Ps. 62: 3, 4												Rev. S de Marie
Ps. 33: 2, 3
Reading: John 5: 24-29; Ephesians 2: 1-10
Ps. 30: 1, 2, 3, 7
Text: Ezekiel 37: 1-14
Ps. 107: 8
Hymn 51: 1, 2, 5, 8 

	Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ,
	The beginning of the vision evokes gloomy feelings. Dead bones. Terrifying. But what follows is a true transfiguration. The results alters everything. When the Lord speaks, we hear in our text nothing else but the gospel. A gospel that is not only for Israel of that time but also for us today.

I may serve you God's Word from Ezekiel 37 under the theme:

In the vision of the dry bones, God's Spirit works re-creation through God's Word. We see: 
1. The power of God’s Word;
2. Its effect through the Spirit;
3. God's purpose achieved thereby. 
 
	1. Ezekiel is in exile with Israel. God has thus fulfilled His punishment to them, because they have served lifeless idols instead of the living God. And despite calls of the prophets for centuries, they did not repent. They are now far removed from their country and the temple, in exile. The LORD has left His temple. And the temple itself has been destroyed.
	It looks bleak. What is their future? What is their hope? Does God still care for them? Ezekiel calls the people to repentance, but, may also prophecy of salvation and redemption.
	In this sad situation, the mighty hand of God comes on the prophet.  In a vision, he is set down in a valley. In that valley, Ezekiel sees death on all sides; it is the death of a battlefield where the masses are strewn. Not whole dead bodies, but only what vultures and wild animals had left behind. Heaps of loose human bones. They are bald, yes even completely emaciated, dried out by the sun. No trace of life can be found in this valley. Everything is completely barren and dry. It is a lurid, frightening spectacle.
	You would like to run away from it, but the Lord wants Ezekiel to pay very close attention to it. He must carefully examine these bones from all sides. In this way he can determine that there is really no life left in it. Ezekiel is astonished by what he sees. That is why he says twice "and see" in verse 2. Take a hard look: what a terrible amount of bones! Just look how terribly barren and dry they are! Death to the marrow.
	When Ezekiel sees this staggering sight, the Lord addresses him in verse 3 with "Son of man." Son of man: This is how God makes Ezekiel realize who he is: a human person in contrast with the almighty Creator. Then comes His question: Son of man, will these bones come to life?
	Congregation, what an incredible question this is! How can a person say "yes" to this? He sees dry bones that do not have a glimmer of life. Completely void of the possibility of new life. Yet that is not Ezekiel's answer. He answers faithfully: O LORD God Thou knowest.
	In his answer, Ezekiel shows that he is also a child of God, who knows himself to be dependent on Him. LORD God, he says. He addresses God with a double name. In Hebrew,  Yahweh is mentioned first: I am who I am, God of the covenant. And then Adonai: that is almighty God, Creator of heaven and earth. So Ezekiel says almighty and faithful God: Thou knowest it.
	Ezekiel also says at the same time: Lord, I do not know. As a human child I consider it impossible, But what is impossible with people is possible with Thee O God! Thou art faithful and powerful. Thou alone dost give life and Thou alone dost give hope.
	The Lord makes clear by his question what his people are in his eyes and what we of ourselves are as well: Dead. Dead, like dry bones. But also that we, ourselves, as human beings, cannot redeem ourselves from that death. In verse 11 He explains it:
Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel.
	So as these bones are, so is the spiritual condition of God's own people. As many as they are, their spiritual lives are dead. Dead to the marrow. They are all in the middle of death. And nothing and nobody can change that.
	The Israelites themselves also realize that things are going badly, verse 11b.
