As the Lord may bless us together
this morning, I intend to speak to you about the Valley of Dry
Bones. And we'll read for a text this
morning the third verse in the 37th chapter of this prophecy
of Ezekiel. Ezekiel 37 and reading verse
3. And he said unto me, Son of man,
can these bones live And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest." Ezekiel was a prophet of the
Lord. That means that he was somebody
who God had ordained to speak and to preach and to testify
of those things which would come about. Those things which would
come to pass in the following days or years, and perhaps that
would be for a very long time, because we know throughout the
Word of God there are many prophecies, especially in the Old Testament,
some which refer to the Lord Jesus Christ, and they were prophecies
which came to pass after many, many centuries. Well, this particular
prophecy of the Valley of Dry Bones is really very interesting
because it has potentially four aspects. And the first aspect relates
to Israel themselves in their present condition. Now the present
condition was that they'd been driven from Jerusalem, their
hometown, and they were now in Babylon, in Chaldea, many miles
away, and that they'd been told by Jeremiah and others that they
would be there for at least 70 years. And when Ezekiel wrote
this, there was probably some 20 odd years into that 70 year
period. And they were therefore in a
very distressed condition, because they hadn't got the facilities
they used to enjoy, there was no temple there, there was no
true way to offer sacrifices, and they were becoming very sad
and distressed because of their condition and especially as they
realised that they brought it on themselves. It was because
of their disobedience to God. It was because they hadn't listened
to the prophets and they ignored those statements which had been
given to them of warning and now here they were in Babylon. Well, now Ezekiel is given this
vision And it's a vision which has a reference to them in so
far that they would be restored, they would come again to Jerusalem
and therefore it was an encouraging statement that Ezekiel was able
to declare. So that's the very first one. Then it also refers to Israel
being restored as a nation. before the end of all things. And again that is prophesied
in the word of God and spoken of that Israel who have rejected
God as we know, the Lord Jesus Christ when he came on the earth
was a Jew and he preached to the Jews and he spoke to the
Jews, the Jews rejected him, the Jews crucified him and the
Jews turned their back upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And as we
know They were dispersed throughout the world. They have in measure
come back to Jerusalem and there is the evidences in the word
of God that God will return and again bless his ancient people
Israel. And that's spelled out in some
detail in the 11th chapter to the Romans. We won't go through
that today but that's the second situation which obviously this
prophecy has a reference to. And then there is the spiritual
reference to those who are indeed spiritually dead. And of course
by nature all of us are spiritually dead and we all need to be born
again by the Spirit of God. So this then has a very direct
reference to that. And then the fourth position
is that there will be a glorious resurrection at the end of all
things, the end of the world, when there will be those who
have died upon this earth who will be raised again and whatever
condition they died in and some of course were burned and some
lost limbs here and there and we can see that the position
to our mind might be impossible but in this chapter we see how
these things will come to pass that when the Lord does return
there will be a gathering in of each individual Because everyone
will be there at the end of the world. All those who have died
will be raised from the dead. Some to life incorruptible with
the Lord and some to everlasting destruction and burnings. And
so we have these four situations which really are indicated in
this account which we have here in this 37th chapter down to
verse 14. Well, this morning I want to
really concentrate on the third and the fourth of those two cases.
We know that with regard to the first, of course, that that did
come to pass. That, as God has said, after 70 years Israel did
return to Jerusalem. And it was a bit straggly, but
nonetheless they did return and the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt.
The temple was rebuilt and Israel once again were able to rejoice
in their position and able to worship God in their hometown
in Jerusalem. And so we observe there that
that particular prophecy came to pass. And the third one which
we want to speak about now has of course come to pass in measure
and it was before this and it continues when God comes and
blesses people with the spiritual awakening and spiritual life.
