12/12/2020 – Day 209 – Ezekiel 37 – 42 – Post #3 of ?//Ch 37 – “The Dry Bones Live! “
I was touched by Matthew Henry’s commentary on this chapter, it was a winsome and articulate summary capsulized in just over a page so I want to share it with you. I have been told by a dear brother that my posts seem “derivative”, for simplicity I can term that “copy cat”. Indeed! If I quote the Bible directly, I am a “copy cat” from the infallible Word of God. That is a good thing, no? Commentators that have dedicated their life to study shed further light as to context, including but not limited to the scene on the ground at a point in history. As 2 Timothy 3:16 notes, we let scripture testify to scripture, so commentary gives a connectivity that takes God’s patchwork quilt and gives us a point where we can stand back and marvel at the entire work, instead of debating one single patch within that quilt. It is a sad case of not being able to see the forest, because that dang tree is in the way! So too with commentaries, I will continue to use direct quotes. Other brothers will use different connectivity points , which too will further edify, for we can never conceptualize it all because why? We are not God and God is unfathomably awesome. As I have noted, it is good we have eternity to know Him, for that is how long it will take to “know” or comprehend his essence. So, heaven is perfect but that doesn’t mean we stop growing in a state of perfection (no?)
Interesting that just this past week we surveyed a battle scene where an angel of the Lord killed 185,000 Assyrian troops overnight who were besieging Jerusalem. It is amazing to me how people question God’s miracles, given He is the creator of the universe. This one was literal, here in Chapter 37, we have a figurative foreshadowing of a literal bringing back the whole house of Israel from the dead. And from my post last night, we have God’s promise at the end of the chapter that we will have one shepherd from the house of David that rules the body of Christ forever! And note the last sentence: “The nations also will know that I , the Lord, sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.” So, on yesterday’s post we looked at “Ezekiel’s” futuristic temple, Chapters 40 -42, which I sense is a literal temple in the millenial reign of Christ here on earth.
Ok, I am going to give best attempts with a prayer to turn this over through direct quotes on Matthew Henry’s commentary on the chapter. Enjoy!:
“Son of man, can these bones live? Can the philosophy reach to put life into dry bones, or knowest whether they can and whether they shall; if those dost not put life into them, it is certain they cannot live?…
So, he prophesied as he was commanded, v.7, 10. He must preach and he did so; and the dead bones lived by a power that went along with the Word of God which he preached. He must pray, and he did so; and the dead bones were made to live in answer to prayer; for a spirit of life entered into them… God’s grace can save souls without our preaching, but our preaching cannnot save them without God’s grace, and that grace must be sought by prayer…
(Jimmy note: And check this out, there is fullfillment in the smaller picture in a nearer future at the time of Ezekiel’s writing.. A view so to speak back down to a single patch of the quilt… Call it: “God’s multi dimensional chess”)
“v8: This was fulfilled when the captives (Jimmy note: Ezekiel and others in Babylon) got their effects about them, and the men of their place helped them with the silver , and gold, and whatever, they needed for their remove, Ezra 1:4) But still there was no breath in them, and they wanted spirit and courage for such a difficult and hazerdous enterprise as this was of returning to their own land…
The spirit of life is from God; he at first in the creation breathed into man the breath of life, and so he will at last in the resurrection. The dis-spirited captives were annimated with resolution to break through all the discouragments that lay in the way of their return. And then they stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army; not only living men, but effective men, fit for service and formidable…. When troubles continue long, hopes have been frustrated, nothing but an active faith in the power, promise, and providence of God will keep them quite drying away. Therefore, prophesy to them, and tell them, now is God’s time to appear for them. Jehovah-jireh – in the mount of the Lord it shall be seen,’ v 12-14.”
Last and least, Jimmy’s final note:
I have heard of Christian preachers that claim that the Jews are no longer the covenant people of God as they rebelled from God, so now it rests on our current body of Christ,so to speak. I submit that this is so clearly heretical on multiple levels. This heresy is called “supersessionism”, or sometimes referred to as “replacement theory”. The Apostle Paul writes that we , the gentile church were “grafted into the main branch”. So, how can the main branch be dead? And besides, is anyone noticing a proliferating number of Messianic Jewish Rabbis that are emphatically preaching to their Jewish brethren to accept Yeshua as their Lord and Savior? Could it in fact be: “dry bones coming to life”! And besides, they don’t cease to be “Jewish” when they convert. Did Paul cease to be Jewish? If so, why did he continue to make the point of how Jewish he was?
And as to the last quoted paragraph, above, God is speaking to us here too in his unfathomable multiple dimensional chess: Re: “When troubles continue long, hopes have been frustrated,..” Does this not speak to us today in America? We just had the Supreme Court declare the Texas lawsuit “had no standing.” Well, I won’t get into it here, but how ironic!, for the Supreme Court has “no standing”! Why, because they made a weak-kneed choice to take a knee to the devil! Sins of omission (taking a pass for it is “uncomfortable”) , as well as sins of commission. My prayer is that we take note of that and learn from that in the body of Christ and as individuals. But , let me be clear: America is not my Saviour!
Keep the Faith! Grab on and don’t ever let go! Soli Deo Gloria!!