See, watch, they say: Our bones have withered and our hope has perished, we have been cut off!
	That seems to be a sign of self-insight. But we still hear nothing of guilt, of humiliation, let alone a will to repent. For Israel there is only the desperation of exile, the lack of a prospect of a better future. But, congregation, let us not think that this only applied to the Israelites. We too are unable to convert ourselves, to show faith and conversion ourselves. We are, of ourselves, just like them, dead to our bones. Because of our original sin.
	But now the gospel, the glorious gospel in this valley of the dead, is that the Lord God is going to change this in a very special way! Let us now carefully observe how the Lord will do this! Because Ezekiel again has to do something very wonderful. Something that goes against human logic. Verse 4: 
	Then He, the LORD, said, Prophesy to these bones.
	Ezekiel must speak God's Word, not to people who can hear, but, to dry bones. Rather not obvious. How strange it is to speak to something that is dead. But if we look carefully at what the Word of God is and does, then it is not so strange. Because with His Word, God has created Creation. God could just as easily have brought about creation without speaking. But God does it by His Word. Just read this on the first page of your Bible. God spoke and it was there. He commanded and it stood forth. So when God speaks, something will happen.
	Everything that the Lord tells us in his Word, of promises and threats, He carries out. His Word is absolutely reliable to the last page. But God's Word also works! It is a creative Word and a re-creative Word. It brings to life that which is nothing, And what is dead it makes live again.
	In 1 Cor. 1:18 Paul says:
For the Word of the cross is foolish to those who are lost.
but for us being saved, it is a power of God.
	Now congregation, with that recreating powerful Word, Ezekiel must prophesy to those dry bones. He calls them to listen to it! Ezekiel must say:
O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.
Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones:
Surely, I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live.
The Lord makes clear in His Word: I am going to perform a miracle. I am going to bring these bones back to life. I do this through My Word. It is not just the words of Ezekiel, No, verse 5 explicitly states that the Lord God Himself speaks to these bones through Ezekiel. I the LORD Adonai the Almighty, who also is Yahweh, your covenant God, I am going to re-create you, my people, who are now dead.
	In verse 6 the Lord also says to the bones how he will do it:
I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you,
cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live.
Then you shall know that I am the Lord.
	Congregation, that does seem hopeless, appealing to dried out bones. But Ezekiel does what the LORD tells him to do. Verse 7:
Then I prophesied as I was told.
	God's Word is more powerful than a two-edged sword. And it never comes back empty. That is, it is never spoken in vain. It always has effect. God's Word always works. But only those who hear and accept it are redeemed by God's Word!
	Brothers and sisters, do you see, do you also see that great divine power of the Word? Do you also listen carefully to the sermon? Do you also use God's Word several times a day? Do you always explain it to your children? It is God Himself who speaks to you in it. Realize that this determines your life. Yes, eternal life.
	Through God's Word your faith is worked, nourished, built and your hope strengthened. Because faith is through hearing. Hearing God's Word.
	Christ comes to you in God's Word. Your Saviour and Shepherd! And God as your Creator and Father. Paul says of that speaking Word of God in Rom. 10:
The Word is near you even in your mouth and in your heart.
Congregation is that how it is with you? That the re-creating Word of God is in your mouth, to pass it on, and in your heart, to know God?

