Dem Bones Gonna Rise Again
Ezekiel 37:1-14

As I read, studied, thought about, and meditated on today’s text from Ezekiel, a phrase from the evening hymn “Abide with Me” kept coming to mind. “Change and decay in all around I see.” I suppose the association is because Ezekiel’s vision is of a vast bone yard.

“Change” means to make something different. It implies turning or converting something from one state, form, or substance into another. We are living in times of tremendous social, technological, political, economic, and environmental change.

About two million people from countries all around the world have crossed our southern border illegally and fanned out across the country changing the demographic composition of our nation.

The creation of artificially intelligent machines is still in its infancy, but experts in the field project that in the not-too-distant future millions of human jobs will be performed by machines significantly altering our work force. A more immediate technological change is the transition from fossil fuel powered vehicles to electric powered transportation and self-driving vehicles. These changes are examples of a larger technological revolution that is underway. A recent book entitled A Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century makes the following observations about technological change. “The accelerating rate of change in the modern world has outstripped the capacity of our brains and bodies to adapt. We evolved to live in clans, but today many people do not even know their neighbor’s names. In our haste to discard outdated gender roles, we increasingly deny the flesh-and-blood realities of sex–and its ancient roots. The cognitive dissonance spawned by trying to live in a society we are not built for is killing us. We are listless, divided, and miserable. Wealth and comfort are unparalleled, but our political landscape is unmoored, and rates of suicide, loneliness, and chronic illness continue to skyrocket.” This is the negative side of rapid technological change.

The landscape of our politics and economics are also influx. For the first time 42% of the population views Socialism positively believing it creates a fairer, more generous system than Capitalism. This is a titanic shift.

The planet’s climate is changing. The cause of climate change is disputed. Some believe warming global temperatures are the result of human beings burning fossil fuels while others think it is just a normal cycle of nature, but there is general agreement that temperatures are rising, and the warming is affecting our weather patterns.

On the international level, China is asserting itself in an effort to become the dominant world superpower. Russia is threatening to invade Ukraine, Iran is fast approaching nuclear weapons capability, and the pandemic, with all its colossal changes, is still very much with us. Indeed, the times they are a changing.

Decay is also obvious all around us too. “Decay” speaks of decomposition, declension, ruin, decline, and decrease. Decay is certainly evident in nature. As the apostle Paul said, “Creation was subjected to the bondage of decay” (Romans 8:20-21). We are in the fall of the year now and winter is fast approaching. The hours of sunlight are decreasing, the temperature is falling, and the leaves are dying and dropping from the trees. Decay is perennially present in the biological world. We feel it, on only in the changing seasons, but in our bodies as we age or when we battle illness.

There also appears to be a moral declension at work among us. Last Sunday I mentioned that we are enjoying the remnants of American Christendom, but our cultural Christianity is fraying fast. This is evident in our cities with the rise of crime, especially murders and brazen theft. Many of us do not feel safe when we are out in public. Even here in the Bible Belt a moral rot seems to be taking hold. Sexual immorality, drug and alcohol addiction, and a general coarseness are common in the populace. While a large majority of people in the deep South still self-identify as Christians, the profession of faith seems to have little bearing on how people live, think, and behave. Some have termed it “practical atheism,” believing in God without any moral implications of such faith. There is a lamentable and undeniable decay in American Christendom.

Yes, “Change and decay in all around I see.” The pressing question is “Can the Lord’s work ever be revived in the midst of the years?”

Ancient Israel found herself in similar and actually much more dire circumstances than our own. Last Sunday we read from Jeremiah 29. The text preserves a letter that Jeremiah wrote from Jerusalem to the Jews in Babylonian exile advising them how-to live-in captivity. Jeremiah’s letter was written not long after the first Jews were sent into exile. In contrast, Ezekiel himself was taken into captivity in Babylon, and things had gone from bad to worse. After king Zedekiah of Judah rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, the armies of Babylon invaded Judah a second time raising the city of Jerusalem, destroying the temple, and taking more of the inhabitants of the land away into captivity.

