From Dry Bones to New Life

"And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴ And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away." ⁵ Then He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." And He said to me, "Write, for these words are true and faithful."

Revelation 21:3-5

The context for this passage is a time when God will create new heavens and a new earth because the first passed away.  The Bible teaches us that a day is coming when He will dissolve this world and all the works and sin within it.  All who have rejected Christ will face eternal damnation, and all those who have repented of their sins will spend eternity with God in the new heavens and earth He creates.  Because of sin, no person is a stranger to pain, sorrow, crying, sickness, and death.  How wonderful it is to realize that God makes all things new!  He does not just remove pollution, sickness, or feelings.  He makes new, and in what is new is no trace of what was old.  Outside of the realm of time what is made new remains new, for it cannot grow old.

But is this promise of God only meant to be applied to life in heaven?  No!  But unfortunately, many Christians live as if that is the reality.  We have all been there.  A dog returning to his vomit may well describe our life at the moment.  We can be tricked to willingly drown in depression, disappointment, and disillusionment brought through belief of Satan's lies.  He would tell us such a promise does not apply to us, that we are too far gone for such a change to take place.  We have struggled with sin too long, our faith is too small, and we do not deserve such a blessing.  The fact is we have struggled with sin too long, our faith is small, and we do not deserve such a blessing.  But God has promised to give new life to all who repent and trust in Christ by His grace!  That is the wonder of the Gospel!  Completely unworthy of life, we can receive new life through Christ.  God will make us new from the inside today if we will ask Him believing in His promise.

Perhaps you cannot bring yourself to believe this.  There have been times when you were sure you were changed but before long you found yourself back in a pit dug dug with your own hands.  The only way to combat such deep-rooted doubt bred into us through sin is through confrontation with the truth of God's Word.  Are you familiar with the passage in Ezekiel 37 concerning the valley of dry bones?  God brings Ezekiel in the spirit to a valley full of dry bones and asks him, "Son of man, can these bones live?"  Ezekiel said something I would not have said.  I would have said, "Obviously not!"  He said to God, "O LORD God, you know."  There is no potential for life in such a thing as dry bones, at least from our human perspective.  But to God, the one who Creates from nothing, nothing is too hard for Him.

God tells Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones and they were covered with sinews, flesh, and skin.  God caused these bones to stand up resurrected and breathed life into them.  They stood on their feet and were an "exceeding great army."  The purpose of this vision was a sign of what God would later do:  Ezekiel 37:12-14 says, "Therefore prophesy and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. ¹³ Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves. ¹⁴ I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken it and performed it," says the LORD."  God's people would know He was the LORD when He opened their graves.  He would put His Spirit within His people, and He would bring them into their own land.

After Jesus died on the cross, His dead corpse was placed in a tomb carved out of stone guarded by Roman soldiers.  Three days after His death, Jesus would rise from the dead.  But did you know something wondrous happened at the moment when Jesus died on the cross?  The veil of the temple was torn top to bottom, there was an earthquake, and Matthew 27:52-53 confirms the word spoken in Ezekiel:  "...and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; ⁵³ and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many ."  Can these dry bones live?  Yes they can!  God has granted us access into His presence through the person of Jesus Christ.  After the resurrection of Christ, men and women long dead came out of their opened graves and appeared to many!  After Christ's ascension into heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit to fill His followers on the Day of Pentecost.  It was about 60 years ago when Israel was made a nation once again and were brought into their land.

Without Christ, we are dead bones:  dead spiritually and condemned to die eternally.  But God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance and be born again.  Just because you have made a commitment to follow Christ, it will not be easy to walk in this newness of life.  We can be tempted to go back to old habits, old ways of thinking, the ways we used as coping mechanisms before we were transformed through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Romans 6:3-6 reads, "Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? ⁴ Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. ⁵ For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, ⁶ knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin."

Once God opened the tombs and raised those saints from the dead, they didn't remain in the graves but came forth as Lazarus.  Those who have been born again have now been raised from death to life.  Satan frantically works to deceive us to crawl back into our graves, isolate ourselves from God's help in self-pity, and roll the stone back over the opening to shroud us in darkness!  Many believers are in this pitiful state.  They have listened to and believed the lies of Satan rather than the truth of God's Word, condemning themselves when Christ has redeemed them!  Can these dry bones live?  YES!  Praise be to God, He makes all things new.  His mercies are new every morning, and He grants us perpetually the promise of new life in Him.

Are you sick of your life?  Are you weary of the stench of death when God has made you alive?  Only God can give you this victory.  Cry out to Him for new life for He has said, "I make all things new."  A man said at this week's conference, "Because of this conference, we will never be the same."  That's just the kind of talk that disillusions people, for the emotional feelings will fade over time.  It is because of Christ we have been made new.  We don't ever have to be without Him and the power of renewal again!  Conferences will come and go, songs of worship have a beginning and end on earth, but fellowship with our Savior is for eternity.  New life can only be found in Him!