Deeper Life Conference Tonight, 6:30
I will put my Spirit in you
and you will live
Ezekiel 37:14
Dry bones.
That’s what this chapter is about.
God warned Israel. God warned Israel. God warned Israel. Prophet after prophet … God warned Israel.
When Israel failed to repent, God took his hand of protection off of his chosen people. God allowed Babylon to conquer his people in Judah. (Have you ever done that with your kids? Let them suffer the sting of their own consequences?)
To weaken their enemy’s political strength, the Babylonians scattered those they had conquered across the kingdom. They became like dry bones. Conquered. Separated. Scattered. Lifeless and dry.
But not abandoned!
God may have removed his hand of protection from Judah, but God didn’t permanently forsake his people. Through the work of Ezra and Nehemiah (and even King Cyrus of Persia, see Ezra 1:1-4), God would restore his chosen people in Jerusalem.
In the meantime, however, God gave his people comfort through the prophet Ezekiel. Once this prophet had declared doom … and it came true. Now this truth-teller was proclaiming hope. Israel was conquered, scattered, and lifeless. They felt like they were dry bones, ready for the grave. But God, through Ezekiel, promised to reconnect the foot bones to the shin bone, and the shin bones to the knee bones.
God was promising to stretch sinews and ligaments over these lifeless pieces of cartilage. He was promising to wrap Israel in skin again. Most of all, God promised to breathe! Like our Lord did at creation with a handful of dust, God promised to breathe the breath of life.
That’s the figurative image. The literal words from God are: “I will put my Spirit in you and you will live.”
In what areas and in what ways are you lifeless? Breathe deep! Because God is already breathing first. He’s causing his Spirit to blow like a mighty rushing wind. He wants nothing more than to give you new and bigger life.
In Christ’s Love,
a guy who’s probably
more of a knucklehead
than a knuckle-bone
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