Now, God spoke to Ezekiel and he asked him a question. And
the question was, son of man, can these bones live? Well, it's
a wonderful thing when you and I are honest with our answers
to God. And as we read through the word of God we will find
that there were many hard questions which were asked and there were
good and honest answers given. So Ezekiel didn't know what the
answer was. So he came and he said, he answered,
O Lord God thou knowest. He wasn't able to therefore decide
whether they would live or whether they would remain in that condition. And we know, as we read in the
previous verse, they were very dry. The bones were scattered
about in that valley and they were very dry. And I suppose
the answer could have been, well, it's obvious that they can't
live. But the truth was, they would
live. And therefore Ezekiel was able
to give this answer. O Lord God, Thou knowest. And that is true. And it's true
today with regards to the spiritual life, the life of God in the
soul. We might look around and we might
think, well, it's impossible that people in that condition
will be converted. They're just too hardened. They're
just too dead. There's just no evidence of the
least inclination towards the things of God. And if we were
asked the question, can they live? Well, we need to answer
like this, O Lord God, thou knowest, because God has done wonderful
things in times past. And we have many evidences of
those who have been converted, who appear to be very dead against
the things of God. So here we read this word, O
Lord God, thou knowest. Well, what was Ezekiel then to
do? Well, he wasn't just to sit down
in an easy chair and have a rest. No, God had a work for him to
do. And the Lord told him, and he
said, prophesy, which means to preach, which means to declare
the truth of God. He was told to prophesy upon
these bones and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word
of the Lord." Or we might think, well, there's no prospect of
them hearing. How can dry bones hear the word
of the Lord? Again, it might be a temptation
to us today to think, well, There's no point in preaching to people
because they weren't here, they don't want to hear, they're not
concerned, and therefore what's the point in preaching, what's
the point in prophesying to them? Well here we have a very clear
direction from God to Ezekiel, what he was to say. He was to
preach to them in this way, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the
Lord. And we might think, well, what
a foolish thing to say, what a foolish thing to do. But nonetheless,
here was God speaking to Ezekiel. And was Ezekiel going to ignore
the truth of God's word? Was he going to say, well, there's
no point in doing that? Because, well I can just sit
down and anyway God will convert these people or bring these bones
to bear if it's his will. No, Ezekiel was told and given
an authority to preach and to do this and he was willing and
able to do it. And we are today, we are to go
into all the world and to preach the gospel. We're not to sit
at home and just say, well of course we know that God can work.
Of course he could work. But the Lord has ordained that
it's through the foolishness of preaching that the Lord will
convert. And we don't know what will prosper,
this or that. But nonetheless, here was the
word of the Lord spoken to Ezekiel. And what he was to say, O ye
dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God
unto these bones, Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you,
and ye shall live." Well, we know of course that if we don't
have breath, there's no life. And we know that in the beginning,
in the creation, when God created Adam and Eve, and he made them,
there was flesh and bones when he made Adam, but there was no
breath. and God breathed into him the
breath of life and he became a living soul. So we see here
a similar situation. There was a necessity not only
for these bones as they were scattered about to come together
and to be joined with flesh and skin and muscles and everything
else, but there was a need for breath to be given to them. And so we have this statement
here which God says, behold. And when the word of God tells
us that word, behold, it's something we need to recollect and take
notice of as being very true and very relevant. Behold, I
will cause breath to enter into you and you shall live. Now the
significance of that is this. Ezekiel was commanded what to
preach. He was there told that he must
preach these words, but he was not able to produce life himself. He could have preached all day
and every day and had no success at all. But nonetheless, he was
to preach and the success came from God, because this is what
the Lord said, I will cause breath to enter into you and you shall
live. You see, that is the work of
the Spirit of God. And we cannot do that ourselves.
But we can bless God that God can do it and God does do it.
Think of the occasion in the New Testament when the Lord Jesus
spoke to Nicodemus. You remember Nicodemus was somebody
who came to Jesus by night and he was intrigued by the things
that had been spoken. He came to Jesus by night and
said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come
from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except
God be with him. And then Jesus answered, we might
think in a rather strange way, but it was a very important statement
he made. He said, Verily, verily, I say
unto you, except a man be born again, He cannot see the kingdom
of God. Now, of course, Nicodemus was
unaware of what that meant. He couldn't understand it. So
he asks and says, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he
enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus
answered, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born
of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom
of God. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Marvel
not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again." And then
he comes and he makes this statement. The wind bloweth where it listeth,
and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it
cometh, and whither it goeth. So is every one that is born
of the Spirit. That means that God breathes
life, the Spirit comes into a soul. You know when a baby is born,
they breathe the breath of life, they become a living soul. So
it is in a spiritual way, when God breathes into us the breath
of spiritual life and we become then alive spiritually. No more are we dead. We are born
again by the Spirit of God. And it's because God has caused
breath to come into us. And when that breath comes into
us, as the word says here, then we live. We are spiritually alive. What a wonderful thing that is.
