Ezekiel wrote during the most discouraging time of ancient Israel’s history- during the Exile, when Israel was living outside of their homeland, with no temple, king, or priest, because of their own unfaithfulness. Many were at the point of giving up completely, and were settling into their new homelands and blending in with the peoples and cultures around them. The few who still held to the promises of God for their heritage, and the fulfillment of the promises for a new temple, the coming of the Messiah, must have wondered how this could happen.  There was no hope on the horizon for a change. Israel, and the great Project the Lord had begun there, appeared to be dead – totally, permanently dead.

The Lord showed Ezekiel the bleakest picture possible – a huge deserted valley of dry bones. Everyone knows that a body may return to health, but bones have no life left in them. The bones lay separated, scattered, and piled up.

The Lord asked Ezekiel whether the bones can live. Ezekiel looks at the vision – the answer is painfully clear from a material, earthly standpoint – bones cannot live again. On the other hand, he does not presume what the Lord has in mind.  He acknowledges that only the Lord knows the answer.

This illustrates the mentality we need to have.  We know of course that the Lord CAN do ANYTHING. The question is not what God can do but what he will do. Christians sometimes make a mistake about faith. They have something that they want God to do, and they know He can, so they start mustering up faith (in the form of excitement or expectation) to believe it will happen because they prayed for it. Instead, we need to pray and trust according to the Lord’s will, not our own desires.

When we look at the world around us, we also see dry bones. Life will only come where the Lord speaks, where he commands it through his revelation. Today, we say with Ezekiel, “Sovereign Lord, only you know.”

The WORD OF LIFE – Then a great rattling occurs and bones begin to come together. Then muscle appears on the bones, and finally skin, and a great army of bodies stands there before Ezekiel. The order here is important:

1. The Word of the Lord, the revelation, comes forth. Revelation is the only thing that produces spiritual life or real progress, the only thing that produces and renews God’s project.

2. Bones come together as skeletons. This is the structure of how God wants us to proceed.

3. The flesh comes to the bones – the Lord brings some people together who begin to apply the orientations, to live within the structure he gives, to experience the Lord’s Work in practice. Notice, though, that there is still no life sometimes even where there are people. You can gather a crowd who want to go through the motions of having a church, but do not have the life of the Spirit in them.

4. The Lord gives breath or life to the body. This is the final phase. We must never forget that the Work is an ongoing operation of the living Holy Spirit. It is always changing, always progressing, always growing. It is ALIVE, a living body.

It may be hard for people today to believe that God’s project could resurrect in the last days. It may seem too good to be true that there would be a church without politics. It is hard for some to imagine Christianity without pastors who lie and chase donations, with members who have spiritual depth and integrity, and with God guiding every decision. Yet the Lord asks us the question. Can these bones live? We have moved beyond imposing on the Lord what we think should happen. We must trust God to do what He said – that He would raise up a Work of the Holy Spirit, an obedient, unified Body.

This passage from Ezekiel is part of a sobering prophecy about judgment, but it also points us toward one of God’s precious promises – the saving power of the Blood of Jesus.  The passage stands out from others in the Major Prophets, because it refers to “any country” that sins against the Lord, whereas most of the messages of these prophets were directed specifically to God’s people, Israel.  The universality of the judgment that God describes here helps us appreciate the universal application of Jesus’ blood that he shed on the cross.

Noah, Daniel, and Job – These three men stand out in Old Testament, because the Scriptures suggest each of them was more righteous that any other person alive in his generation.  Each lived in completely different periods, separated by hundreds of years.  Noah was a Patriarch who lived around 3000 B.C.  Job was a wise man in the land of Uz (probably Seir/Edom) before the Israelites were even established in the Promised Land (around 1500 B.C.).  Daniel lived around 500 B.C., a thousand years later.  These three figures mentioned here to emphasize that we cannot be saved by the righteousness of other men.  Our parents’ religious devotion cannot save us if we ourselves do not follow Christ faithfully.  Our pastors’ spirituality will not count for us in earning God’s mercy, if we do not heed the preaching and put the teachings into practice in our own lives.  Only one thing can save us from our sins: the Blood of Jesus.  Each of these men had a person righteousness that came by looking forward in faith to the redemption in Christ.

Noah alone found favor in the eyes of the Lord in his era.  (Genesis 6:5-8).  He was the only one God chose to save, along with his wife and sons and his son’s wives.  He stands as an example, therefore, of an especially righteous man, someone the Lord singled out from the whole earth for his faithfulness.  His story also provides an example of a righteous man who cannot save the sinners around him from judgment – the rest of his generation all perished in the Flood.  The Faithful Church today is preaching to the world, and everyone who joins the Body will be saved – just as those who entered the Ark in Noah’s day will be saved – when the Lord Raptures the Faithful Church just before the Great Tribulation (judgment) comes on the earth.  Those who remain after the Rapture will have no more opportunity for salvation, but will be lost.  (There is an exception for the special case of Israel, which is a separate topic).  Therefore, even if we have a relative of associate as righteous as Noah – who was the more righteous than anyone else in his day – it will do us no good if we ourselves fail to repent.  Matthew 24:38-39 compares our day t the days of Noah.

