5/19 Sermon - God Breathes His Spirit Into You
Ezekiel 37:1-14
Intro. Have you ever seen the Lion King? I am going to describe a scene. Maybe it’s review, maybe it’s new. Simba and Nala, as cubs, go on an adventure. Simba wants to show-off, so he takes Nala to the “elephant graveyard.” They see a giant elephant skull. As a pack of hyenas chase them, the whole valley opens up, a valley of dry, dry bones, scattered everywhere, elephants long dead.
1. Our reading from Ezekiel starts with a vision of a huge valley of dried bones, like that valley. Wouldn’t that be a little gross? We’re told this is perhaps the aftermath of a battle. Thousands gather in that valley and died. Now it’s filled with dry, dry bones. Bones that are long dead. They almost look like stone. Bones everywhere! That’s what this scene would look like.
2. God brings Ezekiel to this valley in his vision, and God asks Ezekiel a simple question: “Can these bones live? Can these dry, dry bones, long dead, that look like stone, can they live?”
How do you think Ezekiel wanted to answer that? How would you answer that? No, of course not! They’re bones. Dry. Long dead. Not a single bit if sinew, flesh remains on them. Lifeless. Dry. Dead. There’s no life possible in that valley.
Can these dry bones live? Does God’s Word have power? Can God give life? “Lord, you alone know.”
3. Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’” Can these dry bones live? Yes, God says. I will give them life. I will make these dry, dry bones flesh and blood bodies, I will breath life into them, God says. God has the power. He is the LORD almighty.
And that’s exactly what happened! The valley of dry bones came to life! The scene almost plays out like a YouTube video, you can imagine it in your head. Hit play on the video, and what happens? “Prophesy,” God says. “Prophesy my word to them!” Ezekiel does.
So first, Ezekiel prophesies. And there was a rattling noise, like wind shaking the trees at night. And the bones move together and forming, and attach to the bones around it. And skeletons appear! We’ve all had a science class in school, right? Lots of science classrooms have those skeletons in the corner? That’s what Ezekiel sees.
Then, flesh and sinew started to cover the bones. Human bodies stand before him. With noses, sin, hair, eyes, everything! But, we’re told, there was no breath in them. These bodies still did not live.
God says to Ezekiel, “Prophesy again, Son of Man, to the winds, to fill them.” So Ezekiel prophesies, and breadth entered the bodies. And they lived.
Can these bones live? Yes. God raised them from the dead. God breathed his Spirit, life, into them.
11 Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.’”
This prophesy has an immediate fulfillment. God was talking about the nation of Israel. Babylon conquered, captured, and exiled the people. Babylon ripped Israel from their land and took them again. Israel lost hope. Would they ever return to their land? God uses this prophesy to say, “Yes, God will resurrection the nation of Israel. Bring you back.” But this prophesy has so much more meaning than just that.
4. Does your life seem like a valley of dry bones? DO you feel like a pile of dry bones sometimes? Lifeless, like we have no hope to look forward to? Dry, as if there weren’t any joy or happiness or energy in our life? Forgotten, like nobody seems to care? Useless, like no matter what you do, you can’t seem to help or change anyone, or make a difference?
And maybe we start to doubt the power of God’s Word. “Son of Man,” God says. “Can these dry bones lives?” Does God’s Word really work? Does God’s Word have power? Will it really help me? We look around our life and we see a valley of dry bones. We look at ourselves, a pile of dry bones, and we can start to think, “No, these dry bones can’t live.”
God breathes his Spirit into you! God gives us the holy Spirit. By nature, we are dead bones. We are a lifeless pile of bones. There is no life in us apart from God. But God, by his grace, breathes his Spirit into us. And we have new life. We are raised from a pile of dead bones to living, breathing children of God.
It’s easy for us to forget the work of the Holy Spirit, isn’t it? We’re so focused on Jesus, for good reason! I’ve heard others call the HS the silent person of the trinity. But it’s the Holy Spirit who makes us alive, who brings us into Jesus. He gives us a spiritual resurrection.
This is what we confess in the third article of both the Nicene and Apostle’s creed. We confess the Holy Spirit, who gives us the forgiveness of sins, resurrection from the grave, and life everlasting. Jesus died for our sins, rose for our life, ascended to rule all things. But Jesus sends the Spirit into our hearts. God breathes his Spirit into us. He makes us alive, just like that valley of dried bones. The Holy Spirit is the one who gives us spiritual and eternal life.
How does that happen? Through God’s Word. Our readings all emphasize this. God commanded Ezekiel to preach, not what he was feeling, not what he wanted, but what God told him to preach. How did Peter start his sermon on Pentecost? He said, “Hear the Word of the Lord!” and his whole sermon was based on God’s Word! God breathes his Spirit into you through his Word.
6. What does that mean, God breathes his Spirit into you?
You have a counselor, a friend. In our reading from John, Jesus says, “It if for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.” God breathes his Spirit into you. Now you have the advocate, the counselor, living in your heart. You’re not alone. You’re not abandoned. You’re not a forgotten pile of bones. You have a counselor. Someone who is always by your side. Someone who speaks to you through God’s Word. Because God breathes his Spirit into you.
You have confidence. Peter and the apostles spoke boldly to 1000s of people. They ended by saying, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” And 3,000 people believed in God that day. Brothers and sisters, the Word of God works! The Spirit of God is powerful. It can be easy to doubt it, but today, I want you to know that same Spirit who came on the 12 apostles, the same Spirit who gave new life to 3000 people on Pentecost, the same Spirit who has been with the church for 2000 years is with you now today. God breathes that same Spirit into you.
Do you know an interesting detail about Ezekiel’s vision? The bones didn’t come together all at once. Ezekiel prophesied twice. He had to repeat his message. So often, conversion isn’t just a one-time deal. People need to hear the Word again and again. And we get to be a part of that process! Just because someone rejects our message or our initiation doesn’t mean God’s Word didn’t work. God breathes into this world all the time.
Sometimes, I need that too. The life goes out of me, I feel dry and lifeless once more. I feel like a pile of dry bones. And this happens to Christians even when they’ve been Christians for years, for decades! But again and again, God breathes his Spirit into us by his Word. We need to come back and hear the life-giving word, breath in the Spirit every day, every week. By God’s Word, by the breath of the Spirit, we have life.
