.600 --> 00:13:48.200 of times in scripture where the Lord speaks to things that we don't normally speak 149 00:13:48.240 --> 00:13:54.639 to this morning. In our Sunday school time, we consider the question, 150 00:13:54.840 --> 00:14:00.600 do we have legitimate reason to believe that those who have departed um and are 151 00:14:00.639 --> 00:14:07.480 in heaven can hear us um? The answer is is no. But God's 152 00:14:07.600 --> 00:14:11.440 different when we speak. If I want to talk to any of you this 153 00:14:11.480 --> 00:14:15.039 week, I need to go to you in person. I need to send 154 00:14:15.080 --> 00:14:18.240 you a text, I need the email you call you, write you a 155 00:14:18.320 --> 00:14:22.799 letter. Somehow I have to sort of get that message to you. And 156 00:14:22.840 --> 00:14:26.120 I'm trusting not only that that method of communication is going to get to you, 157 00:14:26.200 --> 00:14:31.480 but also that you are capable of understanding it. God's talking to bones 158 00:14:31.519 --> 00:14:37.759 here. He's talking to bones, Oh, dry bones, he says, 159 00:14:37.799 --> 00:14:43.879 here the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones, 160 00:14:43.879 --> 00:14:46.600 behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. 161 00:14:48.919 --> 00:14:52.120 I don't know what's in the Lord's mind here, and it doesn't really 162 00:14:52.159 --> 00:14:54.320 matter. I don't need to know that. But what we do see is 163 00:14:54.399 --> 00:15:01.600 him speaking to these in adamant dead, very dry head, long, long, 164 00:15:01.679 --> 00:15:09.440 left out bones, and he causes them and he tells them to hear, 165 00:15:09.960 --> 00:15:16.840 to listen. Think about it for a moment, just for fun, 166 00:15:18.759 --> 00:15:26.159 and encouragement. The way the Lord speaks to other things. We don't normally 167 00:15:26.200 --> 00:15:31.200 speak to the wind, and the Lord Jesus calls the wind and tells it 168 00:15:31.279 --> 00:15:37.159 to stop Jonah. I always think about Jonah a great example there, right, 169 00:15:37.279 --> 00:15:43.799 Um, God speaks to the wind, stirs it up. God speaks 170 00:15:43.840 --> 00:15:50.679 to the to the fish, and it swallows Jonah. He causes a little 171 00:15:50.840 --> 00:15:56.440 worm or something like that to eat a plant. Right, It's a It's 172 00:15:56.440 --> 00:16:00.360 a real irony, I think in the Book of Jonah, because everybody hearing 173 00:16:00.360 --> 00:16:04.639 the word of the Lord except for Jonah, like the sailor. The sailors 174 00:16:04.679 --> 00:16:08.440 get it, the sea gets it, the wind gets it, the fish 175 00:16:08.519 --> 00:16:11.720 get it, the insects get it, the plant gets it. Right, 176 00:16:11.960 --> 00:16:15.440 Uh, the King of Tarsias gets it. Or or yeah, the King 177 00:16:15.480 --> 00:16:19.919 of Tarsias get Everybody gets it except the profit of the Lord. Everybody's hearing, 178 00:16:19.960 --> 00:16:26.320 everybody's responding, everybody's acting except the one person you think should be. 179 00:16:26.840 --> 00:16:30.679 It's a little bit of the sort of dark humor in that book. But 180 00:16:30.720 --> 00:16:33.759 it's a reminder. I bring it up just to remind us that the Lord 181 00:16:36.159 --> 00:16:42.720 causes things to happen with his word. He's not like us he's not like 182 00:16:42.919 --> 00:16:48.000 us. Remember, even in the creation of man, right, um, 183 00:16:48.039 --> 00:16:52.559 in the creation of the whole world, it was something that was spoken into 184 00:16:52.080 --> 00:16:57.000 existence, and then the creation of man using the dust of the ground to 185 00:16:57.120 --> 00:17:07.440 create human bodies. That's amazing, He's amazing. So we have this powerful 186 00:17:07.519 --> 00:17:12.920 word, and it's a word, interestingly enough, that is a declaration, 187 00:17:14.279 --> 00:17:22.319 a promise. Right. He proclaims this good news to these bones. He 188 00:17:22.440 --> 00:17:26.960 says, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. 