When and how are you going to die?  Do you ever wonder that?  The one great inescapable reality that looms over us all is death.  Little can be said more certainly than…. one day you will die.  No matter how hard we try to ignore it… it’s still coming.  No matter how many salads, workouts, or yoga sessions, our trajectory ends in the grave.  No matter how much wealth, power, good deeds, or children we accumulate… we will still die.  And by the way… after we die… we’ll probably be forgotten entirely in a few generations.  Death is the scene of Ezekiel 37… dead and dry bones.

Our death is not only physical.  We’re also spiritually dead.  Your natural condition (even if physically alive) is one of spiritual death.  Our problem isn’t that we need good advice, a good example, or better coping strategies, it’s that we are dead in our trespasses and sins.  We aren’t sick… we are dead.  A cold lifeless pile of dry bones.  Physical and spiritual death is what we have to show for ourselves.

So how does a dead person fix oneself?  They can’t… but God can and He does.  Echoing Adam’s creation and acting as the triune Re-creator, He causes “breath to enter you, and you shall live” (Ezekiel 37:5).  The Father speaks the grand fiat of redemption, the Son accomplishes it, and the Spirit brings about it effects… bringing the dead to life.  Notice that this happens in Ezekiel 37 simply by “the word of the Lord” being spoken.  Our God is so majestic, transcendent, and all-powerful that all he has to do is speak and it is so.  Thus saith the Lord.  His word is truly living and active, sharper than any sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit (Hebrews 4).

Interestingly, Ezekiel doesn’t initially define the subject matter of “word of the lord.”  What exactly is this message that is opening the grave?  Later in this same chapter he tells us.  We read of a “king” who shall be “one shepherd” over his people (v22-24).  A type of David, “a prince” in whom an everlasting covenant of peace will be made and by whom God will dwell with his people forever (v 25-27).  These verses are fulfilled in Jesus Christ.  He is God’s word made flesh, the incarnate word.  He is the word spoken that raises the dead.  Jesus said “I am the Resurrection and the Life” (John 11).

The only way that Jesus can have power over our death is by going through it himself.  He didn’t ignore it, avoid it, or scheme out of it.  But for the joy set before him endured the cross, entering the dark shadow of physical and spiritual death… for you.  And being raised, He abolished death and brought life and immortality to light.

Friends we don’t come to church just to be enlightened or informed by God’s word.  We come to hear our Great King speak through ambassadors speaking on his behalf (aka Justin).  This word spoken is so alive that it creates the reality of which it speaks.  When we hear about the dry bones of Ezekiel 37 coming to life we aren’t just reading about a future reality or a far off concept.  We are seeing (or hearing rather) it happen before and to us.  Church is ground-zero for where the new creation is breaking into this world here and now.  Don’t miss out!  It’s also worth noting that we don’t come to church to perform.  Church is not primarily about us worshiping; rather God is the primary actor; speaking through word and sacrament, lavishing his riches upon us.  The Father speaks the promises of His Son and seals it upon our weak hearts by His very Spirit.  We come to church empty handed, to receive life from above… again, don’t miss out!

~Luke Yeager