01/10/2021
RESTORATION AT VARIOUS LEVELS
OCTOBER 2021, MY MONTH
OF RESTORATION (EZEKIEL 37)
(By Revd ’Dele Kolade First Baptist Church Iju)
Our prophetic expectations this month is full restoration in every aspect of life and at every level of engagement. There shall be restoration at personal level, family level, church level, corporate level and national level. As we look up to the heavens for this great visitation of restoration, the prophetic picture of Ezekiel’s encounter at valley of dry bone as captured in chapter 37 of the book of Ezekiel comes to mind. Ezekiel, the priest - prophet in this chapter had a dramatic encounter with God, a record of which we want to carefully examine in the light of our contemporary situation. The chapter can be described as a prophetic excursion that reaffirms the fact that with God nothing is impossible and there is no right off or hopeless situation. As we wait on God for a radical revival and restoration, let’s be guided by the prophetic, panoramic principles set forth in this great chapter.
Discover to Recover: - Vs. 1 “The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the Spirit of the Lord …” The prophetic restoration in this chapter of the Bible begins with a revelation and that is the first principle to experiencing revival or a positive change in life. If a situation will change, the change will start with a new vision. Revelation precedes liberation and restoration. God gave Ezekiel a prophetic projection of the divine intension for the house of Israel. In life, if you don’t discover, you cannot recover. A true and holistic discovery must begin with epistemological humility, an admission of the fact that what you know is far less than what you don’t know. This vision shown to Ezekiel, I belief must be beyond his human imagination. There are so many things you don’t know about what you are going through unless God reveal them to you. As human being, you are only limited to the existential realities around you but God can unveil the metaphysical truth that are beyond you to you. There are things you don’t know and you know that you don’t know them, but greater ignorance is in things you don’t know and you don’t even know that you don’t know them. You need a connection and prophetic ‘excursion’ with the Holy Spirit like Ezekiel had for you to be able to have a broader and clearer perspective of life. May the hands of the Lord rest on you today to take you beyond yourself.
From The Familiar to the Unfamiliar: - Vs. 1 “… and carried me out … and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones.” There is no bigger obstacle to having revival or experiencing positive change and restoration than the problem of ‘sameness’ or indifference. Exposure brings expansion, so a man that is not positively exposed is caged. When you are exposed you will begin to appreciate new things but men who have nothing new to appreciate will eventually depreciate. You must pray for a release from the cocoon of any indifference you are into. Get familiar with the godly unfamiliar. The emphasis here is the ‘carried out’ of the prophet. Note the word ‘out’; it has a sense of beyond and newness. Ezekiel was taken from where he was to a new place he never dreamt of. God is intending to take you out of somewhere and put you down in a new setting. For your prophetic change and restoration to be translated to real testimony, you need a corresponding transition from where you are to where you ought to be.
The Site: - It will interest you to know that there is no way you can fully understand a situation if you don’t understand its attendant connection with its location. There is a connection between where you are and who you are. The description of the blessed man in Psalm one centers first on where he does not walk, stand, or sit - all describing location. You cannot fully understand a situation when you do not first investigate its location. The first recorded question God ever asked man borders on location- ‘Adam where are you’. The setting of this vision is as important as the situation described in the revelation that ensued. It was a ‘valley’ setting. This, I must say does not surprise me because after all, God created the place before He created the people. I think David will have to be consulted to better understand the significance of being in a valley. David, in Psalm 23 recounts his valley experience. I must also say that the situation at hand in Ezekiel vision is superlatively different from that of David in Psalm 23. David walked through the valley, but the ‘bones’ in Ezekiel’s account describes those who could not walk through it. What David experienced or saw was a shadow of death but Ezekiel saw real death and not a shadow. All the same David has helped us to discover that ‘valley’ may be a picture of danger and evil and this was where God led Ezekiel the prophet into. Where are you now? May be in the valley, but wait, all hope is not lost for there is hope even for the obituary.
