Author: Jay Lehman

“The hand of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones.  He caused me to pass among them round about, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and lo, they were very dry” (Ezekiel 37:1-2).

“So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone.  And I looked, and behold, sinews were on them, and flesh grew and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them.  Then He said to me, ‘Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, “Thus says the Lord God, ‘Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they come to life.’ “ ‘  So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army” (Ezekiel 37:7-10).

” ‘I will put My Spirit within you and you will come to life, and I will place you on your own land.  Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken and done it,’ declares the LORD” (Ezekiel 37:14).

Ezekiel found himself in a valley of exceedingly dry bones.  Ezekiel prophesied as God commanded him and the bones were covered with muscle, tendons, flesh, and skin.  But no life flowed through them.  Ezekiel prophesied again and the four winds blew.  The awakening bones were filled with breath and became a great army.

God follows Ezekiel’s vision with an explanation that this wind of breath is a picture of the new spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ that will come to us as part of the promise and provision of the new covenant (see Ezekiel 37:11-14).

The wind that brought the bones to life was the Spirit of God.  And it is a foreshadowing of the same wind that will bring life to us.  “The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8).  “And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent, rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting … And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:2,4).

God’s rushing wind, the Spirit of Christ has brought life to us.  “Since the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you” (Romans 8:11)

Jesus was in the valley of dry bones, because Jesus was there from the beginning!

“Now therefore, thus you shall say to My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people Israel … Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever” ‘ “ (II Samuel 7:8,16).

“For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.  There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this” (Isaiah 9:6-7).

In II Samuel chapter 7, King David makes plans to build a permanent temple to replace the tabernacle as a dwelling place for God.  For His part, God makes a promise to David that his house and kingdom will be established forever.  We know the rest of the immediate story.  King David’s kingdom did not last.  Soon after his son Solomon’s reign, it fell apart.  So what does this promise mean that David’s kingdom will be established forever?

We see the first hint to the answer in Isaiah chapter 9.  In this prophecy of the coming Messiah, the child born to us will sit on the throne of David.  His kingdom will be re-established; this time with Christ Himself on the throne.  Jesus is the promise of II Samuel 7.  Jesus is the promise of a kingdom that lasts forever.

Jesus is not only the spiritual fulfillment of the promise to King David, He is also the physical fulfillment.  Jesus was born in the line of David.  “And when He had removed King Saul, He raised up David to be their king, of whom He testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’  From the descendants of this man, according to promise, God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus” (Acts 13:22-23).

Our savior king, our shepherd king is Jesus!

Jesus sits on the throne of David, because Jesus was there from the beginning!

“He also chose David His servant and took him from the sheepfolds; from the care of the ewes with suckling lambs He brought him to shepherd Jacob His people, and Israel His inheritance.  So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them with his skillful hands” (Psalm 78:70-72).

“I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep” (John 10:14-15).

Shepherd David was taken from the sheepfolds to be a shepherd to God’s people.  As King David, this is exactly what he did.  Psalm 78 recounts that King David shepherded Israel with integrity and skill.

The shepherd theme often comes up in the Psalms that David wrote.  The most famous of which is Psalm 23, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.”  Shepherd David was a prototype for a greater good shepherd to come.

John chapter 10 is a tender message from Jesus identifying Himself as the good shepherd.  In verses 1 to 11, the shepherd themes that emerge are: the shepherd enters by the door, the sheep hear My voice, I call My sheep by name, I lead them out, they follow because they know My voice, I guard the door to the sheep, I give abundant life to My sheep.  And finally, “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep” (John 10:11).

The ultimate love of Jesus, the good shepherd, for His sheep was on display when He gave up His life for His sheep.  If you have believed the gospel message of Jesus Christ, you are one of His sheep.  And He will lead you to the safety and provision that you long for.

Jesus was present in the sheep fields, because Jesus was there from the beginning!

“So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife, and he went in to her.  And the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son.  Then the women said to Naomi, ‘Blessed is the Lord who has not left you without a redeemer today, and may his name become famous in Israel’ “ (Ruth 4:13-14).

“But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:4-5).

The story of Ruth begins with Elimelech and his wife Naomi and two sons moving from Bethlehem to the land of Moab.  Then Elimelech dies.  His two sons marry Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth.  Then the sons each die.  So Naomi plans to return to Bethlehem but asks her daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth, to stay with their Moabite people.  Orpah finally stays, but Ruth declares her loyalty to Naomi, and goes to Bethlehem with her.

Naomi and Ruth arrive in Bethlehem with no resources; no money, no husbands, no land.  Naomi announces to her Bethlehem friends, “Do not call me Naomi [Pleasant]; call me Mara [Bitter], for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me” (Ruth 1:20).  It is a dark place for the two women.

But God provides a redeemer for Naomi and Ruth.  As Ruth is gleaning, gathering the leftovers from the harvest, she finds herself in the field of Boaz, a relative of Naomi, so also now a relative of Ruth.  Boaz learns who Ruth is and after some back and forth, chooses to redeem Ruth.  Boaz takes on the role of kinsman-redeemer, a legal transaction in which someone enters into an obligation to redeem a relative facing extreme hardship.  And Boaz does this for Ruth.

Jesus is our kinsman-redeemer.  Jesus was born a Jew (“born under the Law”) to redeem the Jews.  Jesus came to His own, His kinsmen, and they received Him not.  And His redemption has now been offered to the whole world.  We, like Naomi and Ruth, had no resources to save ourselves.  We have thrown ourselves totally upon the mercy of our redeemer Jesus Christ.  And based on our faith in Him, Jesus has come to our rescue.  Jesus is our kinsman-redeemer!

Jesus was present in the fields of Boaz, because Jesus was there from the beginning!

Now it came about when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, ‘Are you for us or for our adversaries?’  He said, ‘No; rather I indeed come now as captain of the host of the Lord.’  And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and bowed down, and said to him, ‘What has my lord to say to his servant?’  The captain of the Lord’s host said to Joshua, ‘Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.’  And Joshua did so” (Joshua 5:13-15).

“But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place” (II Corinthians 2:14).

On the eve of the battle of Jericho, Joshua found himself face to face with a stranger.  The man stood opposite Joshua with a sword drawn in his hand.  The captain of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.”  Do those words sound familiar?

Let’s look back to an encounter that Moses, Joshua’s predecessor, had with a burning bush.  “So Moses said, ‘I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up.’  When the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, ‘Moses, Moses!’  And he said, ‘Here I am.’  Then He said, ‘Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground’ “ (Exodus 3:3-5).

In both instances, the servant of the Lord was instructed to take off their sandals; they were standing on holy ground.  This phrase suggests that the captain of the Lord’s army whom Joshua met was indeed a pre-incarnate Jesus Christ.  We don’t know all that the Lord may have had for Joshua, but I believe it had something to do with preparing Joshua for the battle of Jericho which immediately follows in the text.  Maybe Jesus was reassuring Joshua that the battle belonged to the Lord.

Our battle also belongs to the Lord and just as in Joshua’s day, the promise to us is victory in the final battle.  “ ‘O death, where is your victory?  O death, where is your sting?’  The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Corinthians 15:55-57).

Jesus was present at the battle of Jericho, because Jesus was there from the beginning!