Old Testament – Just because

The hand of the LORD came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord GOD, you know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the LORD.” So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude. Then he said to me, “Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken and will act, says the LORD.”
Ezekiel 37: 1 – 14

When I read this passage it always reminds me of the scene from the 1963 Jason and the Argonauts when the bones rise out of the ground and reform into skeleton soldiers marching across the valley. When I shared this with my husband and explained the intricacies of this stop motion creation by Ray Harryhausen, unbelievably, of course, my husband had no idea what I was talking about. Well, obviously that had to be rectified and so I showed him the scene in question so that he could see the animation of the skeletons – to help him visualise the life to dry bones. If, like him, you have missed out on this cultural experience the clip is available to view on YouTube.

Having slightly detoured, let’s get back to Ezekiel and the dry bones.

“The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord”, basically, Ezekiel had a vision. And in his vision he saw a large valley, the Valley of Death. Everywhere he looked Ezekiel could see bones all over the ground. Bones laying on the surface of the ground are from people in disgrace who have been denied a proper burial; and being dry bones they are from people who have been dead a long time. They had had life once but it had long departed. Yet God asked Ezekiel whether these bones could live.

Ezekiel had no hope in the bones, but he did have hope in God. Ezekiel did not presume to know what God wanted to do with the bones; but he was confident that God DID know.

Ezekiel deliberately left the matter with God, to God’s power and wisdom. In return God commanded Ezekiel to prophesy to these dry, dead bones.

To an outsider looking in this would probably be conceived as foolishness. In Corinthians Paul acknowledged that God’s rescue of humanity in the person and work of Jesus, especially His sacrifice on the cross, was foolishness to those intent on perishing.

Ezekiel preached his message full of faith in God, he was confident that he was speaking God’s word and that the word of God is full of power.

God promised to restore life to these bones. The bones could not create life themselves but as the word of God was proclaimed over them they received God’s promise of life.

This restoration of life was to be marked by breath living once again in these bones – God’s Spirit, the breath of life.

Ezekiel did as God commanded and as he continued to prophesy to the bones their revival took place in stages. First the bones stirred, then they assembled, sinews and flesh were added, the skin covered the tissues and they awaited the breath of God. This is a direct reversal of the decomposition process.

Next God told Ezekiel to call upon the Spirit of God to come upon those on whom the word of God was working. Ezekiel proclaimed God’s message, the breath of God breathed into the reanimated bodies and they stood on their feet becoming an exceedingly great army who lived to act under the orders of God who gave and restored their life. They had God’s word and Spirit, an army of life willingly under the command of God.

If we have word but no Spirit we are like a dead army, assembled but without the true breath of life.

God then explains the vision to Ezekiel. God is promising to restore the whole house of Israel in a restoration so wide and deep that it will be fulfilled as part of God’s plan for Israel in the very last days.

This whole passage highlights to us how God works in revival and how God’s servants should think and act relevant to God’s mighty reviving work:
– God’s servant knows the bones are dead and dry
– God’s servant must walk among the dead and the unrevived
– God’s servant must proclaim God’s word
– God’s servant must have almost a foolish confidence in God’s word
– God’s servant must understand that the Spirit works in a process
– God’s servant must recognise that the work of the Holy Spirit is essential
– God’s servant must boldly pray for the Spirit to move
– God’s servant must speak in the power of faith
– God’s servant must notice every evidence of the Spirit’s work
– God’s servant must look for God’s people to be revived into an army of service
– God’s servant must not say that hope is lost

Upon the valley, wide and sear,
Where death had settled, year on year,
The Spirit set me in the cold,
Amidst the dry bones, grey and old.
Can these bones live? The Voice did ask,
This impossible, heavy task?
I answered not with my own thought,
But “Sovereign Lord, You know,” I brought.

Then came the word: “Prophesy, O son,
To what is broken, dead, and done!
Tell them to hear the LORD on high,
Who brings back breath, who gives them sky.”
As I did speak, a rattling song,
As bone to bone rushed to belong!
Tendons and sinews, flesh and skin,
Wrapped around the void within.
The forms stood up in silent grace,
A breathless army in that place.

“Prophesy again,” the Word did say,
“Call from the four winds, breath of day!
Breathe on these slain, that they may live,
The resurrection I will give.”
The breath of God, the spirit-wind,
Filled the lungs and freed the pinned.
They stood on feet, a vast, huge host,
Alive by Son and Holy Ghost.

