The Army of the Dead

And he said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" And I answered, "O Lord GOD, you know." -Ezekiel 37:3


Dead.

Dead as a hammer.

Dead as a doorknob.

We have seen dead, whether it has been a loved one, a family pet, or simply an animal lying crushed beside the road.

Can you imagine this death as being the state of your soul?

If the wages of sin is death and if, in fact, we are steeped in sin from before birth (as Psalm 51 indicates), then surely spiritual deadness is the state in which all humanity find themselves.

Unless.

There is Ezekiel's vision of the dry bones. There are Jesus' words to Nicodemus in John 3.

There is a life-giving Spirit.

Who hovered over the waters at Creation.

Who rested upon Christ at His baptism.

The Spirit who filled the Church at Pentecost.

This is the Spirit who gives life to dead hearts and transforms them from dead stone into living flesh.

So the question for each professing child of God must be: "Do I possess this Spirit and does He reside within my heart?"

I must ask: "Does my professed love for Jesus find expression in love of His Word, in love of His Church, in love of His children, my brethren?"

These things of the Spirit must work themselves out in the affections of my heart and in service rendered to the Master and His kingdom and His saints.

Does this once dead heart live?

O Lord GOD, you know.