No Breath No Life
By Horatious Bonar
"And
when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered
them above: but there was no breath in them." - Ezekiel 37:8
"Then
as I watched, muscles and flesh formed over the bones. Then skin formed to
cover their bodies, but they still had no breath in them." - Ezekiel 37:8
This
scene has two aspects (contains an event and a truth), the prophetical, which
specially points to
(1.) the bone-heaps in the valley,
"very dry;"
(2.) the gathering and re-construction of
these bones;
(3.) the clothing with flesh, sinews, and
skin;
(4.) the infusion of breath or life.
It is
through the last of these that the living man is constituted; and without it
there is but the picture or statue of a man. The "breath" is
manifestly the "life;" communicated by the Spirit of life. This life
may have different stages; but wherever it is there is a true and complete man.
The disciples had life before our Lord breathed on them, but then they attained
more. They had life before Pentecost, but then they obtained more. It was life
that God communicated when he created man; it is life (of a higher kind) that
the Spirit of God communicates to the soul at conversion. The last Adam, as the
possessor of the Holy Spirit, is thus a quickening Spirit.
Thus a
man may be very like a saint and yet not be one. A church or congregation may
be very like a Christian one, with a fair appearance and compact organization;
all in excellent bustling order- numerous, liberal, united, earnest after a
sort- and yet lack one thing which neutralizes and paralyzes all the rest- the
breath of life.
I. Our
creed may be sound, and yet we may not be Christians. Balaam's creed seems to
have been sound; also that of Judas and Demas. It may be the creed of apostles
and reformers, the creed of the Synod of Dort, or the Assembly of Westminster;
yet all within may be wrong. It will form part of the bones, or the sinews, or
the flesh; but that is all. No, its soundness may be the occasion of serious
self-deception; we may mistake orthodoxy for life- the correctness of our
confession of faith for the "breath." An inanimate,
unproductive creed, what will it do for you in the day of the Lord? What
will it do for you now? Does it give you real peace- real liberty- real
fellowship with God?
II. Our
religion may be externally complete, and yet we may not be Christians. By
religion I mean all that pertains to the worship and service of God, private or
public; our praises, our prayers, our sanctuary services, our family worship.
What are all these without the inward breath? What is routine without life?
Mechanical religion may do for the gods of
III. Our
good works may be numerous and praiseworthy, yet we may not be Christians. It
is not the work that makes the Christian, but the Christian that makes the
work. This is a day of good works; of benevolent schemes; of societies great
and small; of organizations for the relief of the poor, and the reformation of
the wicked. They who conduct them may be earnest and self-denying men. But is
the breath there? They often wonder why so much should be done with so little
fruit. But is there not a cause? Is there breath, life, in all this? Can
statues, or machines, or steam-engines do the work of the living God? No; it is
life that does real work; it is life that is successful; it is life that God
honors, and by which He works. Let us see that in doing Christian work, we
ourselves are Christians; else we shall be but Noah's carpenters after all. We
may do many good works, and yet not be Christians. Many shall come in that day,
saying, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name. But the answer is,
"I never knew you."
IV. Our life may be exemplary,
and yet we may not be Christians. There may be bones, and sinews, and flesh,
and yet no breath, no life! There are many who mistake a fair external
deportment for Christian life. A man may be so like a Christian that another
could not suppose that there was anything wrong; and yet there might be no
breath!
A life with "no breath" must
be-
(1.) A very IMPERFECT
life. Many features lacking- even outward ones,
much more inward. The light will be dim; the salt will lack savor.
(2.) A very UNHAPPY life. There is the
secret feeling that all is wrong. Everything is irksome; for lack of the divine
internal reality.
(3.) A very UNSUCCESSFUL life. It is not
mere bustle, or earnestness, or zeal that does the true work for God. If there
be no breath, what are these? All will be labor in vain. There is breath for
you, O sinner? You will not be able to say, I perished, or I was unhappy, or
useless, because God would not give me this breath.