By Ronald G. DavisÂ
Old Doc Richardson, of my Appalachian hometown, kept a human skeleton on display in his office. Carefully wired together and suspended from a metal stand, that skeleton clinked and clanked at the slightest touch of my small-child hand. It was eerie. It was also obvious to my unsophisticated mind: Whoever’s bones these were would never come to life again. Those bones were dead and dry.
In Ezekiel 37, when God led Ezekiel back and forth across a field filled with bones, he asked the prophet a simple question: “Son of man, can these bones live?” Now the simple and fully human answer would be, “Not a chance, Lord!” But Ezekiel walked in the Spirit, and he gave the spiritually aware answer: “You alone know, Lord!” Ezekiel knew that whatever God decides, he can and will do.
If God took us for a walk back and forth through a field of graves, a cemetery, and if he asked, “Can these dead bodies live again?” what would our answer be?
We could be a skeptic and say, “I’ve never seen it happen, Lord! Don’t expect to!” Or we could—with deep spiritual sensitivity—affirm, “It will be as you will it, Lord!”
Now, if we were with the privileged few who carried the dead body of the Lord Jesus to that garden tomb of old, and a companion turned to us and asked in tears, “Can our Lord live again?” what would we say? Will we give the “scientific answer” the world would shout discouragingly, “Absolutely not!”? Or will we give the spiritually revealed and witnessed testimony, “Our Lord lives! Hallelujah!”?
Though here today, we stand at a place of death, the cross, Golgotha, a skull bone, we are standing here today on the Lord’s Day, his marvelous resurrection day. So we partake of the emblems of physical death, shed blood, mutilated and expired body. But . . . but . . . !
Lord God, we are here to honor the death of our Lord. Body, bones, blood . . . all dead. But we have hope of the resurrection. We have great anticipation of his coming again. Help us recall the scenes of Calvary. Help us picture the glory of his coming. In his name, amen.
Ron Davis loves “standing at the cross” reverently and thankfully each week at the Lord’s table of grace and sensing God’s love.
0 Comments