Bone of His Bones

He looked at the x-rays of my bones. “Your bones,” he said, “are like lace.

“Do not tread uneven ground. You will break more than the twenty one you have broken so far.

Always stay on the path.”

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I had always thought of Ezekiel’s dry bones as a picture of Christians whose faith is made only of dry bones rattling without flesh; like skeletons afflicted with St. Vitus’s dance, these Christians only know how to imitate agape love.

Yet that is not the story of the dry bones: instead Ezekiel’s vision was that Israel, which had been taken into captivity in 70 A.D., would become a nation again.

In 1948 shortly after World War 2, this ancient prophecy was fulfilled.

In his 66th chapter, Isaiah wonders how this could happen in a single day, as God had promised. “Has a nation ever been born in a single day?” he asks.

British control over the land of Israel was ceded and within 24 hours, on a single day, May 14, 1948, Israel became a nation again for the first time in over two thousand years.

Because of Israel, my mother, her brown eyes illuminated with hope, often whispered that biblical prophecy was unfolding in front of our eyes.

What God is this, who keeps the promises He makes to a wayward people, though thousands of years may stretch between?

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The skeleton makes up only 10 to 15 percent of the human body, yet bones separate us from the earth. The skeletal structure must support the entirety of the body, whether fat or muscle.

Once I broke four bones by missing one step and the doctor said if you do not take care to follow my directions, your bones could die.

My mother too had bones like lace.

It was in our genetic make-up, the physician said.

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The Word of God is the structure that supports the Christian walk, a lamp to guide the feet and light our paths.

People who reject Christ cannot hear Him or see Him in the world around us. God’s Word is foolishness to them.

The Holy Spirit whispers through the spirit (Greek pneuma meaning spirit, breath of life) to humans, not just the soul (Greek psyche meaning life, soul) , but the spirit (pneuma).

By their very nature, those who reject Christ will not, cannot see His promises, their fulfillment, His character, His creation or what is to come.

What makes sense to the Christ follower is lunacy to those who do not believe.

This is because it is not part of their genetic makeup.

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When Eve was formed, Adam said, “She is bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh.”

Adam and Eve are a picture in the Old Testament of Christ and the Church, of which I am a part.

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And so the genetic make-up is rewritten; I become bone of His bones—which cannot be broken-- and flesh of His flesh, regardless my weaknesses.

The Spirit of God regenerates the spiritual body, nourishing the marrow of the bones to eventually become like His, strong and unbreakable.

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"He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true." Revelation 21:5 ************* Stargazers encaustic, gouache, rice paper on board