189 00:17:26.039 --> 00:17:30.240 I will lay sinews upon you, and you and will cause flesh to come 190 00:17:30.319 --> 00:17:34.599 upon you and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and 191 00:17:34.680 --> 00:17:41.319 you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord. I 192 00:17:41.480 --> 00:17:49.000 just closed my eyes and try to imagine this scene. That's amazing. Makes 193 00:17:49.000 --> 00:17:53.079 me also want to learn anatomy a little better. Right, all of these 194 00:17:53.200 --> 00:18:02.440 intricate, detailed parts of our bodies all coming together perfectly, bone to bone, 195 00:18:02.480 --> 00:18:07.559 everything in its exact right place. Archaeologists when they find um bones, 196 00:18:07.599 --> 00:18:11.400 if things aren't intact or it's all scattered around, it takes some time to 197 00:18:11.480 --> 00:18:15.400 kind of figure out, you know, what goes where, and this sort 198 00:18:15.440 --> 00:18:19.759 of thing here, it's just happening organically in a way. It's like they 199 00:18:21.039 --> 00:18:25.440 they're just doing what they're supposed to do, except their bones, remember their 200 00:18:25.519 --> 00:18:30.519 bones and flesh and skin, and this this, this thing, this body 201 00:18:30.680 --> 00:18:36.559 is coming to life and not just one. When we get to verse eleven, 202 00:18:36.599 --> 00:18:41.880 we read um it was an exceedingly great army. We go from notice 203 00:18:41.920 --> 00:18:48.920 these terms, these superlative terms, very dry bones to exceedingly great army. 204 00:18:51.400 --> 00:18:56.680 Amazing. This powerful word speaks. God speaks Uh, this word of life. 205 00:18:56.720 --> 00:19:03.920 He prophesies. He speaks this word through his profit, and they come 206 00:19:03.920 --> 00:19:10.599 to life. The picture of it is accompanied by sound. In verse seven, 207 00:19:10.640 --> 00:19:14.079 So I prophesied as I was commanded, and as I prophesied, there 208 00:19:14.160 --> 00:19:18.880 was a sound, and behold a rattling, and the bones came together, 209 00:19:19.400 --> 00:19:30.519 bone to its bone. This is a right life out of death. God 210 00:19:30.720 --> 00:19:37.000 speaks this word to something that is not yet alive, and he and it 211 00:19:37.079 --> 00:19:44.240 comes alive, not because of some internal power of the bone. Right bones 212 00:19:44.359 --> 00:19:49.920 can't do anything, but because of the external power of God. He speaks 213 00:19:49.960 --> 00:19:56.039 to them this word, and they come to life in stages. First Um, 214 00:19:56.480 --> 00:19:57.720 bone to bone, the sin, you, the skin, all of 215 00:19:57.759 --> 00:20:03.240 this, and then Um a second prophecy, a second stage comes and spirit 216 00:20:03.440 --> 00:20:08.480 is given to them life. The breath of God is very similar to the 217 00:20:08.480 --> 00:20:15.480 creation of Adam. And when God breathed life in he first right made him 218 00:20:15.519 --> 00:20:21.039 out of the dust of the ground, and then he breathed life into him. 219 00:20:21.079 --> 00:20:26.000 A lot of what God does in our lives is a process. He 220 00:20:26.079 --> 00:20:27.720 doesn't have to do it that way. He could do it any kind of 221 00:20:27.759 --> 00:20:32.480 way he wanted to do it. But a lot of times, coming to 222 00:20:32.599 --> 00:20:37.079 life, um is a process. They think of of the man whom Jesus 223 00:20:37.119 --> 00:20:41.960 healed at his sight and can kind of see it first, and he says, 224 00:20:41.480 --> 00:20:45.880 they look like trees walking around, right, And then after a while, 225 00:20:45.960 --> 00:20:49.480 okay, those are people, right. Or you think of um the 226 00:20:49.559 --> 00:20:56.319 disciples and all the time that they spent with Jesus um progressively learning and learning, 227 00:20:56.400 --> 00:21:02.400 until they finally started, especially at Pentecost, to begin to awake as 228 00:21:02.480 --> 00:21:10.200 the spirit the breath of the Lord came in upon his people the house of 229 00:21:10.240 --> 00:21:15.039 Israel awaking. We think about Second Timothy three sixteen. The Word of God 230 00:21:15.880 --> 00:21:23.519 expired, breathed out profitable for abew correction, training, and marighteousness, that 231 00:21:23.799 --> 00:21:33.519 we might become men of God alive, not very dry, but alive and 232 00:21:33.599 --> 00:21:40.880 ready to serve. In the first instance, all of this points on to 233 00:21:41.039 --> 00:21:45.920 the house of Israel. We are told this verse eleven. We are given 234 00:21:45.960 --> 00:21:51.200 the meaning of this of the scene he says to me, son of Man, 235 00:21:51.319 --> 00:21:55.880 these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, our bones 236 00:21:55.880 --> 00:21:59.480 are dried up, and our hope is lost. We are indeed cut off. 237 00:22:00.359 --> 00:22:03.559 Therefore prophesy and say to them, thus says the Lord God. Behold, 238 00:22:03.559 --> 00:22:06.759 I will open your graves and raise you from your graves on my people, 239 00:22:07.359 --> 00:22:11.519 and I will bring you into the land of Israel. Now God did 240 00:22:11.559 --> 00:22:18.000 provide a kind of restoration and bringing them into the land, but not exactly 241 00:22:18.039 --> 00:22:22.480 in the way that he speaks of. Here Um. There were he does 242 00:22:22.880 --> 00:22:29.519 with these, these these bones here Um. But we don't read of another 243 00:22:29.640 --> 00:22:33.119 instance in which all the graves right throughout Babylon and other places are opened up, 244 00:22:33.160 --> 00:22:37.039 and you know, the dead people rise and then come into Israel. 245 00:22:37.559 --> 00:22:41.319 Um. But that doesn't mean that God hasn't kept his promise. He kept 246 00:22:41.359 --> 00:22:45.359 at first by restoring them and bringing them back to the land in a kind 247 00:22:45.359 --> 00:22:51.839 of shadowy way. But he will fulfill this in a final way at the 248 00:22:51.920 --> 00:22:56.799 resurrection of the dead that is promised to us in Jesus. And this is 249 00:22:56.839 --> 00:23:02.440 really good news for all of us, because the promise here is not just 250 00:23:02.759 --> 00:23:08.839 to the house of Israel, it is to the world through Israel. Israel 251 00:23:08.880 --> 00:23:14.640 throughout the Old Testament is perceived as this light, this family, through all 252 00:23:14.680 --> 00:23:19.839 the nations in the world would be blessed. And when the Lord Jesus Christ 253 00:23:19.960 --> 00:23:26.440 comes and he lives and he dies, one of the objects, or one 254 00:23:26.480 --> 00:23:32.559 of the things that he is doing is he brings together both Jews and Gentiles 255 00:23:32.559 --> 00:23:37.960 into one house, one house, one people. Now this is important because 256 00:23:37.960 --> 00:23:45.400 what I'm telling you is that this promise here in his equal applies to us, 257 00:23:45.440 --> 00:23:52.119 this promise of a great resurrection and being brought into Um, into the 258 00:23:52.200 --> 00:23:56.119 land of Israel, not the physical land, but the great Kingdom of God, 259 00:23:56.880 --> 00:24:00.000 even the new heavens and the new Earth, which this land points towards 260 00:24:00.680 --> 00:24:07.519 the glorified bodies in a glorified kingdom. That's a promise not just for them, 261 00:24:07.519 --> 00:24:11.759 but for us as well. Through Christ. Listen to Ephesians chapter two, 262 00:24:11.839 --> 00:24:17.200 verse eleven. Therefore, remember that at one time you gentiles in the 263 00:24:17.200 --> 00:24:22.839 flesh called the uncircumcision, by what is called the circumcision which is made in 264 00:24:22.880 --> 00:24:29.799 the flesh by hands. Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, 265 00:24:30.400 --> 00:24:34.880 alienated from the commonwealth of Israel. There was a time in other words, 266 00:24:34.880 --> 00:24:38.839 when gentiles, yeah, don't read this Isekiel thirty seven stuff and think 267 00:24:38.880 --> 00:24:45.119 it applies to you. It doesn't. Right, However, that alienation came 268 00:24:45.160 --> 00:24:48.640 to an end. Paul says, there was a time when you were alienated 269 00:24:48.640 --> 00:24:52.920 from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the Covenant of Promise, having no 270 00:24:53.039 --> 00:25:00.200 hope and without God in the world. But now this is verse thirty ten. 271 00:25:00.640 --> 00:25:06.119 In Christ Jesus, you who were once far off, have been brought 272 00:25:06.319 --> 00:25:11.519 near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who 273 00:25:11.559 --> 00:25:17.119 has made us both one, and has broken down in his flesh the dividing 274 00:25:17.119 --> 00:25:22.920 wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he 275 00:25:22.000 --> 00:25:29.839 might create in himself one new man in place of two, so making peace 276 00:25:30.599 --> 00:25:34.000 and might reconcile us both to God and one body through the costs, thereby 277 00:25:34.119 --> 00:25:41.039 killing the host the hostility. So you see what Paul is saying is that 278 00:25:41.119 --> 00:25:48.680 Jesus comes, breaks down this dividing wall and merges two formerly separate people into 279 00:25:48.720 --> 00:25:53.359 one Jews and Gentiles, which then when we go back and read these promises 280 00:25:53.359 --> 00:25:57.640 to the House of Israel, we are those that belong to the House of 281 00:25:57.720 --> 00:26:03.400 Israel. These are promises for us, and they are promises for us. 282 00:26:03.000 --> 00:26:10.519 In Christ, John says, for as the Father raises the dead and gives 283 00:26:10.559 --> 00:26:15.519 them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. The 284 00:26:15.599 --> 00:26:21.519 Son Jesus Christ gives life to whom he will. You This isn't John, 285 00:26:22.839 --> 00:26:26.200 Do you remember what happens right before that? It's a scene sort of similar 286 00:26:26.240 --> 00:26:32.559 to Ezekiel his passage and reading in Ezekiel, it's it's a scene where there's 287 00:26:32.599 --> 00:26:37.119 this multitude of invalids laying underneath this I think it's called the Portico of Solomon, 288 00:26:38.039 --> 00:26:44.119 all these all of these people, and there was this pool that would 289 00:26:44.319 --> 00:26:51.200 people would try to get to to get healing for their various infirmities. And 290 00:26:51.279 --> 00:26:55.839 there's this one man there who says, um, remembering off the top of 291 00:26:55.880 --> 00:26:57.680 my head, I think it's thirty eight years, it's a long time. 292 00:26:57.720 --> 00:27:03.000 Anyway, he's been there a long time. And he says and and I 293 00:27:03.079 --> 00:27:06.799 think Jesus says, do you want to be healed. He says, I 294 00:27:06.920 --> 00:27:10.519 can't. I can't get to the pool. And every time I try to 295 00:27:10.599 --> 00:27:15.519 go, people step before me. And Jesus tells him to pick up his 296 00:27:15.640 --> 00:27:21.960 bed and walk. This man who had been unable to heal himself, unable 297 00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:26.359 to get to the source of healing, unable even It's a pitiful scene, 298 00:27:26.440 --> 00:27:30.279 sort of like the value of these bones, right, all these people just 299 00:27:30.559 --> 00:27:37.200 suffering and and and striving and and and finding no relief. Jesus comes and 300 00:27:37.240 --> 00:27:40.200 says to him, pick up your bed and walk, and he walks out, 301 00:27:40.440 --> 00:27:42.480 and then they want to kill Jesus. And then that's why he says 302 00:27:42.480 --> 00:27:48.119 what he says here. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them 303 00:27:48.200 --> 00:27:55.079 life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will first. Thessalonians 304 00:27:55.119 --> 00:27:57.599 five nine, a section that talks about the resurrection of the dead and the 305 00:27:59.160 --> 00:28:03.519 um the appearing of our Lord and Savior, says that we are no longer 306 00:28:03.799 --> 00:28:11.039 destined for wrath. You are not destined for wrath, but to obtain salvation. 