Not a week goes by that during conversations I have with people, someone will express their deep disappointment with church. Their disappointment is often expressed in phrases such as, “The church’s vibe is not what it used to be” or “I remember when church used to be loving,” or “I feel the church is dead, that’s why I don’t feel like going to church.” As a result, many have left the church and eventually their faith. If you have felt this way, your not alone.

It was a cloudy Saturday morning, close to 9 a.m. and Mack was still in bed. Sabbath school was about to start in 45 minutes and he still wasn’t ready. His clothes were still in the closet and he still didn’t know what he was going to wear. His wife kept insisting he needed to get ready but Mack reminded her that he was not going. So to keep her off his back, he went into the bathroom to relax. But she kept insisting and telling him that he needed to go to church. By this time his wife was frustrated. And so she rushed to the bathroom door and told him, “I have three reasons why you should go to church. Reason 1, you know you need to go.” This didn’t convince him. “Reason 2, you’ll feel better after you go.” This wasn’t sufficient, either. Finally she said, “Reason 3, you’re the pastor. You seriously need to go!”

At some point in time we’ve all been there and perhaps you’re currently going through something similar. Perhaps you know someone close to you that needs to come back to church. Or perhaps someone that still goes to church but is emotionally absent from church. Regardless on what group you find yourself in, there’s hope. Allow me to share some statistics that will shed light behind the reason for this massive church exodus.

In the United States alone, we’ve had what historians call Great Awakenings. The first one was between 1730–1740. The Second Great Awakening—usually referred simply as The Great Awakening—lasted between 1840–1850. Did you know that more people have left churches in the last 25 years than all the people that joined a church in the 1st and 2nd Great Awakening combined plus those that became Christians during the Billy Graham crusades?

This leads us to ask ourselves “why?” It’s certainly not because people are becoming less spiritual. The data suggests Americans are just as spiritual now as they were 30 years ago. Perhaps even more spiritual.

In the book of Ezekiel, God gives his prophet an amazing revelation. The Lord doesn’t reveal to him a boring or slowly dying church, but rather a dead church. In fact, this is a revelation about a church that has long disappeared and by all logic, impossible to revive. Not only are they dead, but they are blatantly dead. Although some traces remain of its former glory, these are just memories of how big this army once had been.

Ezekiel was living in Jerusalem when the city was attacked for the first time. As a priest, nothing pained him more than seeing his hometown besieged. (2 Kings 24:8–17). While the city was left untouched, the king of Babylon took the first group of Israeli prisoners back to Babylon. Among these prisoners was Ezekiel the priest. The book of Ezekiel starts off 5 years after these events. As Ezekiel reminisces over these events, he finds himself close to an Israelite refugee camp around his 30th birthday. Incidentally, this would have been the year that he would have been started off as a priest in Jerusalem; perhaps asking himself the question, “How did we get here?”

The answer to this question is found a few books before. God’s plan for Israel had been the perfect plan. “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end” (Jeremiah 29:11). However, Israel wasn’t always onboard with these plans. Their biggest challenge had been their inability to forget Egypt. Their memories of Egypt seemed to be like toxic ex-boyfriend or girlfriend. They experienced pain while they were with the Egyptians, but somehow they kept thinking on the few good memories they had together.

Regardless of the pain the Egyptians had inflicted upon them, they seemed to find a sense of security in slavery. And although God had always kept His promises, they would always lose trust in Him because they couldn’t envision the God of their fathers coming through with His promises. This lack of trust evolved into a passion to become like the neighboring governments. It started off when they insisted that they wanted a king just like their neighbors. This pursuit reached its climax when God’s people found themselves involved in child sacrifice and other dark rituals, exactly like their neighbor’s religion. God had sent numerous warnings to His people. Yet, most of these warning passed unheeded. These warnings included the prophecies of how Babylon would invade their nation if they didn’t stop their wicked behavior. But even before they were physically invaded, they had already been heavily influenced by the practices of the other nations.

Perhaps one of the most eerie visions written in the Bible is Ezekiel’s vision in chapter 37. The vision starts with a scene of a huge valley covered with bones. The bones are not only scattered but dry, as they have been bleached by the sun. It is clear that these are the remains of a huge army that has been shamefully defeated. Whoever lost this war, lost big. No one has come to bury their corpses, not even out of respect for those who have died. As Ezekiel stands before this valley, God asks him a seemingly illogical question:

“Son of man, can these bones live?” The answer seemed to be quite clear. They have been clearly dead for a while! No life is left in them. However, Ezekiel knows God and answers Him, “O Lord God, You know.”

Ezekiel knows that if there’s anyone who could do something with these bones, that would be God. As Ezekiel is still pondering this question, God asks him to do the unexpected.

