“God Breathed New Life”

 

BIBLE READING: Ezekiel 37-39

                In the late nineties, I was able to get my hands on a VHS tape of the comedic horror film “The Army of Darkness”.  Of course, this specific copy was one of a kind because it had been edited for language by Kippy Meyers, one of my International Bible College Professors.  The story is about an unsuspecting hardware clerk who is transported into the 1300’s where he must defeat an army of the dead to be able to return back to his own time (I know…at the time…it seemed like a good film).  Although I cannot remember very much of the film, I do recall one scene in which the lead character, Ash (Bruce Campbell), is making his way through some type of graveyard of soldiers.  Suddenly, the bones of these soldiers begin to rattle and come together to create an army of skeletons that he would have to defeat, hence an army of the dead.  Although Ezekiel 37 is in no way connected with the “Army of Darkness”, I have always envisioned that scene when I read this passage.  For just a few moments try to envision the same thing the Lord showed Ezekiel in Ezekiel 37.   In this passage God takes Ezekiel to a valley that was full of dry bones.  God calls on the prophet to "Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the LORD." (Ezekiel 37:4-6).  In a matter of moments, the bones begin to rattle and come together, then muscle and sinews are added to the bones and finally they are covered in skins and made to look like human bodies again.  Then the Lord breathed into these slain soldiers and they came to life, standing on their feet an exceedingly great army.  That must have been an incredible thing for Ezekiel to witness, yet we can witness something much greater today.  Every time someone obeys the Gospel, they are putting themselves to death, by dying to sin.  Then upon obedience of the God-breathed Scripture (2 Timothy 3.16), God raises them up into a new life.  We may not get to see the bones, blood, and skin, be added to their new spiritual bodies, but we do see the change in their lives that was brought about by the blood of Jesus.  God’s breath, as evidence in the Holy Scriptures, still has the power to give life today.

                                                                                                                                                MH