Burying Bones
wisdom on bones in Calvin and Hobbes…
(and the blog title features the wisdom of Snoopy on bones by Charles M. Shultz …)
Perhaps the whole reason why I wrote these posts on Ezekiel’s bones (More than Justice and Mercy Wins) is because of a particular picture of restoration in Ezekiel 39. Ezekiel 37-39 offers a powerful arc of reassurance for a Christian (and the good news calling your name if you’re not ;): you were dry bones but you have been resurrected to unending life with Jesus; your enemies will become bones at your feet. The war is already won. Jesus won it for you. The enemy is already defeated. Now Ezekiel gets a glimpse of what life is after knowing this good news. Until Jesus comes again, we live on the battlefield burying our enemies’ bones.
“‘For seven months the Israelites will be burying them [the bones of the enemy horde] in order to cleanse the land. All the people of the land will bury them, and the day I display my glory will be a memorable day for them, declares the Sovereign Lord. People will be continually employed in cleansing the land. They will spread out across the land and, along with others, they will bury any bodies that are lying on the ground.” (Ezekiel 39:12-14).
Ezekiel 39 describes the clean-up of our enemies. Let me just say a note about the genre of Ezekiel before we dig into this picture. Ezekiel is written in the genre of prophecy: it contains predictions, warnings and visions that came true in real history for the Jewish audience then, but these words and visions also pointed them (and point us) forward to a later fulfilment. Jesus brought about that fulfilment in history with his life, death, and resurrection in 30-33AD. And those prophetic words and visions also point us forward to an even later fulfilment: when Jesus returns and fulfils his promise to destroy evil, judge the world, and take those who know his mercy home to heaven. These prophetic visions are visual promises. Some try to literally interpret them with the newspaper now. But there is no need. Jesus said we will not know when he returns – no use guessing (Matthew 24:36-44,1 Thessalonians 5:1-3,2 Peter 3:10, Revelation 3: 3). The New Testament writers agree that evil is already everywhere (!); yet Jesus is stronger; we are in the end times now ever since Jesus rose into heaven; expect him to return any time. Ezekiel’s prophetic visions are meant to encourage Jesus’ people using our imagination, the symbolic, and the creative. God is speaking to your core – a picture is worth a thousand words.
The wisdom on bones by “The Far Side” by Gary Larson…
Back to Ezekiel 39! For seven years “those who live in the towns of Israel” (a.k.a. God’s people a.k.a. believers in Jesus) will collect the weapons of warfare and burn them for fuel. Seven is symbolic of “completeness” in the Bible: in Leviticus 25 God commands that the seventh year was a year of rest for the farm land and the seventh seventh year was a year of jubilee where the Jews also freed slaves and forgave debts. When Ezekiel sees that God’s peaceful, resurrected people will bury their enemies’ bones for seven years, it is a symbolic duration of time for God to complete his promise to give us rest.
Weapons are turned into farming tools. This powerful image echoes Isaiah’s vision of Jesus’ kingdom: “He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore” (Isaiah 2:4, Joel 3:10, Micah 4:3). The symbolic number seven couches the task of burying bones in a positive light. It is for your freedom, for your rest. The transformation of weapons into tools promises a time when God’s people will not struggle with enemies anymore. This is fulfilled in heaven completely. There will be no more enemy hordes. There is also a fulfilment for now. God spoke this promise to Ezekiel then, and to us now, because his promise gives new life from the dead. If you have just lost a struggle with sin or temptation or simply lost hope, Jesus promises you that you are safe. The enemy didn’t win. His mercy did. It reminds me of when some enemies brought a woman caught in adultery to Jesus for judgment. “Where are your accusers?” Jesus asked her (John 8:1-11). There were no more. Jesus had silenced them. In like manner, God’s people will know peace on that battlefield. We won’t have to defend themselves. We have a defender. Jesus defends you.
Burying bones is not a “sweep it under the rug” picture of sin. This is a “lay sin bare because it has no power to tear you away from me and my love and my forgiveness” picture. Indeed, there is no way around the heap of ruins of Gog and Magog. The heap is so big it is a barrier to all travel (39:11). God’s people can’t ignore it. They are given a mission to bury the bones. Every time they do, they re-live their forgiveness, their safety, their belonging to a holy God who loves them and dwells with them. You get the sense that burying the enemy is for the sake of God’s people – so they have the cleansing process of burying their enemies.
This large burial place that “blocks the way of travelers” is a vision of the cross of Jesus Christ. You cannot get to know God—the God who is for you—without going to the burial site of your sin, the place where he died to forgive and cleanse you. He draws (drags) you there. There you can’t try to be someone you want to be and aren’t yet. There you are just you. You are worth it to Jesus. His body broken for you made you white as snow. You were losing your war, racing around like a chicken with its head cut off. And now you realize it’s over. He forgave you. He forgave the sin that’s been hunting you. There is no greater love. He loves you so much!!! Now you get to bury the bones of those enemies who chased you down with a dagger raised high. That is the privilege of the forgiven. We’ve got nothing to prove. We sinned. But. We have a Holy, Righteous, and Blameless God who took it from us and said I know; I forgive; I delight in you. You are raised to life with you sins left in the dirt. Because of Jesus’ grace for us, we also know the injustice of this world will not last. There will be a day when all will be put right. He will complete his promise by giving us a new body with no unjust bones. He will do away with everything and everyone set against him once and for all. Instead of being haughty, we have the confidence yet sobriety that our enemies are utterly defeated and we have been spared.
A few years ago, God did a work of healing in our marriage. It was deeper healing in an old wound. Sean and I realized we had both fallen back into unhealthy patterns which hurt our intimacy. We spent months owning our sides of the street and forgiving with the help of counselors and friends. I returned to this passage. We were burying bones of enemies who had tried to ruin our trust and peace. Every time I stumbled upon one, I felt the relief of Jesus’ forgiveness and the love of his people and the cleansing power of admitting its destructive effect. I saw his glory, gentle and lowly for me, jealous and mighty towards my enemy. I also felt quite loved that Jesus was doing the same thing in Sean, for Sean’s own sake, but also for mine! I saw the glory of Jesus in our battlefield. Not all marriages get to experience this kind of reconciliation. But every sinner in Jesus’ family will. Let’s bury bones.
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