The Jews felt they were done for. Our text preserves part of the Jew’s lament in captivity. They said of themselves, “Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely” (vs. 11). The Jews were despairing in exile. The Jews’ lament over the change and decay surrounding them was appropriate. When things are falling apart, lamentation is the natural human response. We too should raise our voices to God in lamentation for the change and decay that surrounds us. However, we must not let our lamentation end in despair. Why? Because we serve the God who raises what is dead to life.

Ezekiel was brought out by the Spirit of the LORD and set down in the middle of a valley that was full of very dry bones. There was no evidence of life. The LORD asked Ezekiel, “Son of man, can these bones live” (vs. 3)? Staring at the bones, Ezekiel also felt despairing and hopeless. All he could muster in response the LORD’s question was, “O LORD God, you know” (vs. 3).

Ezekiel’s timidity and Israel’s despair were no hinderance to God’s plans for good to give his people a future with hope (Jeremiah 29:11). God commanded Ezekiel to prophecy to the dry bones. “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on 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” (vs. 4-6). When Ezekiel prophesied to the bones they began to rattle and move! The foot bone connected to the leg bone, and the leg bone connected to the knee bone, and the knee bone connected to the thigh bone, etc. Sinews, flesh, and skin covered the skeletons, but they were lifeless.

Next, God commanded Ezekiel to prophecy to the ruah. Ruah is a Hebrew word that is variously translated, depending on the context, as wind, breath, or Spirit. The New Revised Standard Version translates ruah as breath. When Ezekiel prophesied a second time, the lifeless corpses were filled with the breath of life. The vision is reminiscent of God’s first act of human creation in Eden when the LORD God breathed into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life and Adam became a living being (Gen. 2:7).

Then, God identified the reconstituted men, women, and children. “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel” (vs. 11). It is fascinating that the valley of bones symbolized all of the Jews. The northern kingdom of Israel had been obliterated by the Assyrians some 130 years before the southern kingdom of Judah fell to the Babylonians. Yet, God’s promise extended even to the northern kingdom that had disappeared as a nation long before. God’s message through Ezekiel was to the whole house of Israel, the northern and southern kingdoms alike!

This is such an important word for us, for the Bible Belt and the rest of the country. When we look around, all we see is change and decay, but we have to do with the God who raises what is dead, not only in the resurrection at the end of the age but also in history when all seems hopeless, and we are tempted to despair. Despite the social, technological, political, economic, environmental changes of our time, despite the physical, moral and religious decay we see, our God can still breath into us the Ruah, the Spirit of the living God.

This is also a vitally important word for us as a church. Look around the sanctuary on any Sunday morning. We are fewer in number and older than we used to be. I know you are worried about it and so am I, but we must not allow our concern to end in despair. We must not say to ourselves, “Our bones are dried up, our hope is lost; we are almost completely cut off.” We must not despair because God can yet put his Spirit with in us and cause us to live for his glory. Despite the change and decay that all around we see, our God is the God who raises up the dead and dying.

Hope is another great theme of the season of Advent. The hope of the world has come, and his name is Jesus. Jesus is in our midst today as Immanuel, God with us. As you survey the sanctuary, use your imagination, and envision a resurrection. There are literally thousands and thousands of people all around us who have bones, sinews, flesh, and skin, but there is no breath of God in them yet. God can use us, as God used Ezekiel, and the breath of God can invade people, and they can become truly alive to God and to their neighbor.
Can these bones live? Can our nation be restored? Can our city be reformed? Can our sanctuary be full and fruitful? O LORD God, only you know. Yet, we also know and believe that you are the God of all flesh. Nothing shall be impossible for you.

Our bones are not completely dried up. Our hope is not utterly lost. We are not cut off yet. On this second Sunday of Advent, let us hope in the LORD to restore our fortunes as a nation, as a city, and as a congregation.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. All glory be to God who raises up what is dead. Alleluia! Amen.