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One of the chief disciplines of Lent is remembering our Baptism and the Lord's regeneration and cleansing of us in these waters of purification and renewal--and the lifelong cycle of daily confession and absolution, continually turning from sin to our gracious God, in faith-fraught repentance, for His proffered forgiveness, to which Baptism and our remembrance of it commits us.
Perhaps the epitome of regeneration is found in this startling theophany, or divine revelation, witnessed by the prophet Ezekiel. Listen. "The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones.
"He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, 'Son of man, can these bones live?' I said, 'O Lord God, you alone know.' Then he said to me, 'Prophesy to these bones and say to them, "Dry bones, hear the Word of the Lord!
"'"This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord."'
"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. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.
"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 from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live."'
"So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet--a vast army. Then he said to me: 'Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, "Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off." Therefore prophesy and say to them: "This is what the Lord God says: O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel.
"'"Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord."'"
Ezekiel's vision of the valley of dry bones is God's vision of lost humanity apart from Jesus Christ. It is a stark and appalling vision to be sure--a valley floor littered with dry and disjointed bones, human bones--a hopeless vision, indeed! God says that's what doomed mankind, without Jesus Christ and dead in sin, is like.
Only instead of a mere valley, the whole world is full of these dry and disjointed bones--the mortal remains of an all too mortal humankind. The whole world is a graveyard. What is, perhaps, the number one problem in the world, conflict, is a chief symptom of this lost and doomed humanity, dead to Christ and dead in sin.
When you're not attached to each other, because of your sins against one another, you're not simply detached. You're separated from each other. Your sin separates you. And when you're separated from each other, alienated and estranged because, in sin, you've broken with each other, it's not long before you're at odds with each other--odd man out--and then in conflict with each other, crashing into each other, fighting each other, maiming and killing each other.
When you're dead in sin and, therefore, dead to each other, you're not far from being dead set against each other and dead wrong. Only this is not just a vision. This is the appalling reality. And it is hopeless, apart from Jesus Christ.
So, what does God do about this dreadful scene, this dead, doomed humanity? Does He leave the world one vast graveyard full of dry and disjointed bones, sinners' bones, your bones and mine? Can these bones live? God only knows, God only knows! Thankfully, God does know that these bones can live, and how it is that they shall live--together, not apart--with Christ and not without Him.
Just as He sent Ezekiel to prophesy to that valley of dry and disjointed bones, that human graveyard, "Dry bones, hear the Word of the Lord!" so that by His Word bone came together with bone, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them and breath entered them, and they came back to life and stood up on their feet, one vast army, so to this day God sends His messengers to the vast graveyard which is the whole lost and condemned world to speak His Word to the dead, divided and doomed bones of a lost and condemned mankind apart from Christ, at odds with God and at war with each other, fighting each other and maiming each other and killing each other.
"Dry bones, hear the Word of the Lord!" And, as appalling as the reality and hopeless the condition, because of Christ., though dead in sin and dead set against God and each other, dead wrong, we're not lost and condemned.
God's Spirit accompanies His Word, because of Christ, and there's no little commotion and locomotion as obstacles are pushed aside and barriers surmounted and bone comes together with bone, and tendons and flesh appear on us and skin covers us, the spotless Lambskin of our Savior Jesus Christ, bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh.
And His breath enters us and animates us. And we come to life and stand up on our haunches, one vast new humanity together in Jesus Christ our Head! What do you know? These bones do live! And God says, "O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them.
"I will bring you back to [your land]. Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken. And I have done it, declares the Lord" (vv 12-14). And so He has, and so He has!
As you indulge in this memorable discipline this Lent, remembering your Baptism and the Lord's regeneration and cleansing of you in these purifying and rejuvenating waters, and as you, with renewed Lenten vigor, engage afresh in the lifelong cycle of daily confession and absolution, turning from sin to your gracious God, in faith-formed repentance, for His merciful forgiveness, to which Baptism and your recollection of it calls you, remember, these bones, though they're plum dried up, can and do live; and you, though you may think your hope is gone and may fear you're clean cut off, can and do live, not apart from each other through your mutual sin, like dry, divided and divisive bones, but together in Christ through mutual repentance and forgiveness, in God's gracious condescension, by hearing His gracious Word! Make a habit of it this Lent!
- Pastor Erickson