Imagine yourself standing in the middle of a cemetery from the 1700s and delivering God’s message with a loud voice. This would certainly be considered as strange and unsettling behavior. Perhaps even foolish. And yet, God commands Ezekiel to do exactly this. In this next scene, God commands Ezekiel to speak to the dry bones. In Ezekiel 37:4 God asks him to deliver the following message, “Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.” As soon as Ezekiel speaks to the dry bones, all the bones come together, forming skeletons and then the skeletons become covered with muscle and skin tissue. But something is missing. Next, in Ezekiel 37:9 God asks him to speak to the winds, “Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” Immediately, the bodies are come to life and stand up and the valley became a standing army.”

God was not done yet. There was one more message He had for His people. In the next verses God promises that He would open their graves and resurrect them and finally bring them back to their homeland in Israel. But the greatest promise for them is found in verse 14, “And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord.”

As I read this vision, I couldn’t help but think on the words of the Lord when He said this is the condition of the house of Israel. As I prayed, I reminded the Lord that my church is active. We’re consistent with the Sabbath school panel. I personally know members that put in time and money to God’s cause. Why would the house of Israel be like dead bones? I’m active myself! I do my very best . . . given the circumstances and resources. Why are we dead? Maybe if we had better lighting and an LCD screen, our church would be lively. Maybe if we chose music that was lively, our church would be enthusiastic. You can’t bring life to the church by attempting to revive the church yourself. All of these great and perfect ideas are amazing. We should do our best! But nothing you and I can think about will ever give life to the church. It is only God who will breathe life into His church.

I was once told by an attendee from a large, well-known church in the busy Washington D.C. metropolitan area, “I can’t deny the adrenaline rush I get after attending my church on Sunday, but I can’t ignore the void I feel after I leave . . . something is missing . . . something is not right, . . . and I don’t know what it is!”

The concept of death is often used interchangeably in the Bible. It can either refer to a physical death or a spiritual death, both of which result from a physical and spiritual separation from God. To better understand the biblical concept of death, consider how Adam was created. Genesis 2:7, tells humanity’s creation story, “Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” Notice how both of these two elements are needed in order to produce a living being. Man is formed and molded out of the dust and God’s breath of life makes him a living soul. If you remove God’s breath out of this equation, you’re left with dust. Jesus reaffirms this principle in John 15:5. Here Jesus uses the example of a vine and points out how it’s impossible for the branches to be alive without being connected to the vine. “I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in Me and I in Him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without Me ye can do nothing.” This connection to Jesus ensures life and the bearing of fruits.

As Ezekiel looks at this huge valley full of dry bones—and as depressing as it was, it was something to be expected. God’s people had repeatedly been moving away from God for years. God’s constant message to them was, “Stop doing whats wrong” and “return unto me.” This constant refusal to do what was right and avoiding God, led to a spiritual death and indifference toward their Creator as well as a invasion from Babylon. It was very clear to Ezekiel that there was no hope for Israel to live again. There was no hope for Jerusalem to be that vibrant city again. It was over.

Spiritual death and Babylon’s invasion triggered a problem. But these issues should have been the least of their worries. Their biggest problem was that they didn’t think there was anything wrong with their current situation. They believed they would be just fine. Not because God was going to make things right, but because there was nothing to be made right. So much so that a prophet by the name of Hananiah appears in this scenario in Jeremiah 28 and tells the people that God would break the yoke of the Babylonians. While that was partially true, the prophet went on to deceive them and he added that this would happen within 2 years. But God had already told them how long they would be in Babylon. It wasn’t a brief 2 years but rather 70 years.

Israel’s biggest problems were deception and rejection of the truth. Things were not okay. They had not been okay for a while. And now there was no hope. They were dead. They had been dead for a long time. They were dry bones. And in spite of their condition, they still believed they were alive. As Ezekiel looks at the valley, a sense of hopelessness sets in. And before God revealed to him what His plan was, it was vital for Ezekiel to realize Israel’s hopelessness.

I love how God communicates with Ezekiel. The Lord then asks the question, “Can these bones live?” After being unrealistically optimistic, we come to realize these bones can’t come back to life. The vision makes it very clear they have been dead for a while and exposed to the elements. They’re dry! But Ezekiel’s answer is on point. Ezekiel answers and says, “O Lord God, thou knowest.” He recognizes that at this point, God was the only one who can do something about it. If God created this world out of nothing, He can certainly recreate these sun-bleached bones into living men and women.

You would think that spiritual death would be something you would exclusively find outside of a church. After all, how much farther from God could you be if you’re outside the church! The sad reality is that Ezekiel’s vision was not specifically referring to those who are far from God, but rather those who claim to be close to Him and yet are spiritually dead or spiritually dying inside. I’ve heard it described it this way: “Being spiritually dead in the church is like being numb inside but hoping to experience something.” Regardless of what state you currently find yourself in, it’s important to remember that the first step is to accept the reality. In this case, spiritual death. The sooner we realize this, the sooner we’ll realize we need God’s breath of life breathed into our spiritual lives. Part of this process will involve a sense of mourning and loss of what we thought was real. But remember, God’s promise is He will breathe life into you and you will become a living and thriving soul. Not only will you exist, but live with passion and purpose in His service!