Resurrected Bones

I've been listening to this song called "Morning Song" on repeat for the last 24 hours. Listen to it before you read, or while you read. The lyrics are simple.

I can feel it in my bones

I can feel it...the Savior's love.

When the light breaks the day, 

All our sins are washed away.

I can feel it.

I'm not alone.

I can feel it in my bones.

In Ezekiel 37, God brought Ezekiel to a valley of dry bones and commanded him prophesy to the bones and to the breath that would breathe into the bones. It's too good not to put all of it here:

4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of theLord! 5 This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. 

9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army. 

11 Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it,' declares the Lord.”

This was not the first time God breathed life into something. In Genesis 2, God breathed life into Adam and had perfect relationship with man. But the sin of Adam and Eve broke that and death entered the world. Since then, God has had a plan to restore and redeem the world back to Himself. God made a way for us. For me. Sinner though I am, He is wooing me back to Himself everyday. Everyday, God's plan is carried out as the Kingdom is established on earth as it is in Heaven.

God breathed life into the dry bones so that the Israelites would know that He is the LORD (37:6,13-14). Not so He could do something great with them; so they would know He is the LORD. Our mission/identity as Christ-followers is not first to be messengers of the Gospel, it is to know our God. To see the work of His hands and declare "I know He is God." To know it and feel it in our bones that He is God.

God made a covenant with Abraham, promising that he would have many descendants and that every descendant to follow would share in the blessings in the covenant as well. God did not go back on His word. As we read Scriptures, God consistently reminds Abraham's descendants of the promise. In Genesis 28:14-15

"And, behold, I am with you, and will keep you in all places where ever you go, and will bring you again into this land; for I will not leave you, until I have done that which I have spoken to you of."

Jesus promised this again before He goes to His death on the cross.

15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 

And He said it one last time before He ascended into heaven.

"All authority on heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all that I have commanded of you. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age." 

This is redemption and love. God breathed into my dry bones, rose me from my grave (Ezekiel 37:12), gave me life again and made me a solider (Ez. 37:10). God breathed life into me and sustains me with that breath every second He wills for me to be breathing on this earth. Because of this, I will spend every breath that I can making all of this known in a world that is breathless, therefore, lifeless without Him.

God is alive and active. He continues to breathe the same breath into me today as He did when He awakened and revived me heart to Him only 7 years ago. My Creator did not create me to die. He created me to live. In John 10:10, Jesus said: 

"I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly." 

I can feel it in my bones. These are the bones that know today that I am not alone. The One who breathed me into life dwells so richly in me that the depths of my bones and the innermost parts of my heart know that He is who He says He claims to be. 

Acts 28:24-28:

"24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being. 

I feel it in my bones. This is not of my own volition. It is because a bloodied up and beautiful Savior hung on a cross. His ribcage torn apart rendering Him unable to breathe. He breathed his last breath as a human to make a way for my last earthly breath to be the beginning of eternal life. With his last breath, He cried out "It is finished." But His death was not final. His death is the only one that brings life. 

Romans 8:14-17

14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by Him [the Spirit], we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

I can feel the Savior's love in my bones and cry out Abba Father because the Spirit of the One who hung on a cross lives in me and cries it out first. And He's my Jesus. 

By HIM, we live.