1The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. 2 And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. 3 And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” 4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. 6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them. 9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.
REFLECTION:
The vision of the resurrection of the dry bones is really shocking. This vision echoes the promise in Chapter 36: a new life and the reconstruction of a nation, including both physical and spiritual aspects. Dry bones is a picture of the dispersal and death of the Israelites in captivity, and it also represents their spiritual death. The Israelite exiles in scattered areas will be released from the “tombs” in the exile. One day they will be reunited in their homeland, and the leader is the Messiah. When Ezekiel preached to these people, he felt that he was speaking to the dead because they hardly responded to his message. However, these skeletons all over the valley have undergone a magical change! Just as God bestows life on these dry bones, God also bestows life on those who have died spiritually. Today, our spiritual life may also look like a pile of dry bones to us, sleeping in a deep sleep with no signs of recovery. But just as God promised, He will definitely revive His church, regardless of the current state of the church’s spiritual life. In fact, God’s work has never stopped. He is just calling His people back to Him and giving them new life as He did in the past. Therefore, we should not be discouraged. Instead, we should continue to pray for the renewal and revival of the church, and ask the work of the Holy Spirit, so that more brothers and sisters in the church will be filled with the Holy Spirit and to be a good witness for the Lord through their mature and abundant lives.
PRAYER:
Pray for the spiritual revival of yourself and of the church. Pray for the Holy Spirit to enlighten you and make you more thirsty for God’s word every day; for the Holy Spirit to guide you in all daily matters, so that you can see the hidden motives in your heart when you make any decision, and be more willing to live according to the Lord’s will.
22 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. 23 And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. 24 I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.
26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. 28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
REFLECTION:
God not only cares about the salvation of the people of Israel, but also the salvation of all nations and peoples. If the people of Israel are allowed to stay in their sins and be taken captive forever by the enemy, then the people of those hostile countries will come to the conclusion that their god is more powerful than the God of Israel. God is the only true God, and will never allow false gods to share His glory. Therefore, in order to protect His holy name, God will call the exiled people scattered in the nations to return home and cleanse their lives so that they can manifest the glory of God. God promised not only to restore the nation of Israel physically, but also to restore the people of Israel spiritually. In order to achieve this goal, God will get rid of their heart of stone and give them a new heart and a new spirit, so that they will be able to do God’s will. This is the new covenant promised by God, and this new covenant is finally realized in Christ. No matter how unclean our past lives is, now God wants to give us a fresh start. After our sins are cleansed, we will get a “new heart” given by God, and the Spirit of God will enter us to help and guide us daily. “You shall be my people, and I will be your God.” If we receive this great promise from God, we will get all the abundance that God has given us. We should have this kind of faith, walk with God throughout our lives, look to God in all things, and experience His grace and love.
PRAYER:
Ask God to change the hidden stubbornness in your heart. This stubbornness may be hidden by your external humility and piety. It is not known to people but only you know it. Ask God to fix your eyes on His promise and make your heart soft and full of passion, obey the teachings of the Holy Spirit every day, and do not follow your own will to do things that are not pleasing to God.
1 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir, and prophesy against it, 3 and say to it, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, Mount Seir, and I will stretch out my hand against you, and I will make you a desolation and a waste. 4 I will lay your cities waste, and you shall become a desolation, and you shall know that I am the Lord. 5 Because you cherished perpetual enmity and gave over the people of Israel to the power of the sword at the time of their calamity, at the time of their final punishment, 6 therefore, as I live, declares the Lord God, I will prepare you for blood, and blood shall pursue you; because you did not hate bloodshed, therefore blood shall pursue you. 7 I will make Mount Seir a waste and a desolation, and I will cut off from it all who come and go. 8 And I will fill its mountains with the slain. On your hills and in your valleys and in all your ravines those slain with the sword shall fall. 9 I will make you a perpetual desolation, and your cities shall not be inhabited. Then you will know that I am the Lord.
REFLECTION:
“Seir” means “hairy, covered with shag”, just like Esau, the twin brother of Jacob, the ancestor of the Israelites, was covered with hairs. “Mount Seir” is a mountainous land from the southeast of the Dead Sea to the north of the Gulf of Aqaba in the Red Sea. The Edomites, descendants of Esau, live here. The Edomites were originally the brothers of the Israelites, but they didn’t care about brotherhood and took the initiative to attack David, only to be conquered by David. Edom rebelled again under King Solomon, became independent during King Joram of Judah, and clashed with Judah for a long time thereafter. When Babylon destroyed Jerusalem, Edom cherished hatred against the Israelites and offered help to Babylon. They also gloated after the destruction of Jerusalem. Edom has been hostile to God’s people for a long time, which eventually led to God’s judgment on Edom. Ezekiel’s prophecy was not only aimed at the Edomites, but also at their mountains and land. The mountain symbolizes strength and power, and represents the arrogance of these people. They wanted revenge against Israel, but their vengeance turned against themselves. “Blood shall pursue you”, which means that the punishment they get is just the punishment they are eager to impose on others. God has a way to make people eat their own fruit, so we should learn from Edom’s lesson and be compassionate to the brothers and sisters. Whether others are right or wrong, we must not judge others with malicious intent, lest we are judged by others, will not please God and be disciplined by God.
PRAYER:
Pray that God will give you a compassionate heart and be able to tolerate the weakness and mistakes of your relatives, and brothers and sisters in the church; pray that God will comfort you for the difficulties and harm caused by their mistakes, so that you can imitate Christ and embrace everything with love; Pray for their weaknesses and mistakes, not for them to change quickly, but for them to be enlightened and led by God.
