You shall know that I am the Lord.

5th Sunday in Lent
March 13, 2005
Ezekiel 37:1-14

^37:11Then he said to me, “Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.’ ¹²Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. ¹³And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. ¹⁴I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken and will act, says the LORD.” (NRS).

If you know anything at all from the prophet Ezekiel, it’s probably this vision of the valley of dry bones. There’s just something about it that sticks in your mind and makes it unforgettable. So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; . . . and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.

That vision has been used as the basis of great spiritual songs. It’s a great image for apocalyptic, end-of-the-world movies too. But that vision was a powerful message of encouragement and hope to a very unhappy Israel, a people that had given up hope and slipped into despair. That vision remains a powerful message of encouragement and hope to God’s people today, to you and me. For Ezekiel’s vision of a resurrection of Israel is an image and guarantee of the literal, bodily resurrection for which we wait.

I really hope that you are not now feeling a sense of hopelessness, of ruin or despair. But I’m sure that at sometime in the past you have felt that way and will feel that way at some time in the future. In a world ruined by the fall, under God’s judgment, things go wrong, horribly wrong, even for good people. Two months ago the tsunami in south-east Asia pounded that point into our minds. Two weeks ago, with the death of four RCMP officers, that truth hit us like the bullets that killed them. You and I may not be fighting off gloomy thoughts or teetering on the edge of despair right now because of those events, but several Canadian families are, including prominent members of our own church body. Ruin and despair are things we certainly want to avoid, but things which are too much a part of our life. What can we do?

One of the things we can do is to listen to the Word of God, in particular, Ezekiel’s vision of dry bones. Ezekiel was among the first wave of Jews taken into captivity in Babylon. While in captivity, he had the unpleasant task of telling the captives in Babylon what Jeremiah still in Jerusalem was telling the people there. God was abandoning the city and the temple. He would not save them from the Babylonians. You see, at first the people with Ezekiel were confident that in a short while they would return to Judah. They were sure that God would save them. But when the news came that Jerusalem had been sacked and the temple destroyed, they knew that God had given them up. Then they lost all hope and said, Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.

Have you ever seen anyone who has just given up, who says that all hope is lost? Have you ever known someone who committed suicide? Such a person is perhaps the best example of a person who has lost hope and fallen into complete despair. Have you ever struggled with such feelings yourself because of some difficulty? Have you been in desperate straights financially or maybe so sick or injured that you didn’t know if things would improve? Have you ever faced a severely strained marriage or other family relationship? If so, then you have an idea of how Israel felt. Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.

These kinds of trouble and this whole feeling of despair and hopelessness aren’t accidents. The things that go so horribly wrong in life like the death of the four police officers aren’t accidents. Like my dad always said, accidents don’t just happen, they’re caused. Accidents are caused by carelessness, and our troubles in this life are caused by sin and separation from God. Israel was in exile because of sin. They worshipped the idols of the world around them. They lived the greedy, lying, cheating and immoral lifestyle of the world around them. You and I live in the same kind of world. We sin and suffer the consequences; the people around us sin and we suffer the consequences. Constable Peter Schiemann did nothing wrong; but he and his family sure suffered the sin of another person. Sin is the cause of our trouble.

When our troubles are big enough, we get to the point where we feel helpless. What can we do about the four dead police officers? What can you do if Jetsgo leaves you stranded, if the only industry in your town closes, if your spouse dies or up and leaves you with the kids? Nothing! That’s when despair can get you like in those depression commercials on television. A large part of despair is the feeling that you are cut off from God, that even he won’t help you. Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.

No we’re not! In fact, now we have the possibility to find real hope. Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken and will act, says the LORD.”

Over and over in the book of Ezekiel, God declares what he is going to do about someone or something and adds, then you/they will know that I am the LORD. That phrase, then you/they will know that I am the LORD, is repeated about seventy times. Obviously God is making a point! What does it mean to know that he is the Lord? It means to know that he is your Creator, your God, your Lord; and it means to trust and obey him or to fear and love him as Luther taught us in the Catechism. The cause of our trouble and despair is that we have lost this knowledge of God, this relationship of faith. The solution is to recover this knowledge of the Lord.

So that Israel might recover this knowledge of God, God was going to bring them back from captivity to their own land. That would be a demonstration and proof of his power, love and faithfulness. Ezekiel’s vision of the resurrection of these dry bones did not mean that God was going to bodily resurrect those Jews who had already died and take them back to Judah. It was a figurative way of telling them that he would restore their land and their nation. In addition, God promised to put his spirit in them. The breath that came into the bones and gave them life was the same breath of life that God breathed into Adam when he formed him from the dust of the ground. It’s the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit. The whole vision then is one of resurrection or re-creation. When this happened—and it did—they were then to know that he was the Lord. They were to repent of their idolatry and once again fear and love God above all things. That would be the end of their despair. They would not longer feel like dry bones. Instead, they would be the living people of God.

Now what about us? What has God done so that we might recover the knowledge of God, so that we might know that he is the Lord? Ezekiel’s vision and that resurrection of Israel signalled another event that we will soon mark. The resurrection of Jesus! Whereas Israel was restored as a nation, Jesus was literally resurrected. By dying he suffered the needed punishment for sin, your sin, my sin. He bore the exile and separation from God for us. And by rising from the dead he gave us the promise of our own resurrection. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you. (Romans 8:11). Through Ezekiel’s vision of dry bones God comforted Israel in its despair. Through the preaching of the apostle Paul, God comforts all people in their despair. For God does not lie or deceive. Just as he restored the nation of Israel, and just as he raised Christ from the grave, so he will raise you and me and all the dead and give eternal life to you and me and all believers in Christ.

God wants us to be sure of this, so he puts the Holy Spirit in us as he did ancient Israel. Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:38). Paul says that God has prepared us for the resurrection and has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. (2 Corinthians 5:5).

What good then is Ezekiel’s vision of dry bones and the restoration of the Jews to their land? What good is the knowledge that Jesus rose from the dead? You shall know that I am the LORD. In other words, God declares to you that there is no trouble, no hopeless situation, no despair from which he cannot and will not deliver you. Deliverance may not happen today or tomorrow or in this life. But it will happen at the resurrection. That’s God’s promise!

The result? Hope, courage, trust and obedience! Through Ezekiel God said, A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you, and make you follow my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances. (Ezekiel 36:26-27). Through Paul he said, if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. (Romans 8:13-15).

Already we have been resurrected in spirit. We are not hopeless, dry bones, completely cut off. We are the children of God! We are heirs to the resurrection signified by the restoration of Israel and accomplished in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We know that he is the LORD. Him we can trust and obey, fear and love above all things. That is a powerful source of encouragement and hope. If we only let that Word of God dwell in our hearts, our troubles will not end in despair. Remember Jesus’ word: I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world! (John 16:33).