Daily Verse Devo - Ezekiel 37:
"Dead Come to Life" by Jonathan Thulin (feat. Charmaine)
"This is what the Sovereign Lord says: 'Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again! I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.'"
-Ezekiel 37:5-6 (NLT)
Ezekiel 37 accounts one of the strangest stories in the Bible, yet nonetheless fascinating.
God brought Ezekiel to a field of dry bones. God gave Ezekiel a prophetic message to speak over the bones - that the Lord would give them flesh and breath again.
And they did! The bones were scattered everywhere, but started coming together to make complete skeletons.
Muscles and flesh began to form on them, but they still had no breath. They were sort of like the Walking Dead.
Then, Ezekiel prophesied again and God brought the breath of life to the bones.
Alive, they stood to their feet and become a vast army.
I can't imagine how scary, yet cool that would have been. I live pretty close to a cemetery. There's always this one tombstone that's lit up and I swear it looks like there's a party going on over there. I probably watched too much Scooby-Doo as a kid, but cemeteries still creep me out.
How crazy would it be to see skeletons come out of tombstones and become alive?!
I wonder if the bones in Ezekiel's story were people he knew from his past or semi-recent ancestors? Or had they decomposed multiple lifetimes before?
While the Bible doesn't say who the bones belonged to exactly, there were so many people brought back to life that they were as big as an army.
God allowed this to happen as a sign for Israel. They felt like dead, dry bones because they were exiled from their land and had lost hope. God promised that He would bring them back from the graves of captivity, put His Spirit in them, and bring them back to life in their land.
This passage is a reminder that we serve the Creator of life. No matter how "dead" you feel from depression, sickness, stress, or day-to-day life, God can revive you.
In the music video, Jonathan Thulin presents an allegory of the gospel message. This is the ultimate way God brings us back to life. When we choose to accept His free gift of salvation, we don't have to wander in darkness and die aimlessly.
He gives us purpose and life. He renews us and breathes life into our dry bones.
What a mighty life-giving God we serve!