The Sunday Sermonette – Ezekiel and Ray Harryhausen.

Ray Harryhausen. To movie buffs, his name alone conjures images of massive, undulating tentacles, eerie flying saucers, gigantic crawling bugs, and a smorgasbord of Greek mythological characters, including a fearless army of clattering skeletons. All of which were created by him from miniature, life-size models he sculpted and built from scratch, using wood, metal, and latex. The process included a technique that he perfected—stop-motion animation.

To make his creations move with stop-motion animation, Mr. Harryhausen had to carefully adjust each joint in the model’s body, which was covered in metal and latex. Think about your own hand. Imagine filming it, but to show it moving, you would film your still hand, stop, move one finger a little, film again, and repeat this for each finger, stopping and starting each time. When I see Harryhausen’s work on screen, I can only guess how many tedious hours he spent making it. Words like endurance, determination, and persistence come to mind.

The skeleton fight in the 1963 film “Jason and the Argonauts,” where Jason and his crew face the Children of the Hydra’s Teeth—seven skeletons that rise from the ground—is considered by film historians and fans to be Harryhausen’s greatest work. This scene is famous for its creative use of stop-motion animation and stands out as a major achievement in special effects. It took more than four months to make this incredible sequence. How important was Harryhausen’s work? When he passed away, director George Lucas said, “Without Ray Harryhausen, there would have been no Star Wars.”

And without Father God, the Old Testament Prophet Ezekiel would never have seen a supernatural event take place involving skeletons that covered a desolate valley floor, were bleached by the sun, and were devoid of life. The skeletal bones were haunting reminders of death and destruction, and they symbolize the hopeless state of Father God’s Chosen People, the Jews. Due to their disobedience, He allowed them to be exiled and scattered.

Their disobedience included breaking the Ten Commandments, worshiping other gods, following foreign customs, taking advantage of the poor, acting without morals, and twisting justice for their own benefit. They were warned many times to change their ways. In Leviticus, God said: “But if you do not obey Me and do not carry out all these commandments, I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out a sword after you, as your land becomes desolate and your cities become waste.” And He did, but He never stopped loving His people!

To Ezekiel, the dry bones represented only death—dry, dusty, and nothing else. Father God, however, saw something else—life. In this eerie valley setting, He told Ezekiel to say to the bones, “Dry bones, listen to the word of the Lord: ‘Look! I’m going to breathe into you and make you live again. I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life.’” And the bones clattered back to life, a vast army standing before Ezekiel! This powerful vision serves as a metaphor, showing that even in the midst of death and despair, Father God can bring new life and hope.

My friends, these passages are incredibly relevant today. How many people do we know who are in their own valley of dry bones? Lost in despair. Bereft of joy. Wandering in hopelessness. Feeling mentally and spiritually dead. Terminally ill, fearing death. Struggling with temptation and sin. Never forget: With faith and the transformative power of Father God, there is always hope for renewal and restoration.

Mr. Harryhausen had to spend countless hours making his creations come to life. All Ezekiel had to do to make dry bones come to life was repeat the words of Father God. This should serve as a powerful reminder that Father God has the power to bring forth life where there was once only death and desolation, offering us a message of hope and redemption even in the darkest of times. Will you invite His life-changing spirit to refresh and renew your spirit today?

Ponder this and go forth.