Video of the Divine Service is here. The sermon begins around the 28:50 mark.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

After Ezekiel had been in exile in Babylon for 12 years, a messenger came from Jerusalem to tell the people that the city had been struck down. Three years before this, Nebuchadnezzar had besieged Jerusalem, and soon after Ezekiel’s wife had died as a sign of what would happen to the city. The hits just kept on coming. Ezekiel goes into exile; the city is besieged; his wife dies; he’s been in Babylon for 12 years; and now the city and the temple have been destroyed. What’s left? No city, no home, no temple, no sacrifices. No visible sign of the Presence of God among them.

That is what is behind the vision that God gives Ezekiel here. Nothing but death, dry and dusty. Nothing but bones in the valley. This, God says, is the whole people of Israel. They say, Our bones are dried out. Our hope is gone. We are clean cut off. Foreign land, full of foreign gods, and God their life has taken nearly everything that indicates His presence among them. The glory of Yahweh left the temple, and now it has been destroyed. What do they have when everything else is gone? What do they do when it’s just one thing after another, and who knows what more can happen? All is death and hopelessness.

But to Ezekiel, whom God calls “son of man,” God gives a vision of the people in Babylon. “Son of man, can these bones live?” You’ve been in Babylon 12 years, Ezekiel. Can these bones live? O God, You know. Prophesy, son of man, prophesy to the bones, to Israel, to the wind, to the Spirit. Speak. Dry bones, hear the word of Yahweh! And they do: there’s a rushing, a rattling, and the bones become bodies. Dead bodies, but still bodies. Prophesy to the wind. And the wind, the breath, the Spirit, comes and gives breath to those dead bodies, and they live again.

It’s all about life in the midst of death: I will put breath in you, and you will live. Breathe into them, so that they may live. I will put My Spirit in you, and you will live. God does not desire the death of any sinner, but that they would turn from their wickedness, their death, and live. But trying to get dry bones to turn from their wickedness, and their idolatry, and their unbelief has gotten them where they are, in exile, in Babylon, with no city, no temple, no home, no hope. And yet, even now, here is the promise: Live! I will raise you from your graves, and you will know that I am Yahweh, and I will put My Spirit in you, and you will live.

This is the strange thing about the promises of God: they are always tied to the future by a promise. When God told Moses from the burning bush about what He would do to deliver the children of Israel from slavery in Egypt, He gave Moses a sign of the promise: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain. If you want the sign, you have to go through everything else first. I will bring you into the land. Go through the wilderness. If you want to see that I am Yahweh, you will know it when I raise you from your grave. This is the sign that Yahweh is the true God: resurrection. He will do what He says, but all you have right now is the promise.

So the Son of Man appears in the midst of dead bones, with dried up, dead hope, and He speaks a word. Son of man is Jesus’ favorite title for Himself, the same title by which God calls Ezekiel over and over. The word for “man” is adam, because man, adam, came from the earth, adamah. And when God made the man, Adam, He formed Him from the dust of the earth and breathed breath into him, and he became a living creature. That breath is the Spirit of God, who is the Lord and Giver of Life. So when Jesus, the Son of Man, shows up at the Jordan River, there is the Spirit, marking Jesus as the Life which is given. And then Jesus, the Word made flesh, speaks the Word, and Life comes with it. He takes on death, cuts off hope in His own flesh, and dies. But the sign of the true God is resurrection. You will know that He is God, when there is resurrection. So when He, the Word, has been raised to life, He breathes on His apostles, and says, receive the Holy Spirit. Now they are no longer fearful, dead, hopeless: but they will testify of Him, prophesy of Him, and that Life and promise will go out into the world. Wait, Jesus says, and I will send to you the promise of My Father.

Today, we hear again the rushing and rattling and the end of death. The Son of Man prophesies, the apostles speak, and the Spirit comes rushing together with the word of life. And where the word and the Spirit are, the life of Jesus raises people from their death and hopelessness. What shall we do, they say. Repent and be baptized every one of you for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the Holy Spirit. This promise is for you, and it is for your children, and for everyone else as well. Dry bones, live! Spirit, breathe on these dead!

We have not yet seen the visible sign of our own resurrection, but wherever the Spirit of Life is, there is life that ends up in resurrection. It is the Spirit who has called you by the Gospel of Christ, who enlightens you with His gifts, who makes you holy and keeps you in the true faith. It is the Spirit who gathers you, like He gathered those first thousands, into the Church of Jesus, and it is within this Church that you find the forgiveness of sins, daily and richly—abundant life. And this life, this forgiveness, can only end in one way, in one place: on the last day, He will raise up you and all the dead, and give eternal life to you and all believers in Christ. This is most certainly true. I am Yahweh, He says, and I have spoken, and I will do it.

Maybe you’ve felt like Ezekiel, whether it’s been three years, or twelve years, or twenty years. You know what it felt like, or what it feels like, when it’s just one thing after another. The sins, the burdens, the failures, the wounds pile up. The dead are all around, and there is no hope. But you have the Word of the Son of Man, and the Spirit of God. This promise is for you and for your children. This baptism, in this Name, with this Spirit, into this Life of the eternal and living God. Dry bones, live! Spirit, breathe on these slain, that they may live! The promise is for you, and you will see and know: when God opens your graves, and raises you from your graves; you are His people. He has spoken, and He will do it.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7, ESV). Amen.

– Pr. Timothy Winterstein, 5/17/24