TEXT: EZEKIEL 37:1-14 #2758 LENT 6THEME: "DEM BONES, DEM BONES, DEM DRY BONES....NOW HEAR THE WORDOF THE LORD!" 1.HIS PRECIOUS WORD OF COMFORT FOR THE PRESENT. n. HISREASSURING WORD OF HOPE FOR THE FUTURE. Phoenix - 4/6/14My dear fellow redeemed, .•

Back in those dark days before the Civil War in our country, the slaves who lived in theSouth had very little to hope for. Many of them had been ruthlessly tom away from theirhomes and their families in Africa, and even here in America their families were oftenfractured when a husband or wife or children were sold to new owners in different locations.Such was their lot in life. But for many of them, these words of the prophet Ezekiel whichare now before us were extremely comforting and reassuring because, you see, they couldidentify in many respects with the ancient Israelites to whom these words were first written.In fact, they would often sing these words in that rollicking old spiritual hymn that I thinkmost of us have probably also heard at some time or another. It's called "Dem Bones." Haveyou ever heard it? Sing it along with me if you know it. OK? Ready? It goes: "Dem bones,dem bones, dem dry bones, / Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones, / Dem bones, dembones, dem dry bones, / Now hear the Word of the Lord!"

I don't think we're quite ready for an appearance on "The Voice" yet, but hey, with a littlemore practice, who knows what might shake out. At any rate, lots of things have changedsince those dark pre-Civil War days, and yet in many respects some things haven't changedat all. I would submit to you that this vision of the prophet Ezekiel and these words of ourLord and God can be just as.comforting and just as reassuring for us today as they were forthe Israelites of old and the slaves in the South. So this morning we're going to focus on"DEM BONES, DEM BONES, DEM DRY BONES.... NOW HEAR THE WORD OF THELORD!" First, let's hear I. THE LORD'S PRECIOUS WORD OF COMFORT FOR THEPRESENT. And then also II. HIS REASSURING WORD OF HOPE FOR THE FUTURE.

I.First, then, let's hear THE LORD'S PRECIOUS WORD OF COMFORT FOR THE

PRESENT. In this portion of Scripture, God had given the prophet Ezekiel a vision in whichhe saw a valley full of bones, and those bones had qualities that represented the situation ofEzekiel's own people at that particular time. "I saw a great many bones on the floor of thevalley," Ezekiel tells us, "bones that were very dry," v.2b. Dem bones, dem bones, demdry bones - their dryness indicated a deadness. There appeared to be no hope that they couldever be revived. And those bones were scattered across the floor of the valley - separatedfrom one another .... no longer all part of the same body. That's what Ezekiel saw. But whatdid it all mean? Well, the Lord Himself explained this vision when He said to His prophet,"Son of man, these bones are the whole house ofIsrael. They say, 'Our bones are driedup and our hope is gone; we are cut off," v.l l. That's how the Israelites felt. They hadfallen on some extremely hard times, and it was all their own fault. You see, God had beenso good to them - He had blessed them so very richly. But they had gradually drifted awayfrom their loving Lord and gracious God and had turned instead to the worthless idols oftheir heathen neighbors. For many, many years God had patiently called upon them to repentof their sins and return to Him.... but they wouldn't listen:

Then one day God's patience with His people finally ran out. He allowed them to behauled away from their homes in Canaan and to become slaves in the foreign land ofBabylon. There life was really tough for them, and everything looked so hopeless. Eventhose who did repent of their sins seemed to feel that there was no hope for them - that theyhad been cut off permanently from God.... that He had now forsaken them just as they hadforsaken Him... that He simply didn't care about them anymore. But nothing could have beenfarther from the truth! God made this very clear to His prophet and to His people when Heinstructed Ezekiel to stand in the valley and prophesy, "Dry bones, hear the word of the

Lord!" vAb. And when he did, "tbere was a noise, a rattling sound, and tbe bonesstarted coming togetber, bone to bone," v.7. "The toe bone's connected to the foot bone, /The foot bone's connected to the ankle bone, / The ankle bone's connected to the shin bone"and so on, as that old spiritual puts it. Then tendons and flesh appeared on the bones, andskin covered them. Breath entered once more, and these bones became alive again! And thenthe prophet was told to apply this very personally to the people of Israel. "Tbis is wbat tbeSovereign Lord says:" he told them, "0 my people ••.•I will bring you back to tbe land ofIsrael. Tben you, my people, will know tbat I am tbe Lord •.. I will settle you in yourown land," v.12-14.

This was the precious word of comfort God gave His people when everything looked soutterly depressing and completely hopeless in their life at that time. He assured them that Hestill loved them, that He had fully forgiven them, that He would continue to sustain them,and that eventually He would bring them back home again. What He was really impressingupon them by bringing those dry bones back to life again was that He had complete controlover their lives and that He could make it all turn out good for them. In like manner, myfriends, we too may go thru times in our own life when we also feel like 'dry bones," so tospeak - when we're faced' with challenges and hardships .... seemingly abandoned byGod.... without any hope whatsoever. But.... "bear tbe word ofthe Lord!" Yes, listen up! Itjust isn't so! No, it just isn't so. This is His precious word of comfort for you and me today.

