Welcome from all of us at Albuquerque Reformed Church, a particular congregation of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church located in New Mexico. We thank you for joining us for this week's sermon. For more information about Albuquerque Reformed Church, or to contribute to its ministry, visit abqreformed.org. And now, we invite you to open your Bible and listen to the preached Word. This morning, we come to this passage of Scripture, this vision of the prophet Ezekiel. Here we see Ezekiel make use of striking imagery to drive home his point, not just to our mind, but also to our hearts. We were discussing aesthetics a bit in Sunday school. Some of y'all were discussing it more than I was, because I came in late. We mentioned there that sometimes music can speak to the heart in a way that words cannot, and yet sometimes even words and imagery and poetry can draw pictures for us, as it were, that penetrate the heart in a way simple prose cannot. And we often see the Lord use this in Scripture, and this is one example. Yet though this is a beautiful piece of ancient literature, it is much more than that. It is the Word of God, which He has given to His people. Not only the people of old to whom it was originally written, but He has given it to us. He has preserved it for us in His Word. It speaks not just to those ancient people, but in some ways this speaks about mankind throughout all the ages of human history. Because in this imagery, we see something with which everyone throughout history has been familiar, all too familiar. All mankind faces the same problem, and that is the problem of death. And yet as we see striking images of death in this passage, we see that this word from the Lord gives us hope in the face of death because it speaks of death's cure. which is resurrection by the word of God. Just like the problem of death, the solution also is not limited to ancient Israel. This picture is not of Israel alone, but of all humanity. And it speaks to what all humanity may find in Jesus Christ, the hope of the resurrection. This morning, I want you to know that this hope can be yours. If you trust in the Son of God who was raised from the dead for you, the same Son of whom all the prophets speak, you too can know the power of God unto resurrection life, both now and one day when he comes again, even bodily and for all eternity. So we look at the text this morning. We'll address first this striking image which the prophet uses as he is inspired by the Spirit of God. What is this image? What is it about? What is it communicating to us? He gives us first the setting. He says he sees this vision when he was in the Lord, the hand of the Lord was upon him and he was brought into the Spirit and sat down in the midst of this valley. And what does he see there? We see first the problem pictured for us. What does he see? He sees dead bones. He looks around and he sees dead bones. That's what he sees in the image. It's described in the most dire terms. If you look at the extent of it, the valley is full of them. It's not just as if one or two have died, but it's a valley spread and filled with these dry bones. He says there are very many of them. And when he talks about the condition these bones are in, they are very dry, he says. And we know what that means and what it is like when bones are dried out. You know, sometimes if you go to a very, very fancy restaurant and they cook some fancy dish for you, sometimes the animal's dead, but if it's very fresh, maybe it might still be moving if you're eating in some kind of weird restaurant that I don't go to much myself. If you go get fresh seafood, some restaurants, you can see the fish swimming about in their little tanks so you know that they are not freeze-dried and freezer-burnt. Is that anything like the bones which we see here? They've been dead long enough that they are not even moist. They are dried out. They are long dead. They are far from life. And notice also what is missing. What do we see here? We see the bones, but nothing else. We know that when something has been dead, it must be dead for some time before all of the flesh is either eaten by the vultures or rots away and the bones are left dry on their own. And all of this, in some ways, is driven home by the question that is asked to Ezekiel, who has been set in this valley. Son of man, can these bones live? Let me ask you this question. If you're out maybe going for a hike in the wilderness, and you come upon remains of a dead animal, and it's not just a dead animal, but it's dead, the flesh is gone, the fur is gone, and the bones are dried and bleached white, and I were to ask you, you think this thing is about to get up and attack you? Should you be careful, go back further down the trail? We know when we look at a situation like this, what the answer should be. If you're looking at the bones, the answer is pretty obvious, no. And yet as Matthew Henry looks at this passage in the response of Ezekiel, he says we see a bit of hope here. Because his response is, Lord God, you know. As Christ himself even said, all things are possible with God. It may not be possible for these bones on their own to live, but we serve indeed a living God who is the God of the living. And so what is the solution? The problem is death. The bones are all the way dead. They're not just a little dead. If I may quote a movie some of you may have seen, they're dead dead. They are dry, they are bones. What is the solution to this? We might say the solution is resurrection through recitation. The prophet is told to prophesy over the bones. And when we think of that word prophesy, we often think of telling the future. We think if I were a prophet, I would bet on the big game because I would know who wins before it's over. But in scripture, prophecy does sometimes include, even in this passage, a telling of the future. This is what God promises He will do. But first and foremost, prophecy is declaring the Word of God. It is saying, this is what God says to you. It is bringing the Word of God to the people, reciting the Word of God to them. And that is indeed what we see here. These bones can do nothing in themselves. but by the power of God's word, they can be resurrected. And we see as the prophet obeys, as he speaks the word of God to them, as he prophesies as he is commanded, we see the power of life return. It first changes the bones themselves, they rattle and they come together, and then all of a sudden, what was not there before comes, flesh, sinews, skin, and yet they are not yet alive. And so he prophesies to the breath. And I'll just note for you that if you know Hebrew, which