On Sunday, during worship, we were singing this song about the dry bones rattling, (based on Ezk 37). As I was singing I had the sudden thought that this prophecy was actually speaking about all of us, for we were all once dead, but are now alive in Christ.
In context Ezekiel's prophecy was about the restoration of Israel. Here are the verses - Ezekiel 37:1-14 NIV:
[1] 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. [2] 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. [3] He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”
I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know. ”
[4] Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, 'Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! [5] This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. [6] 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. ' ”
[7] 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. [8] I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin 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 it, 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.' ” [10] So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet---a vast army.
[11] Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, 'Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.' [12] Therefore prophesy and say to them: 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: 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. [13] Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. [14] 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. ' ”
I love the imagery here, and this has always been a favorite prophetic image of mine. One thing I have learned about prophecy and God's word is that is is perfect, and it often is multi-faceted in how it is meant o be understood. This was clearly a word about the restoration of Israel back to the land they were promised by the Lord God. Ezekiel was prophesying about the Babylonian exile, sometime in the 600BCs, and return of Israel (something that happened 70 years later), but His words also seem to have a Messianic application as well.
The verses that came to mind as I had the thought I mentioned earlier were from Ephesians 2:1-10 NIV:
[1] "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, [2] 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. [3] 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. [4] But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, [5] made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions---it is by grace you have been saved. [6] And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, [7] in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. [8] For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith---and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--- [9] not by works, so that no one can boast. [10] For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
Here, Paul writes that all of us were dead in our sins which could be compared to the dry bones. We had no way that we could attain eternal life, nothing we could do to change our state. However God in mercy, through His great grace caused a change to occur. Through His work, will, Word and Spirit we are made alive again, and joined into the Body of Christ. The purpose of God is a work of joining us together, of causing us to mature and grow in relationship with Him and each other (tendons and flesh) and finally the Holy Spirit breathing life into us, and joining us to God's family as sons and daughters.
Paul writes again of this in his letter to the Romans 8:9-11,14-17 NIV:
[9] "You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. [10] But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. [11] And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
[14] For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. [15] The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” [16] The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. [17] Now if we are children, then we are heirs---heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory."
This might not be revelation for many of you, but it was fresh for me, for I don't remember having seen myself as one of the dry bones of Ezekiel 37 before this past Sunday. I was encouraged about the fact that I was essentially singing a song that was using verses that were written about me (and the Church) some 2600 years ago. I was filled with gratitude that I am alive through God's amazing grace, mercy and compassion!
I was clearly dead (and dry) in my transgressions and sins, and the Lord through His great mercy, through grace, gave me the opportunity to become alive again!
To quickly finish the story, I was meditating on all this during worship and then our pastor got up to speak and started with the very verses from Ephesians 2 that I was reflecting on! Not a huge deal, but certainly a lovely little confirmation that my heart and mind were in the right place. :-)
My the Lord bless you and breathe on you that you might experience the wonder of His life through salvation, and the filling of the Holy Spirit!
It is time for the dry bones to come alive!
Amen and Amen!
No comments:
Post a Comment