As at last night, Ghana has recorded 152 cases of Coronavirus. It seems the number keeps rising each passing day! We are currently quarantined at our homes to avoid more cases. These are difficult times indeed. In Psalm 130 Jesus Gives Us The Breath of Resurrected Life.
Please let us Pray: We come, O Lord, with the dry bones of our broken hopes and disappointed dreams. Our world is broken and confused. We are in confinement at our homes and other places not really our homes. We have been quarantined. Our families are hurting. Like the dry bones, all hope is lost in our plans of what man can do. Bind us up in Christ, that we may learn to pray with confidence, trusting in Your mercy to supply us with all things needful to us and to our salvation. Lord, give us the breath of resurrected life. Be with us in this time of trial. Keep us healthy and safe. Thank You for Your Holy, creative, and living Word. AMEN
Friends, soon, the focus of Holy Week and the entire Christian faith would be on Christ’s death and resurrection for our salvation. Psalm130 shows us this central proclamation: “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord” (Ps 130:1). The Lord’s word in Ezekiel 37 also tells how the Lord brings life out of death. Psalm 130 expresses hope: “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word I hope” (130:5).
In Rom 8:1–11, the apostle Paul talks about both physical and spiritual death, life, and the role of the Holy Spirit. It helps us to understand the reading from the Ezekiel 37 text from the perspective of Christ’s resurrection. Verse 11 says: “If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Holy Spirit who dwells in you.”
The raising of Lazarus in the Gospel helps us to see how our Lord triumphs over death. These are words of comfort for all who live and believe in Him (John 11:26). Ezekiel contains information about the judgment against both Israel and other nations. But it gives us confidence in the promises of restoration. The Lord himself will shepherd His people (Ezek 34:11–24). He will make a covenant of peace with them (34:25–31). The Lord will bring them home and make them prosperous (36:8–15, 22–38). Ezekiel 37 is a prophecy of renewal.
The Holy Spirit is spoken of and described as follows: “I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Holy Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes. Be careful to obey my rules” (36:26–27). The Holy Spirit is given anew to bring about a heart that is motivated by the words of the Lord God.
Every single time we inhale, our diaphragm contracts and moves downward so that the space in our chest cavity increases. The lungs expand, air is pulled in, and with help of a protein called haemoglobin, oxygen goes to the blood. While all this is going on, carbon dioxide moves into the lungs and is then forced out when we exhale. Breathing is amazing. The average person takes about 25,000 breaths per day. God is amazingly great!
God shows the prophet Ezekiel a dramatic vision that indicates how important breathing is. The Lord brings to life the entire army of Israel! Those who were dead became alive and breathed again. Ezekiel’s vision is a picture of what Jesus does for us. We are made alive in Christ. Jesus gives us the breath of resurrected life in Him.
The breath of fresh air begins with the Word of the Lord. The Word is living and active (Heb 4:12). Where the Word is, there is also the Holy Spirit. “Prophesy to the breath. Son of man say to the breath, thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live” (Ezek 37:9). “I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live” (v 5). “I will put my Spirit within you,…and you shall live” (v 14).
The Word and the Spirit give us back the breath of life that we lost in the fall. God created Adam by first forming him and then He breathed into Him the Lord’s holy breath of life (Gen 2:7). The evolution nonsense must give way to creative sense of God! Jesus gives us the breath of resurrected life.
In the Gospel, Jesus speaks, “Lazarus, come out,” and Lazarus receives a new breath of life. In fact, “an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear Jesus’ voice and come out” (John 5:28–29). The breath that Jesus gives re-creates both soul and body. Ezekiel saw a physical resurrection (Ezek 37:6–10). The breath that Jesus gives reaches even those in the grave (vers 12–13). This breath of resurrected life happens because Jesus gave up His breath on the cross! (Mt 27:50–53).
Now in these later days, this breath of resurrected life is given in the Divine Service. Every Absolution is a new breath for a new day. Taking in the preached Word both kills false hopes and gives life to the dead (Rom 4:17). With this breath, God sees you as already raised up with Christ in the heavenly places (Eph 2:6). This is our comfort and hope. “The Holy Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you. He who raised Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you” (Rom 8:11).
Breathing is important. God calls us all to receive the breath of resurrected life that comes only from Jesus Christ. In Him is a breath for the weary and heavy-laden, for the crushed in spirit, for the despised and lowly. Today, we see how the world is in a lot of trouble and distress. The Lord gives breath and enters into our life and revitalizes us beyond all understanding. In Jesus is the breath of life that extends even beyond the problems of this world and even beyond death. Amen.
Closing Prayer:
Almighty God, everlasting Father, in our despair raise us up to hope by placing Your Spirit upon us. Join us together with the communion of saints in Christ, even though we must for a time stand apart in different locations. Raise us up from our weariness and grant us Your Spirit, that we may be strong in faith, bold in witness, holy in life and steadfast in hope. O Lord, Your Son has given us the new birth of water and the Word and planted faith in us, that we might be Your own children. Inspire us to continue to pray in Your name in our households. Keep Your Church that she may believe without fear and love without limit even now.
Give to us good government and faithful leaders who will heed Your Word and pursue righteousness and justice. Bless and defend us against all destructive forces, especially from this deadly pandemic, and teach us to be patient and faithful citizens of this land, using ourselves and our resources wisely for the good of all. Remove party spirit, pride and arrogance, selfishness, greed, mischief, envy and jealousy from our hearts. Please be with and bless all those who work in the public places at this time. Give strength, wisdom and courage to those who work in public protection, and public health and care. Help us to be thankful. Preserve us from fear and confusion as we live and work alone, and turn us instead in love toward our neighbours however distant. Lord, Your Word continues to go forth.
Bless all congregations now struggling to fulfil Your bidding and do what You have called them to do in Your name. God Almighty, through Your Son You have kept the promise of the ages and rescued us from sin. You raised up the dry bones of people captive to death and made us alive in Christ forever. Sustain us in this hope, that we may endure the tests, trials and troubles of this life and be ready when our Savior comes again in His glory; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen.