Thursday, May 9, 2019

THE HOLY SPIRIT


Jack Davis


Luke 11:11-13, “If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?”

The Holy Spirit is a “good” and special gift from God, the greatest of all givers. How foolish we would be to think of our God, and His gifts, as any thing but good. James 1:16-18, “Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.”

A FAMILY GIFT
A gift is not something to be earned, but this gift is only for God’s children, those begotten or “born again” into the family of God. We read here “If a son shall ask” and “…shall your heavenly Father give…”

A REQUESTED GIFT
He does require this one thing of His children. The heavenly Father gladly gives the Holy Spirit to His own that ask Him in faith. Oh, no, this gift does not automatically become our’s at birth, or why would He say “ask?”

A NEEDED GIFT
How wonderfully our Father teaches us of our great need for the Holy Spirit, both in His precious Word, and in our experience. If we will give heed to His Word, and submit to His will, He will create in us a burning desire and almost unquenchable thirst that can only be satisfied by Him. It is a joy to consider the way He expresses the development of this craving or yearning in us, and the promises to answer it.

Isaiah 44:3, “For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring.” Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” John 7:37-39, “…If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)”

A CONTINUOUS SUPPLY
The preceding Scriptures promise for us from our Father, a supply that will never run out. In these we are also called to an aggressive attitude toward the Spirit’s provision rather than that of passiveness, or indifference. See also Revelation 22:17, and Isaiah 55:1-4. “Come unto me and Drink.” Let us keep on coming and drinking.

A PROMISED PERSON
Jesus, the Son of God, our elder brother, promised to send back from heaven another Person of the Trinity for our personal comfort. John 14:16-17, “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.”

Before Pentecost, the Holy Spirit had been with our Lord’s disciples. He had come and gone from time to time upon Old Testament believers, but now Jesus was promising One, soon to come, that would be with them for ever.

A GIFT PRAYED FOR
Jesus Christ, our great high Priest, has risen from the dead, ascended on high, and is even on the right hand of the Father. He has prayed for us that we each accept all that the Father has given.

PROPHESIED ADVENT WITH SIGNS
Isaiah 28:9-12, “Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing…”.

Mark 16:17, “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues.” “Tongues” as a sign or evidence of the Holy Spirit’s fulness is refused by the unbelief of many, as is “divers kings of tongues” as a “gift” of the Holy Spirit. Tongues also are misused by the fleshly zeal of many. Yet these do not change the fact of Scripture. Thank God! Consider God’s Word and believe.

We read in Acts 2:4, “And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” This began as the Spirit gave utterance, and was to continue until He shall determine that knowledge shall vanish away, and tongues shall cease, I Cor. 13:8. Oh, yes, that day when we see Him face to face, and know even as we are known. Shall unbelief deny this supernatural act? How could these unlearned Galilaeans speak in about sixteen different discernable languages of the wonderful works of God? I suggest, what they said was understood.

Thank God, this gift was also to go to believing Gentiles. When Peter was speaking at the house of Cornelius the Gentile, Peter said, “Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34). Verses 44-46, “While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God.” Acts 11:17, “Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God?”

In Acts 18:24-28, we read of a man named Apollos that was mightily used of God. He was “an eloquent man, and mighty in the Scriptures, “yet evidently not filled with the Holy Spirit. He knew only the baptism of John. John preached the “baptism of repentance.” He had an effectual ministry to the Jews, before the out pouring of the Holy Spirit.

We read in Acts 19:1-7, Paul ministering to those at Ephesus who were believers that had been baptized and yet had not been filled. If you will read this with an open heart, you will see their receiving the Lord as their Savior and the receiving the gift of the Holy
Spirit as a separate experience. After they were baptized in the name of Jesus, they were filled with the Holy Spirit, spake with tongues, and prophesied. The children of God that are not filled with the Holy Spirit are not useless at all, but they are lacking part of what Jesus paid His precious life-blood for. Paul knew that they needed more. Paul admonishes those who are filled also, “be filled with the Spirit,” keep drinking and submit your life to His influence and control.

OUR VICTORY IN CHRIST

Anita Clark – Pastor, Carbondale, KS



The words of an old Hymn - Christ The Solid Rock says:

“My hope is built on nothing less,
Than Jesus blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus name.”

Notice the phrase in the song, “But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.” In II Chronicles 32:8, King Hezekiah of Judah spoke words of comfort to the people when they were besieged by Sennacherib, King of Assyria. Hezekiah encouraged them to trust in the Lord, saying in Vs. 7-8, “Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed, for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him, for there be more with us that with him, With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.”

Apostle Paul says in Galatians 1:3-5 “Grace be to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father.” Paul speaking of the “last days” in II Timothy 3:13 says, ‘But evil seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.” If we watch the news on T.V. we see awful, frightening and evil things. Satan is having his “hayday.” Corruption and everything that once was called sin is permissible in society today.

Our victory is - placing our faith in the Lord our God. II Corinthians 4:16 gives us the secret of victory over all things we go through. “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, While we look not at the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” This is the true victory over all our trials and tests, keeping our eyes elevated to the eternal things - i.e. “We shall reign with Christ some day, when all these trials, tests and illnesses is over.” II Corinthians 10:7 says, “Do ye look on things after the outward appearance?” This is a good question to ask ourselves. If this is happening in our lives, it may be why we have a lack of victory. I Samuel 16:7, God spoke to Samuel, “...the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart.”

In Mark 8:22-26, they brought a blind man to Jesus. Jesus healed the man and when the man looked up he began to see, but not clearly. “Jesus put His hands on him again upon his eyes, and made him to look up and he was restored, and saw clearly.” This is the way to gain victory over our flesh, the world, and Satanic attacks. Look up! The victory comes from our Lord Jesus Christ.

I was asked one time, “What does it mean for a Christian to gain victory?” The word “victory” in the Greek, used in various places in the Bible means, “deliverance over, to triumph over.” I Corinthians 15:57 states, “But thanks be unto God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” We learn to rise over the test by God’s strength and grace. I John 5:4 says, “This is the victory that overcometh the world even our faith.” II Corinthians 2:14 says, “Now thanks be unto God which always causes us to triumph in Christ.”  The word “triumph” in the Greek speaks of a “victory parade, or a procession. To conquer, to give victory.” In olden days this is what conquerors of armies or enemies did after winning the battle. They paraded through the cities or vicinity celebrating their victory. Paul says in Romans 12:21, “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” I John 5:4 declares, “...this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.”

Apostle Paul says in Hebrews 12:1-2, “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily besets us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

In Revelation 2-3, each of the churches spoken to by the Lord Jesus Christ were rewarded in various ways, if they would overcome or triumph over their situation or sin. In Revelation 3:21 we see Christ’s promise to those who overcome fully and are faithful in yielding and walking with God, “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me on my throne, even as I also have overcome and am set down with my Father in His throne.” In chapter 4 we see the Lord sitting upon His throne, and 24 elders sitting on thrones with Him and 4 Living creatures worshiping and casting their crowns at His feet. In chapter 5:8-10, it says these are “redeemed out of every kindred, nation and tongue.” There will be a day when the Lord will reward His people for their faithfulness to Him, and for gaining the victory through Him in all their trials and tests of this life.

Merciful High Priest


“Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.” Hebrews 2:17

For Jesus to be a merciful and faithful High Priest, He needed to be able to understand our condition and our temptations. He had to suffer and endure temptations and rejection as a human man. Anything less than that would have left Him as a distant God with a feeling for our infirmities.

Jesus came for the purpose of redeeming fallen humanity. He must be a perfect sacrifice. All of the sacrifices of the Old Testament were just pictures, because they were not a perfect human being who could atone for the sins of all other human beings. The only way was for Jesus, the perfect Lamb of God, to take on the form of a man and become our sacrifice.

In doing so, He also took on Him the sufferings and temptations of fallen humanity. As we consider the life of Jesus, we find Him being tempted in the wilderness in Matthew 4.

In that temptation, we find such a great example for us in our temptations. Jesus responds to Satan each time by quoting scripture. I’m quite convinced that Jesus could have said something very profound in those times, as He did many times with the Pharisees. However, our example is that scripture is what we need to overcome the temptations.

