I believe that I cannot by my own understanding or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him, but instead the Holy Spirit has called me through the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, made me holy and kept me in the true faith, just as he calls, gathers, enlightens, and makes holy the whole Christian church on earth and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one common, true faith. Daily in this Christian church the Holy Spirit abundantly forgives all sins—mine and those of all believers. On the Last Day the Holy Spirit will raise me and all the dead and will give to me and all believers in Christ eternal life. This is most certainly true.”
Let’s begin from the beginning,
We were all dead in our trespasses and sins, unable to believe in Christ or come to Him.
The valley of dry bones is the perfect picture to represent fallen humanity. We are not as we once were, not as we ought to be, not as we were created to be. The very picture of death is one of loss, of absence, of deprivation. It’s not so much that a dead person is dead so much as they are no longer alive, as death can only be measured in that it speaks of a lack of what once was. This is the very reason that it’s used across the Scriptures to speak of humanity’s sinful condition. We once walked with God in the Garden of Eden, in righteousness and purity, in bodies that would never perish. That, not this, is what should be, what ought to be, what is fundamentally right and good. Yet, we so often normalize our fallen condition and think of heaven and of the garden of Eden as the “weird” places. As places “without death.” But it is not so much that these places are without death, so much as they are full of life, as Christ will truly fill all things, as they are recreated from nothing, in Him, who is life, goodness, truth, and beauty. We forget that the dry bones in Ezekiel’s valley were once living breathing human beings. And as such, we don’t often enough recall that we no longer have what we once had, and still ought to have. When we confess that we cannot by the use of reason or by a movement of our will, believe the gospel, we confess that sin has swallowed us whole; mind, heart, and hands together. As we confess every Lord’s Day, “apart from Christ, we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves.”
Here again recall with me those dry bones. Can the dry bones free themselves? Can they, by their own strength or will believe in Christ or come to Him? can these bones live? In going through the motions of our lives in the midst of our fallen condition, living as we ought not, being not as we were created to be, we mistake the morgue for the doctors office, thinking that we just need to maintain health, prevent sickness, and get a prescription to help with whatever ailments we’re dealing with. But the Word of God is not something to be considered and weighed in order make a decision as to whether we agree with it or not, the Word of God performs what it says. It is not a mere book, but a living breathing Word, through which the Holy Spirit, the breath of God, breathes life into us who were once dry bones, and reforms us, resurrecting us from within, and filling us with Himself, who is the life that we were missing. He makes us right from within as He works upon us. Just as creation began with the Spirit hovering over the waters, as the universe itself was spoken into existence, so too now we are born from above, by Spirit and water in Baptism, wherein the Father’s will that we would be justified and redeemed is worked through Christ, and as that Word of our justification by the righteousness of God is spoken upon us and over us, we are recreated in it, by the power of the Holy Spirit. One may will to speak words, but to do so he must have breath. And thus we confess in our Large Catechism, “The work is finished and completed; Christ has acquired and won the treasure for us by his suffering, death, and resurrection. But if the work remained hidden so that no one knew of it, it would have been all in vain, all lost. In order that this treasure might not remain buried but be put to use and enjoyed, God has caused the Word to be published and proclaimed, in which he has given the Holy Spirit.” The work of Christ for your redemption according to the eternal will of God our Father has been accomplished, but in order for God’s Word to be spoken – God must have breath. And so this breath proceeds from the Father, and it does so through the Word as it is spoken over you in baptism – in the absolution – in the Lord’s Supper, in the preaching of the Scriptures, as you are declared to be Justified. These things, the Word, and the Sacraments, are the work of the Spirit. We don’t gather here every Sunday to hear the opinions of man, nor even the commands of God, but to be acted upon by the creating God through His Word. Neither do we eat mere bread and wine, as a ritual of meaningful symbolism, but we eat the very flesh and blood of God, given and shed for us for the forgiveness of our sins. And as we do so we have in them exactly what they proclaim to us, namely the forgiveness of our sins in and through Christ who now lives in us. Through these Holy things, of Word and of Sacrament, the Holy Spirit, the breath by which the Word is spoken, makes us into Holy people, the Catholic church, the community of saints. Through these means of grace, the Holy Spirit delivers Christ to us, unites us with Him, and declares over us that we are as He is, and in declaring us so, He makes us so.
So, what does all of that mean for you this morning?
It means, dear friends, that God isn’t asking you or anyone else to create faith, or to create fruit within yourself. He’s telling you that through these things, through Word and Sacrament He will create faith within you. That is the “marrow” of the text in Ezekiel about the dry bones. God sends preacher, and He says, go and preach to those people who do not, will not, and cannot believe. And tell them that I will put my Spirit within them, and raise them up to new life, I have spoken, and I will do it. And as He preaches this message, the people who did not, would not, and could not believe, grasped the gospel in faith. How? Not by their own will, but by the power of the Holy Spirit, through seemingly ordinary means. Through other Christians bringing them to church, telling them about Christ’s death for them on the cross, of the forgiveness of their sins, of the hope of the resurrection of the body, and of eternal life, and bringing them into the church where they receive these gifts, through preaching of the Word, through Baptism, through the eating and drinking of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ as we are about to do just now, through these things, you will be saved, God has promised you that – the question, is do you believe that?
Imagine if you will, two brothers. Each one has a garden. The first brother obsesses over his garden. Every day he goes outside and plants, prunes, trims, mulches, and dresses all the plants, flowers and trees in the garden. But no matter how much work he puts into the garden, no matter how much he sings to the plants, ties fruits to the branches of his trees, they still die. They wither up and shrivel and again and again he plants more of them, hoping that this time, they’ll survive. His brother on the other hand, seems a care free individual. He goes to work, hangs out with his friends and family, and lounges around his house, all the while his garden grows more and more abundant, with fruits, flowers, vegetables, and beautifully lush trees. What was the difference you ask? He turned his sprinkler system on and watered the plants. That’s it. There’s no secret mystery to it. No matter what effort you put into your garden, taping fruits to your tree branches, planting, pruning, etc, nothing that you do can produce growth, produce life, produce fruit. Likewise, there is nothing you can do to produce faith in your hearts. It isn’t going to be an act of the will, a decision, a correct use of your intellect, an exercise of discipline to sin less and do more good, none of these things produces faith, none of these things produce good works, none of these things produce life. But we are promised, that just as a watered plant grows and produces fruit, in just the same way, the Gospel preached, and the Sacraments received, will produce faith, and from faith, comes fruit, and from fruit, life. Indeed, there is life in the blood, and nourishment in Christ, the Word of God, the bread from heaven. Take and Eat, take and drink, and you will have life within you. Not only can God do this, but He has promised to do it, and by God, God will do it!
