The prophecies of Ezekiel are usually very colorful, and the one in our reading is no exception. Ezekiel was given a vision of bleached-out, skeletal remains, cluttered and scattered throughout a valley. He was to proclaim the word of God to people whose remains had been reduced to bones. But when the word of God goes forth, life returns. The bones reassembled. Flesh and muscle covered them. And then Ezekiel prophesied to the Spirit which produced life in these bodies.
The immediate fulfillment of this prophecy
is given by God. “Son
of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. … And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my
people. And I will put my Spirit
within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land” (Ezekiel
37:11,13-14).
The nation of Israel was as good as dead. They had been living in Babylonian lands for
decades. They were not guests; they were
captives. There was no hope of escape or
return. For all practical purposes, they
had ceased being a nation. What, then, would
become of God’s promises? Could a Savior
come to the Promised Land when God’s people had been exiled from it? Could life returned to God’s chosen
ones? God’s answer is: “Yes!” He would bring Israel back to the Promised
Land as if they had been raised up from the dead. Life would come through the Spirit whose word
would revive God’s people and whose work would sustain the Promise.
Life comes through the Spirit. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and
Giver of life. This is what the Holy
Spirit does, and it is seen already in the first verses of the Bible. As soon as God produced the raw materials for
creating the universe, “the Spirit of God was
hovering over the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:2). The Holy Spirit
plus water equals new life. When God the
Father created man, he fashioned a clod of dirt. And then “the Lord God … breathed
into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living
creature” (Genesis 2:7). God’s
breath makes alive. Life comes through
the Spirit.
When God created
mankind, he made the man and the woman in the image of God. He set people apart from every other living
creature. The animals move about and
live in their animal ways. They do not
pray or worship or seek fellowship with God.
We don’t baptize or commune them no matter how cute or beloved they
are. But Adam and Eve were made to have
fellowship with God. They were given
intellect, emotions, and a will which were all in full agreement with God. They rejoiced to know God and to live
according to God’s word. They were not
only physical beings, but also spiritual beings, and their spiritual life was
given and sustained by the Holy Spirit.
But the image of
God has been ruined by sin. Rebellion
against God’s word is also rebellion against the Spirit who reveals it. Once mankind fell into sin, the nature of all
people was corrupted and, in fact, dead.
People are still both physical and spiritual beings. People still maintain intellect, but now each
one’s intellect focuses in on himself. Our
own thoughts and schemes are for our own glory and gain, often at the expense
of our neighbor. Identity thieves are
not stupid people; rather they use their skills wickedly. People still are created with emotions. In fact, if you want to get people to agree
to wicked behavior, appeal to their emotions.
Emotions always seems to trump God’s word, because our emotions control
us rather than we controlling them. That
is why calling people “haters” is so effective.
This accusation appeals to emotions rather than to doctrine. And while we maintain a will, it is also self-serving. We often hide our self-centered motives behind
the banner of personal freedom. We get
to do what we want because we can, and no one dare forbid us! None of these things are the image of
God. All these things are the result of
buying the devil’s lies that sin makes us free.
But what sin makes us free from is God’s love, God’s wisdom, and God’s
kingdom. The devil’s freedom means that
we are captives of guilt, shackled to death, and sentenced to hell. What the devil sells as freedom is a death
sentence from which we cannot escape. Like
the Jews in Babylon, we have no hope of returning to life in the image of God.
Like the Jews in Babylon, our only hope
comes by God’s word to us and by God’s work for us. Life comes through the Spirit, and with that
life comes this blessing: “Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first
resurrection! Over such the second
death has no power” (Revelation 20:6). The first resurrection
is that you are no longer dead in sin.
You have been rescued from the condition which binds you to guilt,
shame, death, and damnation. Hell cannot
have you. The curse has been taken away
by Jesus who suffered hell for you, who died under God’s curse in your place,
and who destroyed death and the devil at his resurrection. This is what the Spirit has revealed to you
through God’s word. And by this word,
the Holy Spirit revives you with new life and restores you as a new creation.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord
and Giver of Life. Life comes through
the Spirit, but the Spirit does not work apart from the word of God. No one comes into the kingdom of God by being
zapped into it. The Holy Spirit always
works through God’s word, just as he did in Ezekiel’s vision. “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” (Ezekiel 37:9-10).
