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Read: Ezekiel 37:1-14
The Valley of Dry Bones
The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord GOD, you know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon 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.”So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them. 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.
Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’ Therefore, prophesy, and say to them, thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land 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. Then you shall know that I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the LORD.”
Good evening brothers and sisters in Christ, we’re now on our third installation for this week’s series entitled “Abide in Christ”.
Tonight I’m going to share to us all some of the reasons, not all (due to time constraints), why we need Christ in our lives- what are we when we’re apart from God.
1. Dead and useless
Yes, you heard that right.The great example of this is the vision of the prophet Ezekiel with regards to the valley of the dry bones:
“The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry.” (Ezekiel 37:1-2)
We are regarded to as bones with no sign of life whatsoever. We have such a very dreaded sickness and that no solution can ever be thought of in order to bring us back to life. Our spiritual barrenness corrupted us and our entire being, causing us to stumble and make a lot of wrong choices in life. We may excel in the standards of the world but when we zoom in unto our personal lives, there’s a gaping hole- no matter what you do, you can’t find any solution or covering for that hole.
One word that we can take note of is the word “dry” in verse 2
One commentary by Ellicott says about this, “as showing that it was a long time since life had left them, and that the possibility of their living again was far removed.”
Another by Benson it says there, “having been long exposed to the sun and wind in the open valley, and the marrow within, as well as the flesh without, being utterly wasted. This circumstance was intended to show how unlikely it was, humanly speaking, that the Jews should ever be delivered from their dispersion and restored; should ever be brought together again, and formed into a body politic, or even into the skeleton of one. Still more unlikely it is that the dead in sin should be quickened, and raised up into living Christians; and most unlikely of all, that the dead bodies of men, after they have been turned to dust, and scattered to the four winds of heaven, should live again, and become bodies of light and glory.”
As sin crouches and sucks the life of men, we are being rendered incapacitated and unable to even move around. We become what we wholeheartedly welcome in our lives.
2. No justification
Our sins require the wages of death (Romans 6:23). Death that is eternal.Apart from Christ, we cannot be justified by mere fulfillment of being and doing good. God’s Ten Commandments, which we can also call His moral law, shows us that those commandments cannot be perfectly followed by us and that it is His way of telling us that He’s the only one capable of doing those laws. Good in Merriam Webster has a lot of meaning and one of which says this, “something conforming to the moral order of the universe.” This means that being good means being morally perfect, of which, we cannot perfectly adhere to.
We are guilty of all aspects if we take closer look at ourselves.
Our connection with the Lord is not partial but rather 100% connected and reliant on Him. That’s why Jesus died for us because through Him we were justified from God’s moral court of law according to His grace upon us.
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” (Romans 3:23-26)
3. No living hope
Without Christ, our own kind of hope is anchored on the positive expectations that we have on our material wealth and morality.“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,” ((1 Peter 1:3-4)
The Israelites cannot find hope because their eyes are near sighted. They haven’t truly been genuine to God. And that, my friend, is our status as well when we are apart from Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ is our living hope that cannot be killed and quenched. His life and death and resurrection is a clear sign of victory for us all. Our victory is found in Him. Our strength is found in Him. Our authority over sin has been and will always be founded on the firm and solid ground and that is Jesus.
Friends, if you still have a lot of doubts about God, it’s time for you to surrender them to the Lord and let Him answer those things as you follow Him all throughout your life. Let Him speak to you through your life’s ups and downs. Let Him show you His answer through His Word. Let Him be your satisfaction. Nothing could ever replace God in your life that’s more important and valuable than Him. He is our breath of life and in Him, we move and have our being. Have a blessed day to you!
Photo by: Myunguen
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