RESTORED TO LIFE

OCTOBER 18, 2023 

Ezekiel 37:1-14 

The LORD took hold of me, and I was carried away by the Spirit of the LORD to a valley filled with bones. He led me all around among the bones that covered the valley floor. They were scattered everywhere across the ground and were completely dried out. Then he asked me, “Son of man, can these bones become living people again?” “O Sovereign LORD,” I replied, “you alone know the answer to that.”

Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say, ‘Dry bones, listen to the word of the LORD! This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again! I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’”

So I spoke this message, just as he told me. Suddenly as I spoke, there was a rattling noise all across the valley. The bones of each body came together and attached themselves as complete skeletons. Then as I watched, muscles and flesh formed over the bones. Then skin formed to cover their bodies, but they still had no breath in them. 

Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to the winds, son of man. Speak a prophetic message and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come, O breath, from the four winds! Breathe into these dead bodies so they may live again.’” 

So I spoke the message as he commanded me, and breath came into their bodies. 

They all came to life and stood up on their feet—a great army. Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones represent the people of Israel. They are saying, ‘We have become old, dry bones—all hope is gone. Our nation is finished.’ 

Therefore, prophesy to them and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O my people, I will open your graves of exile and cause you to rise again. Then I will bring you back to the land of Israel. When this happens, O my people, you will know that I am the LORD. I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live again and return home to your own land. 

Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken, and I have done what I said. Yes, the LORD has spoken!’”

 

So the Prophet Ezekiel is shown a vision about the spiritual condition of the people of Israel. The people of Israel felt that they were disconnected from God and stood in a place where they felt dry and hopeless. “They are saying, ‘We have become old, dry bones—all hope is gone. Our nation is finished.’”

I believe most of us can relate to this feeling, haven’t we gone through a similar journey in our lives? Seasons when we have felt hopeless, dry and cut-off? 

What I am drawn toward in this passage is that God doesn’t seem to scold the people for a lack of confidence and trust in the covenant God. Rather, God sent a word to his people through his prophet. 

Let me pause for a moment to say this, as you were reading our Ezekiel passage today, you may have found that this word spoken centuries ago, was your prophecy for today! 

There is a truth here that says that the God who restored the future of the people of Israel by sending His breath of life and resurrecting all the dead dry bones through his spirit, can do the same for you, for us. God can resurrect those dead and dry places in your life, where you feel that you are completely lost and there is no hope. What do you need the life-giving breath of God to blow on and resurrect in your life today? Your dead finances? Your dead marriage? Your dead family relationship? Your dead situation at work? Your _______________ ? You fill in the blank.

 

Spend some moments in prayer, during this quiet time ask the Holy Spirit to resurrect your faith and trust in God, ask God through his holy spirit to move and work in your life to bring about resurrection. Present those areas to God and release them to him. 

I believe, you will see restoration and new life happen in you. I have listened to many testimonies from people who were without hope and thought all was lost, and then, God moved, breathed, resurrected not only their failing spirit, but circumstances that were crashing against their lives.  As apostle Paul writes in Romans 8: 11,  the same spirit that resurrected Christ from the dead, is alive in us. (memorize this!) Listen, read it slowly, let it sink in, The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.”

My fellow Jesus followers, let us live in the resurrection power that lives in us, and may the outcome be a grace-filled experience of restoration in the name of Jesus.

 LET US PRAY

God, I pray that you will restore my lost hope and future. Just as you promised to the people of Israel, “I have spoken, I have done it”, help me to hold on to your promises and to your word. I receive the restoring wind of your Spirit today,  in Jesus’ name, Amen.