Daniel was the only man in his generation, as far as we know, whom the Lord “highly esteemed.”  (He tells Daniel this repeatedly – see Daniel 9:23, Daniel 10:11, Daniel 10:19).  Daniel is one of the few in the Old Testament whom the Lord specifically promised would rise to eternal life (Daniel 12:13).  Like Noah, Daniel testified to those around him, but all three kingdoms in which he lived – first Judah, then Babylon, and then Persia – came under God’s judgment and fell to their enemies.   Daniel had salvation – the Bible tells us so in the last verse of his book.  Most of his peers and fellow government officials were not.  Today, the faithful church exists in nations all over the world.  These nations will not escape judgment because of this.  The faithful church will leave at the Rapture, and their neighbors who stay behind will continue to judgment.  (Matthew 24:40-41).

Job was so much better than his contemporaries that God would use him (and only him) as a counter example when the Adversary came to accuse the other servants because of their sins.  “Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job?  There is no one on earth like him…” (Job 1:8).  The Bible teaches, therefore, that Job was the most sanctified person alive on earth in his time (he probably lived shortly before Moses was born).  Even so, like Noah and Daniel, Job’s fellow citizens apparently were not good believers – they were strangers to God’s covenant with Israel – and even his closest friends did not understand the Lord very well.  (See Job 42:7-9).  Job testified about the Lord and offered sacrifices on behalf of those close to him (Job 1:5).  The faithful servants today pray for our relatives and neighbors, but they only receive salvation when they repent and plead for the blood of Jesus.

Our associations with other men cannot save us. Only Jesus’ blood can save us from the judgment that is coming on all sin, on all flesh.  The blood is the first thing a sinner needs when they come to Christ for salvation.  “…The blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7); “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:2).  “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him.” (Isaiah 53:5)  We see this aspect of the Blood as far back in the Bible as Adam and Eve.  God used the skins of slain animals to cover Adam & Eve’s shame after their sin.  (Genesis 3:21).  After their sin, Adam and Eve sewed fig leaves together to cover their shame.  This represents our human efforts to remove our sin.  God slaughtered some animals and made leather garments for them, showing that there had to be the death of a creature to cover the shame of sin.  Today we can confess our sins and have our shame covered by the blood of Jesus.

One of the worst teachings ever to infiltrate Christianity is the idea that saints in heaven can intercede on our behalf with God.  They think that praying to Jesus’ mother or other godly people who have passed already to eternity will somehow convince God to overlook their sins.  No saint in heaven, not even the holiest ones, can convince God to forgive our sins, answer our prayers, or show us favor.  Only the Blood of Jesus can do that.  “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.” (Romans 3:25).  “Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!” (Romans 5:9).  When people pray to saints from previous eras, it insults the blood of Jesus, which is the only atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Another reason that God uses Noah, Daniel, and Job specifically for this point is that they also symbolize the Scriptures, as the religious Jews understood them.  The Israelites divided the Old Testament books into three categories – the Law (first five books, which they called “the Torah”), the Prophets (major and minor prophets), and the “Writings” (everything else).  Noah was, in a sense, the earliest Patriarch (all nations descended from him), and represented the Law.  The Jews believed that he was the first one to receive part of the Law from God (because Genesis 9:4-7 later became part of the Mosaic law).  Daniel was a prophet, and Job was one of the “wise men” whose “writings” were always put together with Psalms and Proverbs.  In other words, just having the Bible is not enough for salvation (as these three men representing the three sections of the Scriptures in that day).  “The Letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”  (2 Corinthians 3:6).  Some people think that merely reading or believing in the Bible, or attending a Bible-believing church, will save them.  Yet even Noah (the Law), Daniel (the Prophets), and Job (the other Scriptures) cannot save those under judgment.  Only the blood of Jesus can save us.  The Bible is valuable when the Holy Spirit gives revelation through it that points us to Christ Himself.

“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Ephesians 1:7); “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.”  (Ephesians 2:13).  This is God’s promise – hallelujah!

Additional observations – Each of these righteous men illustrates the faithful church in the last days – which leaves this dying world at the instant of the Rapture.  We can also see the operation of the Trinity, striving in the world today to save people.  The Trinity’s project of salvation saves only those who repent and join this project through the blood of Jesus, while the world continues toward judgment.  God groups these three together in this verse in Ezekiel to show us this profound point:

Noah -             Father of Nations                   The Father

Job -                Suffering Servant                  The Son

Daniel –           Prophet                                   Holy Spirit

The project of God saves the people who become participants in it.  It does not save our culture, our economy, or our society.  Instead, is brings us into the Kingdom of Light and prepares us for eternity, where we will go at the Rapture.

