Ezekiel gives a right answer to the Lord and then is
obedient to what must have seemed a strange command, but because he does, he
sees an amazing thing and has a most hopeful message to take back to the
people. When God asks if these bones can
live, Ezekiel gives the only right answer, “O Lord God, you know.” He is properly humble in that answer, he
believes what we saw yesterday, that with God all things are possible, so as
unlikely as it seems, there is at least a possibility that these bones can
live. When told to prophesy to the
bones, Ezekiel does as he is commanded and sees the bones come together and
ultimately form an army. The implication
for Israel is that even though they think of themselves as dead in their exile and
separation not only from the Land but from the Lord, there is still life in
them and that life comes from Him. When He
wills their restoration they will indeed be restored. All they have to do is believe and wait for
Him to act.
Jesus promises the world will hate them just as it has hated
Him, without cause. We have had a long
season of time in the US when we enjoyed, if not popularity, at least respect
but that season is coming or has come to a close. We need to be prepared to preach from the margins
of society rather than from the center. We
need to prepare ourselves for persecution and ridicule. He will, however, be with us, He has sent the
Holy Spirit, the Helper, who will bear witness to Him, will strengthen our
faith. How we respond when persecuted
will matter, will it be like Jesus who prayed for forgiveness for His
persecutors, or will we pray against them?
Will we love or will we hate? Will
we extend grace or something else?
Peter preaches his second sermon after God does something
amazing and it sounds a lot like his first sermon. He points directly to Jesus and reminds them
that they have killed Him, demanding a murderer be released instead of
Jesus. They had a second chance to not
do this thing and chose a murderer instead of God's chosen. It is through faith in this same Jesus, whose
Name Peter invoked in healing the man, that the man they know is now whole
before them. Peter also points not only
to all the prophets but to Moses promise of a prophet like him. In the end, they have another chance, they
can repent and turn to Jesus. What a
loving and great God we have to allow us to crucify His Son, His chosen
Messiah, and then to repent of that heinous sin and still receive love and
mercy.
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