If Jesus had given in and made the stones into bread, He could no longer have fully identified with us who are not able to do the same. Instead, we are reminded that God’s Word is more important than anything else.

We find throughout His time here that He was rejected and persecuted, even unto death. Couldn’t He have just come as a King, and then by martyred? That would make a great story and headline. But then He would not have suffered the common things that all persons might suffer. He was hungered, tired, thirsty, no real place to call home. Think about all the things that He went through to bring us to God.

“For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin” Hebrews 12:3-4.

We can surely consider our wonderful Lord who endured more than we can even imagine. We are reminded that we have not yet suffered in such a way. Consider Him in the garden before the cross, praying in agony. He knew that He would have to take on Himself the sins of the whole world, and that would necessitate that His Father turn from Him for that moment in time.

When our trials, sufferings and temptations seem to overwhelm us, we can be certain beyond doubt that Jesus understands. He feels each and every one of our sufferings. “Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:14-16

We are never beyond Jesus’ ability to understand and sympathize with our circumstances. We need to be careful that the enemy not cause us to think that our Lord no longer cares about us or our situation.

Satan will often try to get us thinking that God is against us or no longer cares. Nothing could be further from the truth. While we may not always realize it, He is with us through our trials. Just like the three young men in Daniel who were cast into the fiery furnace. They found the Lord walking in there with them. He is still in the fire today. We never walk alone. Hebrews 13:5

The world today would have us think that no one should suffer at all. They will even ask why God would allow such suffering. We need to understand that suffering has a purpose. God allows suffering in our lives to accomplish His purpose for an eternal benefit. “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;” 2 Corinthians 4:17. Romans 5:3-5.

Are you suffering today? Are you in the fiery trial? Are you being tempted by the enemy? I have the answer for you. Go to the throne of grace in prayer. You will find there a merciful and faithful High priest that understands and will walk with you. Jesus is preparing us to be part of that bridal company that He longs for. Hebrews 12:2. He had a “joy set before Him” and we have a “joy set before us”. Selah

Gordon Crook

LIVING THINGS – THE CHURCH


E. C. Richards


I Timothy 3:15, “But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.”

Here the church is called “the church of the living God,” so it is surely a living entity. That great Being is not about to be preoccupied with dead things. It is below His dignity as the very essence of life. He is living, so any group He brings into being to participate in His great plan will be living too. Perhaps this seems a self-evident subject that has no meaning in being discussed. Well, it is quite evident out there, being bandied about in the minds of men, that the church is a kind of unrealistic concoction of some old toads in the dim unenlightened past. Hence, let us consider some Scriptures and let the Holy Ghost breathe life into them, and also reemphasize in our hearts the living character of our body politic, the church.

Romans 15:16, “That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.”

You view here one of God’s hard Scriptures, to us, but most clear to Him. You see, He is in the area and atmosphere of life and all around Him is life, and He has to reveal His Words to us for any sense to be able to sift through to us. Christ died for us, but there was so much of a living offering ascending up to God, that it is difficult for us to understand. The whole mass of us Gentiles rise up to Him in this life–thing that is the church, begotten by the gospel, the living message from the Living Word. I wonder what dimensions are involved in God’s vision as revealed in statements like the above Scripture. The Gentiles entering the church by faith are surely a living group, for that is God’s interest. Remember that, even under the law, contracting the dead was a cause for intense cleansing, and even resulted in being put out of the camp for a time. God never seemed to have a hankering for dead things as His creatures do. Praise Him for the opportunity to come into a living group of humanity, The Church.

Eph. 2:4-5, “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)”. Here the word declares how the kind loving God changed the deplorable state of humanity that come under His grace and faith with life instead of death, the way we were. This is the evaluation of the prime One of life. What He calls life, spiritual life, suitable to Him, just wasn’t man’s after sin. Now He says we are diametrically changed. Bless His name! This is something that happens now on this earth not in some vague future. Life has happened already, believing friend. We are rolling on in life. Amen!

