You are not logged in to Prodigits. Please 
HolyOfHolies > Topics
|
@danda143 | |
|
And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? and I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest. -EZEKIEL 37 : 3 C an these bones live? When this question was put to Ezekiel he was standing in vision by a valley full of bones,-bones that were very dry and scattered abroad. To the eye of reason it appeared impossible that bone should ever come to its bone, that sinews and flesh should be gathered upon them, that breath should enter into them, and that they should stand up upon their feet an exceeding great army. |
||
|
51
Replies
2212
Views
0 Bookmarks
|
||
Page #: 1/3 |  
|
|
|
@danda143 | 6 May 08 |
|
He saw nothing in the bones, nothing in himself, nothing in the whole creation that could produce this change. When therefore God put the question to him, Son of man, can these bones live? what could he answer but, O Lord God, thou knowest? Thou only canst produce this change; thou only knowest whether it will be done.
|
||
|
|
@danda143 | 6 May 08 |
|
This valley of bones represented the whole house of Israel in Babylon, dead to all hope, and most of them dead in sin; whom God intended to raise to holiness and restore to the land of their fathers, and to whom he directed the vision to be thus explained: Ye shall know that I am the Lord when I have opened your graves,-and shall put my Spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land.
|
||
|
|
@danda143 | 6 May 08 |
|
Placing them in their own land, was only setting them up in the world after they were made alive; their resurrection consisted in rising from the death of sin by the power of the Holy Spirit. The vision therefore illustrates the natural condition of men in general, dead in trespasses and sins and cut off from hope, and their resurrection to spiritual life by the power of God.
|
||
|
|
@danda143 | 6 May 08 |
|
Methinks I am standing today on the margin of a valley full of dry bones, -the bones of my kindred, at whose death my tears have often flowed. As I bend over the remains of those dear to me and mourn the wide desolation, I perceive the bones to be very dry.
|
||
|
|
@danda143 | 6 May 08 |
|
I see them disjointed and scattered through the valley in ruinous disorder. While I stand fixed in grief, a whisper comes from heaven, Son of man, can these bones live? I start at the joyous sound. I look at the valley again. To the eye of reason such an event seems impossible.
|
||
|
|
@danda143 | 6 May 08 |
|
The whisper swells upon my ear, Son of man, can these bones live? Agitated with hope and fear, and certain on whom the event depends, what can I answer but, O Lord God, thou knowest? Can these souls that are dead in trespasses and sins, ever be revived? If they cannot, they must soon sink into the eternal death. |
||
|
|
@danda143 | 6 May 08 |
|
They must burn in unquenchable fire. Can they not be raised? -They might be formed into beings capable of inconceivable and endless enjoyment, -capable of everlasting service and praise. Precious in our eyes is their very dust. What pity that such materials should be worse than lost, and made fuel for the flames that shall consume others.
|
||
|
|
@danda143 | 6 May 08 |
|
It is a loss great enough to fill a world with tears. Can they not be raised? This question must soon be decided. The ground is already rocking under them. Whatever is done must be done quickly. Can they be raised? Their death is their own fault. |
||
|
|
@danda143 | 6 May 08 |
|
it is the death of sin,-of supreme selfishness and pride armed against the government of God, against the dying love of Christ, against the rights and interests of the universe. It is such a death as deserves eternal reprobation,-as crushes them under mountains of guilt,-as makes them odious in the sight of God, mere masses of putrefaction.
|
||
|
|
@danda143 | 6 May 08 |
|
Can they not be raised from this disgraceful death? To the eye of reason I confess the case appears hopeless. As desirable as such an event is,-as distressing as it is to see our kindred lie among the slain,- sense and reason must forever despair.- Their death consists in strong opposition to life and to all the means of restoring life; and yet they can not be made actively alive without their own consent. |
||
|
|
@danda143 | 6 May 08 |
|
Every means has been used to obtain that consent, but in vain. God has sent his own Son to die, to render it consistent for them to live and enjoy life. That Son has suffered and died and risen, and stood over them and entreated them; but they have rejected his love and turned their faces to the earth and resolved to lie in death still.
|
||
|
|
@danda143 | 6 May 08 |
|
He has prepared a life for them more blessed than that which they lost; he has described to them the high beatitudes of that life and the horrors of that eternal death into which they must soon plunge, until heavenly eloquence is exhausted; but like the deaf adder they have stopped their ears. He has sent many messengers to renew the entreaty, but all to no purpose.
|
||
|
|
@danda143 | 6 May 08 |
|
Sermons, which have been poured into their ears for twenty or thirty years, might as well have been poured into the grave. The Bible has in vain raised its authoritative voice, -in vain has sent its beseeching tones to the ear of death.
|
||
|
|
@danda143 | 6 May 08 |
|
Sabbaths and sacraments have returned to solicit them in vain. The heavenly Spirit has breathed through the valley; but him they have resisted and grieved away. Ministers have preached, parents have wept, Christians have prayed, God has entreated: but all to no purpose: they still love death rather than life.
|
||
|
|
@danda143 | 6 May 08 |
|
Every thing that heaven and earth could do in a way of means has been done, but they are still buried in the world as though this was their eternal home. All that has been done cannot bring them to pray in their families or even in their closets.
|
||
|
|
@danda143 | 6 May 08 |
|
All cannot bring them to raise one earnest cry for mercy or to shed one tear for sin. They live as jocundly as though they were not undone,-as though they were not sinking into eternal fire. -They sport with death and play with d*mnation. They mock at the authority of God and defy his wrath. While he is looking on,- while he holds his sword to their breast, -they dare his omnipotence.
|
||
|
|
@danda143 | 6 May 08 |
|
That sword smites their companions by their side, but they regard it not. In the glass of a dying bed, in the glass of new opened graves, they see their own face, and straightway go away and forget what manner of persons they are. Years revolve and push them onward to the tomb, till their trembling limbs totter over the pit; but they remain as careless about their future destiny as on the day they were born.
|
||
|
|
@danda143 | 6 May 08 |
|
If their conscience for a moment disturbs them with anti tions of a judgment to come, instead of resorting to Christ, they resort to their inoffensive lives, or to a new course of duties, or to a denial of future punishment, or to downright infidelity. Some of them seem to think that if they can insult the threatenings of God with a joke, it will stop his approaching wrath.
|
||
|
|
@danda143 | 6 May 08 |
|
Many of them do not think salvation worth the pains of examining the conditions on which it is offered, by a careful study of the Scriptures. Amidst the full blaze of Gospel light, they live and grow old almost as ignorant of religion a as pagans, and are ready to seize every error without examination which is calculated to quiet their conscience and quell their fears.
|
||
|
|
@danda143 | 6 May 08 |
|
Instead of giving diligence to make their calling and elect ion sure, they are hurrying from amu t to amu t, while death and judgment are posting on to meet them, and on the verge of eternity are scattering every serious thought in scenes of dissipation. All this time God is warning, Christ is pleading, angels are wondering, Christians are trembling; but all in vain.
|
||
|
|
HolyOfHolies Forum
Bookmarks
HolyOfHolies