	2. The theme of the sermon is: In the vision of the dry bones, God's Spirit works re-creation through God's Word. We saw the power of God's Word.
Our second point is its effect through the Spirit.
	In the valley of the dry bones, a great miracle occurs before Ezekiel's eyes. For the Lord God immediately does what He announces in His Word.
Ezekiel has not yet spoken - he says in verse 7 "as soon as I prophesied" – and a great tumult breaks out at that spoken Word! Ezekiel is completely surprised by it, and beheld: a great noise! A great rattling of bones as they begin to move. When Ezekiel carefully watched, he sees that all the bones fall into their proper place and are connected to each other. Complete frames are created. Ezekiel cannot believe his eyes, he says again: see, look at what is happening: sinews and flesh cover them. And He, God, pulled a skin over it, It is clear to Ezekiel that this is all God's work. He does this.
	Only, they are not yet alive. They do not have a spirit of life yet. Like the creation of Adam, the Lord works here in two phases: first He created a body, then He also gave spirit to that body. God breathed the breath of life into Adam's nostrils, so man became a living being, Gen. 2: 7.
	Now the Lord wants His miracle of His re-creation to be compared with His miracle of His first Creation. He wants to place all emphasis on His divine gift of true life. The bodies are complete but they are not yet alive. This requires something very special from God. 
	That is why the Lord says to Ezekiel: you must prophesy again. Now towards the breath of life. The breath that I control as a Creator.
prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man!
	Ezekiel is always determined that he does not speak his own words, but only the enlivening Word that comes from God. He has to pass that on as a son of man.
Prophesy, son of man! Say to the breath:
Thus says the Lord God (that is again the almighty and faithful God):
Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain,
that they may live.
	The spirit of life must come from all sides. What or who is that spirit of life?
Now, congregation, this is a profound reference to the working of the Holy Spirit of God, Who gives life, yes, Who gives all life.
	This is also evident from the explanation that God directly gives to Israel in verse 14:
I will put My Spirit in you and so you shall live.
	It is God's Spirit operating everywhere on earth, in the four winds, omnipresent. God the Father and the Son are the Source of life. But the Holy Spirit works out life. He takes it from the Father and the Son. This is how it happened with creation when the Spirit floated over the waters. That's how it happens every spring, when the Spirit renews the face of the earth. That is how it happens with rebirth, with re-creation. Then a dead heart is made alive again. That special work of the Holy Spirit takes place here in the valley of the dry bones. God wants to do that work again in His people, as they accept His Word.
	When Ezekiel again prophesies obediently, we read ...
And breath came into them, and they lived
and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army!
	Congregation, here is the quickening Spirit at work! An impressive miracle of recreating rebirth. The Spirit comes into these dead bodies through God's enlivening Word. They revive. Not a few but a countless number. A great army. They jump on their feet fully alive. They are ready for the fight.
	How impressed Ezekiel must have been with all this! First of horror at that lurid image of so many dry dead bones. And then full of worship, because of the tremendous majesty of God with His immeasurable supernatural power of Creation! A power that comes to effect on God's Word that Ezekiel has pronounced, at God's command.
A force that also has an immediate effect.
	Now, congregation, it is now just such a great miracle that God, through His Word and Spirit, brings His chosen people to life, from a hopeless dead end, yes dead situation. To that end, God still makes His powerful Word to be heard. And thus the Spirit still works with and through that Word. People who are spiritually dead then become alive again. Then a new person arises in them!
	What Ezekiel sees in the vision is just a promise. How was this prophecy fulfilled?
Now, the first fulfilment of Ezekiel's prophecy occurs when the people return from exile. Verse 14 indicates that:
and I will place you in your own land.
	But when will we see this great army coming to life? Well, congregation, we see that when we also place this promise in the perspective of the coming of Christ. When He comes to earth, will there only be a small group of believers in expectation of God's promises? Death still reigns in the vast majority of Israel. The Lord also points this out to the Pharisees and scribes. He addresses them in Matt. 23:27:
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are like white-washed tombs, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly,
but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.
	But the Lord Jesus not only punishes, He especially preaches His gospel to make the living alive. This is how He addresses the people in John. 5 (as we have read)
the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
For as the Father has life in Himself,
so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself.
	Again note the emphasis on hearing the voice of Christ. Whoever listens to His Word, in which He comes to you, will live! The people of Israel needed the Christ for the fulfilment of this glorious prophecy. We too need Him as our Saviour to become alive. But then we must listen to His voice, to His Word. Because only if the dead listen to the voice of the Son of God will they live.
	And so Ezekiel's prophecy is fulfilled at the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Then He renews the hearts of so many people through the apostolic Word. 
	And congregation, that's how you should see it for yourself: Listening to the voice of the Son of God, hearing the Word, that is the way the Holy Spirit makes you alive. The preaching of God's Word, and obeying it, is the way through which Christ assembles His church, so that He comes to the multitude that no one can count.
	Do you also want to belong there? Then you know the way.