The Situation: - Vs 2 “… there were many in the open valley; and lo, they were very dry” The emphasis here is on the population of those involved and the propensity of the problem at hand. Can you imagine seeing in a dream of very many human dried bones, I guess you will simply force to wake up from such dream. What Ezekiel saw was terribly ugly, and from the human point of view HOPELESSNESS IN CAPITAL LETTERS. The valley was full of decayed, disintegrated, and widely dispersed human bones. When human dead body is left unburied in the open, the site of it must be terrible. The prophet was given a full picture of the valley by making him to move all around the place. There is a need for a clear understanding of what is going on before a solution can be sort for. A problem you do not understand well you cannot deal well with. Someone said ‘Jesus is the answer and someone asked him what the question is? The issue is that we seem to have many answers when we do not even understand the questions. Ezekiel had a clear picture of the situation. May the Lord open your eyes to understand the situation you are in, and may He empower you to deal with it with His supplied grace.
The questions: - Vs. 3 “… can these bones live? …” What a multi million Dollars’ question? The Immortal was asking the mortal if the rotten, stinking, disintegrated and widely dispersed human bones could come back to life. Ezekiel, I believe, was still grappling with the shock of the site when the unexpected question came. The question was too much for the prophet and his response was simply an expression of epistemological humility. Ezekiel’s response that only God knows is recognition of God’s sovereignty and omnipotence. You need to allow God to take the lead and show the way. Enough of doing it your own way, allow god do it His way.
The solution: - If you allow God to show the way, you will see tremendous and great results and you will enjoy great restorations in all ways and at all levels. We need to observe the process of the recovery and restoration in this passage -
Divine – Human Collaboration: - We must not lose the sight of the fact that Ezekiel was divinely assigned a role in the process of the recovery. He was the mouth - piece of God who was doing the commanding. In this project of your total emancipation and full restoration, you have an active role to play. God has anointed you to take charge and to do exploit in life.
Divine backing: - You must be aware than you are not going in your own strength or ability, there must be a divine decree backing you. Going all out without God will spell a doom but following divine order will bring victory and testimony. Ezekiel was acting on specific divine instructions. He was not speaking his own words but that which he received from God. You need a specific, divinely directed word and mandate from God on what you are currently going through. No one can decrease what God decrees.
The Shakings, trembling, and rattling: - At the voice of the anointed man of God, there was an aggressive demonstration and reactions on the scattered bones. Sometimes when God set into our situation, there may be the initial shakings, trembling and the rattling. The shaking is for your making. The shakings orchestrated by God is a response to the order of restoration and not a signal of destruction. You need to differentiate the shakings engineered by God from the tearing organized by the devil.
Bone to its bone: - The concept of ‘fitly joined together’ captured in Eph.4:16 can best be appreciated in the wonders of human skeleton. God brought bone to its bone in the process of restoration in this passage. Can you imagine if the bones were wrongly fitted, the site would have been very ugly. Many of us need a reordering of our lives because bones are not to the right bones in our lives. Some are suffering from what I call orderly disorder conditions and they need an urgent reordering of their lives.
Sinew, flesh, and skin: - As wonderful as the human skeleton is, without flesh it may be very frightening. The beauty of life is better seen through the addition of flesh and skin to the human body. You need the sinew, flesh and skin in your life. You need the beauty of the Lord in your life for you to attract success and breakthrough.
Breath/spirit: - The peak of the dramatic, prophetic, spirito-surgical operation at this valley was the coming of the Spirit upon the fresh but lifeless bodies. No matter how fresh and well looking dead body may be, it is still as useless as rotten bone. What some of us need is the coming of the Spirit of God into our lives. It is one thing to exist and another to be living, just as being well may not the same as well being. You must not just merely exist, you must start living and fulfilling your destiny in Christ. You can only do this by the power of the Spirit. You cannot stand up unless you are lifted up by the Spirit of God. What a great thing to discover that the once scattered, shattered, useless dried bones are now:
‘A VAST AND EXCEEDING GREAT ARMY’
WHAT A RESTORATION!
