What does it take to Live?
Ezekiel 37:1-14, Acts 2:1-21
I have had the opportunity to hear some unbelievable music in my life. A marvelous concert by a handbell choir comes to mind. During that concert, I suddenly became aware of a lovely young lady standing on the very end of the choir with just one little bell. Although she stood patiently alert, bell in hand, I noticed that not once in the very lengthy and complicated selection had she ever rung that bell. The music rose to a brilliant climax of sound and suddenly, at the very peak, the director turned toward that girl. She rang her bell; just one…clear, beautiful sound that hung in the air and gave meaning to the rest of the performance. As far as I could tell, she didn't ring that bell again the rest of the concert. I am still captivated by that event. My mind returned to my high school and college days of drama and music. I had some lead parts, but I also had my share of one-liners. It was the one-liners that created the most tension, and although they gave substantial meaning to the play, they had the most potential for goof-up. Mostly we are one-liners on the stage of this world. Very, very few of us ever play lead parts. We have our one line and when the director turns toward us and points His finger -- we either do well or… goof up. Maybe it all depends on how we see ourselves. I was reminded again that the one line, the one shot, the one ring of the bell is critical to the total. Maybe that is why Jesus said: "Watch" -- be alert -- you never know when the Master will come. Or when it will be time to say your line. (His line)
Ezekiel 37:1-14
A Vision of Dry Bones
The prophet Ezekiel has a vision where he is taken by God's Spirit into a valley filled with dry bones. It’s a bizarre vision. The valley is full of human bones and Ezekiel is led in silence all over the valley. You can only imagine the feelings that would emerge if you had to have such a powerful confrontation with human mortality. The silence is broken by the voice of God.
"Mortal -- can these bones live?"
There could be only one answer under normal circumstances. "Of course these bones can't live. Dead is dead and the condition of these bones suggests that these have been dead a long time. The devastation must have been horrible." Can these bones live? Of course not!
Unless... unless something extraordinary, something supernatural should take place. Only a miracle could bring these bones to life.
And so Ezekiel's response to the Lord God is not the normal human response, which would be, "Of course not." “DUH!” Because he is speaking with the Lord, Ezekiel says:
"O Lord God, you know."
And isn't that just like us in so many ways? We are confronted with some of life's toughest times and wonder what the outcome will be. You have probably used the words, "God only knows!" When we encounter the seemingly impossible. It’s then we have to recognize; God alone has both the knowledge and the ability to see and control the outcome. One of the amazing things that happens in Ezekiel's vision is that God does not simply say, "Watch this.." and zap the bones into life. Ezekiel is to have a role in the miracle that will take place in the valley. It is the prophet who speaks the words of God to the bones. God gives the words and the prophet delivers the words. The prophet speaks the message of God that brings life to the dry bones. There is an essential concept in God's giving the words to the prophet to deliver to the bones. The messenger of God delivers the word of life. There is a strong connection with the "Word become flesh" which brings life to the people of God. Note 1 John 1:1:
"We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life--"
The prophet or the preacher has no new thing to say to the bones. Only the message given by God and delivered by the messenger is effective to bring life to the people of God. Also, there is no life apart from the word of the Lord.
Now before I continue and before you get the idea that the prophet or the preacher is someone elite in the faith, let’s look at “Prophet.” The ordinary word for prophet in the Hebrew was “nabi” it comes from a verb that means “To bubble forth” like a fountain; or a giddy teenage girl. So the prophet is someone who announces or “pours forth” the declarations of God.
The English word comes from the Greek word “profetes” which in classical Greek simply signifies “One who speaks for another.” The sense was that teaching, sharing or interpreting was by ACT and by WORD. But by the time of the judges the leaders outward life had deteriorated so badly that a new power came to bear, the “Prophetic Order.”
But twice in the new testament, “The Gospel” is called “Logos Akoees” or the “Word of Hearing” (I Thes 2:13 & Heb 4:2) that means spreading the gospel depends on two things; on a voice ready to speak it and an ear ready to hear it. And as we will see later we are all to participate.
John 6:63 connects the vision of Ezekiel with the ministry of Christ.
"It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life."
