Thursday, October 20

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Ezekiel 37:1-10

The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”

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.”

So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood on their feet – a vast army.

Have you ever heard of the Chinchorro people of ancient South America? I didn’t think so – most people haven’t. I only know about them because I was watching the History Channel one day a number of years while riding a stationary bike at my fitness center when they ran a piece on this ancient group of people.

The Chinchorro lived between 5,000 and 3,000 B.C. in the region or South America that, today, is Chile and Peru. They were a typical ancient sea-side culture of the time – except for one thing. They made mummies. They developed an amazingly effective technique of basically drying out and then stuffing the remains of their deceased loved ones in a way that preserved them for centuries. But what makes the Chinchorro people unique among the mummy-making cultures of the ancient world is that it appears they kept the mummies of loved ones in their homes - sometimes for decades - before finally burying them!

Some of you may argue that you’ve lived with a mummified relative for years – but the Chinchorro people did it not in a metaphorical sense – but in a literal sense! This truth is -  mummy may sit there for year after year – but lacks the power, the life, to actually do anything!

So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

But God does not intend for his people – people into whom he has breathed his new life – to be the spiritual equivalent of mummies! The prophet continues:

Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood on their feet – a vast army.

Throughout the Old Testament we see the Spirit of God empowering people for some significant purpose or to accomplish some specific task. Over and over again, with figures like Moses, Gideon and David, we see the phrase, “and the Spirit of the Lord came upon him…” – and through the power of God’s Holy Spirit, these men led God’s people and accomplished God’s purposes. 

In the New Testament many scholars see a subtle but significant shift in the activity of the Holy Spirit. Rather than “coming upon” certain leaders for specific purposes, we see that the Holy Spirit now indwells every believer through faith. 

Paul says it this way:

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Ephesians 3:16-17

This means that God has made his power available to each one of us through his Holy Spirit dwelling within us. We can only assume that he has called us to new life; that he has invested his Spirit and his power in us; so that we might become his “vast army” to accomplish his purposes in the world.

Again, the words of Paul:

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. 2 Timothy 1:7

Ask God to show you how he wants to use you to accomplish his purposes – in your life, in the church and in the world.

Pastor Brian Coffey