Middletown transcript., 1899-08-12
He SUNDAY SCHOOL.
EsSoN VII. THIRD QUARTER, INTER
NATIONAL SERIES, AUG. t3.

I-1l-Memory Verses. 5, 6-GoIdeu
TeAt. Ezek. xxxvi. 27-COmmentary
Prepared by the Rev. d. NJ. -Stearns
IGopyright. 1899. by D. M Stearns.I
The hand of the Lord was upon me
and carried me out in the Spirit of the
Lord and set me down in the midst of the
valley which was full of bones" In verse
/ we read that these bones are the whole
house of Israel, and verse 90 says that God
will yet make them one nation under one
king in their own land This has never
been fulfilled since the days of Ezekiel,
but it surely will be, for Jehovah hath
spoken it, and He will do it (xxxvi, 36).
The Interpretation of this lesson is like
the last-concerning Israel-but the ap-
plication to all believers Is very simple and
practical
2 And caused me to pass by them
round about and, behold, there were very
many in the open valley, and, 10, they
were very dryl'' There could hardly be a
more striking illustration of deafness or
lifelessness than dry bones, and this was
the condition of Israel in the time of Eze-
kiel Some were in Babylon, some in
Egypt and some still in Emmanuel's land
There were few like Ezekiel, Daniel and
jeremiah, who walked with God, but the
nation as a whole had rebelled against
God
8 And he said unto me, Son of man,
can these bones live? And / answered, o
Lord God, thou knowestl" Many would
have said that it was simply impossible,
for many say today that a dead body will
never rise again; that the dead body that
is buried In the earth shall never see life.
Ezekiel by the Spirit of God upon him,
did not presume to say what God could or
could not do but meekly answered as In
shis verse
4. Again ne said unto me, Prophesy
upon these bones and say unto them, o
ye dry bones. hear the word of the Lordl'
10 speak to dry bones seemed foolish
and vain thing, for there was nothing in
dry bone that could possibly hear or re-
spond Many find it hard to believe that
an unsaved soul is as dead as a dry bone
and think that there must be spark of
the divine somewhere in every sinner that
can respond to the voice Of Gcd
8 THUS saith the Lord God unto these
bones Behold will cause breath to enter
into you and ye shall liver The whole
Bible from beginning to end is record of
what God has done, is doing and will do
and testimony to the great truth that
with God nothing is impossible (Math.
xix, 26) He who created all things by
His word can cause breath to enter into
dry bones, and He is looking for people
through whom He can work His wonders
people who have faith in Him.
6. "And will lay sinews upon you and
will bring up flesh upon you and cover
you with skin and put breath in you, and
ye shall live. and ye shall know that I am
the Lord " 1t is all the Lords doing that
He may be glorified In creation and re-
demption and in the new creation God is
the one who does all Behold make all
things newt" (Rev. xxi, 5.) He says, 81
will work, and who shall hinder Qet) it?'
lisa xliii, l3
2 so prophesied as l was command
3D. The verse goes ON to tell the result.
The one great thing for the believer is to
be willing and obedient' lisa /, 19).
Noah in building the ark, Moses the tab
srnacle, Solomon the temple, did just as
they were told God gave the instruc-
ions and the one only thing required of
hem was implicit and unquestioning obe-
Hence The worker with God is to re-
member that 1T is God who worketh'
Phil H. l3), and it is the workers privi-
ege to see God alone and trust Him to &C.
all His pleasure lisa w. 11).
8 "Thore was no breath in them
There was complete orgarization--bones,
Iinews, flesh and skin, all in crder-but no
ife Instead of dry bones scattered all
Ibout the prophet now saw great host of
of mar,
I they only had life in them. There are
m earth to do what is called the Lords |
york. but they seem to go by hand power /
instead of steam power or electricity. |
There is no life in them.
THUS saith the Lord God, Come
rom the four wiuds, D breath, and breathe
lpon these slain. that they may livep
they had once lived but an enemy called
eath under the power Of the devil (Heb.
|, l4l had been at work God made man
n His own image, but through the devil
in came and death and the curse and
uin and God alone can restore that which
he enemy destroyed His way of restor-
ng Is seen in Gen i. :, s The Spirit and
he Word do the work: the Spirit moves.
nd God speaks
10 so pForh rhesied as He commanded
le and the breath came into them, and
hey lived So the seemingly impossible
ccaiiie living reality, and God did it
II but lie Used His willing and obedient
,rvant who was willing to be foolish
noEyh IN the eyes of wise people to speak
, dry ZONES which had not a particle of
fe in them We do not need to look for
responsive heart in which to SOW the
,etl but siirply sreak His message as He
us and leave all the results to
i'm in quietncss and confidence
II Behold they say, Our bones are
ried and or hope Is lostl We are cut
q for our T,arts : They had reason to
link so and to feel so when they consider
themselves and their circumstances, the
suit of their sin against God, but since |
e had promised to restore them to their
Nn land after 20 years (Jer. xxx, 10) it |
as their privilege to believe His promise
1tt expect that for His own names sake
q would do as He had said.
12 "Thus saith the Lord God, Behold,
my people, will open your graves and !
luse you to come up out Of your graves
nd bring yon into the land of Israeli
OF only from the nations where they are
some sense buried people, but from
teral graves shall literal dead bodies
me forth according to Isa. XVI, 10;
an. xii- !, 9 EVERY purpose Of the
ord shall be performed" (Jer. II, 29l not
,ly against Babylon, but for Israel, and
becomes US to honor God by believing |
at He will do as He has said
1S And ye shall know that am the
ord when have opened your graves, o
y people, and brought you up out Of
mr. grayesp His lament over Israel
as. Israel doth not know, my people doth
It consider lisa 1, s) They know NOT
Q way of the Lord nor the Judgment Of
cir God l.Ier v.
H. And shall put my Spirit In you,
ID ye shall live When all this shall
me to pass. then in their own land they !,
all know that Jehovah hath spoken and
rformcd 1t Hath He said and shall He
4 do IL. or hath He spoken and shall He
t make tgood tNum xxiii. 1917 BE L
y life