The "wind" in Hebrew is "ruach" it comes from the same root as the word for "breath." This is the same as Acts chapter 2 and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. The wind in Greek is "pnoe" it comes from the same root as Spirit (Ghost) - "pneuma"
The vision of the valley of dry bones is self-explanatory and shouldn’t be over interpreted. This comes as a promise of ultimate restoration in Ezekiel's prophetic ministry to Israel. The restoration will come as a result of direct intervention by the Lord and not by national self-help efforts. How many of you remember the commercial for a stock brokerage company that says, "When E F Hutton talks, people listen?" There are a lot of people whose words are highly respected. There are media commentators and newspaper columnists whose words are highly valued. When they speak, lots of people listen. There are times when we might wish that some of them would not talk so much! No matter how powerful the words of any person or institution might be, there are no words powerful enough to give life to a valley full of dry, dead bones. That is -- there are no words powerful enough to give life where there is death, except for the words of God, which are delivered by a messenger of God. "Prophesy to these bones..." the Lord commands Ezekiel. "Tell the bones to hear the word of the Lord." And just as the old spiritual, "'Dem Dry Bones" said, the bones began to come together in response to the word of the Lord.
The bones begin to come alive when Ezekiel speaks the words, but there is only the appearance of life. There are bodies without "breath" -- a weird kind of life -- there are bodies, but no "breath", no “Spirit” no “soul”. Ezekiel has to call upon the breath or winds to give authentic life to the bodies. The picture calls to mind the creation of Adam. Adam is formed from the dust of the ground, but there is no spirit -- no soul -- no image of God until God breathes into Adam, "the breath of life." Then Adam becomes "a living soul." So also, when the words of the prophet call out to the wind, the people come alive and speak of their deadness and hopelessness. "Our bones are dried up, and hour hope is lost; we are cut off completely." Ezekiel's vision is quite clear. He identifies the valley of dry bones as the Nation of Israel cut off from God. Apart from God they have no life and the prophet's vision spells out for Israel, both the problem of their spiritual "deadness" and the promise of God for restoration of life. "I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live..."
The point of course, is that the people of God will know to whom they belong and where their life comes from. God's promises are as good as the deed done. "I the Lord have spoken and will act!"
The Question Hasn’t changed.
"Can these bones live?" There is no life apart from the Spirit of God. Life begins with God's breath in Genesis. When humanity turns away from God, life departs. Physical, intellectual, social and emotional life may continue for a time - but the real substance of life as God designed it for us, is spiritual life -- that life which is the image of God in us. Without this spiritual life, we are the zombie-like creatures in Ezekiel 37, which have bones, and flesh, but no spirit. There are tons of B movies about the "undead" or zombies who walk the earth unable to die and unable to live. Well the church without the spirit is walking around dead, unable to live! The story of Ezekiel is that Israel has no life apart from the Lord and if we look at Acts 2 the implicit message of the passage on the Day of Pentecost is that the church has no life without the empowering work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God's breath in the church. The church is just as zombie-like without the work of the Spirit as was Israel in the Valley of Dry Bones. Can these bones live? Understood in the broadest context, the question was as relevant for the early church as it was for Israel -- and it is as significant for the church today as it was for the early church.
The question certainly needed asking in the days following the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. If you take a careful look at the group that assembled behind closed doors for fear of the enemies of Jesus, the prospects for a world conquering collection of Jesus' followers did not look good! There were no people of influence in that early band. There were no scholars or priests or religiously noteworthy people. No one in the group had any worthwhile connections. The budget was a mess and even Jesus had told them that the leader didn't have a place to lay his head. The courage and inspiration of the group had disappeared with the final words of Christ on the cross.
Nope -- no self respecting management consultant would rate this group as likely to succeed. In a figurative sense, this was about as big a valley of dry bones as you could get. The question bears asking in every generation. Whether it is ancient Israel or the contemporary church, because the danger of spiritual lifelessness is always present.
Without the continuing presence and activity of the Spirit of God in our lives as individuals and in our church, we immediately begin to deteriorate into a valley of dry bones.
Read Acts 2:1-4, 14-18, 21, and 42-44
I wonder if all this would have happened if they had not been “All Together” or “In One Accord?” (Unity) Some of us get waaaayy too caught up in ourselves. This denomination or that denomination, its been said you can take any of millions of things seriously…but not yourself; please! I heard about a man who attended a multi-denominational meeting at a large local church. Everyone there was asked to fill out a card that included his or her denomination. He wrote down “Baptist” and passed his card down the aisle. A friend had seen the card as it was passed in and approached him later and asked, “I thought you were Presbyterian?” “I am.” “Then why did you put Baptist?” “I didn’t know how to spell Presbyterian!” So his friend asked, “Why not just put down a big P?” “I thought of that but I was worried everyone would think I was (E)Piscopalian.”