In addition, the verse before the one quoted above – that is, Ezekiel 14:13 – is unusual because it mentions “any nation.”  It is universal, while most of the book is about Israel alone being under God’s judgment.  It describes the universal problem of sin and the judgment that comes on the entire world in the last days.  The three Biblical characters – Noah, Job, and Daniel – are similarly unusual in that they represented the universal nature of God’s Work.  All three lived outside Israel, unlike most of the other characters in the Old Testament.  Noah was the father of all the nations, of course, after the Flood.  God made a covenant with him that was supposed to apply to all humanity, not just Israel (see Gen. 9:12-16).  Job was from the land of Seir (Edom), as far as we know, probably before Israel even left Egypt – he was not an Israelite.  Finally, Daniel lived almost his entire life in Babylon & Persia, and his prophecies – unlike those of the other Major Prophets – focused primarily on the rise and fall of empires outside Israel, rather than the future of Israel itself.  They were the perfect characters to illustrate the universal problem of sin and judgment (”for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Rom. 3:23), and the universal solution that God provides – salvation through the blood of Jesus (”all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus,” Rom. 3:24).

“…even if these three men – Noah, Daniel and Job – were in it, they could save only themselves by their righteousness, declares the Sovereign Lord.”

“Jesus is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for the sins of the whole world.”  (1 John 2:2).

This passage describes both the judgment of God on sin, and the grace of God for his faithful servants.  The biblical pattern is for judgment on the world, and deliverance for the saints, to come simultaneously, by the same stroke of God’s hand.  See, for example, Isaiah 61:12, “to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God…”

Background - The immediate context of this passage was the Babylonian Exile of Israel in the Old Testament, which came as a punishment for their persistent idolatry and chronic disobedience.  God’s people had disobeyed and drifted away from him for year after year, so eventually the Lord allowed the Babylonian Empire to come and destroy their land, burn the Temple, and carry most of the people away into Exile.  Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel all lived through these events, in different locations, and all prophesied about them.

The immediate fulfillment of this prophecy was the destruction of Jerusalem; the people in the city were still telling themselves that everything was going to work out somehow, refusing to recognize God’s judgment on their lives.  In Ezekiel 5:1-4, the Lord tells him to shave his hair and beard; and then to burn a third, chop up a third, and scatter a third to the wind.  This corresponded to the events that unfolded soon thereafter in Jerusalem.  Many people died inside the city from starvation and outbreaks of disease, as is typical during a siege.  Many others fell in battle when the Babylonians took the city, and most of the remainder became forced refugees or exiles in various locations around the Babylonian Empire.  The Lord also preserved a tiny remnant for Himself, like Daniel and Ezekiel, because His Project of Salvation was not yet complete.  These few are the strands of hair that the Lord told Ezekiel to keep in the folds of his robes.  Not all of these strands of hair survive (see v.4), but the Lord preserves the number that He needs for his purposes.

The prophecies in the Old Testament, however, have a meaning beyond their immediate context of the prophet’s own lifetime.  That is the reason the Lord included them in His Word for us today.  The prophecies also point forward to the Last Days, the prophetic moment when God brings his Project of Salvation to completion.  We are now living in that prophetic moment.

The Judgment - The Bible declares that God will judge this world of sin and fleshliness, and that time has come.  After the Rapture of the faithful church, the world will enter the period called the Great Tribulation, the last seven years of terrible judgment before Jesus returns to rule on the earth with his saints.  Judgment on the world includes judgment on the world’s worthless religions (see, for example, Revelation 17), including many religious entities that use the name “Christian.”  The Israelites – God’s People – forsook the Lord and came under judgment.  Today, there are many who claim to be religious, but follow mere traditions (Matt 15:7-9) or ideas that have no power to transform the lives of the members or bring them out of their sins (see 2 Timothy 3:1-5).  Religion finds itself completely entangled with the political and economic systems of the world.

The Lord told Ezekiel to burn a third of the hair inside the city, which corresponded to those who would die of starvation and disease within Jerusalem during the siege.  (See Ezekiel 5:12).  Today, many die spiritually right inside their churches.  They are starving spiritually because the messages have no spiritual food, just opinions, ideas, emotional excitement, traditions, and rituals.  Every person has a soul, which thirsts for the Revealed Word; ideas and emotionalism cannot satisfy this spiritual thirst.  Man cannot live by bread alone, but only by the revealed Word of God (see Matt 4:4).  Sadly, there are millions of people today starving and dying spiritually, even though they attend religious services regularly.  The empty messages and worship do not feed them.  This is a judgment on the world and its religion.  Others die of diseases inside the besieged city; this corresponds to those who develop various spiritual sicknesses within a church, even apart from the lack of spiritual nourishment.  (see 1 Corinthians 11:30).  There is no remedy for their illness.  Jesus counsels those who live in the period of the Church of Laodicea (the worldly church), “Buy from me salve for your eyes so you can see.” (Revelation 3:18).

