Dry Bones Can Live (Ezekiel 36-37) | Scott Brooks | 5/17/2020
PASTOR SCOTT: Hey, Freshwater.
Good morning to you all, or good evening,
whenever you’re watching this. I’m going to
jump right into it. I’ve got — I’ve got some
bones here on my table, like really old bones.
They’re, like, really old. No meat on them, no
nothing. They’ve been out in the forest.
These aren’t human bones, just to
make clear. It’s from a deer. Isn’t that
cool? This is a vertebrae. It kind of looks
like the Imperial Transport, Sean was telling
me. It looks like the Imperial Transport.
Sorry.
Anyway, when you look at bones,
there’s a couple assumptions that you make.
Bones, we come across, like, a pile of bones,
what would we think? We automatically think,
“Those things are so dead,” right?
They’re never going to come back to
life. They’re just dead. They’re probably
going to decompose over time and become part of
the soil, right, part of the dirt. We would
never think, “Oh, wow, that thing has got a
chance of life.”
It’d be like this: Imagine you’re
at an accident, a car accident, and there’s two
bodies on the street. Actually, there’s a
skeleton and somebody else who has been
injured. The EMT comes up, and the person
injured stops breathing, right in that moment.
Who is the EMT going to rush to? Is he going
to rush to the skeleton that is really dead, or
is he going to rush to the person that just
stopped breathing?
Imagine if he goes to the skeleton
to do CPR. Everybody would be looking, like,
“What are you doing? It is a dead skeleton.
It is never going to live. You’re a little too
late to the scene for that one.”
He is going to rush to the one who
has a chance to live. The reason I’m talking
about bones and dead bones, like, really dry,
dead bones, is because that’s the chapter we’re
in here, in Ezekiel 37. If you have your
Bible, flip to it, turn it on, whatever.
You’re going to need to be in
chapter 36 and 37 as we read through this story
here of God and Ezekiel and this valley. So
let me read it to you.
Says this in chapter 37:1, Ezekiel
said, “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. And
it was full of bones. He led me around among
them, and behold, there were very many on the
surface of the valley, and behold, they were
very dry. He said to me, ‘Son of man, can
these bones live?’ And I answered, ‘O God, you
know.'”
So we have this opening scene of
Ezekiel 37, in a valley, filled with dry bones.
If you’re just jumping in here, and you haven’t
been a part of Freshwater, back pre-Covid-19,
we were going through Ezekiel. We’re just
about ready to finish it here. We have this
Sunday and a couple more, and we’ll be done
with Ezekiel. Let me catch you up to speed on
why Ezekiel is in this valley with the Spirit,
God the Spirit, looking at all these bones.
What has happened is, from
chapter 1 all the way up through chapter 35,
God has been bringing judgment against Israel.
It’s a whole host of things that Israel has
done, but, essentially, Israel has rejected
God. It’s the southern kingdom at this point,
and that’s a whole other story. There were two
kingdoms, and now there’s a southern kingdom.
It’s the only one left.
God has judged them, conquered by
Babylon, and they’re in exile because they
rebelled against God. They started to worship
idols. They brought the idols into their
homes. They brought them, actually, into the
temple. If you flip over to chapter 36, he
says, “There’s blood in the land.”
They’ve murdered people. They’ve
killed babies. They killed children to worship
idols. It’s — they’ve taken advantage, like,
the leadership, those in power have oppressed
the poor. It’s awful, what’s happened in
Israel.
God made a deal with Israel. Deal,
covenant, better word, right? There is a
covenant he made with them. In Deuteronomy 4,
he says, “Look, if this stuff happens, I’m
taking you out of the land. This is the
promised land. You’re destroying it, and I’m
taking you out.”
They raised their right hand and
said, “We’re in for the deal. Not only are we
and our families, but every family and
generation that’s passed down from us is part
of this covenant,” so they signed up for this.
God comes along and says, “Guys,
I’m kicking you out of the land. You’ve gone
so far, you’ve rejected me.”