I'm sure everybody does, in Hebrew, the words breath, wind and spirit are all the same word. And so there's sort of this, it's not a joking, funny pun, but there's this wordplay that runs throughout this passage. where he prophesies to the breath, and the breath comes, and he prophesies, and he comes from the four winds, and God says, I will put my spirit within you, and the breath enters them, and they live. They rise up, and now the greatness of destruction, because there were very many bones that were dead, is now a greatness of life. There is an army here, an exceedingly great army who has come to life. Just as in Genesis, when God first created man and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, the dead bones have become again living beings. When God acts through His Word spoken by His prophet, the dead bones become alive again. That's a beautiful picture. It is, in the first place, almost a grotesque picture, but it is transformed by the Word of God into a beautiful one. But what does it mean? What is the significance? Why give this vision to the prophet? This is a vision for the people of Israel. God is sending Ezekiel to speak to his people Israel and he says, son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say our bones are dried up and our hope is lost. We are indeed cut off. This image captures where Israel is in the history of this nation. Remember the context of the Old Testament. They were brought into the promised land, a land of blessing flowing with milk and honey, where they would live at peace with their God, where he would make his name dwell in their midst. And man and God would dwell together in prosperity. And yet they say, we are dead. We are cut off. We are in our graves. Why? Because they have sinned against God. because Israel sinned against their God. We at Rio Rancho have been looking through the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, and this fits right with what is going on here. The people have been sent out from the land into exile, kicked out, killed, dead, enslaved. After all the good God had done them, they failed to worship Him and Him alone and cheated on their husband, serving the pagan gods of the people around them. And because of their sin and their unfaithfulness, they deserve just what they got, the death of the nation, the sacking of the sacred city. They're being carried off into exile, here described as the people lying in the grave. But the solution to Israel's death is the same as we have seen in this image. They cannot save themselves. They cannot resurrect themselves as a nation. But through Ezekiel, God promises, I will deliver you. I will resurrect this nation. I will open your graves. I will bring the people back into the land of Israel. And it's emphasized here that this is God's work. That is why it says in several places in this text, you will know that I am the Lord, because you didn't do it, but I did. They know They can't do it. They don't have the power to turn things around any more than dry bones have the power in themselves to stand up and live. They will see the character of a gracious and redeeming God when he saves them. Indeed, God's people, the nation of Israel, is dead, and it needs a miraculous resurrection. But as this striking image confronts us, It takes us back even further in history, back to the very beginning. Israel's death and disobedience is not unique. In a way, in the nation of Israel, there is an image of something deeper played out in history. There is an image, a reflection, of our first parents and their death and sin, which needs resurrection. In this way, what happens in the history of Israel is a reflection on what has happened to the entire human race. The land flowing with milk and honey is a reflection of the original paradise in the Garden of Eden. It contained trees that were a delight to the eyes and good for food. And most importantly, there man dwelt with God in blessedness and in communion with his creator. Ezekiel points us back there and even hints at this when he speaks of the breath entering their bodies, just as it did in the beginning of Genesis when God created man. And if we go back to Genesis, we remember that Adam, just like Israel, was given a commandment, which he broke. The Lord God commanded the man, saying, You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat. For in the day in which you eat of it, you shall surely die. Adam ate. Adam died, and in him, all of his children who would be born of him died, and now death is dominant in human experience. And that is, again, if you know Hebrew a little clearer, because then you would know that the name Adam actually means in Hebrew, mankind, which makes it even clearer that when he sinned, it was not just for himself, but it was for all people. Man, by Adam's fall, in sinning in him and with him, all mankind is fallen into an estate of sin and misery. We know death as the punishment for our sins, but we also know death as our own inability of ourselves to do what is good. And so Paul can write to the Gentiles in Ephesus, not ancient Israel, but those who are still man, who are still in Adam, You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. We are all dead in sin, unable to stop sinning. None of us can say that we are perfect and we do not deserve the misery and the suffering that we experience in this life. We may not deserve it from our fellow man, but before the perfectly holy and righteous judge, we surely do. And so we all experience the pain of death. as our bodies break down and decay, as we eventually succumb to death and our friends and our families mourn for the sorrow of separation, as we live in a world of suffering and frustration and vanity that despite even its many blessings can often devolve into a sort of living death on earth. And we are powerless to change this. Man has thought that he can make progress, he can learn, he can educate, he can use new technologies and perhaps solve this problem. But at the end of the day, we are so many dry bones. Think of recent history. Man was thinking, coming into the 20th century, how much better he was doing than the ancients. And then a world war broke out and killing was unleashed. And just as soon as they had finished that one, it was not a long time before they had another one. And what about all this progress of mankind and his technology? It made him better able to kill one another. And even today, if you watch the news, the headlines talk about the imminence of a perhaps third world war. We are dead in sin. We as mankind need the power of God in our sin and in our misery, and yet that is what we have in