It was a wonderful situation here and it's still a wonderful
thing today when God breathes that life into our soul and we
become spiritually alive. One thing I know, whereas I was
blind, now I see. We have the sight and the understanding
to appreciate that that breath of life has come into our soul
and that we are therefore a living soul. We are no longer spiritually
dead, we are spiritually alive. So it's a wonderful consideration
to think that here was the Lord Jesus Christ, so many years after
of course when this prophecy of Ezekiel and now really spelling
it out to Nicodemus how it occurs, and yet he wasn't to know how
it occurs. He said the wind blows, we don't
know how the wind blows, do we? We don't know how it comes, it
blows, we know it blows, and we can hear it, we can understand
it, we don't know how it comes, and it's exactly the same in
our spiritual life. We don't know how it comes, but
when it does come, we know it's there, and we bless God for it. So we see here this statement
given to Ezekiel, Very clearly he says, behold I will cause
breath to enter into you and ye shall live. The Lord's work
and it's a great work and it's a wonderful work and it's a glorious
work and we love to see it and we want to know we possess it
in our own hearts and that God has breathed that breath of life
into our soul. So he says there, he goes on
to say, I will lay sinews upon you and will bring up flesh upon
you and cover you with skin and put breath in you and ye shall
live and ye shall know that I am the Lord." How very positive
was this statement. And this of course was what Ezekiel
was commanded by God to preach. He was told to preach this. And
he didn't reason, he didn't say, well I'm not sure whether these
are good words, I'm not sure whether this is true, I'm not
sure whether I should speak in this way. But we read what he
did. So we read these words. So I
prophesied as I was commanded. God had commanded him to speak
in this way. And my friends, God commands
his preachers to preach in this way today. We don't know what
will profit this or that, but nonetheless God commands that
which is to be spoken. And we are not to turn away from
it and say, well I don't think that's quite right. Here was
Ezekiel commanded by God to speak in this way, to preach like this,
O you dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. And how important
that is for us today, as ministers preach, they preach like this,
to the people that they should hear the word of the Lord. They may appear to be dead. You can imagine, can you not,
if we went out into the Middle East today, perhaps some of those
Islamic countries, or perhaps in India, Hindus, where predominantly,
perhaps almost 100%, perhaps sometimes 100%, they are dead
spiritually. And you might think, well, what's
the purpose? What shall I preach? Here is the word. Oh ye dry bones,
hear the word of the Lord. Because as these words are preached,
you see, as the word of the Lord is declared, then we know that
the Spirit of God can breathe that breath of life into souls
and they become alive spiritually, a living soul. And so he says,
I prophesied as I was commanded. Now, did he prophesy in vain? Was it a waste of time? Was he
spending his strength wrongly? Was he just speaking words and
they would just fall into the ground? No. He was obeying the word of
the Lord. And there was an effect, because
he was obeying what God had commanded him to do. And there was an effect. And it's a great blessing in
our lives today, if when the word of God is preached, there
is an effect upon us, that we know it is. The word of God to
God is speaking to us. And we therefore become a living
soul. So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was
a noise. And behold, a shaking. And the
bones came together, bone to his bone. An almost impossible
situation, wasn't it? Here was his valley, all these
bones scattered about. And you see when he preaches,
they were brought together. They came together. They didn't miss their place.
They came together. And the bones came together,
bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews
and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above.
But there was no breath in them. No, there was no life yet. There
was no life yet. He observed this. Then said he
unto me, Prophesy unto the wind. Prophesy, Son of Man, and say
to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God, Come from the four winds,
O breathe, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live." The
picture we have of those who are dead, those who have been
slain. And the truth is, of course, that everyone as they are born
in this world are really have been slain because of sin. Sin came into the world through
that sin that Eve and Adam committed in the Garden of Eden. That sin
entered in and the effect of that was to bring death. Adam and Eve had been told that. They had been told that in the
day they ate thereof, they would die. They might have thought
they were going to die physically. But of course on that particular
day when that occurred, they didn't die physically, they did
die spiritually. So they had no ability to make
themselves spiritually alive. There was of course also the
effect that they would die naturally because of that. It was a double
effect. But the terrible effect was that they would die spiritually
because they sinned. And we know that that sin which
Adam and Eve did and that Garden of Eden has passed upon all mankind. For all have sinned, all have
sinned. And therefore we are all in that
condition of being spiritually dead and we all need the effect
of the Holy Spirit, as it were, blowing into our hearts to produce
this evidence of life within. And so here is the Spirit of
God speaking to Ezekiel, and here is Ezekiel desiring. We see really here a time of
prayer. He's praying to God that the
Lord will come. Thus saith the Lord God, come
from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain
that they may live. And how important it is for us
today to realise how we need, we need the work of the Holy
Spirit of God coming upon us individually, coming upon us
indeed as a people and as a nation and as a world today. We need
the great effect and work of the Holy Spirit of God being
displayed. I know we need to pray that it
may be so. You see, we can preach, we can
say the word of God, but we need the effect of the Holy Spirit's
work in our hearts, in our souls, to produce the evidence of life. And so here was Ezekiel commanded
again to pray in this way. So he said, I prophesied as he
commanded me and the breath came into them and they lived. They lived and stood upon their
feet an exceeding great army. Well we of course know that it
was very true physically of Israel from Babylon they all rose up
And they did, of course, return every person to Jerusalem eventually. But we know that today there
is that great need for this breath to come upon us, upon the Church
of God, upon many people who today may appear to be just dry
bones. And remember, the word is spoken
here, very dry. They were very dry. There's absolutely
no evidence of any life. And it may be so in people today.
They may appear to be very dry. We might draw the analogy and
say people are very anti the things of God. They do not want
to hear about the things of God. They don't want to give it any
time. They have no time for God. They want to continue in an atheistic
way. and they want to believe in atheism,
that there is no God. They do not want to hear, they
do not want to listen. And yet you see, here is the
command to preach to such people and say, hear ye the word of
the Lord. Because as the word of the Lord
is spoken into their hearts, so the Spirit of God can come
and bring about that spiritual life So I prophesied as he commanded. And the breath came into them
and they lived and stood up upon their feet an exceeding great
army." In the Gospel of John we refer to the third chapter
already this morning, but in the first chapter we have some
words which speak to us about the great work of the Lord and
the great work of the Spirit of God. And we read these words
in the first chapter and the twelfth verse. As many as received
him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on his name, which were born, not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of
God." See here, the great work of the Spirit of God, we see
here the sovereignty of God, we see here the power of God,
and how this is so true. Not born of the Spirit naturally. You see, you and I can't implant
spiritual life in anyone. We would like to, I'm sure, but
we won't be able to. It's God's prerogative and it's
God's prerogative so that He will gain and He will get all
the honour and all the glory as He gives spiritual life to
those who are dead. And if you and I have been brought
to that position where we've been given spiritual life, we
will give thanks to our God. We will desire to praise our
God for the wonderful gift that He has brought to us, the gift
of eternal life. because that light will never
go out. Once given, it's there eternally. It's a light that
shines in our heart and we know that the Lord Jesus Christ is
that light. And in this first chapter, we read this, The same
came for a witness to bear witness of the light, that all men through
him might believe. He was not that light, John the
Baptist, but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was
the true light. which lighteth every man that
cometh into the world." When the Lord gives us that spiritual
breath, that spiritual life, it's then that our eyes are opened,
we behold the light, Our ears are opened. We hear the truth
of God. It's an amazing change. It's
a wonderful change. And it is the work of the Holy
Spirit of God. And as such, we come and we give
thanks to our God for all that He's done, for His great mercy
in calling us, calling us who are unworthy sinners, calling
us by His grace, by His wonderful grace that unmerited favour The
Lord has come and made us spiritually alive. You know, the Apostle
Paul, when he wrote to the Ephesians, he said, and you hath he quickened,
or you hath he made alive, who were dead in trespasses and in
sins. Yes, they be made alive. And
my friends, by God's grace, you and I are made alive. And we
can truly thank God that we have been made alive. In the fifth
chapter of John's Gospel, we read in verse 21, For as the
Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, makes them alive,
even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. For the Father judgeth
no man, and hath committed all judgment unto the Son, that all
men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father, He
that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father, which hath sent
him. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me,
hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but
is passed from death unto life. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the
voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live." Beautiful
words, aren't they? Wonderful words of the Saviour.
