New Life for Dry Bones
Ezekiel 37:1-14 (NRSV)
The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones.
2 He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry.
3 He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord God, you know.”
4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.
5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.
6 I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.”
7 So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone.
8 I looked, and 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, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.”
10 I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.
11 Then he said to me, “Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.’
12 Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel.
13 And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people.
14 I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act,” says the Lord.
O God of Pentecostal power, you are the Possessor of life, the Giver of life, and the Restorer of life to that which is dead.
We, your church, are like Ezekiel’s dry bones. We wonder if life is possible again. We fear that we are too far gone. We ache at the thought of the wind of your Spirit never blowing with power again on your people.
We long to hear you say to us, “I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.” We yearn to hear you say to us, “You shall live, and you shall know that I am the LORD.” Just as the gathered believers in Jerusalem heard the sound of a mighty rushing wind (Acts 2), we want to hear “a noise, a rattling” of our spiritual “bones” being restored to life as revival breaks out in us and all around us.
Your Spirit was revealed as fire to the believers in the upper room, just as you revealed yourself by fire to Moses at the burning bush and to nomadic Israel in the pillar over the tabernacle. O Lord, would you work in our day with fiery power and might? Would you send the wind and fire of your Spirit to cleanse us of our sin and restore to us the life our Lord Jesus died and rose again that we might have?
Fill us afresh with your Spirit so that we might live and know that you have spoken and acted and brought revival to us, to the praise of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Dem Bones
https://youtu.be/yk_7ZJplHdk?si=2o7w1BgoQit5pBqy