307 00:28:12.079 --> 00:28:21.720 He died so that we might live, and indeed we do. We 308 00:28:21.799 --> 00:28:27.039 begin that life here and now in no longer being destined for wrath. No 309 00:28:27.119 --> 00:28:32.839 longer being destined for death, but being counted among the living, being counted 310 00:28:32.880 --> 00:28:37.960 among those who are in Jesus, who belong to him into his body, 311 00:28:38.759 --> 00:28:45.160 who died and rose again from the dead. Jesus, by after all, 312 00:28:45.279 --> 00:28:52.319 by the power of God, rose again from a rose, Yes, rose 313 00:28:52.519 --> 00:28:56.799 from from the dead, and promises that all of us who put our faith 314 00:28:56.839 --> 00:29:00.839 in Him and in that powerful word, the word of God, the Son 315 00:29:00.880 --> 00:29:07.559 of God, we two will rise. Now this is um truly amazing, 316 00:29:07.680 --> 00:29:11.680 right, this, this passage and his equal. We imagine that. I 317 00:29:11.720 --> 00:29:15.200 mean, if you take a ziploc bag full of bones and just kind of 318 00:29:15.200 --> 00:29:18.960 shake it, right, you can imagine how that's what that sound might be. 319 00:29:21.599 --> 00:29:26.799 Now, imagine a whole valley of bones. I can't make the sound 320 00:29:26.920 --> 00:29:32.960 right trying to imagine it right, This whole valley of bones rattling, coming 321 00:29:33.000 --> 00:29:37.559 together, coming together, standing up the breath of God coming from the four 322 00:29:37.640 --> 00:29:41.200 winds of the of the earth, from all of these directions, when it 323 00:29:41.279 --> 00:29:45.559 comes in and it fills them up, and there's this massive army. Amazing, 324 00:29:45.680 --> 00:29:51.200 right, amazing, and a picture of the life of that is to 325 00:29:51.279 --> 00:29:56.480 come. But the New Testament talks about this as well, and it's even 326 00:29:56.599 --> 00:30:00.720 more amazing. Right, if that isn't enough, off, the passages that 327 00:30:00.759 --> 00:30:04.240 we have in in the New Testament that speak to this are are stunning. 328 00:30:06.039 --> 00:30:11.240 I'm going to read just two to you. First Corinthians fifteen. First of 329 00:30:11.240 --> 00:30:14.839 all, verse forty two, Paul says, so it is with the resurrection 330 00:30:14.880 --> 00:30:18.319 of the dead. What is sown is perishable. What is raised is imperishable. 331 00:30:18.799 --> 00:30:22.359 It is sown in dishonor it is raised in glory. It is sown 332 00:30:22.480 --> 00:30:26.640 in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, 333 00:30:26.720 --> 00:30:33.640 it is raised a spiritual body. And this resurrection that we will receive 334 00:30:34.640 --> 00:30:41.920 is to immortality. I'm inclined to think that Um, what Ezekiel saw or 335 00:30:42.000 --> 00:30:48.039 what Execule experienced here was a vision like other visions that he's had, Um, 336 00:30:48.519 --> 00:30:52.720 which means that we don't need to ask the question what happened to the 337 00:30:52.799 --> 00:30:56.480 army, right like did they keep living or did they die or something like 338 00:30:56.559 --> 00:31:00.640 that. Um, just the vision was over and the sign had been given. 339 00:31:02.599 --> 00:31:06.960 But here we know what happens to this army. We know what happens 340 00:31:07.000 --> 00:31:11.240 when we and all who have put their faith in Christ will raise from the 341 00:31:11.279 --> 00:31:18.079 dead. We raise imperishable, never to die again. And if the valley, 342 00:31:18.599 --> 00:31:23.079 if the valley of dried bones, and this great army is impressive, 343 00:31:23.359 --> 00:31:33.839 consider this passage from Revelation chapter seven. Another vision here given to John Revelation 344 00:31:33.920 --> 00:31:38.720 seven, verse nine. I'm going to end with this we read. After 345 00:31:38.759 --> 00:31:45.640 this, I looked and behold a great multitude that no one could number, 346 00:31:47.519 --> 00:31:52.480 from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the 347 00:31:52.519 --> 00:31:57.480 throne and before the lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in 348 00:31:57.519 --> 00:32:02.279 their hands, and crying out with a loud voice. Right dead people, 349 00:32:04.359 --> 00:32:08.599 but not dead anymore, crying out with a loud voice, Salvation belongs to 350 00:32:08.640 --> 00:32:14.079 our God who sits on the throne, into the lamb. And all the 351 00:32:14.160 --> 00:32:17.599 angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. 