#DailyDevotion God Can Put You Back Together
Pentecost Sunday
Ezekiel 37:4 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.”
The Sadducees in Jesus’ day didn’t believe in the resurrection of the body. They only accepted the Torah as Scripture, though Jesus’ shows the resurrection from his own words in Genesis, “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” Though their bodies were dead, he speaks of them in Exodus as though they were alive (and they were). But the Pharisees and Jesus believed in the resurrection of the body. Ezekiel here must have been a text they looked to for this article of faith.
It is good to have this passage for Pentecost Sunday, for the Holy Spirit on this day came down upon all flesh. The Spirit, the wind in Ezekiel is that which gathers the bones, the sinews, the flesh and finally the spirit of man back into one whole person here. On the day of Jesus’ revelation, the Holy Spirit shall indeed raise all the dead. We shall live and be whole and not angels who are only spirits. Jesus rose from the dead bodily. By the same power of the Spirit, we too shall be raised to everlasting life on that day.
And on that day we shall know the Lord and know him completely. Paul tells us we shall see him as he is and we shall know all things. Most of all it will no longer be by faith but by intimate knowledge of the Lord on that day we shall know Jesus Christ is the Lord. Indeed all flesh on that day shall know Jesus as the Lord but those who did not trust in him in this life shall cringe about that for his rod of iron shall be upon their backs.
Yes, the Holy Spirit can and will indeed raise all flesh. Whether dem bones be very, very dry, whether we be eaten by lions and tigers and bears, whether a great white shark has had us for dinner or other fishies, whether we have been burnt to ashes and the four winds have carried them away, the Holy Spirit knows how to put us back together again. When he does, all who are repentant of their sins and trust Jesus in this life shall be like him in the resurrection and we shall be his Israel in the promised land that Abraham saw, a city not made with human hands but the Zion that is from above.
Heavenly Father, grant us repentance and faith in your Son Jesus Christ, that on the day of the resurrection, the Holy Spirit may raise us bodily in the image of Jesus and may we will eternally with you and the Holy Spirit and Jesus. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.