Now lets look at the weapons of spiritual warfare,
or the means that were used to bring these dispersed bones back together and bring them back to life.
How in the world is this to be done?
Such a daunting task.
How much faith would it take to do as commissioned like Ezekiel here was?
How was he told to do it?
He is ordered to prophesy upon these bones.
Ezekiel 37:4
Then he said to me,
“Prophesy to these bones and say to them,
‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!
Not once, but twice was he told to prophesy
Ezekiel 37:9
Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath;
prophesy, son of man, and say to it,
This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
Come, breath, from the four winds
and breathe into these slain, that they may live.
So what does the prophet do?
Like any good servant of the lord he does what he is commanded.
Ezekiel 37:7
So I prophesied as I was commanded.
And as I was prophesying, there was a noise,
a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone.
And again:
Ezekiel 37:10
So I prophesied as he commanded me,
and breath entered them;
they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.
People these days get prophesy and prophesying, all jumbled up.
It's not about telling about events to come in the future, though that does happen.
A lot of times unwittingly for the prophet himself.
Other times?
The knowledge of future events, in small parts anyway, is plainly revealed.
But never in their entirety, for this is the providence of the Almighty only.
The Mendenhall bible defines a prophet as a preacher of or from God.
Gods mouthpiece as it were.
They are not his mouthpiece all the time cause they are human.
But when led by the spirit they are Gods preachers.
They aren't Catholic, or Methodist or Baptist per say,
although they will seek their spiritual nourishment where they feel most comfortable.
They are first and foremost Christian, led along by the Holy Spirit.
Also?
They can reduce complex subject matter in to simple terms
so that many more people may come to understand it.
God's preachers, speaking his words when directed,
as directed, making things simple for others.
It get confusing sometimes because it becomes difficult to tell when the Prophet is speaking in his voice and when he is speaking for God.
It's just the way God uses them.
The Holy Spirit will let you know when it's the human speaking
or God Almighty as you read his writings.
So Ezekiel prophesying here?
Is him speaking God's words for him to the dry bones.
Basically?
He was ordered to preach to the dry bones.
I betcha there are a lot of preachers/priest out there saying to themselves:
"Hey, I do that a lot of Sundays myself!"
Well?
At least your not looking out in the pews and seeing a bunch of literal dry bones sitting in the pews I guess lol.
I'm glad we got all that cleared up :-).
And when he did preach?
The dead bones lived.
How?
They did so by a power that went along with the word of God which he preached.
Matthew 4:4
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’
"Every word"
Brother Joe made a great point.
It's not just the bible.
It's not past tense.
It's present tense.
Which means all the answers we receive in prayer,
all the instruction or commands that resonate with each of us.
"Every...word."
Okay, so he preached as a means of spiritual warfare, what else did he do?
He prayed.
And what happened as he did?
The dead bones were made to live in answer to his prayer.
Why?
Because as he prayed a spirit of life entered the dry bones.
Prayer for others will enrich our lives as well as help the person(s) it's intended for.
This is the wonderful effect of the word of God,
hearing his voice, reading his written word, and prayer.
And the need for all of it.
For it will raise dead souls, just as it raised these dead bones back to life.
God tells his minister preach to these dry bones.
Every Sunday if need be :-).
Say to them, live!, live!
Do as you are commanded, again and again.
You dry bones out there?
Here the word of God.
But they are still dead right?
We call in vain.
They are still dead.
They are still very dry.
So what do we do?
We will be earnest with God in prayer for the working of the Spirit with the word.
Come o Breath, breathe upon them.
Oh and I love this one:
Gods grace can save souls without our preaching,
but our preaching can not save souls without Gods grace.
Thats just awesome.
God's grace, his love, his forgiveness.
How do you enter it?
By prayer.
What must ministers do?
They are to diligently use the means of grace
even with those that there seems to be little probability or reaching.
Hey?
At least your not Ezekiel in this vision right?
You are not as destitute as the dry bones are right?
It could be worse.
To preach to a bunch of figurative dry bones might seem as a great penance,
some might compare it to watering a dry stick,
yet whether they hear or ignore we are commanded to fulfill our commission,
we must preach Gods word as instructed
in the name of him who raises the dead, both literally and figuratively
and is the fountain of live for all mankind.
Speaking of fountain of life, Hydrogen is one of the components of water right?
H2O.
Hydrogen is also one of the oldest elements in the universe.
Go figure right?
Accident I'm sure.
But that's a whole different series of post lol.
What is the wonderful effect of using these spiritual weapons?
The following?
Is probably what convinced me to do this commentary.
Hit me like a ton of bricks.
Just the perfect words, coming at the perfect time.
Those that do as they are commanded, as they are commissioned, in the face of the greatest discouragements, need not doubt of success,
for God will own and enrich his own appointments.
More on what the word of God can accomplish
Psalm 33:6
By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.
Joel 2:11
And the Lord shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?
Love you Lucy.
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