I love Ezekiel 37. The prophet is given a vision of a valley of dry bones. It is a bleak and greyscale, apocalyptic scene. Ancient skeletons everywhere. Ezekiel is looking down into this valley, which is essentially a mass grave.
That is not what I love about Ezekiel 37. That would be kinda morbid!
What I love about Ezekiel 37 is the miracle that takes place and what God used to make it happen. He chose a human being to open his mouth and proclaim the message that God gave him. That message was used to resurrect an exceedingly great army out of that mass grave. Fully human. Fully alive.
What was that message? What was the heart, soul, and spirit of it?
This is where we can err as Christians, both in sharing the gospel and in believing it ourselves. If we lose the heartbeat of the message, we lose the heartbeat of the Author of it. What are some things that God did not command Ezekiel to say?
Did God tell Ezekiel to say to the bones, “Bones, you are very dry”? Essentially, that would be like telling a corpse it is dead. Thanks, captain obvious! Is that the heartbeat (pun intended) of the message? No.
Alternately, the message is not “Bones, you are not dry.” That would be like telling a corpse it is alive. Not logical. Not true. Not the message.
The heart of the message is in verse 9: 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 they may live.”
Again in verse 14: And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the LORD.”
Breathe on these slain. That you may live. And you shall live. Then you shall know that I am he LORD.
The heartbeat of the message is, “LIVE.” In the words God gave to Hosea in chapter 14, it is, “Return to me.” It is, “Lazarus, come out!” It is is the call for prodigals everywhere (myself included) to come home. “Drop your nets and follow Me.” Mark 1:14: “The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel.”
We are not ultimately healed by believing we are dry. Nor are we healed by believing that we are not dry. Rather, we should embrace the Jesus that is revealed to us in John 6:35, 51:
“…I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst…I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
That is good news for dry skeletons.
Leave a Reply