In their book entitled, "Absolute Zero Gravity, " authors Betsy Divine and Joel Cohen tellof an Army seismologist who happened to be stationed in Anchorage, Alaska, back in 1964when the big earthquake struck. His name was Joe Harding. He was in his bathroom, and hisfirst inkling of trouble was when the water in his toilet suddenly shot up seven feet andsplashed all over the ceiling. Joe didn't have to think very long about the implications of thatbefore rushing out of his house and into the street. By then the earthquake was going full tilt,and the street was filled with people. One young mother - Joe's next-door neighbor - had atoddler tucked under each arm and a terrified look on her face. "Joe!" she shouted as shestaggered over to him. "Joe! You're the seismologist! For heaven's sake, do something!"Well, poor Joe was in a bind. You see, he may have studied earthquakes, and he may haveknown everything there is to know about earthquakes, but. ... he had no power to actuallyprevent an earthquake or to stop one after it had started.

It is NOT SO, however," with our Lord, my friends. He has complete control overeverything that happens to us - even those "earthquakes of adversity," so to speak, likehardships, sickness and suffering, and all the other challenging times we may experience, andthe assurance He has given us is that He will make it all work together for our good. "Dembones, dem bones, dem dry bones" - they didn't stay that way, did they! No, the Lord in Hislove and with His mighty power changed all of that. When the time was right, He did bringHis people back to the promised land. Now, my friends, "hear the word of the Lord!" - Hisprecious word of comfort when you too in your present life may start to feel like theIsraelites because of some pressing problem. or some depressing- situation, and may eventhink or say as they did, "Our hope is gone; we are cut off" from the Lord. It just isn't so.The Lord hasn't forsaken you, and He never will. ,"[ know the plans I have for you, " Heassures you in those challenging times, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans togive you hope and a future, " And boy! I for one really need to remember this! When I don't,I look like Rev. Bill standing in front of the sink in the cartoon in your bulletin. And when Ido, I look like the the Rev. Bill in the mirror. II.

Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones. Not only do we hear the Lord's precious word ofcomfort for the present in connection with them, but we also hear HIS REASSURINGWORD OF HOPE FOR THE FUTURE. Listen, Ezekiel was told, "Therefore, prophesyand say to them: 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: 0 my people, I am going toopen your graves and bring you up from them ••••I will put my Spirit in you and you

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will live,'" v.12&14a. This is the marvelous word of hope that God had for His people. "I amgoing to open your graves and bring you up from them," He said. This was their hope for thefuture - for the eternal future. Even in death itself they would not be forsaken or forgotten bytheir Lord and God. Even in death itself He would still be with them, and in the end Hewould rescue them from the confining clutches of the grave. "I will put my Spirit in youand you will live!" God assured His people. Yes, they would live. All those who were led bythe Holy Spirit to repent of their sins and return to the Lord would live with Him forever inthe kingdom of heaven .... and not only with their souls, but with their bodies too. What awonderful promise that was! What reassuring hope!

This was the same hope with which a young man named John Kendall Morgan also livedhis life. He had been baptized and confirmed in the Lutheran church, and was always activein church life - faithful in worship, regular in attending Holy Communion. active in Biblestudy, ushering and a host of other things. He was truly a dedicated Christian - a very fineyoung man. After he finished with college, John entered the United States Army as anofficer, and he saw action in Operation Desert Storm over in Iraq. Then one night twomilitary men came to his parents' home and informed them that John had been killed inaction when his helicopter was shot down by Iraqi gunfire. It was a devastating blow forthem.

Three weeks before John Morgan had been killed in action half a world away from home,however, he had written a letter to his parents "just in case," and he had asked one of hisfriends to mail it "if something should happen." he said. That letter arrived at his parents'home the day after John's body had been returned to the United States. So they gathered thefamily together to read what he had written, and what they read was extremely comforting.In his letter, John Morgan expressed his love for his family, and he confessed the savingChristian. faith with which he always had lived. In closing, he had written: "I'm sorry youhave to read this letter because it means that you know I'm dead. But don't worry," hecontinued, "I'm still all right. In fact," he said, "now I know something that you don't. Now Iknow what heaven's like! Can't wait to see you here! Love, John."

This, my friends, is the reassuring hope that God has given to all of us as well. It's thehope that is based on God's own promises and on what God Himself has done for us. Yousee, at one time we were all like "dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones" in the valley -completely dead.... without any spiritual life in our hearts and souls. But then in His graceGod "put His Spirit in us" and changed all that. When the Holy Spirit led us to trust inJesus as our Savior from sin, we "came to life" just like the dry bones in that valley did.Thru faith in Jesus as our Savior, all the damning guilt of our sins has been washed away,and we have been reconciled to God. Jesus paid our debt of sin for us with His own holy lifeand His own innocent death in our place, and thru faith in Him we now have real hope for thefuture. "The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children, "we heard theApostle Paul tell us in our second lesson. "Now if we are children, " he says, "then we areheirs - heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in orderthat we may also share in His glory. "

This is God's own reassuring word of hope for the future. As believers in Jesus, we are nolonger "dry bones" in a God-forsaken valley, but "dearly loved" sons and daughters in thefamily of God. And as such, we will one day share our Savior's eternal glory. That's whatGod Himself has promised us, my friends. Now.... hear the word of the Lord.... and rejoice.Truly rejoice!

AMEN

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