We catch up, actually, in verse, I
think, around verse 20 — or verse 18 of
chapter 36. God says this, he says, “So I
poured out my wrath upon them for the blood
that they’d shed in the land, for the idols
which they defiled it, and I scattered them
among the nations.”
There’s another reason they’re
standing in the valley though. When they got
thrown out of the land, they went to the other
nations and listened to what happened. It’s
like the double — there’s a double whammy here
on God’s reputation.
Because he says, This is what
happens — or what happened, “I scattered them
among the nations. They were dispersed through
the countries. In accordance with their ways
and their deeds, I judged them. When they came
to the nations, wherever they came, they
profaned my holy name, in that the people of
those nations said of them, ‘These are the
people of the Lord — or these are the people
of Lord,'” right?
“And, yet, they had to go out of
his land. I had concern for my holy name,
which the house of Israel had profaned among
nations to which they’d came.”
It is not only they rejected God,
rebelled against God in all ways possible, but
when they left the land, everybody is mocking
them and ended up mocking God. You ever heard
somebody say, “There’s no way I’m going to
follow Jesus because of the way that Christian
acts”?
Have you ever heard somebody say
that? What they’re doing, they’re not only
insulting the Christian, they’re really
insulting God. They’re saying, “This is that
kind of God? Why would I follow that kind of
God?”
It’s the same thing. God had had
enough. There’s these 35 chapters that spanned
over years of judgment. 15 years for them, the
nations destroyed. But if you wrap in the
northern kingdom, which happened in 750 BC,
you’re talking about a lot of years of judgment
and people being exiled and people being
enslaved.
So imagine this: They’re standing
in this valley of dry bones. He says, “There
is a lot of dry bones everywhere.”
And in the valley, when he says,
“Can I do this,” and Ezekiel’s answer is,
“Well, only you know,” it’s this answer of a
helplessness.
The field represents — the dry
bones represent utter hopelessness, utter
despair. No possibility of return. It is like
saying, “Oh, yeah, this deer is going to come
back to life.”
Like, who would say that? You walk
over. I mean, we see deer along the road all
the time getting hit, but none of us ever go,
“Yeah, that deer can come back to life.”
Why? It’s beyond hope. That’s
where Israel was, completely hopeless, lost
cause. I wonder if some of you right now
imagine this. You’re in this valley, and I
wonder if this is possibly the story of your
life, or maybe something you’re facing right
now. It’s like you’re standing in a valley of
dry bones, and God, the Spirit, is walking with
you. Everywhere you step, you’re trying not to
step on bones that just reminds you, this is
impossible. There’s no way out. There’s no
way that I could be rescued from this.
This vision that God gives Ezekiel
is the beginning. It’s actually a description
of what God has already started to give to
Ezekiel in chapter 36, hope. Chapter 36:1-15,
he starts to talk about the land, and he says
to the land, the promised land, he says, “I’m
going to restore you. I’m going to heal you.
My people won’t be cursed when they walk on you
anymore. I’m going to restore you,” he says,
“even better than before.”
In fact, if you go through
chapter 36 and you get to the end, he says
this, he says this in verse 35, he says, “It’s
going to be like Eden,” which is a staggering
promise. Pulling it all the way back before
the curse, like, it is full restoration of the
land. That’s important. Part of the covenant
had to do with the land, and God says, “I’m
going to restore the land.”
It’s not only the land, it’s the
people. He says this in chapter 36:24, he says
this, he says, “I will take you from the
nations and gather you from all the countries
and bring you into your own land. I will
sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be
clean from all your uncleanness, and from all
your idols I will cleanse you.
“I will give you a new heart, and a
new spirit I will put within you. And a new
spirit I will put within you. I will remove
the heart of stone from your flesh and give you
a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit within
you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and
be careful to obey my rules.”
