MULTITUDES IN THE VALLEY OF DECISION
Ezekiel 37:1-3 The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “O Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”
I would think that this vision or dream that Ezekiel had must have had a great impact on him. It had to be scary and puzzling. Common since had to tell Ezekiel that there was no hope for life to come into bones that were so dry and scattered, yet the Lord questioned him if they could come to life. Only God could bring life into bones that had no hope of life returning.
The bones were the Jews that had been scattered by exile, yet exile hadn’t brought about the death. The many years of rebellious idol worship and thumbing their nose at God as if to mock any thought of returning to him did. The source of life that only the Lord can supply was gone. They had rejected the Lord and in turn the Lord had turned from them. It had come to the point that God said even if they should shout in his ear, he would not respond to them. God’s judgment had come on them, and they had been punished severely! If they had not starved to death, disease and the sword pursued them. For those that escaped with their lives, they experienced slavery in exile. The idols that they had put their trust in had not been able to save them from the wrath of God. The Jews were as good as dead without hope of any kind. They had become a valley of dry bones.
God did make the dry bones come to life again as he said he would. Under King Cyrus of Persia there was given a decree for any Jew to be able to return to Jerusalem to rebuild a temple for the Lord. The Lord had begun to breath life into the nation of Israel once again. Little by little the Jews began to return to their Promised Land. This time God had given them a heart for him with this new breath of life, one that begin to unite a nation that everyone thought was dead.
Joel 3:14 says, “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. Before the return of Jesus the earth will be covered with dry bones. These bones will have no hope for life within them. They will be as the bones Ezekiel witnessed with the Lord. In the end of days not only will people all over the world have rejected Jesus as their Lord and Savior, but they will have put their thumb to their nose just like the Jews of Jeremiah’s and Ezekiel's day. Rather than repent and turn to Jesus they would sooner call for the mountains and rock to fall on them to hide them from him. They will harden their heart and refuse to repent of their worshiping of demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze and stone just like the Jews. They will refuse to repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality and their thefts. Their hearts will have become as hard and dead as those Jews in the valley of dry bones. But just as there was a remnant of Lord Lovers like Jeremiah and Ezekiel, there will be some in the last day. Revelation 7 &14 tells us of how God will move on the hearts of 144,000 Jews that will rally to the Lord. There will be 12,000 from each tribe of Israel. Even from the tribes that were thought to have disappeared with the exile of the Assyrians will return to the Lord and bring forth a great revival for the Lord. They will become as John the Baptist and prepare the way for Jesus’ return to reign and rule for 1,000 years with his resurrected Bride. At last Ezekiel’s prophecy will come to pass that the Jews will be a flock that is under one shepherd. Then they will know that Jesus is their Lord, their Savior and God.
Until then the Holy Spirit is still moving all over the world on the hearts of people that have become dry dead bones. People for one reason or another have given up on Jesus or never heard or understood will find life being breathed by God into them. I am one and the earth is full of others just like me. And the thing is more are coming to life every day where there appeared to be no hope now there is life and in abundance.
As the Lovers of Jesus we need to be earnest in praying every day for dry bones to come back to life, and for those that never knew Jesus, so that they might give their heart to Jesus and that he can breath life into them. The lost will certainly not do this! While not everyone may be called to be an evangelist, everyone can pray for the salvation of souls for Jesus! Jesus deserves the most beautiful Bride and the most glorious kingdom that his creation can give him. Let’s make up our mind and heart to pray every day for the lost that their dry bones can come to life just like ours did!
Prayer: Holy Spirit, please move on the lost all over the world. Only you can help convict people of their sins, the righteousness of Christ and the judgment of God. Please help Jesus to have the most beautiful Bride and glorious kingdom he could have. We ask this in Jesus’ name.
