The Second Sunday of Easter (OTA)

Ezekiel 37:1-14

The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. ² And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. ³ And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” ⁴ Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. ⁵ Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. ⁶ And I will lay sinews upon 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.”

⁷ So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. ⁸ And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them. ⁹ Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” ¹⁰ So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

¹¹ Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’ ¹² Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. ¹³ And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. ¹⁴ And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.”

When you hear a rattling you better start running. Maybe that has something to do with snakes? But the threat here is not a snake, but the rising of an Army. God will raise his people from death and place them on their feet as a great and mighty Army. This sounds like the Resurrection, but I think we might have something mixed up.

I have often loved this text as a image of the resurrection. The Word of God returns from heaven above. He comes to raise the dead to life. He raises us with imperishable bodies. He makes us to raise so that we may be his holy people. It is in these people the Holy Spirit has perfect temples, rather than are current imperfect flesh.

But the End does not sound right. "They lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army." What need does God have for an army on the last day? He will not have any more enemies to defeat! Now, I do understand most of you are going to say that it is pictured like an exceedingly great army. But that is not what verse 10 says.

You are in the Lord's Army. God has buried and raised you in the waters of Baptism. He has joined you with his Son. He has already made you a temple of the Holy Spirit. He has given you breath, and made you a part of the Church Militant. Don't lose sight of this point in the text, along with: "Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people." It still does talk of your Resurrection. Fight the Good Fight!