Heb. 4:12, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” So, the living people get a living food, the Word of God. In some mysterious way, God acquaints us with the fact that our spiritual man, that is what is in the church, has life from His Word. So, we study it, think on it, let it work obedience and work in us; and we gather around it to the amazement and ridicule of the dead folk all around us. I never yet sat under the Holy Ghost indicted Word, that I didn’t feel life inside the spirit. Yes, it is so, not a fable as the mass of humanity think.

In John 6:48 Jesus said, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” Even His death produced life, and the ensuing issue in the supernatural touch of God gave life to the believer in the church. It is quite a mystifying and wonderful line of the life-productivity. God doesn’t throw away anything; the same Word produces life in the eater by faith, over and over again. Though our whole system involves death, (that of Christ and ours) it is not an end in itself. It in to give real life.

Just today, we read a long chapter, I Corinthians 14, regulating the vocal gifts of the church. In I Corinthians 14:3 it says, “But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.” We well know that vocalizing is not for inanimate things. The great prophecy of the Antichrist’s image and the speaking, however it is effected, which will be a clincher for all the unbelieving world, shows the identifying of vocalization and life together. So again, the church is a living organism, and God speaks to it in ways strange to us, though not crazy ways. He notes that, too.

I Cor. 15:9, “For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.” The enemy, for sure, considers us a living mass of humanity, for he persecuted it, and still does one way or another. He is the stimulator of persecution, even by honest men as Saul was. The devil doesn’t understand the church, but fears it for He has been clipped by its faith too many times, and hates it to the death. He uses more sense than silly men who ignore the reality of the church. They stay away from it in droves. Not the veil-spirit one; he goes to all the services he can. He is quite a religious character. I have even heard him testify.

Matt. 16:18, “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Here Jesus declared emphatically the living perpetuity of the people of the church. The great agent of destruction and judgment, hell, should not ever touch it. We shall not spend any time there, praise God. That is the place of the dead.

Col. 3:4, “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” The force, motive power, actual fiber of all this organism of spirit called church, is Christ, and He is shot through it in every generation and individual. We shall have more to say of Him later. Praise the Lord, when we were added to the church we got in on life, a very important part of God’s great accumulation of life in His eternal sphere.

Eph. 3:10, “To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God.” So God, very life itself, displays to the higher forms of life, angelic beings, the way He can show movement of life in the spiritual way. That shows far more than our finite minds, senses and consciousness realizes. The features of it all: faith, spirit, prayer, vocal utterances, cooperation with the will of God, all are alien to our mode of thinking. There is life on the move in the church, nevertheless. There is more to this than meets the eye. If the church shows off God now, and His wisdom now, what will it be in the final manifestation? Surely, it is all too much for us, but let’s keep on believing any way.

