The Dry Bones, LIVE!
Ezekiel, the sixth-century BC man of God mentioned earlier, Saw a valley, filled with dry bones.
God told Ezekiel, “Speak to the bones!” What-what?!
And as the prophet spoke, the bones began to rattle. Bone joined to bone. Tendons and flesh formed around them. Skin covered them until an entire valley of fully-formed skeletons lay before him.
But they were still dead.
Organized. Assembled. Looking a whole lot better than a scattered pile of bones.
But no LIFE.
Until the Breath of God came into them.
The Greek word for breath is the same word as wind, the same word as SPIRIT. It seems like we’ve been talking about this!
And when God’s Breath came, the dead rose to their feet—a mighty army.
We are those dry religious bones. Our systems and cultures and governments and traditions have “organized” us. But we have remained for thousands of years, mostly “dry bones.”
Hindu dry bones. Muslim dry bones. “Christian” dry bones. Buddhist dry bones. Jewish dry bones. Atheist dry bones. Rich bones and poor bones. Nice bones and nasty bones. Religious bones and irreligious bones.
Dead is dead.
Now, some things can certainly help arrange the bones better than others. Truth from the Words of God can straighten some things out. The Designer certainly knows what helps his design mostly stay out of trouble. Hatred and anger and murder and immorality and slander tend to ruin things. Love and patience and a helping hand can begin the healing process, for those who care.
World religions with true God-thoughts, and truth in Scripture such as Judaism or “Christianity” can preserve pieces of Truth. These all benefit “much in every way” as Paul said, as a head start. They help heal and put some bones where they belong. One doesn’t have to “believe” in gravity for it to “work.” God’s ways are Right. For all. As we embrace His thoughts, tendons may appear. Skin may cover the bones and tendons and ligaments and fascia. A life can look considerably different than the scattered pile it once was.
But organized bones are still bones.
No religion can breathe Eternity-Life into them.
No ritual can give life.
No clergy can bestow grace.
No correct doctrine can heal the heart.
No amount of rearranging dead human life can create LIFE.
There is only ONE Breath. One singular Source of Life-giving Power.
This has to come from God Himself.
His Breath.
His Spirit.
His Life.
Jesus came because God loved the world—not one religion, race, geography, skin color, culture, or kind of bones. He came that dead humans might finally LIVE. Abundantly. To the Full.
And if the valley looks impossibly dry right now, that’s really not the issue.
There is no limit to what God can do with dry bones.
It’s actually a good thing that bones can’t fix themselves. They can’t breathe into themselves. Even after all their assembling and organization, they are not ALIVE without the Breath of God. Who would want it any other way? It’s HIM we want!
And when what is IN God comes INTO us—
The dry bones may LIVE.
No matter what your country code or generation or culture or world religion, we are all pretty much in the same boat.
Of course, as said, if your world religion has given you some understanding of God’s Ways, and of Abraham and His Faith and His total trust in a God he did not know, then that is a GREAT starting place. “Much in every way!”
Knowing how God put Abraham to sleep and “walked through the pieces, alone” and how Jesus does that now for those who trust Him and will not allow the “King of Sodom to make him rich,” as Abraham said, is good. “Much in every way,” as Paul said.