Sermon Preached On April 10, 2011

OK, now I am caught up!

“Journeying from Death to Life” (Ezekiel 37:1-14; John 11:17-45)
April 10, 2011 (Fifth Sunday in Lent)
Rev. John B. Erthein, Euchee Valley Presbyterian Church

One of my favorite TV shows as a kid was Star Trek, when the original series had gone into re-runs. In college I grew to love Star Trek, The Next Generation. Both of those shows began with the immortal words, “Space, the Final Frontier.” I want to talk about “the Final Frontier” today, but I do not see Space as being that final frontier. Instead, I would say death is the real final frontier. It stands before us like an impregnable wall, through which we cannot see. And all of us are heading to that wall, and we all will pass through at some point, but it is a one way trip from which we cannot return.

The nation of Israel had passed through that wall. Israel was dead: smashed beyond repair. Israel, chosen by God working through Abraham and Sarah; rescued from bondage in Egypt by God working through Moses; built into a mighty kingdom by God working through David and Solomon. Through the repeated sin of the people, by their willful turning away from the One who had brought them into being, Israel had weakened, dividing into two separate kingdoms (one still called Israel, the other was called Judah). Both kingdoms eventually fell to Babylon. In 597 BC, the Babylonians had exiled Judah’s king Jehoiachin, along with thousands of the kingdom’s leading citizens. One of these citizens was the prophet Ezekiel.

The pattern in the exiled kingdoms and Israel and Judah was for prophets to appear during a time of national crisis. Their purpose was to chastise the people for their falling away from God, to warn them of God’s judgment, but also to share with them God’s continuing love for them and his promises of restoration. This is shown in an unforgettable manner in the reading from Ezekiel 37: the Valley of the Dry Bones. That is the perfect image of lifelessness. I would imagine dry bones in a desert, the bones bleached white by the sun. There would be no possibility of mistaking something alive for something dead in this case. This valley of dry bones represented Israel as irretrievably dead.

But God was not finished with Israel. In spite of the sin that lead to Israel’s death, becoming a field of bleached bones, God would fulfill his covenant with his people. God sent Ezekiel a thrilling vision of life returning in stages. First, the Spirit of God, the bones would be knit back together and covered with muscles, sinews and flesh. Then God would breathe life back into those bodies. Israel would live again!

It is vital to remember how Israel would be brought back to life, and for what purpose. These bones did not sew themselves back together. They did not will the muscles and sinews and flesh to come back to them. The bodies did not will themselves to breathe again. It was purely the grace and the power and the will of God that brought them back to life.
Israel plays a key role in God’s plan of salvation for people of faith. Jesus would come as the Messiah of Israel, born in the bosom of her people. Jesus came for the Jews first, but also for the Gentiles. And just as God in the Old Testament brought life out of death for Israel, so Jesus would bring life out of death for people from every nation who would trust and believe in him. Jesus demonstrated this promise in his raising of Lazarus from the dead.

The Gospels record Jesus as performing many signs and wonders … such as turning water into wine, feeding thousands of people with a handful of loaves and fishes, and healing the sick and demon-possessed. But the raising of Lazarus represents the most powerful of all Jesus’ acts, for he is bringing back a man from behind the impregnable wall of death. Indeed, it seems as if Jesus delayed his visit to Lazarus for the purpose of demonstrating his power in this manner. Had he arrived earlier, Lazarus would have been alive. Jesus could have saved him from dying, of course, but the ultimate power of God would be shown in doing the impossible … bringing back Lazarus from the dead.

Now, there was no doubt whatsoever that Lazarus was dead. He had laid in the tomb for days. There was no possibility of his being merely unconscious or even in a coma. Lazarus was as dead as Charlie Sheen’s sense of dignity. Even by modern standards his case was hopeless. What I mean is that, thanks to modern medicine, it is sometimes possible to resuscitate a person whose heart has stopped. A person’s body may have ceased functioning for several minutes, but the person might still be revived. But after three or four days? Modern science is nowhere nearer to bringing back someone from death after such a span of time.

