Do you know the song, “dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones”?
It surely brings a smile to your face if you know it but isn’t this also one of
the most poignant and beautiful images in all of scripture? Ezekiel is taken up in the Spirit to see a
valley of dry bones, not just dry in fact, very dry. Ezekiel is asked if these dry bones can live
and he answers appropriately, you know. He
is willing to admit the possibility that they can live but only God knows for
certain and his faith is rewarded by seeing an incredible sight of those bones
being knit back together, sinews and flesh covering them and finally, the
breath of life coming in to form an exceedingly great army. The people have lost their hope, they are cut
off from the land and, seemingly, the covenant promises and yet the Lord gives
hope to dry bones and the hopeless that He has not forgotten either them or His
promises to them. His words are meant to
begin the process of restoration for these people.
Jesus says two very interesting things here. First, “If I had not come and spoken to them,
they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their
sin.” Then, “If I had not done among
them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now
they have seen and hated both me and my Father.” Does that mean that it would be better for
all concerned if He had not come? If they
are only guilty of sin because He came and spoke to them and because He did
among them the works no one else did, why did He come? Isn’t it better to be innocent of sin? Knowing I am guilty of sin means I have no hope
in the world so unless He does something to take away that sin I have no
hope. He exposed sin that He might
glorify the Father by revealing His love for sinners. If we sin but have no guilt in sin, the world
continues in rebellion and continues its slide.
If He exposes sin and also deals with it, He is loving the world by
exposing sin that we might change. If He
then gives us His Spirit to enable that change, that is truly an act of love
for us and the world around us. Unfortunately,
the world will hate us and reject our message.
We need to pray for the outpouring of the Spirit that Ezekiel saw.
Peter echoes Jesus here by pointing out what God, their God,
the God of Abraham and Isaac, the God of their fathers, did in front of their
eyes but who they denied, even when Pilate had determined to release
Jesus. In that little phrase, Peter is
saying, you can’t blame Pilate for this, no blame shifting here, you are
responsible because Pilate was ready to end the trial and release Jesus but you
insisted and forced his hand. They are
guilty of rejecting and denying Messiah and it couldn’t be worse for a Jewish
person than that. That this man was
healed by faith in the Name of Jesus means the Lord has not rejected His people
as they have rejected Him, they have another chance, even now. Peter’s message is more hopeful than anyone
could have imagined, all they have to do is repent and believe, God hasn’t quit
loving them, they are still His people, in spite of their rejection of the
Messiah.
No comments:
Post a Comment