Ezekiel 37:1-14
How many of you ever wanted to have a do over? You realize that you could have done something a different way or acted a different way and just want to have a chance to start over again. I have many days like that. . . my family seems to know that when I say can we have a do over. . . I really mean business. . . things are going terribly wrong and I just want to start over again. . . even though I know that I can’t. . . it just feels good saying it. If we had a chance to do it over. . . I am sure that most of us would jump at the chance.
I know that I have asked for a do over with people, especially with my family and I get the do over. . . we try to start again, but. . . what has happened before that do over still looms in the air so is that really a do over? But. . . with God . . . we have a true do over. With God. . . we get true forgiveness with our do over. Hebrews 8:12 states that God “Will be merciful to their iniquities and I will remember their sins no more”. Our slate is wiped clean and we can begin anew. (We get. . . a do over)
When we come on bended knee and accept Christ as our Lord and Savior we get a do over. 2Corinthians 5:17 tells us “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” We are renewed, changed. The past is past. . . the slate is wiped clean. . . and BEHOLD. . . new things have come. I like the way that the Amplified Bible states this verse from Corinthians. It says that “Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come!” Wow. . . now that makes me stop and think. We are “ingrafted” in Christ. . . we are a new creature altogether. . . our old “moral and spiritual condition is gone. . . A fresh, new start! (We get. . . a do over)
The Ezekiel passage from this morning also talks about renewal. . . a do over. The exiles are lamenting that their bones are dried up, their hopes perished and they are utterly cut off. Yahweh. . . instructs the prophet to inform his audience. . . the exiles. . . that their present situation and consequent despair will. . . be. . . transformed. The bones come together with sinews and flesh came upon it and it was cover with skin. But. . . there was no breath within them. God then tells Ezekiel to summon the breath. . . the spirit. . . from the four winds to breathe. . . blow. . . upon “these slain.”)Wind also means ruah (ruah Eloim~breath of God) and the four winds appear to be the powerful source of the ruah Ezekiel must summon.) Now as a consequence of this. . . of these procedures of the sinews, flesh, skin and the breath that God causes. . . the bones will live; more importantly, the Lords larger purpose will be accomplished: the revived people will know and acknowledge who Yahweh is. They will know the power of God!
When we raise our vision to look beyond what our mundane. . . ordinary. . . eyes can see, we watch the impossible happen through God’s eyes. “I can’t believe my eyes,” we say when we have witnessed an utterly unanticipated and/or seemingly impossible event take place. But we can believe God’s eyes and, seeing through them, glimpse unimagined reasons to keep on hoping, though the desert can be dry and dark, and the Promised Land far, far away. (We get. . . a. . . do over)
Ezekiel also states in verse 14 that “I will put my Spirit in you. And you will live again. I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I have spoken. I have done it," announces the Lord.' "We are given the Spirit of God so that we can live again. I would like to read you a poem from my favorite poet. . . it is titled Wind in the Bones. I think it sums up this passage from Ezekiel well. It reads:
Not merely a breath,
the breath of life
whispered into the bones.
No, the wind, from the ends of the earth
called, commanded to the valley
to breath life into the dry bones
the winds of the dead, the exhaled
breath of life, reinvigorating,
awakening the nation
called to life by God,
through the prophet,
given life by the four winds
It is God’s breath, His wind. . . that gives new life.
The Romans passage tells us that “But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.” We are made alive again even though we were dead because of sin. (We get. . . a. . . do over)
In the John Gospel from this morning. . . Jesus talks about a new life. In verses 25-26 Jesus says to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” We have eternal life through our belief in Jesus Christ. AMEN! Jesus also gave Lazarus new life in this passage to God’s Glorification. Our new life is to Glorify God.
I have had time to contemplate on this “new life” thing. . . this concept. This is the analogy that was brought to mind. We are like a caterpillar crawling around looking for something to eat (we are in our sinful nature looking for something that will sustain us). . . when the caterpillar finds the right thing for it to eat they stay and eat and grow (we finally come to the throne of Grace and realize that Jesus is the only thing that will satisfy us. We stay and we learn and feed our souls).When it is time they cocoon themselves (we rest in the presence of God. . . enveloped in his wings of love and redemption. We are sheltered by the Most High). When it is time the caterpillar emerges from its chrysalis and has been transformed into a beautiful Butterfly (we are transformed and are given wings to soar on high. . . transformed into a thing of beauty with God’s love shining through us). (We get. . . our. . . do over)
The way to experience God’s love for the world that defeats death, to receive the promises of God as the reality of God, is to believe in Jesus. We get a do over. We are able to have a right relationship with God. After the first Adam. . . the only way to try and have that relationship with God was through animal sacrifices. But with the 2nd Adam, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, he became that ultimate sacrifice. . . the final sacrifice for the remission of sin. Adam was made by the Divine and it took the Divine to save us from his sin. The divine created the 1st Adam and had to become the 2nd in order to correct the mistake of the first. The Divine sacrifice found in our Risen Lord Jesus Christ.
AMEN
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