Title: Know the Lord!
Know the LORD!
Ezekiel 37:1-14, Fifth Sunday of Lent, April 10, 2011
Ezekiel's vision
Ezekiel in the Old Testament is the word of God proclaimed by a prophet named Ezekiel. Ezekiel is known as a prophet who was active from before the fall of Judah by Babylon in 587 B.C. to 10 years immediately after the fall. He was at the historical site of the fall of Judah. We witnessed how they struggled to survive, how they waged a tug-of-war foreign policy between Egypt and Babylon, and how reckless or helpless the kings of Judah were in the process. Eventually, including the temple in Jerusalem, the entire city was devastated by the Babylonian army, and I saw clearly how many people were taken into captivity in Babylon. He, like other prophets, was compelled to question the origins of faith in the face of the wretched fate of the nation. Why does Jehovah God ignore the downfall of his people? How should I explain why to the people of Israel? How can I comfort them? Ezekiel, who was suffering from such problems, had a strange vision. The content of today's sermon is Ezekiel 37:1-14.
No one wonders if this actually happened. This cannot happen. You can't even get up. Of course, since Jehovah God created the world with his words, he can do even more amazing things if he wants to. God's creative power is fundamentally beyond our imaginable limits. However, God does not temporarily destroy the life principle of the world he created according to any need. We don't make the water flow from low to high, or revive the body of a dead and rotten body by circulating blood again. No matter how much a person lives according to God's will, when war breaks out and he is baptized with bombs, his whole body is shattered. God doesn't turn bomb shards into soft cotton at that moment.
The story of dry bones and life that Ezekiel saw is a vision to convey a certain spiritual teaching. The ancient Jews often spoke this way. It is called apocalyptic literature. Typical examples are Daniel, Isaiah, and Ezekiel. Isaiah dreamed of a world where wolves and lambs live together, and leopards and young goats play together. This world does not refer to reality, but to the world of peace that the Messiah directly rules. Today's text is the same. Ezekiel was given this vision of some hope for the future. The text kindly teaches it. The bones are the whole nation of Israel. Dry bones mean there is no hope. It is said, “We are all annihilated.” (37:11b) Ezekiel had to cry out to the people of Israel again what he had said to the dry bones. “My people, I will open your graves and bring you out of them and bring you into the land of Israel” (verse 12). Israel, which was as if completely dead, would be liberated.
he is the LORD
Today's text does not stop there. It tells us something more important than that. Verses 6 and 12 say the same thing. “You will know that I am the Lord.” Verse 14, the last verse, also puts that fact precisely. “You will know that I, the LORD, have spoken and accomplished these things.” The text is meant to tell you just that. The Dry Bone and Liberation event does not have any ultimate significance in itself. In the history of the world, such things are repeated over and over again. The people of Israel returned to their homeland with great hopes after 50 years of captivity, and did everything they could to rebuild the nation, but the hope was short-lived, and the whole nation fell to hell. Jerusalem was repeatedly plundered, and the temple in Jerusalem was rebuilt and destroyed repeatedly. What is important to Ezekiel, especially for us today, who are reading his oracle, is the fact that it is Jehovah who caused the event that the text tells us. So I have repeatedly emphasized that you will know Jehovah.
You may think this is a reasonable thing to say, but it is not. It is not easy to know that Jehovah is in charge of history. If that was easy, the prophet wouldn't even have to say it. We learn this from the history of Israel. They are said to be the chosen people of Jehovah God. They knew that the Lord had called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldeans, and chose Moses to bring about the history of the Exodus. I knew from my ancestors about the very surprising events that took place in the process. But they often followed idols. It was repeated in the period of the judges, and something similar happened in the period of the monarchy, and it was the same after the return to Babylon. This means that it is difficult to know Jehovah God itself, and it also means that it is difficult to distinguish Jehovah from idols. Why?
We are people who have experienced the source of life in Jesus Christ. The power of Jehovah that Ezekiel experienced coincided with the fate of Jesus. The cross and resurrection of Jesus are the source of life and the power of Jehovah. How fortunate we are to live in the New Testament era instead of the Old Testament era. We can know the obscure power of Jehovah, that is, the power of life, from the fate of Jesus. Do you think this belief is vague? Does it make more sense to expand your domain than that? Focus more on God's saving reign as revealed in the destiny of Jesus Christ. You will definitely experience the power of life. You will hear the voice of the need to follow the rules of life on this earth. That is to know Jehovah.