Dry Bones - Part 2
I prophesied as I was commanded
19th June 2015
Last week we read these words:
Ezekiel 37v1-3
The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the 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, "Sovereign Lord, you alone know."
If God wants to raise the dead, then He can do it. He raised me from spiritual death and, if you're a Christian, He did it for you:
Ephesians 2v1-5
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,
in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved.
We continue reading in Ezekiel:
Ezekiel 37v4-8
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.
God commanded Ezekiel to prophesy to the dry bones, Ezekiel obeyed, and the dry bones came to life. I hope the application for us in England in 2015 is obvious: Speak the word of God to those who are not yet alive in Christ - the people we used to call "the lost" but might equally well be called "the dead" - and God will raise them up, just like the dry bones of Ezekiel 37, and just like the spiritually dead of Ephesians 2.
The key phrase is, "I prophesied as I was commanded". Ezekiel spoke the word of God, as commanded, to the dead. In our generation, despite the opposition and the disappointment, we are called to speak the word of God, all the word of God, and nothing but the word of God, in His name. And when we do, God will send the Holy Spirit, and the dry bones will come to life.
May God have mercy on those preachers and churches who are ignoring, wilfully mis-interpreting, or even re-writing, parts of the Bible. And may God bring them to their senses, and to repentance, so they don't delay the revival.
At this point in the Ezekiel story, the bones came together, and tendons, flesh and skin appeared on them. But they were still dead.
Ezekiel 37v9-10
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, breath, from the four winds 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.
In this story, it seems obvious that Ezekiel is a picture of the church, the prophesy is a picture of the Gospel and the dry bones are a picture of those who will be saved through faith in Him. The "breath" is a picture of the Holy Spirit. Only when God breathes His Holy Spirit into a spiritually dead person can that person be made alive in Christ.
God told Ezekiel to prophesy to the breath but who am I, and who are you, to prophesy to the Holy Spirit?
A prophecy is a message from God - not from us. A faithful prophet delivers the message just as it was dictated to him from God. To the extent that the prophet makes up prophecy himself, it is false prophecy, and he is a false prophet. So when we apply Ezekiel 37 to ourselves, as we surely should, we speak the word of God to the Holy Spirit, not because we imagine that He doesn't know the word of God already, but because speaking out God's promises and asking the Holy Spirit to move is prayer.
As Ezekiel prophesied, breath came into the dry bones, they came alive, and they stood up. And as we speak God's word, and as we pray for the Holy Spirit to come, many spiritually dead in England will be made alive with Christ, and will stand up for Jesus.
And they will be a vast army - an army of peace, love, gentleness, faithfulness and goodness.