Ezekiel 37:1-5 - The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones.  He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry.  He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”   I said, “O Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”  Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life.”

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.

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Revelation 3:7-13 - ”To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:  These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David.  What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.  I know your deeds.  See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut.  I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.  I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars-I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you.  Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth.  I am coming soon.  Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.  Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God.  Never again will he leave it.  I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name.  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

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2 Timothy 4:3-5 - “For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine.  Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.  They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.  But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.”

The New Testament prophecies say that before the Lord’s Return, there will be a “Great Apostasy” (2 Thessalonians2:3), or falling away from the Truth, among those who call themselves Christians.  We see the evidence of this all around us, and it is important to dedicate ourselves completely to the Lord lest we fall into the same trap.   continue

2 Peter 2:1-3 - “But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you.  They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them-bringing swift destruction on themselves.  Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.  In their greed, these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up.  Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.”

One of the most serious problems for God’s people in the Old Testament was the influence of false prophets, who misguided the entire nation (see the disturbing passages in 1 Kings 18:18-40; 1 Kings 22:6-23; Nehemiah 6:14; Isaiah 28:7, 44:25; Jeremiah 14:14; 23:32-34; 28:1-2; Lamentations 2:14; Ezekiel 13:1-9; Hosea 4:5; Micah 2:6, 3:5-11; Zephaniah 3:4; and Zechariah 13:2).  They spoke in the name of the Lord, but their words were not really from God Himself.  In many cases, the source of the problem was their financial arrangement – they received money or gifts in exchange for prophesying, so they naturally had to tell people what they wanted to hear in order to get more business.  They were a major contributing factor in the apostasy of Israel.  God rejected His own chosen people as a result.     continue

Deuteronomy 30:19 - “Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.”

Deuteronomy 30 is part of Moses’ “farewell address” to the Israelites. As God’s prophet, he brought an important message to the people for that moment.  Israel was completing a period of wandering in the wilderness.  At that moment, they were finally preparing to enter the Promised Land.  Most of the original generation that left Egypt in the Exodus was now dead – they had died in the wilderness due to their disobedience.  A new generation had arisen, those who were children at the time of the Exodus.

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Revelation 3:7-13 - ”To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David.  What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.  I know your deeds.  See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut.  I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name…” 

Matthew 13:45-46 - ”Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls.  When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it…”  

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“O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years!” - Habakkuk 3:2 

Revival is a biblical concept in which the Lord renews the operation of his Holy Spirit in the lives of believers and in the midst of the Body of Christ.  Anything the Lord has done in the past, he can also do today.  The Lord desires his servants to be revived and refreshed every day- “his mercies are new every morning” (Lamentations 3:23).  

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