Come to Life

A picture of people far from God.  Dry bones. 
Dry bones of the Church.  Dry bones of Israel. 

People who once knew and experienced the wonder of an Almighty God who is “for them.” But that was while they were still faithful and knew the living water. But then they decided–maybe not with a vote, but with their hearts–to engage in twin sins: they forsook the living water of God and instead dug their own broken cisterns (Jeremiah 2:13). 

Israel knew it in exile.  The Church knows it in our modern era, cutting ourselves off from the life-giving Spirit on account of apostasy and self-reliant independence from God in every way.  Being our own gods, making our own rules for living, and every man seems to be doing what is right in his own sight instead of what the Bible teaches is right in God’s.

You don’t have to look long in metropolitan areas of America to see dead and dying churches and their displaying with slogan signs and flags exactly why they’re rejecting God in favor of culture.  Suburban and rural areas are maybe less so, but through national conversation, many of those, too, have turned their backs on God. 

It’s not just Christians. Plenty of Jewish people are nationalistic or heritage-only Jews but don’t even attempt to be observant, read the Scriptures let alone obey them, nor do they remember their heritage was one as God’s chosen people. If only they did and then wisely choosing to live with gratitude and love for God who would do such a gracious thing as to choose them. 

Bleak, dead, and dying.
Ezekiel speaks a word of hope from the Lord into a world like that:

Ezekiel 37:1 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.  2 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.

Dead.  They weren’t new bones.  They were old, dry, brittle bones.  Baked in the sun bones.  Vultures had long ago stripped them of anything resembling meat.

The Lord speaks to Ezekiel ,”He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”
I said, “O Sovereign LORD, you alone know.” (Ezekiel 37:3)

Good answer, Ezekiel.  Not only does God in His sovereignty know if He can do it…only God (in His sovereignty and grace) can make what has been dead–so dead it’s dry—come to life again.

The Lord continues: 4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD!  5 This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life.”

It takes the life-giving breath of God.
As a culture, as a world, as created beings, we need this.
Come home to God. Come to life again.