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I did not say faith in the power of the word of Presidents, Senators, Congressmen, Governors, nor in the word of Mayors. I did not say faith in the power in the word of any other human being, be he a preacher, teacher or you name it. We have faith in many people and many things, but the emphasis of the lesson today is faith in the power of God Word.
God asked Ezekiel the question, "son of man can these bones live"? The Bible challenges us with great questions, which humbles us by its mysteries, excites our intellectual energies, and regulates our daily activities. Sometimes the Bible, may asks us little trivial questions, but at other times it'll ask questions that challenge our minds while at the same time, wrecking our nerves.
My brothers and sisters, there are some Biblical questions that can only be dealt with through faith. By asking the question, "can these bones live"? is like asking, "can a dying Church be revived"? or can the preaching deliver her from the deadness and dullness of religious formality. By asking, "can these bones live"? is like asking, "can political, economical, educational efforts be effective in the redemption of our culture without spiritual cleansing and renewal"? or "can a corrupt social order be healed of its menacing effect on society"? or "can shattered dreams, broken hopes, and cherished ambitions, be caught up and made something wonderful"?
By asking, "can these bones live"? is like asking, "can the hymns which our fore parents, sang in the old Church, which now seemed to have placed on a permanent vacation in many of our Churches today; hymns like I love the Lord He heard my cry, guide me over thy great Jehovah, a charge to keep I have a God to glorify a never dying soul to save and fitted for the sky, Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me"? Surely this question deserves an answer, and to be honest with you, I don't have the answer, but God does. There are some things, my brothers and sisters that finite understanding must turn over to infinite wisdom.
We mere mortals are here for only a short while, and then we vanish like a vapor. And if by reason of strength we find Salvation, when this life is over, we'll fly away to the land of no more. No more dying, no more crying, no more good byes, to live with the God who has powers that are beyond human comprehension. What other God do you know that can make an axe head float on water. What other God can make a mule and a rooster preach. What other God could take a raven and turn him into a waiter, and feed His prophet. What other God can turn a tree into a choir stand, put songs in the mouths of wild birds, who sing without musicians or choir directors.
I know this, that if God can do all of that, then He really doesn't need me to preach His Word. He could have told the lightning to flash His Word across the sky or He could have commanded the thunder to roar His Word into your ears, or He could have put His Word on the wings of the wind and ordered the winds to blow it everywhere, and when the Church stops praising Him, He can make rocks cry out. Before God ever asks a question, He already knows the answer. "Son of man, He asked, "can these bones live"? (aypwm).
Ezekiel was both a Priest and a prophet. He was called to prophesy while Judah was in captivity in Babylon. Ezekiel was a man of intense moral earnestness and deep personal humility, evident for his faithfulness to Jehovah God. Nebuchadnezzar the king who founded the Babylonian Empire had descended upon Jerusalem and carried away into captivity many of its citizens among whom was this prophet Ezekiel. Now far from the land of his nativity, at the river Chebar, one of the rivers of Babylon along whose banks Judah was scattered because of their disobedience to God Word.
Remember now that this is the same God who had heard their cry by reason of their task masters when they were in Egypt. God had stirred up the Eagle's nest, removing the softness of the nest from under them, to let the thorns of oppression stick them, in an attempt to turn their hearts to the Promised Land. God heard their cries and told Moses to go down to Egypt Land and tell Pharaoh to let my people go. Ezekiel speaking here in the text, says that the hand of the Lord was upon me and carried me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones. This was not any old kind of hand that Ezekiel was speaking of, but he said it was the hand of the Lord. This is a special hand (higaw).
This is a blessed hand. It is a comforting hand and loving hand. This hand is a compassionate, and consoling hand. Ezekiel said it was the hand of the Lord. A powerful hand so large and powerful that somebody wrote a song that said, "He's got the whole world in His hand". The hand of the Lord is a healing hand, a patient hand, and a trustworthy hand. The hand of the Lord is a miraculous hand that puzzles medical science. No other hands have ever placed unsanitary dirt and unsanitary spit into a blind man's eyes enabling him to see. Ezekiel says, " it was the hand of the Lord". The hand that forms these earthly houses we live in, not from the dirt of the ground but from the Bible says from the dust of the ground. The hand that made creeping crawling insects, flying birds, lowering cattle, and roaming beast. The hand of the Lord opens doors that no man can close and closes doors that no man can open. The hand of the Lord makes crooked ways straight, rough ways smooth, and hilly ways level. The hand of the Lord can give comfort to misery, healing to sickness, and all we have to do is go to God in prayer and ask Him to have mercy on us.
