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Good Thursday to you my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends,
A few years ago, I stood at the bedside of a friend and his family as the family discussed one of the most difficult life decisions any family can face. The man was on ‘life support’ and the family was considering turning off the machines. After prayer, they in fact did and as I watched, the man kept breathing and soon revived, and has now been alive nearly five years since that day, living a vibrant second chance at life! Have you ever experienced or watched someone else experience a second chance at life?
Once again, we return to Mr. Ezekiel, the Jewish prophet of God as he receives yet another significant message from God in about 580bc. This message is found in Ezekiel 37 and over the years you might have heard a song or read a poem about this “Valley of Dry Bones” Ezekiel message! “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 full of bones!” (Ezekiel 37:1) Wow, what a strange vision or dream this was…a valley full of dry bones. As you continue reading, you’ll discover they were human bones and God asked Ezekiel a question: “Can these bones live?” Ezekiel’s response is a good one for many such outrageous questions in life: “Sovereign LORD, You alone know.”
God then told Ezekiel to prophesy life to the bones and miraculously they rattled together, grew tendons and ligaments and skin, and did in fact come alive. (Ezekiel 37:4-10) Then God explained what it meant: “These bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.” (Ezekiel 37:11) By the time of this vision from God some of the Jewish exiles, especially from the northern kingdom Israel, had lived away from Israel in foreign lands for more than 100 years, since the conquering of Israel in 722bc by the Assyrian empire. Many from Jerusalem had been in exile in Babylon for nearly 30 years.
Time has a way of extinguishing hope when we exist in desperate situations with no reason to expect change. That is how those who remain alive today as hostages of Hamas probably feel.
God had been sending regular and repeated messages, through both Jeremiah and Ezekiel, to the Jewish exiles, that eventually God Himself would bring exiled Israelites back to their homeland. But years and decades passed with no sign of any change in their exile.
So, God, with this “valley of dry bones” message renewed His promise for a future hope: “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. 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.” (Ezekiel 37:12-14)
Now, what does it mean, my friends? May I suggest it has four different meanings in the history of the Jewish people?
First, a little more than 40 years later, in 538bc, the conquering Persian Emperor issued an edict that ANY Jewish captive in exile ANYwhere in the world of the Medo-Persian Empire was free from captivity and welcome to return to Israel to rebuild their cities, the country and their Jewish Temple in Jerusalem! In a few days we’ll look in detail at that miracle recorded in Ezra 1.
Second, about 600 years after Ezekiel’s ‘valley of dry bones’ message, God came to live here on earth for a while, in the person of Jesus Christ! His teachings, His sinless life, His atonement death, His victorious resurrection all provided this God-promised new life and deliverance from our sin bondage and death-condemnation.
Third, in 1948 the United Nations declared much of the ancient land of Israel to be a new home for all Jews, from anywhere in the world, who wanted to return to live in the new Jewish State of Israel. As you know millions have and more come each year as God promised.
The fourth fulfillment of this remarkable prophecy is yet forthcoming and that will be when the resurrected, ascended, Sovereign King Jesus returns to earth and establishes His global kingdom of righteousness, with its capital in Jerusalem. For 1000 years Jesus will reign, and Jews will again flock to Israel and finally many will declare Jesus to be their long-awaited Messiah! (Zechariah 12; Revelation 20:4-6)
Now let’s be clear my friends. Ezekiel is not predicting global resurrections of deceased Jewish people. The symbolism of the bones is that those in captivity felt as good as dead, with no hope of ever returning to their homeland. But the miraculous resurrection of those dry bones in Ezekiel’s vision is symbolic of the miracles God has done on repeated occasions to free His Jewish people from their bondage and bring them back to their Covenant land.
It was also a forward look to Jesus Christ who came, as the angel announced both to Joseph and later the shepherds, to “save His people from their sins”. (Matt. 1:21; Luke 2:10,11)
Now here’s an important question for all of us my friends: Which is the greater, more dreadful destiny… living in inescapable bondage in captivity far from home for many years OR living for eternity in hell-captivity, separated from God?
Each time God provided escape from earthly captivity for His people and returned them to their homeland it was a glorious picture of the deliverance Jesus Christ offers humanity in His rescue from our sin condemnation, AND the assurance He provides for those He delivers of eternity in His presence in heaven! So it leaves us each with these questions today…
* Are you living with no hope among a people of no hope, like the captives in Ezekiel’s day?
* Are you celebrating the powerful truth that Jesus Christ has delivered you from your sin-bondage and you are living FREE in Christ?
* Are you fearful of what will happen after your earthly journey ends, or are you confident and looking forward with great anticipation that at the moment you breathe your last breath on earth you will be ‘absent from your body here but present with the Lord Jesus’?
Oh, my friends let’s celebrate the wonderful HOPE available to us only in Jesus Christ and let’s LIVE in that joyful reality of a vibrant relationship with Jesus now and assurance of heaven! And here’s a wonderful worship song to help us in that celebration.
Today’s Scripture: Ezekiel 37:1-14.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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