It’s this promise of spiritual
restoration to the people. It’s amazing, “I’m
going to restore you, and I’m going to give you
the ability to obey me. You don’t have it, so
I’m going to live within you.”
It is an unbelievable promise. He
goes on with this promise to the people. At
the end of chapter 36, he says this, in verse
37, he says, “I will also let the house of
Israel ask for me — or ask me to do for them,”
and he goes on to list these requests.
What it is, God has stopped
listening to Israel. He stopped listening to
them. He said that, “I’m done. I’m done
listening to you. You guys have rebelled
against me. You’ve made it clear you don’t
want me. I’m done.”
What he says right here is, “I want
relationship with you. I’m going to hear your
heart’s desire. I’m going to restore that
connection where you and I talk to each other
again.”
It is an unbelievable promise,
unbelievable restoration. So you have the
land, and you have the people. Over in 37, you
then have the nation. You have national
promises, the covenant. In verse 22, he says,
“I’m going to make them one nation in the land,
on the mountains of Israel. One king shall be
king over them all, and they shall no longer be
two nations, no longer divided into two
kingdoms.”
He is going to reunify the kingdom.
No longer this civil war. All Israel will be
one, one nation.
Then he brings in another part of
the covenant, the covenant he made with David
with the everlasting line of kings that would
come through his name, his family line. He
says this, “My servant David shall be king over
them, and they shall have one Shepherd.”
That is a big deal to Israel.
There’s two thrones, two kings, all vying for
power, with the northern kingdom and the
southern kingdom. Everybody is wanting power.
He says, “What is going to happen, the line of
David is restored to the throne.”
That’s Jesus, the Messiah, Son of
David, from the tribe of Judah, and he is the
one that’s put on the throne. It is an amazing
restoration of all the covenants that God had
made with Israel. It’s staggering.
Not only that, as we look at these
things, we could look and say, “Well, that’s
great for Israel, but what does that mean for
us?”
The part that’s really — I would
say, for us, when you go back and you look in
chapter 36:24-27, that’s the new covenant,
where Jesus comes, and he puts within us —
changes our heart of stone to a heart of flesh,
and the Spirit comes to live within us.
I mean, that is totally the new
covenant. I mean, Jesus — in Hebrews, it
talks about Jesus, how he will sprinkle us
clean with his blood. He washes us clean.
That’s Christ. That’s the new covenant.
John 16, Jesus says, “Hey, when I go, I am
going to send the Spirit, who is going to live
within you.”
That had not been fulfilled up
until Jesus. All these prophesies, Jesus is
the fulfillment of those prophecies. It is
incredible. It is for the church. There’s
parts of this — and I could be tipping my
hand, how I look at these things — but there’s
parts of this that’s for Israel, he makes
expressly for Israel, and, yet, within that,
God is saying, “This is the new covenant, as
well. This is for anyone who would call on my
name.”
It is an unbelievable moment. The
possibility of life. Jesus actually says, “I
am the resurrection. I am the life. This is
for anyone who would call on the name of the
Lord.”
It’s both. So he, with all these
in mind, he brings Ezekiel to this valley.
It’s a vision. It’s the Spirit of God in him.
A valley filled with bones. It’s a vision of
Israel. It’s the dead people of Israel. All
those who have died spirituality, physically.
It’s just the vision of all the death. He asks
Ezekiel, “Do you think these dry bones can
live?”
Ezekiel is like, “Well, only you
know.”
It’s not unbelief. It’s not doubt.
It’s just, what do you say, when all you see is
death? So he said to Ezekiel to verse 4,
“Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, ‘O
dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.’ Thus
says the Lord God to these bones, ‘Behold, I
will cause breath to enter you, and you shall
live. I will lay sinews upon you, and you 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.’
“So I prophesied as I was
commanded,” Ezekiel said, “and as I prophesied,
there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and
the bones came together, bone to its bone. 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.
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 you may live.’
“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.”
