Restoration and Renewal through the Holy Spirit Ezekiel 37:1–14; Acts 2:1–21; John 15:26–27; 16:4b–15 

Grace, mercy and peace to you, from God, our Father, and our Lord, Jesus Christ, who together have sent the Holy Spirit to us, to restore and renew our lives.

Having celebrated the resurrection and ascension of our Lord, today we celebrate the sending of the Holy Spirit.

This is a wonderful blessing, because without the help and power of the Holy Spirit, we would have no spiritual life and salvation… we would remain dead to God for all eternity.

So we say thanks be to the Father for sending His Son, and thanks be to the Father and the Son, for sending the Holy Spirit. And thanks be to the Holy Spirit for coming to us, and renewing and restoring us to walk with God.

The Son won salvation for us; the Holy Spirit brings it to us, and makes it our own.

Without the Holy Spirit coming to us the death and resurrection of Jesus would have been in vain, in the sense that it would have done us no good, we would have received nothing from it.

The salvation Jesus won for us would have no way of getting to us without the Holy Spirit… without Him we’d have no power to believe, and thus no way to receive the gifts Jesus won.

Because of the Holy Spirit, coming to us and abiding in us, we’re able to believe and receive the forgiveness, life, salvation, and all the gifts Jesus won for us on the cross.

And so today, the festival of Pentecost, we thank and praise God for sending us His Holy Spirit to save us by faith, and sanctify with love. 

On the night before He died, in the Upper Room, Jesus promised His disciples the arrival of the Holy Spirit… 

… and He spent His last hours teaching them about the impact the Holy Spirit’s presence and power would have on their lives and ministry.

Jesus said: 26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.

He will give you the power to believe in Me for your life and salvation and no one else, no other would be prophet or Messiah, only Me, the one and only Son of God.

Jesus says the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. The Holy Spirit empowers no false belief, but only what’s true. 

And so by empowering us to believe in Jesus, the Holy Spirit is bearing witness to Him, showing us that He truly is, the one and only Son of God and Savior of the world. 

Jesus continues, 27 And you also (the apostles) will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.

They were eye-witnesses of Jesus’ ministry, miracles, death, resurrection, and ascension… and they would be instrumental, they would take the lead in spreading the Good News about Jesus, as Acts 1:8 says, in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth: locally, regionally, and around the globe.

And, inspired by the Holy Spirit, they would put what they saw into writing in the New Testament of Holy Scripture, for us and for all generations to have, and treasure, and believe, and learn from, and share.

In our reading from Acts, chapter 2, we have the eye-witness account and personal experiences of the apostles on the Day of Pentecost, with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon them…

… and we have the first part of Peter’s Pentecost sermon in the marketplace.

As we go further into chapter 2, Peter speaks to the crowd about the ministry, teaching, and crucifixion of Jesus. And then he says in verse 32: 32 This Jesus, God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. 

Several other times in the book of Acts, we see Peter and the apostles emphasizing that they were eye-witnesses of what had happened, that this was no fantasy or fabricated story.

And this is verified by God Himself, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, who, as we said, empowers us to believe only truth, especially the truth about Christ, His life, death and resurrection. 

In Acts 1, on the Mount of Olives, Jesus gathered His disciples to witness His ascension. Interestingly, Luke says that some still doubted, even after all they had seen and heard. 

But when the power of the Holy Spirit was poured upon them at Pentecost, it helped to quell their fears and doubts, and made them bold to be witnesses, and even martyrs, of the Gospel.

We, too, have our fears and doubts, but with the Holy Spirit, alive and at work in us through God’s Word, in the end, faith in Christ prevails and wins the day.

The more we share the Word of Christ the more at work it is in our hearts and minds, and the more bold and confident our faith becomes.

This is a part of our restoration and renewal by the Holy Spirit. 

In our Old Testament lesson, we have the prophetic vision of Ezekiel, a sort of visual parable of the dead and dry becoming new and alive, renewed and restored… and this through the Word and Spirit of God.

In a valley, perhaps the scene of a horrific ancient battle, there were mounds of dry bones, the remnants of bodies long dead, beyond salvaging for any kind of life… except by the Lord and giver of life, the Holy Spirit.    

Ezekiel is instructed by God to prophesy over the skeletons, speaking a message to them, the dead, from God.

Ezekiel did as instructed, and the dry bones started to move and rattle and reassemble… and were covered with sinew and muscle and skin.

Then, Ezekiel, as instructed, spoke God’s Word again, and the breath of life from the Holy Spirit spread over them and entered in them, and the reassembled bodies were restored to life, and assembled into a great army.

This was a sort of three dimensional, visual promise from God that He would give new life and renewal to His people through His Spirit.

Ephesians chapter 2 reminds us that we were once dead in our trespasses and sins, as dead as those dry bones, but we have been made alive again with Christ, who came alive again on the third day and rose for us.

Having the life Jesus won for us, and having the Spirit He gives to us, we need not be dead to God any longer. So let us not spend a minute of our lives as if we are dead to Him. Let us love and serve Him constantly.

Because of our rejection of God and our fall into sin, our hearts were as dead as dead can be, as Ezekiel’s vision of the dry bones illustrates. 

In the tomb, Jesus’ body was as dead as dead can be, but His soul was alive in paradise. 

On the third day His soul returned from Heaven, and He rose physically, and now He lives in body and soul forever, as will we.

In this greatest of miracles and victories, both physical and spiritual death were overcome for us. 

This victory of spiritual life over death comes to us by the Holy Spirit at Holy Baptism, through the gift of faith in Christ, and it changes our lives to love and follow Him.  

The victory of physical life over death is promised to us now, and it will come to us, and happen to us, on the Final Day, when Christ returns, and our bodies are raised and forever changed in holy love and glory.

So in Christ, by the sending of His Holy Spirit to us through His Word and Sacraments... we have a better life today… and a best life, a perfect life forever.

Life renewed and restored. From as dead as can be, to as alive as can be, so the Holy Spirit has taken us. 

From dead without Christ, to alive with Him, there’s no greater change that can be made in this life… and no better gift given. 

So let it show and let it shine, that all may see and rejoice in the wonderful things God does by the power of His Spirit, for the sake of His Son. 

And as we share and experience this amazing life in Christ, the peace of God, which passes understanding, will guard our hearts and minds, in Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior, and the Sender of His Holy Spirit, to renew and restore us. Amen.