GALATIANS 5:1

Part 2

Debra Isenbletter, 

Pastor Christian Assembly, Springfield, Missouri


“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free; and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” (Gal. 5:1)
Next, we are to See our Liberator, “wherewith Christ hath made us free.” We are to see Christ. Our Liberty and our Liberator cannot be separated. This is also translated: “Christ has made us free [completely liberated us]” (Amplified); “What the Messiah has freed us for is freedom!” (Complete Jewish Bible). Christ is our Liberator! What did Jesus say would set us free? He said the truth sets us free (John 8:32). Jesus is that Truth (John 14:6). What did Jesus do to set us free? He came to fulfill the Law (:17). His obedience was better and His sacrifice was a better (Heb.10:5-9).
And Paul tells us the truth about Christ and what He has done for us. When He sets us free we are free indeed (John 8:36). The Greek word “made free” comes from “to liberate.” It means “to deliver” and once delivered we are free; it is very similar to the word “liberty,” so there is a double emphasis with “liberty” and “made free.” We have liberty because we have been made free. We have been “made free” from the bondage of sin. We have been “made free” from the legality of the Law. We have been “made free” and we are free to be servants of righteousness and servants of God (Rom. 6:18,22). Paul states that Christ has made them free – free from what? Free from the Law. How did He do this? He did this by keeping the Law Himself. They no longer have to do this. It is not necessary. The Law has been satisfied by His Obedience and His Sacrifice. Christ is the end of the Law – He lived by the Law – We live thru Him. (Rom. 10:4-5) To lay hold of Liberty they need to see their Liberator!
The 2nd Admonition:
See the Trap: “and be not entangled again.” This is translated the following ways:
“and do not be hampered and held ensnared and submit again to (Amplified); “and stop being subject again to a yoke of bondage [which you once removed].” (Wuest) “and don’t let yourselves be tied up again to a yoke of slavery.” (Complete Jewish Bible)
The meaning of the word “entangled” means “to hold in a fixed position;” “to restrain and restrict” and “to be ensnared.” Traps are hidden so that the animal was caught, either in a pit or a net. It was not easily seen and once ensnared not easy to escape. That is what a trap does, that is what legality does. Their liberty would be restricted and it would be done bit by bit, by taking small steps, each leading to a more committed step. Paul has already spoken of observing “days and months and times and years” (Gal. 4:10), which seemed like such a small thing but something the flesh enjoys. In chapter 5 the issue of circumcision is introduced and that is a big step. Once circumcised they would be committed to keeping all the law, and all of its requirements and practices. Paul reminds them that even as Gentiles they had been bound by religious laws that had brought them into bondage. The pagans had their feast days, their festivals, their religious practices that were required. So, Paul uses the word “again” meaning “one more” or “once again.” It doesn’t matter that this entanglement is Jewish and not Gentile. Paul reminds them of their past condition. He does not want them repeating the same mistake. He warns them the result will be the same. Bondage whether to Gentile idolatry or Jewish legality is bondage. The results are still the same, bondage and not liberty. It reminds me of a saying used in 12 step programs and some attribute it to Albert Einstein. It is the definition of insanity: “Insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results.” The results of legality, whatever the sources are the same, entanglement and once entangled in something, the more you struggle the more you become entangled. The more you keep trying to do the law, the more futile it is.
See the Yoke: “with the yoke of bondage.” The word “yoke” comes from “to join, a coupling, serves to couple two things together;” it speaks of service and servitude. It speaks on joining two things together. It is seen in the yoke of oxen and the yoke of slavery. The danger and damage is found when you have two opposites yoked together.
Two Opposite Doctrines – Law and Grace and Faith and Works. Paul addresses this in Romans when he talks about the desire to and inability to boast in the law, in the works of the law. It is excluded by faith because we are justified by faith. (Rom. 3:26-28).
Two Opposite Natures – Believer and Unbeliever. Paul addresses this in the fellowship of believers and unbelievers. (2 Cor. 6:14) Two cannot walk together unless they be agreed. (Amos 3:3). One is an New Creation and the other an Old Creation. They are like oil and water.
The yoke Paul is speaking of is yoke is the Law. Once they are circumcised, they have put that yoke on and are fully committed to keeping all the Law. Legality and Liberty are two separate concepts, they cannot be yoked together. There is only one yoke we have and it is the yoke that Jesus offers to us. It speaks of submission and meekness, of grace and love. He does not put the yoke upon us, He offers it to us.
“Take my yoke (Meekness) upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke (Grace) is easy, and MY burden (Love and Faith) is light.” (Mat. 11:29-30) This is the yoke that brings true Liberty! Jesus has set us free!

Dry Bones and Spiritual Bone Marrow Failure


Dr. Victoria Moots


Ezekiel 37:1-10 Relates to the story of Ezekiel in the Valley of the dry bones. V. 11 reveals to us that these bones actually speak of the nation of Israel and its restoration, but I would like to use this example of the dry bones and their healing and apply it to us as individuals and to the church.

Let us read these verses. The latter part of verse 2 exclaims, “Lo, they were very dry.” These bones represented a body that was once living and moist and joined together but dried up and fell apart. The vultures, worms and other animals cleaned off all the meat (the muscles, tendons and ligaments) and the bone marrow dried up.

They had obviously been dead for a long time and seemingly beyond hope of living again, as far as the natural is concerned. Bones are usually very moist, having an abundant blood supply and are filled with an amazing substance called marrow. Job 21:24 relates to this, stating “His bones are moistened with marrow.”
Bones marrow produces all the cells in the blood and is located in the center of the bone. It is basically a factory that manufactures the immature forms of blood cells, called stem cells. The body sends signals to the bone marrow to trigger these cells to mature and be released into the blood stream as they are needed.