He gives the interpretation of
what’s going on in verse 11. Spirit says, “Son
of man, these bones are the whole house of
Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried
up, our hope is lost, and we are indeed cut
off. Therefore, prophesy to them and say to
them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will
open your graves and raise you from your
graves, O my people. I will bring you into the
land of Israel. And you shall know that I am
the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise
you from your graves, O my people.”
The prophecy, this vision, happens
in two stages. One is prophesy to the bones
life, or to come together, right? Can you
imagine in that moment? They’re standing in
the middle of all of these things, and imagine
and hear the sound. It is not just seeing it.
It is hearing.
Hearing the rattle of bones, right?
Like, what is that? He is hearing it across a
whole valley. Are bones whizzing around in the
air? Are they going across the ground? Like,
what does that look like?
Bones are moving and rattling,
sinew, muscle, tendons, organs, all these
bodies are put back together. They’re not
breathing, but they’re all put back together,
whole. Then he says, “Prophesy breath, breathe
on them.”
In that moment, they all breathe
and stand up. It’s this stunning vision of
what God wants to do. It’s resurrection.
Now, I want you to imagine if you were in
exile. You were hearing this message for the
first time. Because God makes it real clear,
he knows the state they’re in when they say
this, “Our bones are dried up. Our hope is
lost. We’re cut off. We’re cut off from God,
cut off from help. We have no hope.”
Can you imagine the first time
Ezekiel describes this vision? People in
exile, people who lost so many loved ones,
people who think it’s all over and there’s no
hope. I’ve got to think so many of them were
like, “Please, don’t tell us this if this isn’t
true. Please don’t jerk us around with this
kind of news. My heart can’t handle that. I
can’t handle being disappointed anymore. I
can’t handle another moment of disappointment,
loss, death. This — don’t joke around with
this.”
I wonder if some of you who are
listening right now, you’re in that same point.
Like, you can’t afford to hope again. Whatever
you’re facing, and maybe it’s life in total or
maybe there’s a circumstance here, and you’re
just looking at this going, “I don’t dare hope
because it’s just been — it’s been a life of
loss and death and defeat and suffering.
Please, do not tell me that.”
Maybe some of you, it is so bad,
like, you contemplate death. You contemplate
taking your life because you can’t take anymore
of this life where there is no hope and there’s
no way out.
Here’s this vision, where God comes
along, and he says, “I have got resurrection
power. I am the God who can pull bones
together and breathe life. I am the God with
all power and resurrection. I can make bones
rattle. I can make people breathe again. I
can bring life into anything, anything that’s
dead and beyond hope. I am the God who
restores hope. I can do this.”
What’s interesting is, as we look
at the new covenant, he says, “Call on the name
of the Lord.”
It’s this moment, the Spirit of
God, Ezekiel, but I think it could be you and
God, in this moment. God is standing by you,
and I wonder if he is even asking you the
question, “Do you think I can do this? Do you
want me to do this?”
Imagine yourself, you and God, in
this valley. He’s asking you the question, and
what’s your answer? What’s your answer? And
before you give that answer, before we talk
about it, I just want to show you one more
thing. Because it flips everything on its
head. It really does.
Because in this moment where God
starts to say, “Hey, hope is now coming. I’m
coming. I’m coming to rattle some bones. I’m
coming to open some graves.”
But he says, “I want you to
understand what’s driving all of this.”
He says this over in verse 22, he
says this, chapter 36, “Therefore say to the
house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is
not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am
about to act, but for the sake of my holy name,
which you have profaned among the nations to
which you came. And I will vindicate the
holiness of my great name, which has been
profaned among them. And the nations will know
I am the Lord. I will vindicate my holiness.”
It is an “I statement” after
another, I will, I will, I will. Verse 27, “I
will put my Spirit within you. I will do this.
I will do that. I will, I will, I will.”
Then he says it again, “It is not
for your sake that I’m going to act, declares
the Lord. Let that be known to you.”
He goes on and keeps saying this,
“So the nations who are left will know I am the
Lord.”