How important they are for us today to realise the truth of
them and the need that we have of knowing the effect of the
Word of God in our heart to make us spiritually alive. You see,
it was here as Ezekiel was commanded by God to preach and to speak
the Word of God. Then the Spirit of God came upon
these dry bones and there was that breath which it brought
into them so they became a living soul and lived. So I prophesied
as he commanded me and the breath came into them and they lived. And that's the effect my friends
for every true believer. The Spirit of God comes into
their hearts and it produces life. That means they are now
spiritually alive. They are no longer dead in trespasses
and in sins. And it's so important for all
of us this morning to have that evidence in our hearts that the
Spirit of God has come into our hearts as the wind which blows. We may not have known how it's
come, but it's come and it's produced life. We bless God for
it, that we are now a living soul. Then he said unto me, Son
of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they
say, our bones are dry and our hope is lost. We are cut off
for our parts. That's what the effect is. That's
how we feel we are. But the blessing is that God
has breathed that life into our hearts. We are spiritually alive.
Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God,
Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to
come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the
Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought
you up out of your graves, and shall put my Spirit in you, and
ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land. Then shall
ye know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it, saith
the Lord." We have a God who works. We have a God who performs. We have a God who does that which
he says. God does not go back on his word. And we can rely upon the truth
of God's word. And so as we have this account
here, as we think of it in a spiritual reference to our own souls today,
to be able to consider whether we have heard Whether we've heard
God speaking to our hearts, and if we have heard it, it's because
the Spirit of God has blown upon us and produced that life within
so that we hear spiritually the Word of God and we know it has
an effect upon us and we have the evidence that we are born
again of the Spirit of God and we can bless God for it, and
we can praise Him for it, and we can thank Him for it. And
we can thank him indeed for the life of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Because it's only through what Christ has done of course, which
produces the effect of this true life. Because if it were not
for the Lord Jesus Christ taking away our sin, and carrying it
all away, and casting it away, we should still have sin. But
if we are brought to spiritual life, it's because we've been
blessed with that belief in God and belief in the Lord Jesus
Christ and belief in what he's done. He's bore our punishment. He's taken our sins. He shed
his blood that we might receive the forgiveness of sins and that
we might be redeemed, redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. So when this wind and when this
spirit comes upon us to reveal to us the Lord Jesus Christ There
will be reason to praise God that the Saviour, the only begotten
Son of God, was so willing to leave his throne in glory and
come into this sinful world and to suffer and to bleed and to
die that we might be given this great blessed gift of eternal
life. What a favour and what a mercy.
And then we think of that fourth case, of course, the end of time. when there will be that great
day of the resurrection. A day when all those who have
died in this world will be raised up from that dead condition.
Wherever they be, whatever their situation, their life will be
brought back and once again they will be brought back to life. And those who are of course alive
at that time, as we're told in the Word of God, will be caught
up in the air to be forever with the Lord, There will be that
great day of judgement, and everyone will have to give an account
of the things done in the flesh. Every single one, you'll be there,
I'll be there. We won't be able to hide. There
will be those who were called to the rocks to cover them. They
won't be able to, because God will have come in all His power
and glory. He came to Bethlehem as that
little babe. When He comes again, He will
come in all His power and all His glory, with all the holy
angels with Him. It'll be that great day when
time shall be no more and eternity will commence. When there is
no time, my friends, you and I will be there. We'll either
be amongst those who hear those words, come in ye blessed of
my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the earth, or we shall hear those terrible words, depart
from me, I never knew you. One of those two conditions you
and I will be found in. If we are amongst those who receive
this breath of life, this spiritual life, we will be amongst the
former who hear those glorious words and will be found in heaven
forever and ever praising and blessing God for his great salvation,
for his wonderful mercy, his amazing love that caused him
to come and to die that we might live. Well, may we bless God
today that we have such an account as this. in Ezekiel's prophecy,
and may we bless the Lord if he's given us life, and if we
don't have the evidence of that life today, may we earnestly
pray to him that we might be given that great gift of eternal
life, so that we may know that we indeed are amongst those for
whom Christ died, and amongst those who will one day be found
with him in glory. I remember what Ezekiel said,
O son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord
God, Thou knowest. Amen.