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Dark To Dawn
“Restoring Dry Bones”
Mike Steiner
June 7, 2015
(SLIDE) With God’s people there is never…loving discipline
without God’s grace following right behind it.
(The Story’s Small Group Participant’s Guide, Randy Frazee)
There is a great deal of truth to that statement. On a personal level, as a parent, there were plenty of times that
Linda and I had to discipline our kids – although our kids might not have seen it as loving discipline, much of
our discipline was carried out to guide them, to prepare them, to build their character, because we loved them
and wanted them to be successful in life. But they also knew that our grace would follow the discipline – that
we would forgive them and move on – and so it is with God. And we’re seeing that pattern played out in the
Old Testament – His chosen people rebelling, God disciplining them, and then God restoring them.
(SLIDE) We’re over half way through The Story, and we’re reading about the darkest of times for God’s
people. Israel (the southern kingdom) has been conquered by Assyria, and Judah and Jerusalem were on the
brink of destruction. Despite a national revival and return to God during the reign of King Hezekiah, the die
had been cast – it was just a matter of time until Judah would suffer the same fate as Israel. Hezekiah’s son
Manasseh, as I mentioned last week, undid all the good things his father had done – he was until near the end of
his reign one bad guy, even at one point offering his own son as a human sacrifice. Manasseh was surrounded
by a political system that actively worked to end the worship of God in Judah. He was followed by six kings
before Judah would finally fall – only one of them tried to turn things around – but the hearts of the people were
completely corrupted – true revival never came.
Meanwhile on the international scene, there was a serious power struggle going on – Assyria had dominated the
ancient Near East for 250 years, but Babylon was rising, and in 612 BC the Babylonians defeated the Assyrians
and took their capital city, Nineveh. Later the crown prince of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, would defeat a
combined force of Assyrians and Egyptians, then push south, occupy Jerusalem, and started deporting its
citizens – he would later destroy the city and Solomon’s temple – murdering and exiling many of its Jewish
citizens. God’s discipline of His people was complete – Israel destroyed, Judah decimated, the temple
obliterated. Wow, you can’t help but wonder about God’s plan and God’s promises at this point – is this it? Is
this the nail in the coffin? Is this a movie with a very bad ending?
All along God had continued to empower prophets – communicating messages about the sins of Judah, its kings
and its people, about His judgment – but there were always messages of hope interspersed with the messages of
doom. Two prophets are highlighted in Chapter 17 of The Story – Jeremiah, known as the weeping prophet,
and Ezekiel. Jeremiah heroically spoke God’s tough messages of the coming punishment during the reign of
the last five kings of Judah. He witnessed the downfall of Jerusalem, and was eventually exiled to Egypt.
Ezekiel was a prophet and a priest. He was exiled to Babylon and prophesied to his fellow exiles. And it’s
Ezekiel I’m focusing on today - and a specific message of hope he is called by God to deliver – Ezekiel Chapter
37 – “The Valley of Dry Bones”, verses 1-14 – this is the concluding passage about restoration that Ezekiel
addresses in Chapters 36 and 37. The message actually has three parts – (SLIDE) the vision (read verses 16), (SLIDE) a picture of the fulfillment of the vision (read verses 7-10), and (SLIDE) the interpretation of
the vision (read verses 11-14).
(SLIDE) God establishes the PROBLEM. Verse 11 tells us the bones are “the whole of Israel”. Their bones
are “dry” – dry bones bring to mind that the bones were those of people who had been dead a long time, but the
greater focus here is more qualitative – there is a bigger message God is getting at – these people were
spiritually dead – their hope is gone; they’re cut off – they have no hope of being a nation again or seeing God’s
covenants fulfilled – it suggests they are separated from God and separated from one another (in fact, they had
separated themselves from God in their rebellion and in exile they were separated as a people). How will their
situation be remedied? THE SOLUTION: First, physical restoration – God would bring them back to the land
of Israel. Second, spiritual restoration – God will put His Spirit in them and make them alive again spiritually.
What’s most notable: it would all be God’s doing.
At this point, you might be tempted to say – “great story” – so what? As we’ve walked through The Story I’ve
occasionally mentioned that in each story we’ve considered we can see the “footprints of Christ” – the Old
Testament and its many stories are pointing us over and over again to God’s ultimate plan fulfilled in Christ.
Even in the story of the “dry bones”, there are some great parallels and lessons that relate to what is revealed to
us in the New Testament:
1) (SLIDE) Without Christ, we are “dry bones”. We are spiritually dead without Jesus. Hear Paul’s
words in Ephesians 2:1 – As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you
used to live when you followed the ways of the world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the
spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one
time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the
rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. Without Christ our lives are devoid of meaning and purpose
– we’re just a lot of scattered, unattached, dry bones – separated from God.
2) (SLIDE) God’s Word is critical for restoration. God commands Ezekiel to preach the Word of the
Lord to the dry bones – that brought order out of the chaos of all the bones in the valley. You can’t help
but bring up New Testament scriptures like Hebrews 4:12 - for the word of God is living and active.
Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and
marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. When God’s Word is preached – and as
people hear and receive the Word of God – hearts are opened – people are convicted - souls are
transformed.
3) (SLIDE) The Holy Spirit brings life. The “breath” of God breathed into the dry bones brought life.
This is God’s Spirit, His Holy Spirit. As we receive Christ, we receive the gift of God’s Spirit. When
God dwells in us, He breaths new life in us, the life God intended for us, life in abundance, life to the
fullest. God’s power brings life. On the first day of the church, not much happened until the Holy Spirit
showed up – God’s power rested on the disciples in a big way. So too in our lives, when the Holy Spirit
is present, as we live in submission to the Spirit of God, God restores us and empowers us.
4) (SLIDE) We must tell “The Story”. It’s significant that God tells Ezekiel to preach to the bones. God
is God – He could have made the bones connect and bring life to the bones on His own. I think there’s a
subtle message in the dry bones story to all who have received the Spirit of God – that we must tell The
Story. God is still concerned about dry bones – and though it’s through His power that souls will be
restored, He wants us to be involved – He wants us to be His feet, hands, voice – He wants us to be
involved in the job of restoring others to an eternal relationship with the God of the Universe!!
MY REDEEMER LIVES – and because He lives – we live - what a story we have to tell!