This is how it works for you, too. The Holy Spirit inspired the prophets and
apostles to pen the word of God. Through
this God-breathed word, the Spirit breathes life and faith in people. This is the first resurrection—God comes to
those who were dead in sin and makes the alive in Christ Jesus. This life is given not only by the word
preached, but also by the word applied with water in holy baptism. Jesus declared, “Truly, truly, I say to
you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the
kingdom of God. That which is born of
the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John
3:5-6). Just as it was with the creation of the
world, so it is when God makes a new creation of sinners: The Holy Spirit plus
water equals new life.
Life comes through the Spirit. The word is preached. The Spirit goes forth. The Spirit who breathed the word into the prophets
and the apostles breathes from those words into the hearts, souls, and minds of
people. He applies the forgiveness of
sins won by Jesus and pardons all sins of wicked intellect, emotional
outbursts, and self-centered will. He,
then, begins your transformation back to the image of God. He transforms your mind so that your intellect
submits to the word of God. Through the Holy
Spirit’s work, you recognize that your emotions do not determine what is true,
but God’s word does. The Spirit also
puts to death the will that is controlled by sin and produces in you a will that
delights in God’s will. This is the new
creation and the new life that the Holy Spirit works in you.
Life comes through the Spirit. Life is sustained by the Spirit. This is what the Lord says: “Faith comes
from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). This is a present tense verb. It is not merely that faith once came to you
by hearing the word of Christ; it is that faith continues to come to you by
hearing the word of Christ. The breath
of God comes to you through the God-breathed words of Scripture. When breathing ceases, life ceases. In other words, if you do not continue to
hear the word of God, faith will eventually expire. It is like the astronauts from Apollo 13. They lost their oxygen tank, so the oxygen
levels in their craft got low. If they
had not returned to earth quickly, eventually they would have become light-headed
until they just slipped away into unconsciousness, and then into death. They knew of the danger because the gauges
were telling them the problem. But if they
had remained unaware, they may not have noticed a problem until it was too late. So also, people who stop hearing the word of
God fall into a spiritual apathy. They don’t
notice it; eventually, they do not care.
Their bodies are alive, so everything seems fine. It will not be until the final judgment that
they will realize their bare knowledge of Bible facts will not save them. Faith comes by hearing the word of Christ. Through that word, the Spirit continues to
come and to keep faith alive. This is
what the Church gathers for. If
Christians stop coming to church, it is a valid fear that they are slipping
away and their faith is dying. These are
serious matters, and we should all be concerned about them.
Life comes through the Spirit. It culminates in everlasting life in the kingdom
of heaven. Of course, we are not there
yet. Eventually, you will pass away from
this world. Your spirit will not die;
for you have already partaken in the first resurrection. The body, however, will die, decay, and be
reduced to dry bones. “Son of man, can these bones live”
(Ezekiel 37:3)? And the Spirit says, “Yes!” He will fulfill what was prophesied by
Ezekiel. “Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves
and raise you from your graves, O my people. …And I will put my Spirit within you, and
you shall live, and I will place you in your own land” (Ezekiel 37:12,14). On the Last Day,
the Lord Jesus will return in glory. The
voice of God will summon all people from their graves. The bones will be rejoined. Flesh will cover them. Body and soul will be reunited.
Life comes through the Spirit. Just as the Lord gave breath and life to the
first holy people on earth, so he will raise you up and restore breath and life
in you. You will be given the perfected
bodies that you crave. You will not only
live without blemishes or impairments, you will also live without shame,
regret, or frustration. You will be fully
restored to the image of God, free to live and to serve him without any
weakness, fault, or struggles. For, the
Lord will confirm you in holiness.
As God’s word is proclaimed, God’s Spirit goes forth. As God’s Spirit goes forth, new life is given, is sustained, and increases. Apart from the breath of God, there is no life. But God-breathed Scripture will guard and keep you. By it, the Holy Spirit will sustain your new life, now and for all eternity.
In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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