6-3-2018 Weekly Message The contemplation of the week: Psalm 29: 1-11 Text: Ezekiel 37: 1-14 The title of the Word: Thou knowest
God took the prophet Ezekiel in the Spirit of God to the valley full of dry bones to show in advance the work of the Almighty God to the people of Israel. God showed him a great many bones and asked him. ” can these bones live?“
Ezekiel’s servant of God, who believed in the Almighty God, said, ” O Lord GOD, thou knowest” he asked not Ezekiel whether he could make the bones live, but God asked him raise them to live.
In his wise answer, he confessed that no one in this world can know , but only God, the Almighty, who knows and can do. God finally told Ezekiel, who trusts in God who knows everything and can do it.
” Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.
5Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:
6And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD “
Ezekiel, who believed that only God, who created all things by His Word, knew and could do all things, and prophesied to the bones by the Word of God, as God commanded. No one can give life again who die, and all flesh and skin disappear, returning to the earth, and a few remaining bones. Only God the Creator can do.
When Ezekiel prophesied the word of God by faith, the power of the Word appeared instantaneously. When God created all things, as upon His word fell out of his mouth, all creation was instantly created, beginning with light, the bones was sounded, vibrating, and bones gathered together and attached to their bones. In addition, tendons and flesh climbed over their bones, and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.
When God made the first man, he made his body, of dust, and breathed life into his nostrils, and made him a living soul. God breathed in those whose dry bones were finally restored to human form. God told Ezekiel to give breath unto them
. ” Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.“
Finally, Ezekiel saw that their breath had entered them, and that they were alive and standing on their feet, that they became a great army. God, who heard the words of Ezekiel’s faith, “The Lord knoweth,” spoke to him, and when he commanded the bones according to the word of God, they appeared to be a great army of people again who died
He who believes in the words of Genesis 1: 1 (In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.) believes in the Word of God without doubting, believing with the heart, and confessing with his mouth, he can live a life of thanksgiving, but a person who does not believe in the Creator God can not believe any words. By judging by his own thoughts, he is getting old and dies and does not even realize that he becomes a piece of dirt and dry bones. Those who do not believe in God live living in their most honorable ways, but God said to them:
“Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish.… Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts thatperish. “(Psalm 49: 12,20)
Finally, God said that he was preach to Ezekiel through a vision of what will happen in the future:
” Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.
13And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves,
14And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD.“(EZ 37:12-14)
As prophecies of the dry bones that were seen through the vision, he prophesied to the people of Israel who would be scattered throughout the earth like dry bones, as he saw that they were alive and became a great army. They were to be driven out of the homeland in the distant future, That he might prophesy that God will restore Israel, which shall be scattered all over the earth and become hopeless.
The Romans and religious leaders who were ruling over them two thousand years ago, knowing that Jesus was their Messiah and Creator, but they did not accept their Messiah and nailed him on the cross. In order to make them realize in the distant future, God devastated Jerusalem, leaving no stone on it, by the Rome they relied on in AD 70. Since then, they have been driven out of their land and have wandered the whole world, becoming as God’s Word, as if they were dry bones.
But on May 14, 1948, the nation was restored, as it had made prophesy thousands of years ago through Ezekiel. It is as if a flesh and tendon were formed on dry bones and became a large army as if covered with skin on it. It is the fulfillment of God’s prophecy that the military power of Israel is now great. But they still do not have the breath of God’s breathed life in them because they do not believe in their Messiah. But the Bible says that they will finally realize and repent when their Messiah comes. And as God prophesied through Ezekiel, all of them will return to the homeland with no one left. And they will eventually become the nation of priest on the earth, the prophets prophesied about this:
” Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?
9Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the LORD thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee.
10And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee.
…. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God. “(Isaiah 60: 8-10, Amos 9:15)
That’s right! God promises through his servants ahead of time and accomplishes all things. He has made his servants prophesy ahead of time and we are clearly seeing and hearing what is happening in our time. Towards the Jews and the people of the world who do not believe in the Almighty Creator God, God spoke through the prophet Isaiah:
” All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:
7The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.
8The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.“(Isaiah 40: 6-8)
Nothing in this world is eternal. Still, the world seems to live as an animal that does not believe in the Word of God and lives like a beast of destruction, following the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, . But we can preach the gospel as Ezekiel unto them that are poor in spirit without any hope of life. When we preaches the gospel of Christ in the Spirit to the poor, we can save souls in death, like dry bones. We should not be ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It is God’s power to bring all believers to salvation. The first is for the Jews, the second is for all the Gentiles. We must preach the gospel to them and make them receive the Holy Spirit. As we pray, the Holy Spirit will make us meet the poor people who live without hope as dry bones, just as Ezekiel showed them. Therefore, when we preach the gospel to them, we will see the glory of God that will make them alive. Amen! Hallelujah!