“These are my people,” saith the Lord,
“Lost in the graves, by hope ignored.
But I will open up the tomb,
And bring them out of death’s cold gloom.
I’ll put My Spirit in your heart,
A new life, right from the start.
Then you shall know, from dust and sigh,
The Lord has spoken—and will not lie.”
The Valley of Whispering Dust

“You’re disobedient. Genesis says only men can lead the flock and women shouldn’t lead, preach or teach” I was told by a congregant this week.

Firstly, I would like to just state that following God’s call and doing His will is not disobedient. The opposite in fact is true. However, ignoring His call, not listening and deliberately ignoring a vocation is indeed disobedient.

Genesis does not, in fact, explicitly state that a woman cannot hold a leadership role, minster, preach or teach. In actuality, NO WHERE in the Old Testament does it explicitly forbid a woman to hold these roles.

What often happens is that less accurate translations of Genesis 2:18 and Genesis 3:16 are misquoted and taken out of context.

Genesis 2:18 – And the Lord God said “It is not good for the human being to be along; let us make him a helper just like him.”

Genesis 3:16 – And to the woman he said “I shall greatly multiply your griefs and your groaning; in pain you will bring forth children, and your inclination shall be for him. And he will lord it over you”
Nicholas King Translation

So it was not good for the human being to be alone and a helper just like him was created. Equal. A companion. Sharing the load, living and working together as equals. And to “lord it over you” meaning false authority, displaying an inflated sense of self importance, condescending and intimidating instead of genuine leadership and humble service. This does not grant man power over woman. It does not say that women cannot be ministers, preach, lead, or teach. It just says that man will think he has power and importance that he does not actually have.

Indeed there are many examples in the Old Testament where God called and used women to lead, preach and teach. Whilst the Old Testament is patriarchal it also shows that God used women in ways which defied the cultural norms. These women had direct access to God and communicated directly with God. They did not need a man to be a go-between.

Examples of such women from the Old Testament are:

Deborah (Judges 4-5)
Miriam (Exodus 15:20)
Esther (Esther)
Huldah (2 Kings 22:14)
Athallah (2 Chronicles 22:10-12)
Abigail (1 Samuel 25)
The Wise Woman of Abel (2 Samuel 20:15-22)
King Lemuel’s mother (Proverbs 31:1)

Moving on to the New Testament, again there are two small misinterpreted sections in Paul’s letters to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 14: 34-35) and Timothy (1 Timothy 2:12). The rest of the New Testament does not, in fact, explicitly state that a woman cannot hold a leadership role, minster, preach or teach; on the contrary the examples in the New Testament actively promotes women taking on these roles.

To address the aforementioned verses from Paul’s epistles it must be remembered that we only have one half of the conversation, that Paul’s letters were addressing particular situations and that they are heavily weighted by the male dominant culture of the time. Paul was not addressing all women in ministry. He was instead addressing those in the congregation who were out of order, who were gossiping instead of worshipping, speaking out of turn and who were not displaying modesty and restraint in a reverent way.

This is evidenced in the fact that many women held influential leadership roles in the early church. Not only is this documented in the New Testament but in Romans Paul is commending their service as ministers and deacons, preachers and teachers of the church.

Examples of these women from the New Testament are:

Phoebe – Deacon and Minister (Romans 16:1-7)
Junia – Apostle (Romans 16:1-7)
Priscilla – Church Planter and Leader (Romans 16:1-7)
Lydia – held church in her home (Acts 16:14-150
Philip’s daughters (Acts 21)
Nympha – held church in her home (Colossions 4:15)
“Chosen Lady” – Church and Pastoral Leader (2 John 1:1)

There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for all are one in Jesus Christ.
Galations 3:28

Leadership roles are assigned by God as a spiritual gift.

God bestows capabilities and positions upon individuals for His own purposes, these subjects told me, and when He looks for a human vessel He “sees” only the willingness of the soul to serve.
Kwilecki 1987,66

More importantly, Jesus regarded women as fit for preaching and delivering news about Himself to other men. In John 4 the Samaritan woman is the evangelist to an entire community. Jesus entrusts the news of the resurrection to women before men. Also, women are listed as prophets in Acts and Corinthians and prophets clearly have the authority to preach and teach.

Or long answer short: “Tough! God tells me to so I will continue to follow His call whether you agree or not”

Tag: Old Testament

Life to Dry Bones

Obedient or Disobedient?