Without the continuous energizing power of the word of God and the constant renewing vitality of the Spirit of God, there can be no true spiritual life. Thinking about Pentecost and the story of the coming alive of the early church and what that means for us today, God's question to Ezekiel comes to us in new forms.
"Can we carry out the task Jesus Christ has given to us?"
"Can we become the kind of community he asked us to be?"
"Can we honor and love each other to such an extent that the world will know we belong to Christ?"
"Can we reach out to others regardless of who they are, what they look like, what life has done to them or what station in life they occupy?"
In other words -- "Can these bones live?"
The answer is the same today as it was the day God asked Ezekiel. There is no spiritual life and no spiritual work can be done without the enlivening work of the Holy Spirit.
The Day of Pentecost
On the Day of Pentecost, the most unlikely collection of people were empowered by the Spirit of God and Jerusalem was set on its ear! The fishermen, tax collector and friends began to let the world know that Jesus Christ was Lord of all. Peter stood and raised his voice with a new power. This was not the same Peter who fled from danger and followed Jesus from afar on the night of his arrest. This was not the Peter who, with curses, denied that he even knew who Jesus was. This Peter dared to address the crowd that gathered from all over the world and declare,
"Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
What began on the day of Pentecost exploded across the face of the world as the seemingly impossible words of Jesus, to take his message to all nations began its unstoppable journey. It’s easy for us to view the Day of Pentecost as a strange event that took place far away and long ago... an event that is so far removed from the reality of our modern world that it bears no relevance to people today. But when the church seems so powerless to bring the reconciling love of God to a hostile world, or brothers and sisters in the church seem unable to live in the love of Christ -- we understand the question. "Can these bones live?"
Just as the bones from Ezekiel's vision declared that they were without hope and cut off from God, so the church in every place and in every time has discovered over and over again that there is no power to bring the rule of Christ to our lives and the lives of others apart from the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
You will experience times in your life when it feels as though God is far away. You will sense that you are somehow lost in a dry and thirsty desert where there is no meaning and no hope. You ask, "Is this all there is?" And there is no meaningful answer. And there are times when the church seems simply to plod along, struggling to maintain its own life and you wonder if this is what Jesus Christ had in mind when he said, "On this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." It is precisely at these moments that we can open ourselves up more fully to the empowering Spirit of God. Pentecost was never intended to be simply a day on the calendar -- it was given to be a dominating force in the church. Just when we sense a lack or a loss of power, we need to make the words of the hymn our prayer: "Spirit of the living God, fall fresh on me!"
The Day of Pentecost can never be fully understood until we open ourselves to a personal Pentecost. It’s not that we’ll miraculously speak French or German or Chinese without ever having learned the language, but we will come to experience a new power in our Christian living. Every once in a while someone comes along who stuns us with the power of a life which has nothing going for it except the power of God's Spirit.
Such is the life of a young woman who was born in Yugoslavia of Albanian parents. She gained her life's dream when she became a novitiate in a convent in India. She asked to live outside the cloister and moved to the slums of Calcutta. With absolutely nothing in the way of earthly value, she ultimately became responsible for 81 schools in India alone, 35 mobile medical dispensaries, 28 family planning centers, 67 leprosy clinics, 28 homes for abandoned children and 32 hospices for the dying.
Have you ever thought to yourself, "What can one person do?" Sister Theresa was asked “For those of us who are frustrated because unlike you we can’t feed a million starving people, what is your counsel?” She smiled and said, “If you can’t feed a million people…feed ONE!”
Remember this: In the hands of God, one person is capable of changing the world...one person at a time if need be. In the hands of God one church can transform an entire generation. All of this takes us back to our original question:
"Can these bones live?" Jesus' words come to mind.
"With God -- all things are possible!"
Are your bones living today? Has God breathed life into you? And if He has, is your hand on that single solitary bell? Are you ready for your, “one liner?” If not, wouldn’t today be great?!? The four winds are gathering, the sound of a violent wind is coming from Heaven just for you!! God Bless.