Says it again, “You will know I am
the Lord.”
“I have spoken,” says the Lord.
Chapter 37, it is more of these
things. Verse 13, “You shall know I am the
Lord.”
One verse later, “You’ll know I am
the Lord.”
And he ends verse 28 and says, “The
nations will know I am the Lord.”
See, what God is doing is, in this
moment, he is coming in and he says this, “I
want everyone to know, I am the Lord. I have
resurrection power. I have the power to
redeem. I have the power to forgive. I have
the power to take what is dead, what could
never come back to life, and I can rattle some
bones. I can open some graves. I’m going to
do it because I am the Lord, and I want
everybody to know it.”
He wants you to know that he is the
Lord. Like, it’s the best thing that could
ever happen to you and to me, is to know he is
the Lord, and he is the Lord of the grave. He
is the Lord of life. He is the resurrection.
He is the one who can put the Spirit in us, and
we have connection with Him.
So Christ and you in this field,
what are you going to say? Maybe today is the
day, for some of you who have never thought of
this, that God wants to come in and do this
thing. It’s not just you, it’s about him and
you getting to know him. And he’s probably —
not probably — he is right next to you, just
like this vision with Ezekiel. He is not far
away. He’s saying, “What do you think? Live
again?”
Maybe your answer is, “I don’t
know;” it’s okay. What if today, you said,
“Let’s do it. Let’s do it, Lord”?
What if today is the moment where
maybe you, for the first time, tell the Lord,
“I need you. I have no hope. I’ve just —
this is my life. I’m standing in a valley of
dead bones, all kinds of death. I need you to
rattle these bones and bring life. I need you
to open the graves. I need you to come and
save me. I want you in me. I want you to
clean me.”
If you’re living with guilt and
you’re living with shame, there is this moment
in Ezekiel — not in Ezekiel — actually, it’s
after, it’s about 50 years — 40 or 50 years
after Ezekiel, where a lot of the Israelites
are brought back to the land. There is a
moment they hear the law. They haven’t heard
the law read.
It is in Nehemiah, they gather, and
they hear the Word of God. They hear what God
says about how to live, and they just start
weeping. They just start weeping. They’re
overwhelmed because they know what they’ve
done. They know they’ve totally messed it all
up. They knew, they knew, they totally walked
away from God as a nation. They start weeping.
I love what God does there, he
says, “No, nope, no. We’re not doing that.
This is not a time to weep anymore. That was
then. It is a time for joy because I am
restoring.”
And if you’re sitting there, and
you know what you’ve done, you’re like, there
is no way God can do this because of who I am
and what I — I’m telling you right now, God is
the one who raises people from the grave. He
gives them a new heart.
It is simply saying, “Lord, I
believe that you are the Lord. Come and save
me. I receive your forgiveness. I know I need
it. Come and make me live again. Or, Jesus,
come and bring this power to raise people from
the dead, to raise hopes again. Lord, would
you come, and would you begin to speak into the
things that are dead in my life,
relationships.”
God can do it. He’s still the same
God as back then as he is now, and he can do
this.
Let me pray. Holy Spirit, would
you speak right now. Would you give each
person that sense that you are there? Your
Word says it. It is true, so, therefore, you
are there. Would you be so close to each
person who is listening. Would you have mercy,
and would you invite each person into this
moment of seeing you as Lord. Would you show
them or even mention to them the things that
you want to now bring life, things back from
the dead to life, things that you want to
restore.
Would you begin to pour hope into
people who lost it a long time ago and are
scared to hope again. Just give them hope.
Jesus, I don’t know how this goes. Like, I’m
doing this in a room, and it is a different
time and, yet, I know what you can do. You
span time and you span places, like, you’re not
limited by that.
Jesus, when they hear this right
now, would you fill them with hope. Would you
show them that this could be a new season of
joy and a time, Lord, to start hearing some
bones rattle and seeing some graves open.
Amen.
God bless you guys.