Hope

HOPE Ezekiel 37:1-14 August 9, 2020 From 750 BC, until about 600 BC, the Assyrians were the biggest bullies in the neighborhood. They were more powerful than the Egyptians. They ruled everything. It's because they adopted a 'violence first' policy. Why be farmers and grow crops, if you can just take your neighbors crops? Why weave rugs, or make pottery, or raise sheep - if you can just take these things from the countries around you? Now, you can only get away with that, if people are afraid of you. If your neighbor thinks he can fight a war with you and win, he will always fight. But, if your neighbor is convinced he will lose, and die badly - you can take anything you want. And so, the Assyrians slaughtered any army that came against them. Then, they went into the local towns, murdered all the men, raped and murdered all the women, and brought the children back as slaves. Life as an Assyrian slave was so cruel the children usually died in 12 - 18 months. No one could stand up to the Assyrians. Because of this, if you heard the Assyrians were coming your way you abandoned your home, and ran away into the wilderness. Grown men would run off and leave their families. On more than one occasion entire cities committed suicide rather than face the Assyrians. These are drastic actions. But, that's what happens when you have no hope. Many surveys have been taken from young men and women who seriously attempted suicide, but survived. The interviewers want to know why you would do something that drastic. The survivors are almost unanimous in their response. Living without hope, is worse than not living at all.1 The loss of hope, may be the most devastating problem any person can ever face. In our text today, Ezekiel tells the exiles - God understands that you have finally run out of hope. God has put Ezekiel and the Babylonian exiles through the ringer. There is no question these people have suffered. All their lives they believed God loved them more than anyone else. That's why they were born to royal families. That's why they were born rich. That's why everyone else gave them anything they wanted. Because God loves them the most. If you live with that attitude long enough, you come to believe in yourself and not God. I am privileged because I just deserve it. That belief has been shattered in exile. They no longer believe in themselves at all. When you finally reach rock bottom; when every other belief you have has been destroyed; when all hope is gone - suddenly, God seems like a reasonable option. In this case God seems like their last, and only, option. And, last week Ezekiel told them God himself would be their shepherd. They are still loved by God. They are still valued by God. And, the Messiah would save them and bring them back home. That's all good news. There are a few problems. The Assyrians own northern Israel, and the Babylonians own southern Israel. And, there is no army in the world that can free the exiles and reclaim their homeland. The city of Jerusalem has been burned to the ground and no longer exists. God's Holy Temple has been looted and pulled to the ground. So, even if God is their shepherd, there is nowhere to go. And, worse than all of that, there is no one to go home to. Their families are all dead. If there are survivors they are scattered to the wind and will never be found again. So, what's the point of having a shepherd if there is no place, and no one, to go home to. The exiles are hopeless.2 Have you ever been there? Have you ever felt like things were so bad even God couldn't fix them? Have you ever bumped up against hopelessness? Maybe you've been lonely. You feel unloved and unwanted. And, you can't believe that will ever change. Maybe you struggle with an addiction. You hate the addiction, but you hate yourself even more for giving in. It seems impossible you could be delivered from the insatiable desire. Maybe you struggle with money and finances. You do everything you can to get ahead but nothing works. Every day you are deeper in debt. Your credit cards and mortgage own your soul. And, you know for a fact, you will never earn enough to escape your poverty. Maybe you have suffered a tragedy; the death of your spouse, or the death of a child or grandchild. Even though time goes by, every morning you wake up to overwhelming grief. The Pastor tells you over and over 'God loves you'. But, it's just not enough to push back the black depression of hopelessness. That's where the exiles are when Ezekiel receives his next vision. Ezekiel has a waking vision of a valley. This particular Hebrew word for valley only appears in Ezekiel. We're not sure if it just means valley, or if it means the Kidron valley - the valley on the east side of the city of Jerusalem. What is significant is the valley is filled with dry bones. There are an uncountable number of skeletons filling up this valley. The amount of bones indicates this was the site of a massive catastrophe.3 In verse nine God tells Ezekiel this was not a natural disaster. These are the bones of slain Israelites. There was some kind of a battle; a huge battle. And, the Jews lost. They lost so badly an entire city of skeletons have been abandoned in this valley. This must be where the Babylonians tossed all the corpses after they looted them, during the fall of Jerusalem. And, after they burned the city, there was no one left to bury the dead. So, here they are. Ezekiel makes special mention of the dryness of the bones. These bones are not from the freshly dead, with meat and sinew still attached. These bones have been dead so long they are sun-bleached white.4 They are turning to dust. They are falling to pieces even as he watches. The people who died here died a long, long time ago. There is no chance of finding survivors. The city is gone. The people are gone. There is no reason for hope. God asks Ezekiel a question. Son of Man - puny human - what are the chances these people will come alive? Do you think they will live again? Now, Ezekiel has been dealing directly with God for 14 or 15 years. He's learned enough not to shoot off his mouth. He thinks a second and he says, you're the only who knows. I don't know. Resurrection wasn't a big subject during the first 1000 years of Judaism. Abraham takes his son