All we are really saying when we ask God to have mercy on us, is for Him to heal our bodies and remove the misery that has crept into our lives without an invitation.(higaw) Ezekiel says that the hand of the Lord was upon me and carried me away out in the Spirit of the Lord and sat me down. Notice if you would, what Ezekiel said. He said, "He sat me down". He didn't stand me up but sat me down; so that even if I was in a hurry I couldn't just get up and leave.(aypwm) He sat me down so that I could get a good look at all of those bones. He sat me down so that I could look at those bones analytically as well as theologically and try to give an answer to His question, "can these bones live"?
Ezekiel said that the hand of the Lord was upon me and carried me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and sat me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones. It wasn't just a few bones, but a whole lot of bones. There were bones everywhere. Looking to the right Ezekiel saw bones. When he looked to the left he saw bones. When he looked forward he saw bones. When he looked backwards he saw bones. Bones were everywhere; all kinds of bones, toe bones, foot bones, ankle bones, shin bones, thigh bones, hip bones, back bones, shoulder bones, arm bones, hand bones, finger bones, neck bones, skull bones, bones, bones, nothing but bones. Dry bones , which had been separated, dried out and bleached white by the blistering sun.
What Ezekiel saw down in the midst of the valley was Israel's deadness, their seperation, and their return to God. God had given Ezekiel a spiritual vision of the general resurrection, when one day the sea will give up it's dead and the dead in Christ shall rise in the newness of life. That day when every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess the Jesus Christ is Lord. Ezekiel says that God sat me down, He sat me down in a dry and a dead Church, where nobody had the time to come to Sunday School, where nobody had the time to come to Bible Study, where nobody had time to come to prayer meetings. You could almost hear Ezekiel saying, I was way down yonder in the valley all by myself and I couldn't hear nobody praying. It was in this desolate place that God asked Ezekiel the question, "son of man, can these bones live"? And Ezekiel gave the only answer that he could give, "O Lord God thou knowest.
What other answer could Ezekiel have given to the Omnipotent, Omnipresent, and Omniscient Jehovah. Who had in the ancient of days by His Word spoke to nowhere and nowhere became somewhere, who spoke to nothing and nothing became something, who spoke to nobody and nobody became somebody. What other answer could Ezekiel have given to the Almighty God, who had rolled up a ball of flaming gasses, hung it around the neck of the universe like a big golden medallion and ordered it to light up the day; who then took galactic illuminates sprinkled them into a dark sky and ordered them to light up the night. What other answer could Ezekiel have given to the God who had scooped out the seas with His own hand, weighed the mountains in scale and the hills in balance. What other answer could Ezekiel have given to the God who spun the earth on it's axis while causing it to revolve around the sun, dividing day from night, season from season and year from year.
What other answer could Ezekiel have given, "as I hurry on to a close". What other answer could Ezekiel have given to an all knowing God, What other answer could he have given to an ever present God, What other answer could he have given to an all knowing and an all wise God, "O Lord God thou knowest. Now my brothers and sisters it seems like God was telling Ezekiel, if you believe and have a little faith in the power of My Word, right now I want you to step out on faith and preach, My Word. Preach My Word to those dry bones. Tell those dry bones not just to listen but to hear the Word of the Lord. "Ooo Lord" And that's what Ezekiel did, he looked at those bones believing that faith in the power of God's Word would make everything all right (higaw).
I hear him saying O ye dry bones, hear the Word of the Lord. And the Bible says there was a noisy sound when he told those bones to hear the Word of the Lord. I tell you today, that when the Word of the Lord is heard, you can't hold you peace (****). There was a time when I said that I wasn't going to tell nobody, but when I heard the Word of the Lord, I just couldn't keep it to myself (higaw). "Ooo Lord" That's what happened to Ezekiel when he told those bones to hear the Word of the Lord.
There was a noisy sound in the valley, those bones began to shake and rattle and come together. Somebody said that (********) When all of those bones came together they formed a skeleton, but we all know that skeletons can't walk around and talk to nobody. So God told Ezekiel to keep on preaching until flesh came on them bones, He kept on preaching until breath came into those bones, when breath got in those bones, new life got in those bones, When the Word of the Lord is heard, new life, new life, new life can be yours. The old preacher would say I looked at my hand my hands looked new, I looked at my feet and they did too, I started walking, I started talking. These bones began to walk and they began to talk. I'm so glad I put my faith in the power of God's Word