So what Jesus did was simply extraordinary, not only in his time, but in ours. He demonstrated the awesome power of God, a power that overrules everything in creation, including death itself. Indeed, Jesus overrode death’s oppressive power by merely speaking his words. Nothing, ultimately, can stand against the Word of God.

Jesus demonstrated something else, which is just as important. Recall his reaction to the pain and sorrow of Mary and Martha. Jesus himself was shaken and saddened in his spirit. Because of Jesus being one with the Father, his reaction shows the personality of God. Death and sorrow and mourning and pain are not pleasing to God. And that gives us such an insight into the heart of God. Instead of a distant ruler who is like a marble statue, God is like a parent who grieves the pain and suffering of his children.

How does this apply to us today? The field of dry bones was a vision of Ezekiel’s. The resurrection of Lazarus was an actual supernatural event in a specific time and place. But both of these incidents point to a larger reality. This is the spiritual reality that our souls are as dead as those dry bones, and as dead as a body decaying in a tomb for four days. The images of death in Scripture mirror our spiritual deadness.

Now, what is a major characteristic of being dead? You cannot move. You cannot feel. You cannot think. You can do absolutely nothing for yourself. Indeed, if the atheists are right and there is no God, when you are dead you are not aware of being dead. You are completely helpless and totally ignorant of your true estate. Just as a dead man cannot bring himself back to life, so you cannot possibly bring yourselves back to spiritual life. Spiritually dead people are not fit to be in God’s company, and so the eternal destination of the spiritually dead is Hell itself. And that is the death we should fear … not physical death, which we are all fated to taste, but rather the spiritual death of eternal separation from God in the Lake of Fire, which has been prepared from before the beginning of time for the devil and his angels (as described in Revelation). This is horrible, dreadful, awful knowledge.

But this awful knowledge helps us to truly appreciate the incredible character of God. We know that God is all-powerful … he brought the universe into being by simply speaking it into being. The Scriptures bear witness to the incredible miracles he performed in both testaments. Imagine the pure, raw power that he exercised to overrule nature and cause the seas to be parted; for manna to fall from heaven; for men to survive a fiery furnace; for Jesus to walk on water and calm a storm. In his time on this earth, mankind has made great strides in the power he can exercise, from exploring the cells of our bodies, to splitting the atoms, to blasting off above earth’s atmosphere. And yet nothing we have accomplished or could accomplish with all of our efforts can match the limitless power of God.

But God is amazing not just for his power, but for his faithfulness and love. God keeps his promises and his covenants. God remained faithful to his covenant with Israel, even when times looked darkest. God had a plan and purpose for Israel that did not waver. Thank God he was more faithful than the people of the covenant! Thank God he preserved a remnant of mankind to serve as a light to the nations. Thank God that he even brought Israel back into being after the deadliest attempt to wipe out the Jewish people in the Holocaust! God remains faithful, and his faithfulness will transcend even the worst acts of human depravity and vile wickedness.

And as for God’s love, just look to Jesus. Fully human, fully God. He was moved by suffering and pain. Such things are not part of God’s perfect plan for his creation. And so through Jesus Christ, God has given sinful mankind a pathway to salvation, truly a journey from life to death. And all one must do to receive the benefits of God’s power, of his faithfulness, and of his love, is to accept the offer of the forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal life through Jesus Christ.

You all may have already done that. But if anyone is not certain of his relationship with Jesus Christ or his eternal destiny, if your heart is questioning and your conscience is troubled, maybe that is the prompting of God’s Holy Spirit. You can be certain of your journey from death to life by asking Jesus to forgive your sins, and confessing him as Lord and Savior. If you have never done so, will you do so today? Pray silently with me if you are so moved:

Lord Jesus, I know I have sinned and fallen short of your Father’s glory. I repent of my sins and ask for the Father’s forgiveness through you. I humbly ask that you enter my heart, quicken my soul, and lead me from this day forward. In your most blessed and precious name I pray. Amen.