3. The theme of the sermon is: In the vision of the dry bones, God's Spirit works re-creation through God's Word: We already saw the power of God's Word and its effect through the Spirit. And last but not least, we will now see: God's purpose that is thereby achieved.
	Ezekiel may also indicate to the Israelites the purpose of God's quickening work.
But that God's people come to life, is not a goal in itself. The LORD has a higher purpose. We read about it in various verses. First in verse 6. When Ezekiel prophesies to the bones, that God brings them to life, the verse ends with:
Then you will know that I am the Lord.
	And when God instructs Ezekiel to prophesy to Israel, He says in verse 12:
Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and I will bring you into the land of Israel.
	And then in verse 13 the goal follows:
Then you will know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves,
 O My people, and brought you up from your graves.
	And finally again in verse 14, when God says through Ezekiel:
I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live,
 and I will place you in your own land,
	And then continues:
Then you shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken it and performed it.
	Brothers and sisters, boys and girls, everything must lead to that! That we will know that God is the Lord! That we repeat His Word in our hearts and in our mouths. That we know and confess that He is God and no other.
	That we know and testify that He is the almighty God, who is infinitely faithful, and who achieves the impossible through His Son. He saves us from death through His Son, who paid for our acquittal on the cross. He gives us eternal life because His Son has earned it for us on the cross.
	Everything must therefore lead to our worship of this God. As the God who keeps His promises in his eternal loyalty and omnipotence. This is how He wants to be known and recognized.
	Let us therefore always ask ourselves: Why does God make His Word be heard everywhere? For what purpose does the Lord give us a living faith? Why is it necessary for me to hear a sermon twice each Sunday in which He speaks to Me? How does He work that with His Spirit?  What do I do with the life and the knowledge of glory, that He has given?
	Yes, multiple answers are possible to those questions, but the ultimate goal of all this is to glorify God, Himself? That we know Him as He is: the glorious God.
	For the same purpose, God once made this Creation. Everything was good and glorious then. Everything was made for His delight. Now it is the Lord’s will that through His re-creation, through the raising of us from the dead, that we thank Him for it with our lives, so that He comes to His glory.
	For why does He deliver us from the power of sin? Is it not for the purpose of serving Him as His redeemed children? And that we worship Him and His Son, giving honour with our whole being! That we praise and love Him for all the undeserved salvation He gives us through His Son?
	The Lord Jesus Christ said in His high priestly prayer of John. 17: 3:
And this is eternal life that they know Thee, the only true God,
and Jesus Christ whom thou have sent.
	Brothers and sisters, boys and girls, see how special a living faith is. It means nothing else than being allowed to live, risen from the dead. To live with God and before God! Eternally.
	In our world you might estimate the value of your faith differently. For it is the people who do not believe that seem to enjoy this life to the full. They follow their own desires. They know their own joy. In their eyes, believers are just dead boring people who are trapped in old systems and who are not modern. People with a negative view of society.
	But brothers and sisters, now see yourself in the light of this vision. See where you come from: from the dead. But also what God has worked in you: true life through His Word! Being dead is being without God. Not knowing him. Not knowing his love. Rejecting His Son. You are spiritually dead if you do not accept your Saviour and thus have no fellowship with the living God. But then you also miss the glory of God. We are like that too if we want to live for ourselves without faith.
	But how different all this becomes from the quickening work of God! God Himself works out living faith, faith in which you cling to His Word, to His promises. Faith whereby you accept Christ as your Saviour and want to follow His voice. Faith whereby you are incorporated into Christ and may share in all of His treasures. The treasures of eternal life. In that faith, God is central to your thinking and doing. From now on you want to honour Him with your whole life.
	Congregation, how happy you are: if you may look up to the Lord God. Even if you face death, you may know: He, this almighty and faithful God, is my Father, is my Saviour, yes, is my life. So is He through His Son, my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ.
	We may therefore extend the prophecy about the resurrection from the grave in verses 12 and 13 to the last day. That is how the Lord Jesus worked this out in John. 5.
On the last day it will become clear who has remained spiritually dead in his or her life and who has been spiritually brought to life. Then all the graves will open.
	The graves of all who have rejected Jesus Christ unto the resurrection for damnation. But of the graves of all who fell asleep in Jesus Christ, - born or unborn - those graves then open to the resurrection to life. Then the final goal of your redemption will come out even more clearly. Because then you can sing together with the large crowd that nobody can count, the true Israel that has come to its full number. Then you may sing out together to the throne of God and to the Lamb:
Salvation belongs to our God,
Who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb! (Rev. 7)   
	
	Amen