“Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say, ‘Dry bones, listen to the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you alive again! I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’” Ezekiel 37:4-6
The Jews were at the lowest point of their faith as they had been scattered and the Temple in Jerusalem had been destroyed. They were utterly powerless and lifeless - like dry bones scattered in the valley - a picture of total helplessness and hopelessness. It was a time when they faced the consuming fire of God’s judgment as they lament:
“We have become old, dry bones—all hope is gone. Our nation is finished.” Ezekiel 37:11 NLT
The history of the Jews is to teach us that it is sin that separates us from God and like the Jews, we can become dry bones spiritually. We feel we are sinners because of our sins but God knows we sin because we are sinners. We need to see and understand that sin is the cancer of our souls that leads to death. God’s consuming fire of love is to purify our sinful and deceitful hearts. God’s fire of love is spiritual radiotherapy to cure the spiritual cancer of sin.
God’s discipline is restorative justice - to heal us, to redeem us and to set us free from our slavery to sin. It is not retributive punishment to make us suffer for our sins. It is so crucial to see the wonderful story of God’s Love in the book of Ezekiel. Instead of being blinded by God’s wrath we need to learn from the Jews the reality of our rebellious and sinful hearts that keeps us from living the abundant life as the children of God. We need to hear God’s message of hope given to Ezekiel that will transform dry bones into a great army of God:
“I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live again and return home to your own land. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken, and I have done what I said. Yes, the Lord has spoken!’” Ezekiel 37:14 NLT
God’s promise has been fulfilled through Jesus Christ who came to be our Shepherd of Love - He died and rose from the dead to give us the gift of the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ is also the cornerstone of God’s new Temple and we are the living stones. And as Ezekiel prophesied:
“I will make my home among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people. And when my Temple is among them forever, the nations will know that I am the Lord, who makes Israel holy.” Ezekiel 37:27-28 NLT
To be a follower of Jesus Christ therefore means more than just being a member of a church - it is to be a living stone of God’s Temple and to be a part of the Body of the Risen Christ. Christians are to be the ekklesia - a group of citizens called out of their homes to be witnesses of the reality of the Risen Christ:
“It is important that the church today understand the definition of ekklesia. The church needs to see itself as being “called out” by God. If the church wants to make a difference in the world, it must be different from the world. Salt is different from the food it flavors. God has called the church to be separate from sin (1 Peter 1:16), to embrace fellowship with other believers (Acts 2:42), and to be a light to the world (Matthew 5:14). God has graciously called us unto Himself: “‘Come out from them and be separate,’ says the Lord. ‘Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you’” (2 Corinthians 6:17).”1
The COVID 19 pandemic provides Christians with an amazing opportunity to live out the truth of being God’s ekklesia so that they will shine as bright stars in a world darkened by the pandemic and financial crisis. It is a time to pray that God will breathe upon us and fill us with life anew - to love what God loves and do what He would do:
“Breathe on me, Breath of God,
Until my heart is pure,
Until with Thee I will one will,
To do and to endure.”2
So may the Lord lead us to use this time of enforced solitude to draw near to God by learning spiritual breathing through silence and meditation.
References:
1. What is the definition of ekklesia? gotquestions.org/definition-ekklesia.html
2. Breathe on me, Breath of God
