Broadcast
Dry Bones - Part 3
Ezekiel 37:7-10
04/10/2024
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I
prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a
rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its
bone.
8 And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on
them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had
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 the breath, Thus
says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O
breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may
live.
10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath
came into them, and they lived and stood on their
feet, an exceedingly great army. (ESV)
Ezekiel, a prophet who lived and worked while the children
of Israel were exiled in Babylon, received a vision of a valley
of dry bones. God told him to proclaim the word of promise, the
word of life to the bones.
So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I
prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling,
and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And I
looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and
flesh had come upon them, and skin had 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 the breath, Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the
four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that
they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and
the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on
their feet, an exceedingly great army.
At times, it seems, we proclaim the Gospel, the good news of
God's rich grace and mercy as found in Jesus Christ, to deaf and
dead ears. The word that is translated here as ``breath'' may
also be translated as ``spirit.'' Thus, when Ezekiel proclaimed
God's Word to the breath, to the spirit, the dead came back to
life.
In Genesis we read that God breathed into the dead clay, and
that clay became a living soul, Adam. God breathes into
spiritually dead people, they become spiritually alive, having
the gift of faith which holds to God's promise of forgiveness.
May our Lord grant us His Holy Spirit to bring us to life,
to bring us to faith in Jesus Christ as our Redeemer. Amen.