There are 3 basic types of blood cells the body requires (a trinity). The red cells carry the oxygen in the blood to all the other cells in the body. The white cells are part of the immune system that help fight off infection. The platelets are necessary to help form clots and control bleeding in case of injury.

Healthy bone marrow (moist bone) is necessary for life. If the bone marrow dries up and fails to produce adequate numbers of any of these cells, a person would soon die. When a person is sick, a doctor usually orders a test called a CBC (Complete Blood Count) which measures the numbers of these 3 cell types. If the numbers are very low, then it may be necessary to do a bone marrow biopsy to try and determine the cause. For this test a doctor must take a special needle called a “jamshidi;” needle to drill through the outer bone into the core to obtain a simple of marrow for analysis. This needle is sharp on 2 edges and hollow in the middle and very strong.

In cases of severe trauma or serious illness resulting in shock in which fluids need to be infused rapidly into the body, a similar needle called an intraosseous needle can be forced into the center of the bone where the bone marrow is located to deliver those fluids. A large amount of fluid can be infused in a short period of time.

In Proverbs 17:22 we read “a merry heart doeth good like a medicine, but a broken spirit drieth the bones” (the bone marrow). Proverbs 3:8 tells us that the fear of the Lord is health to our navel and marrow to our bones.

The nation of Israel lost their fear of the Lord and began to serve the gods of the nation’s surrounding them.  They no longer had a merry heart (the joy of the Lord), and their bone marrow began to dry up. If we fail to put God first in our hearts and allow the cares of this life to take priority, we will soon dry up and become lifeless, no longer able to stand against Satan.

In Ezekiel 37:3, God asks Ezekiel, “can these bones live?” The answer is in verse 4. God tells Ezekiel to speak to the bones and say, “Oh, ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.” The Word of God has the power to give or restore life. It is “quick, or living, and powerful” (we read in Hebrews 4:12) “and sharper than any 2 edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow.” It is like the sharp 2-edged intraosseous needle that can pierce into the marrow and infuse life into someone who is dying. The Word of His Grace gives resurrection power to those who yield to its cutting and piercing of the soul. It is able to both diagnose and bring healing for spiritual bone marrow failure.

In a living body the bones are held together by joints, connected by ligaments and surrounded by muscles attached by the tendons to allow movement enabling the body to function.

The dry bones in the valley not only needed to be moistened with marrow but to be joined together as a body and then to be given breath. This is promised in verse 6, “and I will lay sinews upon you and bring flesh upon you and cover you with skin and put breath in you and ye shall live.”

This can only be accomplished by the life-giving Word of God’s Grace which is able to build us up (Acts 20:32). Ephesians 4:15-16 shows us how this takes place, “But speaking the truth in love may grow up into Him in all things which is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body fitly joined together (with all the ligaments and tendons) and compacted by that which every joint supplieth.” The Word of God pulls us together as a body and builds us up in order that we may stand in the evil day. But to have life we must have breath, even as Ezekiel’s fry bones in the valley.

In verse 7 Ezekiel prophesied (or spoke God’s Word) (to edification, exhortation and comfort – I Cor. 14:3) and the bones came together. However, there was no breath in them. Then Ezekiel prophesied to the wind and the breath came unto them, and they lived and stood upon their feet an exceeding great army.

II Tim. 3:16 tells us “All scripture is given by inspiration of God (God breathed). In the physical body inspiration is part of the breathing process and means “to inhale or take a breath.” God’s Word in breathed into us by the Holy Spirit, causing it to become real and living in our hearts not just words on paper. God literally breathes into our souls the breath of life (as He did into Adam’s physical body) through His Word. We can breathe our God’s Word by the power of the Holy Spirit to give life to someone else.

Does your life seem like it is falling apart and you just can’t seem to get it back together? Are you drying up and suffering from spiritual marrow failure? Let the Word of God penetrate into your dried up bones and fill them with life-giving marrow and allow the Holy Spirit to quicken the Word to you heart. His Grace will build you up and give you strength to stand.

Yes, those dry bones can live again!!