Isaac to Mount Moriah to sacrifice him. We ask how could any father do that? Our answer is - he believed God would resurrect Isaac. But, that belief never was proven. God stops Abraham before Isaac is sacrificed. Both of the prophets Elijah, and Elisha, resurrect young boys. But, these boys have only been dead for an hour or two. Their bodies are completely intact, with absolutely no sign of decay or decomposition. All they need is to breathe again. Nowhere in the world, even in Judaism, is there the belief of bodily resurrection.5 The Egyptians mummified their dead, in the hope the spirit of the deceased might find their way back to the old body. They didn't believe in a new body. Most of the Ancient Near East believed in a spirit. Something like a ghost. The spirit continues on after bodily death. But, the spirit is forever disembodied. God had hinted at resurrection throughout history. The oldest book in our Bible is Job. Job writes, "But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives (Jesus), and he will stand upon the earth at last (Jesus is coming). And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God!" Job knows that Jesus is coming. And, he knows when Jesus gets here he will give Job a new body. There is another quick reference in Isaiah. But, beyond that, the Old Testament doesn't really engage with resurrection. So, when God asks Ezekiel what do you think - will these bodies live again, he wants to scream at the top of his lungs - no! They're dead. And, dead is dead. There is no coming back from dead. My wife is dead. All my friends from Jerusalem are dead. I will never see them again, there is no hope. They are dead! God tells Ezekiel, you talk to the bones. You tell them - God says you will live again. Not just as bones, but as whole and complete bodies. Ezekiel speaks the words, and witnesses a miracle. He sees the opposite of death and decay. He sees the bodies build themselves back from the inside out. Here's what is really important. God doesn't find the pieces of their old bodies and put them back together. God creates brand new bodies out of nothing. This isn't reanimation. This is creation.6 The Sadducees are born during the exile. They believe God is a clockmaker. He made the earth and everything in it. Then he walked away and doesn't have anything to do with us. They believe God created during the first 7 days. But, after that, God doesn't do anything new. They don't believe in life after death. Once you die, it's all over. Ezekiel's vision shouts that God is alive and active in this world. And, God continues to create and make new. When we look around us, we don't see any reason for hope. Because, we can only see what is. But, God is the author of creation. God is creating and God sees what will be. And so, in God, we have hope. The bodies of the dead are completely resurrected. They stand at attention. But, something is wrong.7 Something is missing. When God created Adam, the first human, he made him out of dirt and mud. When Adam's body was completely formed, he was still not alive. It's not until God breathes life into Adam that he becomes alive. It's a two-step process.8 In ancient Hebrew the word for Holy Spirit, and breath, and wind - is the same - ruach. God tells Ezekiel to call for the ruach. The wind comes from all four directions at the same time. We know that's physically impossible. So, this must not be wind - it must be the Holy Spirit. Resurrection is possible, but only by power of God Almighty. Then, God says something that gives Ezekiel, and all the exiles hope. It's the first hope they have had in a decade. In verse 12 God says, I will open the graves of those you love, and resurrect them. Ezekiel's dead wife, will live again. He is not forever separated from the woman he loves. The exiles have been mourning the death of all their loved ones when Jerusalem fell. But, now there is hope. Perhaps they won't see their families again in this life. But, God has shown Ezekiel there is life beyond this life. It is possible, with the holy breath of God, to live again. No matter how long you have been dead. No matter how white and dusty your bones are, there is hope. The Christian belief in resurrection takes root from the book of Ezekiel. Job and Isaiah hinted at it. They both said the Messiah, the Son of David, would bring life after death. But, it's Ezekiel who explains why we should put our faith in Jesus. Death is not the end. There is life beyond death. In that life we will have bodies. And, the people we love will have bodies. And, we will hug them, and hold them, and laugh with them again. From our point of view, death is the worst thing that can happen to us. But, if you believe in resurrection, even death is not terrible. If you believe in the saving grace of Jesus Christ, death is not terrible. And, if you can survive the worst thing which can possibly happen, then there is a reason to hope. Faith requires a belief in what the world considers impossible. Ask the world, can these dry bones live again - absolutely not. Ask a Christian, and we say - with God, nothing is impossible. We read in the book of Acts (23:6), "Paul realized that some members of the high council were Sadducees and some were Pharisees, so he shouted, "Brothers, I am a Pharisee, as were my ancestors! And I am on trial because my hope is in the resurrection of the dead!" 1 Yitzchok D. Wagshul, "Effect of External Locus-of-Hope on Acquired Capability for Suicide," Suicide and Life Threatening Behavior, 49 no. 6 (December 2019), 1541-1551. 2 Christopher R. Seitz, "Ezekiel 37:1-14," Interpretation, 46 no. 1 (January 1992), 53-56. 3 NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016), 1391. 4 Kenneth L. Barker & John R. Kohlenberger III, Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 1333. 5 NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, 1392. 6 Christophe Stenschke, "Human and Non-Human Creation and It's Redemption in Paul's Letter to the Romans," Neotestamentica, 51 no. 2 (2017), 261-289. 7 R. C. Sproul, general editor. New Geneva Study Bible (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995), 1310. 8 Gordon Matties, New Interpreter's Study Bible (Nashville: Abingdon, 2003), 1211. --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ 2