The hand of the Lord was on 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

Ezekiel 37:1-10

1 The hand of the Lord was on 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 by among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”

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. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.

Today’s title is “ From Dry Bones To A Vast Army”

Have you ever wandered around the cemetery? What did you feel? Many people would say that they feel gloomy and somber or even spooky. Someone will even say more bluntly, “This is a place of the dead. What else can you expect? ” How about you? Do you agree with them? Being a pastor, I went to cemeteries countless times. I presided the countless number of funerals in many different cemeteries. I know that a cemetery is really a sad place for some. For them, death means the end of all life and all hope. No matter how colorful the life of the dead might have been, it is all stopped here and now forever for them. But for some others, the cemetery has a totally different meaning. Yes, it is a sad place where they have to bury their own loved ones. However, it is also a place of hope and faith like none other. It is a place where we could look beyond death and beyond this world. One of my favorite graveside sermons is what Jesus said and did at the death of His beloved friend Lazarus. I am not going to elaborate on what happened thereafter. In short, Lazarus died and was lying buried in the grave for four days. But Jesus called out Lazarus from the grave. The dead walked out of the grave at the command of Jesus. A lot of people witnessed the miracle. Many of them could not believe it even though they saw it with their naked eyes. There are many who still do not believe it. But Jesus knew what He was doing. And God foretold what would happen through His Son Jesus Christ several hundred years ago. We see it in today’s passage. When the breath of God entered into dry bones, the bones turned into a vast army at the valley of death. As God has shown the vision to the prophet, He breathed into the Israelites that were dead in trespasses and revived them again. When Jesus called out Lazarus with His breath, Lazarus came into life. Now He is ready to breathe into your dry bones. What are your dry bones that make you absolutely hopeless? God is asking the same question that He asked Ezekiel to you, “Son of man, can these bones live?”. What is your answer? Yes, your dry bones can turn into a vast army when the Spirit of the Lord comes into you. Let us just earnestly pray that the spirit of the Living God falls afresh on us. Amen!