Christ Jesus. That is what we have in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The first Adam plunged us into sin. And yet God, the second person of the Trinity, God the Son, took on flesh, became a man, and walked this earth. He entered into our misery, though he had no sin himself, though he did not deserve it. The first man was tempted in the beauty and abundance of the garden. the last man, the God-man, the second Adam, Jesus Christ, was tempted in the dryness of the wilderness. And yet he obeyed his father perfectly. But what happened to him as he walked this earth? Man in his sinfulness rejected the Savior. Wicked men stood in judgment over him and said, he deserves to die. Imagine the corrupt leaders saying this about the only man who had ever walked without sin. And so he went to the cross. He faced the ultimate penalty. He paid the ultimate price. He died that others might live. And he himself lay under the power of death for three days. The course of human history was set in the fall of the first man, but the course of eternity has been set in what Scripture calls the last man, Jesus Christ. When on the third day he rose again from the dead, the power of death and sin and misery were broken in his resurrection because the grave could not hold them. He was in his self-sacrifice. He conquered sin and death and hell. This happened in history 2,000 years ago. And it is the basis for everything which we believe and in which we hope. It is the basis for the promise that God gave long ago through the prophet Ezekiel. Why could he say that I will make you alive again when you are dead? because he was going to do it through his son, Jesus Christ. And he indeed has done it. His tomb is empty. His disciples saw them. He appeared to over 500 of them. One who doubted physically touched his wounds and put his hand in his side. Skeptics may doubt this. They may say he didn't die. He just passed out and revived in the cool of the tomb, as if Roman executioners didn't know how to kill someone. Some say it was a hoax by his disciples, and there are religions out there which are. Some people have said it's a great way to make money. And yet if we look at his disciples who supposedly were pulling the hoax, what happened to them? They would never have gone to the gruesome deaths which so many of them did if they knew it was all a joke. Some say that it is scientifically impossible, and that's just the very point. It is not possible within anything in this creation for the dead to live again. It is the power of the Lord who created this world in the first place that recreates it in resurrection and salvation life. And the wonderful point is that what is Christ's, what happened to him 2000 years ago, can be yours. Just as all fell in Adam, so in Christ all live. His victory over death was not just for himself as an individual, but he is the foundation, the cornerstone in the middle of history of every promise of resurrection in Scripture. The resurrection of the nation of Israel pointing to the resurrection of everyone, all of God's people throughout history, who trust in his saving promises. He is the resurrection and the life for everyone. He is the one, we might say, who is taking the final penalty shot, and if he nails it, his whole team wins. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, if in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, he is the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. That means we will be raised in harvest with him. We are all in our sin, dead, dry bones with no power to live. But the word of God spoken to us gives us life. As Paul says, I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of Christ for salvation to everyone who believes. Just as Ezekiel prophesied over the bones in that valley, so now through his word, God is speaking to you of Jesus Christ. The good news of Christ's resurrection for you has this morning been proclaimed in your ears. And if you will believe this message, if you repent of your sins, if you cry out to God in your misery, If you trust in the power of His Son's life, death, and glorious resurrection for you, all of it is not only His, but it is yours. You are united to Christ, the resurrection, and the life. Though you are in yourself a sinner, you are declared not guilty in Him. Though you are dead in sin, you live now in Him. Though you one day die, yet you will be raised with Him and live with Him forever. And just as Israel was brought back into the promised land, He will bring you into the new heavens and the new earth. A place of unimaginable prosperity and blessing that even the most glorious pictures of scripture can only give for us now a faint taste. But we know there will be no sin there. There will be no misery there. There will be only abundant life in Jesus Christ. and what we know now of the Spirit of God poured out on us in Christ, just as He breathed into those bones, we will know in fullness and perfection in that great day at the end. This is what we celebrate sometimes on Easter Sunday, but in reality, this is what we celebrate every Sunday. And this is why we don't celebrate on Saturday, because it was on Sunday that Jesus Christ rose, that the dead one lived, so that all who are dead may live in him. We know that though death is still here, Though we still live in this world, though even Christ walked in this world, and as his friend died, he spoke about the resurrection to come. We have seen it conquered. We have seen the tide turned. We know who wins in the end, and it is Jesus Christ, and with him, everyone who trusts in his word. If his promises were fulfilled in Jesus Christ, they will be fulfilled in you who are trusting in him as well. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for the death of Christ, for our sins. We thank you for the life of Christ, his resurrection, which was indeed for our justification, which was indeed for our life. And we thank you, Lord, that we now live in him, even as the outer man is wasting away, that by your spirit you renew the inner man day by day. We pray, Lord, that we may know this more and more. We pray that we might have the hope of even physical resurrection to permanent life in your presence when you send your son and he returns again. May we live in this hope. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Thank you for joining us. If you were blessed by this sermon, we invite you to visit us at abcreformed.org, where you'll find more information about our ministry. We look forward to you joining us again, online or in person. Until then, may peace, comfort, and grace be given to you through our Lord Jesus Christ.