Celebrating our 169th Year
Chartered February 25, 1838
A 21st Century Parish with a 1st Century Faith
Acts 2:42
Mid-Week Lenten 5
March 5, 2008
Ezekiel 37:1-14
The valley of dry bones - God brings life out of death
The life out of death
LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “O Sovereign LORD, you alone know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD? This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’ ” So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone.
I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin 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 it, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’ ” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army. Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.’ ”
Prayer of the Day
“Almighty God, our redeemer, in our weakness we have failed to be your messengers of forgiveness and hope in the world. Renew us by your Holy Spirit that we may follow your commands and proclaim your reign of love.”
Ezekiel preaches the Word to the dry bones of Israel and they come to life. Ezekiel is a prophet to the exiles in Babylon. This Lesson comes from the section of the book that depicts a restoration of Jerusalem and its temple. He sees the Hebrews in exile as dead in hope because they are separated from the holy city and temple. God commands Ezekiel to preach to the dead bones and the Spirit brings life to the bodies. Through the preached Word, the Spirit of God brings new life and hope to a defeated, exiled people.
Introduction: On Sunday morning when you step into the pulpit, do you see a valley of dry bones? Such was the question posed by a gifted preacher to a class of young seminary students. How do we view the church today? God showed Ezekiel a whole nation living in a valley of bones. They were physically alive but their spirits were dead because of lack of hope in a time of captivity.
God’s people can be dead in spirit — lack of vitality, energy, interest, and enthusiasm. Obviously the need is for revival - the church needs revival - that she might serve Christ and build the kingdom on earth. According to the text, new life comes from the Spirit in the Word of God. In dealing with His people God is able to bring life out of death.
As we review God’s gracious dealing with His people we see how the church can be revitalized from dead bones to living bodies. How is this done?
I. Hear the Word — do you really listen to the Word preached, proclaimed, read and taught?
A. The Spirit is the creative power of God. By the Spirit the universe was created. The Father spoke the word and all that exists came into being. His Spirit is identified with his Word — The Father spoke, “Let there be light” and light appeared. In Ezekiel’s account the Spirit causes the dry bones to live again.
B. But the Spirit comes to the bones through the prophet’s preaching the Word of God. Here we see the power of the Word to create new life, for with the Word there is the Spirit. But the Word must be preached. Out of a faithful preaching of the Word, the Spirit creates new life in the dead bones of God’s people.
C. From the explanation of the 3rd Article we read, ‘I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to Him; but the Holy Ghost has called my by the Gospel.”
D. From the 2nd Petition of the Lord’s Prayer we read, “The Kingdom of God certainly comes by itself without our prayer, but we pray in this petition that it may come to us also.
E. God’s kingdom comes when our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity.
Transition: How does revival come to the church today? It comes when we hear God’s Word. It comes when we daily read His Word.
II. Read the Word — private daily reading of the Bible.
A. We can have both death and life in us. Though dead, we can live, and though living we can be dead. There is one type of life — existence, the physical, natural, earthly life. It is the life of the flesh which results in sin and death. St. Paul said, “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.” (Romans 7:18) But then Paul continues…” but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.” (Romans 7:23) Our sinful nature and our new nature are constantly at war with each other. How do we feed it? Do we feed it with all matters of sin? Or do we saturate it with the Word?
B. There is possibly another life; one with God lived in faith. This life is a product of the Spirit received at baptism. Through baptism a person is born again in the Spirit, adopted as the child of God, and now lives in the Spirit of righteousness. The new person knows he is related to God, because the Spirit witnesses to our spirits that we are God’s offspring. When we connect ourselves with God’s Holy Word the power of our baptism takes hold of us once again. “What does baptizing with water indicate? It indicates that the Old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.”
Transition: How does revival come to the church today? It comes when we hear God’s Word. It comes when we daily read His Word. It comes when we taste the Word through the Sacrament.
III. Taste the Word — the Word comes visibly in Holy Communion.
A. What is the benefit of eating and drinking the Sacrament? These words, “Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins, show us that in the Sacrament forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation are given us through these words. For where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation,”
B. How can bodily eating and drinking do such great things? Certainly not just eating and drinking do these things, but the words written here: “Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” These words, along with he bodily eating and drinking are the main thing in the Sacrament. Whoever believes these words has exactly what they say: “forgiveness of sins.”
Conclusion: The raising of the dead bones of Israel came through the preaching of the Word. Through Ezekiel’s preaching of the Word, the dead people come to life. Jesus in His ministry brought Lazarus out of the tomb with his words, “Lazarus, come out.” The raising of Lazarus gave the religious leaders an immediate cause to plot Jesus’ death. Jesus identified himself as the resurrection and the life, and offers eternal life here and now to those who believe in him. The prophecies of Ezekiel predict what Jesus will fulfill.
+Soli Deo Gloria+
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