Another third of Ezekiel’s hair he cut up outside the city.  This refers today to those who step into the world and fall spiritually, ruining their spiritual lives with scandals and sins.  We see this all around us today, even with famous religious leaders.  Finally, a third scatters in the wind.  They may call themselves Christians, but they are always drifting, carried about by winds of teaching (the latest fads or fashionable doctrines).  The new Testament describes this problem in Eph 4:14 and Jude 1:12.  Instead of letting the Spirit integrate them into the living Body of Christ (the faithful church), they move aimlessly from place to place, looking for something new or exciting.  This hair scatters in the wind.  It is another judgment on empty religion.

There is an interesting parallel to the Parable of the Sower (see Matthew 13), which describes three types of soil – people’s hearts – that fail to produce eternal fruit after they receive the Gospel.  Some of the new sprouts wither and die from lack of water and nutrients, just like the first third of Ezekiel’s hair (those who die of hunger and disease within Jerusalem).  They convert, but they die spiritually from lack of true spiritual food.  Other new sprouts die from the thorns growing around them (the thorns are reminiscent of Ezekiel’s pointed sword), which Jesus says are worldly things that distract and entice believers to make them fall.  Jesus also mentions seeds that the birds of the air carry away – scattering to the winds.

“But take a few strands of hair and tuck them away in the folds of your garment.” This is the promise.  Even amidst the spiritual confusion of the world today, the Lord gathers some to Himself and integrates them INTO HIS BODY, the faithful church (the folds of his garments).  The Lord rescues us from this world – delivering us from spiritual starvation (inside religion), sins of this world (falling by the sword), and the winds of doctrine that carry people everywhere except to the Truth.

It is such a blessing to be close to the Lord – to have Him keep us in the folds of his garment, safe and secure.  Jesus is our shelter and our hiding place.  (Psalm 91:1 – “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty”).

Jesus does not keep us tucked in the folds of his garment merely for our emotional comfort or a feeling of security.  His object is to save us from the judgment befalling the world around us, to bring us to eternity.  He keeps us close to himself to prepare us for the Rapture, so that we can meet him in the air.  (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; Colossians 3:4).  “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” (Philippians 2:20-21).

Jesus integrates us into his living Body (faithful church) to preserve us for the Rapture.  God has a project of salvation that runs all through history.  He has included certain criteria for people to have salvation or eternal life.  One of the first criteria is for a person to come out of darkness, out of a worldly life.  He calls us out of this world to serve the Lord wholeheartedly.  The “faithful church” is the group of people the Lord has called from this world to receive and experience salvation.  Living in the Body, therefore, requires that we leave behind a life of sin, selfishness, and worldliness and live according to a standard that comes from eternity.  The Body of Christ is the image and likeness of what is in eternity – it conforms to the pattern in eternity.  The “folds of his garment” refers not ust to our intimacy with Christ, but to our participation and faithfulness in the Body.  That is where we find our intimacy with Jesus, where we can be close to Him.  He reveals Himself in his Body in a way that we cannot find elsewhere.

“But take a few strands of hair and tuck them away in the folds of your garment.” This is how the Lord prepares us and preserves us for the Rapture, so that we may live in Eternity.  He separates us from this world, calls us, gives us new life, and draws us close to Himself.  He integrates us into his living Body so that we can remain there and have eternal life.

Ezekiel  24:10 – “Heap on the wood, kindle the fire; cook the meat well, mix in the spices, and let the bones be burned up.”

This is a prophetic message that still challenges us today.

Heap on the wood: Gathering of people.  By itself, only produces religion, without profit. 

Kindle the fire: The necessary baptism with the Holy Spirit. 

Cook the meat well: Putting to death the deeds of the flesh.  Death of the self.  Trials, afflictions. 

Mix in the spices: The revealed doctrine, which gives consistency to the meal (The Word) and preserves the body (The Church). 

Let the bones burn up: The bones keep the body standing.  To burn up the bones speak of man’s humbleness to ply themselves before the Lord.  Also speaks of obedience, to be spent for God. 

Conclusion: God’s work is not merely a gathering of people (heap of wood).  That is religion.  But  it is:

Being filled with the Holy Spirit - 

•  
  • To be tried
  • To  learn God’s truth
  • To  be yielding, humble, obedient.