I always think...
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Object:
I always think of that old spiritual "Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones, now hear the word of the Lord." Ezekiel receives a word from the Lord. Notice that the Lord has Ezekiel pronounce the words of resurrection for those bones. I'm not sure I would even obey if I heard a voice telling me to do that. I would more likely ask, "Who are you really?" But Ezekiel obeys and the Lord performs one of his greatest miracles. It was probably at the time of the Chaldean uprising. The people were understandably in despair. That is when the Lord can seem closest to us. The publication of the edict of Cyrus told of the return of Israel to their own land.
We wish he were in Iraq or Afghanistan and would raise our fallen on those battlefields for the sake of their families. This is just another example of the Lord not being predictable. Never read or write a book on how to make the Lord obey your requests. It would be useless.
The text says that when the bodies were all put together, they still did not breathe. The words "breath" or "wind" both mean Spirit! After God created Adam, it says he breathed the breath of life into Adam. That means he put his Spirit into him. It was not just mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. God and man could not communicate until we have God's Spirit.
In one respect the bones of our battles do live. They live with the Lord. We must remember that.
This passage is also a precursor of the New Testament resurrection of our Lord! It shows that the Lord has the power to raise the dead -- and especially his only Son. This passage may also allude to the general resurrection referred to by Jesus in John 5.
The first thing we have to remember is that we should wait until we hear the command of the Lord. Don't just run off and do something because you think it will help our cause. Especially don't try to do something as impossible as raising the dead. I had a friend who visited Asia and reported that someone had raised a person from the dead in addition to doing a lot of healings! I never confirmed it, but I do know that it created problems with the Muslim neighbors who didn't want to lose their people!
The last promise in the text is that they will all go back home. It is hard to imagine how the people must have felt -- both those who were raised and their families! Maybe that is one way to win those of other faiths. We still have to remember that we must wait for the Lord to call us, no matter how much we would like to solve all the world's problems by doing something so dramatic. Wait on the Lord.
We wish he were in Iraq or Afghanistan and would raise our fallen on those battlefields for the sake of their families. This is just another example of the Lord not being predictable. Never read or write a book on how to make the Lord obey your requests. It would be useless.
The text says that when the bodies were all put together, they still did not breathe. The words "breath" or "wind" both mean Spirit! After God created Adam, it says he breathed the breath of life into Adam. That means he put his Spirit into him. It was not just mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. God and man could not communicate until we have God's Spirit.
In one respect the bones of our battles do live. They live with the Lord. We must remember that.
This passage is also a precursor of the New Testament resurrection of our Lord! It shows that the Lord has the power to raise the dead -- and especially his only Son. This passage may also allude to the general resurrection referred to by Jesus in John 5.
The first thing we have to remember is that we should wait until we hear the command of the Lord. Don't just run off and do something because you think it will help our cause. Especially don't try to do something as impossible as raising the dead. I had a friend who visited Asia and reported that someone had raised a person from the dead in addition to doing a lot of healings! I never confirmed it, but I do know that it created problems with the Muslim neighbors who didn't want to lose their people!
The last promise in the text is that they will all go back home. It is hard to imagine how the people must have felt -- both those who were raised and their families! Maybe that is one way to win those of other faiths. We still have to remember that we must wait for the Lord to call us, no matter how much we would like to solve all the world's problems by doing something so dramatic. Wait on the Lord.
