Walking Dead: Prophesying in Death Valley

[podcast]http://www.revkwon.com/podcast/walking_dead-death_valley_prophesy.mp3[/podcast] We started this brand new series last week titled, “The Walking Dead.” The premise of the series being that our lives, when we look at our world today, as it stands in the 21^st century, is much more like the show than we realize or give credit to. I said this last week, and I’ll reiterate it if you missed it, but the zombies in the show, it’s everybody in the world that is living life chasing the next carnal desire, aimlessly, and mindlessly, they chase the next meal, the next victim. They are passionless, faceless, and without personality. The people who are alive in the show are filled with so much emotion that it makes the TV show hard to watch, but they are living a life of destiny. They are creating opportunities, they are risking everything so that they can live. They are our models to living, not in how they execute, because they are pretty and dumb and overly dramatic for no reason, but the intensity, the intentionality, and the purpose which they carry, that is how we should all be living. I say this because just like the characters in the show, we too, by the blood of Jesus Christ on the cross, we are alive and not succumb to the zombie apocalypse. This week in our series, I want to preach from a textual analysis standpoint by which we will deconstruct a small passage in the Bible and exegete the practical application for us in the 21^st century. The passage I want us to read this morning is from Ezekiel 37. It is one of my most favorite Bible passages because it is ambiguous and it is weird and it contains so much that needs to be unpacked that you can preach from different aspects of the passage to be implemented at varying points in your life and come away with a solution and word from God that is so relevant and so powerful that there is no choice but for you to continue to come back to these words. But before we jump into the passage, I want to set up some background information for you so that you’ll have a lens by which you can understand and see this sermon set up. How many of you copied, linked, liked, written down, memorized Ephesians 2:10? For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. I told you last week that this was important and that you would have to look at it over and over. This may have been the verse in the Bible that defined Ezekiel’s life. Let me explain that. From early youth Ezekiel had been educated and trained to be a priest in the kingdom of Judah. But his hopes and dreams had been dashed by King Nebuchadnezzar’s invasion of Judah, taking him and other young Jews captive to Babylon. Now far separated from the temple in Jerusalem, how could his education and training be of any real value? You see, Ezekiel would have asked God, “really, am I really your workmanship? How can I be? I’m living in exile where I’m the odd man out…” Moreover, while he probably couldn’t see the real value of his life, as most of us often cannot see why we have to go through the things we often go through in life because there couldn’t be a greater purpose in life. The Christian Theologian Chris Wright from England says it this way, “So while we can value all the positive contributions that Ezekiel’s education and training as a priest brought to his prophetic ministry, we must also appreciate the immense personal, professional and theological shock it must have been to him… Yet God would use all that He had built into Ezekiel’s life during his years of preparation.” We too must walk in the good works that have been set aside for us beforehand. Let’s open our Bibles to Ezekiel 37. ¹The 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.” (Ezekiel 37:1-14) Can we start our analysis by envisioning the situation? Look at verse 1. ¹The 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. I want you to see this because I think sometimes our hearts are filled with unbelievable doubt, and that doubt often keeps us from daring to dream as big as we could or as big as we should. The “hand of the Lord was upon me…” we have to admit that sometimes God gives us the privilege of having a burden so great that we envision it. God spoke to Ezekiel through a vision, like a dream, or a trance, or through some supernatural out of body experience. Ezekiel wasn’t there physically; he was taken there by the Spirit of the Lord. See, this wasn’t a normal experience or a dream that he would have a night of bad chicken and rice and funky ramyun. This was differentially marked from anything and Ezekiel tells us this that he was brought out there. There was a purpose God had in mind when he showed Ezekiel this seen. Look at what it says in verse 11. 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.” (Ezekiel 37:11-14) In our Walking Dead society, we too, need to envision the situation as God sees it. We need to be led around by God to see that our lives are filled with the bones of the dead, the zombies have already taken them, society took the souls of these people and there is nothing left but the evidence that these people were once here. The reason any of us have any type of burden. The reason we exist, the reason we have a path to walk around that God had chosen for us beforehand so that we would pick up was so and is so that we shall know God and so that people will know that God does incredible things. 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… (Ezekiel 37:3-4) It is strange that God would tell Ezekiel to “prophesy over these bones,” is it not? I want to spend the bulk of our time together today wrestling with the idea of prophesying to the dead. First, I want to define prophesy to you. It is: the act of Christ followers on speaking forth the word of God through the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Let’s go to 1 Corinthians 14:1-5. ¹ Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. ² For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit. ³ On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their up building and encouragement and consolation. ⁴ The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. ⁵ Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up. (1 Corinthians 14:1-5) Prophesy is the act of building up, encouragement, and consolation. So when we look at this passage written by the Apostle Paul, we see that Prophesy is not predicting the future, but rather, the act of changing the present and thereby affecting the future by instilling confidence in people, by reassuring them, and providing support. In 2016, I want all of us to be prophets. You all need to be instilling confidence in people, reassuring people, providing people support. Some of us are so selfish that we forget that it was Jesus who did this first and then he decided that we would get all the confidence, reassurance, and consolation that we would ever need if he died on the cross and were to be resurrected three days later. It is a genius idea to change our present condition and affecting the path we can therefore choose and walk on by this type of sacrifice. Now that we know what prophesy is, look at what Ezekiel does in verse 7. 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. (Ezekiel 37:7-8) I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, what’s the point of building up, encouraging, and consoling dead people around me? Like what will it really change? Moreover, you’re probably thinking, shoot, there is no hope for these people in my life, let’s just allow them to be happy and move on with it. Guess what, we just read it here in verse 8. See, you haven’t had an original thought outside of the Bible yet. These bodies that came together and were put back together from the dead are now there but there is no life in them. It’s classic. We see this all the time when we encourage and build people up, don’t we? They just are there and there’s nothing to them. There’s no personality, there’s no life. That’s because there is no breath. It may have felt like a waste of your time investing in dead people, and that’s why we continue you reading in verse 9. 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. (Ezekiel 37:9-10) God not only wants you to build up, encourage, and console the dead people around you in the valley that you’re standing in. Trust me you’re in a valley, if you’re life hasn’t gone exactly as planned. God also wants you to “prophesy to the breath.” The “breath” is the Holy Spirit. Check out what Jesus says to support this in John 3:5-8.  ⁵ Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. ⁶ That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’⁸ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:5-8) That’s right, God wants you to build up, encourage, and console the Holy Spirit—who is God, so that the dead around you can live. You see, we can only prophesy for so long and for so much. At the end of the day, when it comes down to it, God has to bring people back from the dead. God is the only one that gives life. But when we prophesy, that is to pray to God to build up the dead people, to encourage the dead people, to console the dead people, they stop being dead. They starting coming to life, and they become an army to effectively change the world. I want you to see your life, your burdens, your nightmares, your dreams, your hardships, your bleak realities and prophesy through them. God has moved us to this place that He is showing you so that you can speak into the dead around you and ask God to bring them to life. There is an army awaiting your prophecy, it is time for you to prophesy in the name of Jesus. Let’s pray.