352 00:32:17.759 --> 00:32:22.519 And they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying 353 00:32:22.960 --> 00:32:28.599 Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might 354 00:32:28.720 --> 00:32:37.200 be to our God forever and ever. Amen. This picture of heaven, 355 00:32:37.240 --> 00:32:42.880 this picture of not just a valley of dry bones, but this great innumerable, 356 00:32:42.960 --> 00:32:50.279 this multitude of people, as many as the sands, the pieces of 357 00:32:50.359 --> 00:32:54.039 sand on the beach, and the stars in the heaven. These promises made 358 00:32:54.079 --> 00:33:10.279 once to Father Abraham for filled in Christ. When we experience and see and 359 00:33:10.359 --> 00:33:16.319 feel that suffering the Israel felt, we feel a lack of hope, when 360 00:33:16.319 --> 00:33:20.880 we feel that things are at their end, that there's nothing left to give, 361 00:33:21.000 --> 00:33:27.119 that there's no more there, just a dry bone. Whether we're seeing 362 00:33:27.160 --> 00:33:30.519 that in our world, whether we're seeing that in our own hearts, we 363 00:33:30.599 --> 00:33:37.400 know that we can look to God in Christ and have resurrection from the dead. 364 00:33:38.160 --> 00:33:44.119 That's his promise to us, and it's a promise that he um. 365 00:33:44.160 --> 00:33:49.640 It's a promise that he has already begun to fulfill with his own resurrection and 366 00:33:49.680 --> 00:33:54.039 the newness of life that we have in him. So let's learn to call 367 00:33:54.079 --> 00:34:00.440 out to him, to depend on him and look on him for every miracle 368 00:34:00.799 --> 00:34:07.920 that we need. Let's pray, our Lord God, if it were not 369 00:34:07.000 --> 00:34:13.559 for your salvation, Um, we would still be dead and dying. If 370 00:34:13.559 --> 00:34:17.719 it were not for your salvation, we would not be grafted onto this great 371 00:34:19.760 --> 00:34:24.360 vine of life. We would not be a part of the tree of your 372 00:34:24.400 --> 00:34:32.800 people, this great family tree. We would be still alienated separated, destined 373 00:34:32.800 --> 00:34:38.679 for wrath. But as it stands because He, our Lord and Savior, 374 00:34:38.800 --> 00:34:46.559 stands because he has risen from the dead, and we are in him. 375 00:34:46.639 --> 00:34:52.880 We are as bones that have come to life. We are those who are 376 00:34:52.960 --> 00:34:58.679 once chained and have been set free. We are those who are once in 377 00:34:58.800 --> 00:35:05.679 darkness, but have now seen and come to love the light. No longer 378 00:35:05.840 --> 00:35:12.719 wasting our ways, simply letting the things of death overtake us and enslave us. 379 00:35:13.119 --> 00:35:16.119 Oh Lord, but now we put to death that flesh that isn't in 380 00:35:16.280 --> 00:35:20.880 us. We put it to death through the cross of Christ. And we 381 00:35:20.960 --> 00:35:25.280 live. We live by the spirit of God, who has breathed out on 382 00:35:25.400 --> 00:35:30.159 us, and who has baptized us, who has caused us to be reborn 383 00:35:30.199 --> 00:35:37.760 unto newness of life, that we might serve and live and praise and sing 384 00:35:39.239 --> 00:35:45.440 of Your most holy name. Lord, we asked that we would um, 385 00:35:45.559 --> 00:35:51.440 we would be these kinds of servants, alive servants, joyful servants, praising 386 00:35:51.519 --> 00:35:58.440 servants in every way. And we asked that in all this you would receive 387 00:35:58.519 --> 00:36:05.199 all the glory and praise in Jesus name, our Savior. Amen.