God’s Resurrection Power

Ezekiel 37

Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones

¹The hand of the LORD was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones. ²He caused me to pass among them round about, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and lo, they were very dry.

Ezekiel lived in Babylon where the Jews had been exiled in 597 B.C. The situation seemed hopeless. The kingdom was gone. The Temple was in ruins; the walls of the city were torn down. Where was God in all this? .

But, here is the hand of God in action. God brings the prophet out to a great valley! Of DRY BONES! He was in the very middle of the valley with dry bones in every direction as far as he could see!

What is this! I already know the hopelessness God! You don’t have to show it to me graphically! You know I’m a prophet in Babylon! You know what that means!

I know about shattered dreams!

I know about aborted promises!

I know about ruined lives!

Without number, without number.

And lo, they were very dry!

Yes Lord, death rules here and there seems no possibility of life. I get the picture so lets go back to my life, my humdrum life and just forget about it OK?

³He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord GOD, You know.” 

Can these bones live!? You have to be kidding Lord! What are you trying to say? I have no hope and I haven’t for years. Those dreams died in my youth and they won’t come back. I’m sorry God but that’s just the way it is you know?

³He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord GOD, You know.” 

God you don’t understand! I can’t bring them back to life! I just can’t! I am weak and broken and old and my dreams are gone!

³He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord GOD, You know.” 

What are you trying to say God? Oh Lord God, You know!

⁴Again He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.’  ⁵“Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones, ‘Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life. ⁶‘I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will know that I am the LORD.’”

You want me to DO THAT!? To speak the very Word of the Lord?

Amos 3:

⁸    A lion has roared! Who will not fear?

    The Lord GOD has spoken! Who can but prophesy?

When we cooperate with the Lord in bringing forth His very Word from His heart into this world of broken and shattered dreams we operate as Agents of Omnipotence.

⁷So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone.  ⁸And I looked, and behold, sinews were on them, and flesh grew and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them.

Wow! I can’t believe it! The whole valley is full of people who look alive but are not yet. What else do you want me to do Lord?

⁹Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they come to life.”’” 

Ok Lord, You know!

¹⁰So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

So you knew all along! You are a great God so full of rich resurrection power!

So what is God saying to us now through this story? Ezekiel was asked by God to be an agent of His Omnipotence to this seemingly impossible task. When Ezekiel bent his will to the will of the Father miracles happened.

What is our role today in this?

Matthew 6:

⁹“Pray, then, in this way:

    ‘Our Father who is in heaven,

    Hallowed be Your name.

¹⁰ ‘Your kingdom come.

    Your will be done,

    On earth as it is in heaven.

When Jesus came on the scene he promptly announced that He was coming with the very Kingdom of Heaven. He was invading this world with His heavenly world. He went out and demonstrated that truth by performing miracles of healing, deliverance, raising the dead and commanding nature. We are prone to cry, “But that was Jesus!”.

But lets look at Matthew 10.

Matthew 10:

⁵These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them: “Do not go in the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans;  ⁶but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  ⁷“And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’  ⁸“Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give.

Freely you have received, freely give!? The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!? How come we don’t see this more?

How come our dreams still lie shattered and the promises remain hidden?

Philippians 3:10-11

¹⁰that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;  ¹¹in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

We need to be changed! Our walk with Christ should be radiant with God’s presence and power.

Ephesians 4:

²²that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,  ²³and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind,  ²⁴and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

We need to be renewed in our minds. The mind is the supernatural gateway for God to work in and trough. This world where the church live and moves should be a battle ground between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world and we should be winning!!!

Every day for the Christian who is totally submitted to Christ should be a supernatural experience with all manner of encounters where the Kingdom of God invades and overcomes this world.

May it be so! Amen!