08/03/13

People of God, why are your bones dried, hope lost?

Ezekiel 37:11 - Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.


Today I will share something in Bible Image Study.

When God created all the creatures of the natural world, He created some vertebrates and some invertebrates, meanings some with bones and some without (also called soft bodied). So bones are not required to live but among the vertebrates they play a very important role. One of the most important roles bones play is they give form and structure to the being.

Bible says life is in the blood and it is the bone marrow which does the job of making blood cells which are the main constituents of the blood.

When God made man, He stated He made man in 'His image', this image was not limited to the concept of body, soul (inner-man) and spirit which depict the Godhead but even the physical structure and physical design of man if understood can help man understand God. That does not mean God looks like man but means even though God is Spirit yet by the design of man one can understand the nature of God and His Kingdom.

When God created man He took some dust moulded it and that became the body of man, then He put in it the spirit of man into this body and man became a living soul. People think God put in man His Spirit, if that was the case then Adam would have been called Christ which means man with the Spirit of God, which is not the case. Jesus was the first Man with the Spirit of God; those before Him were not born with the Spirit of God nor had God dwelling in them. They had the Spirit come over them for a period of time or for a mission. It was only at Pentecost people (Church) were given the Holy Spirit (the Apostles received before Jesus ascended when He breath into them, at Pentecost they along with others were baptized in the Holy Spirit).

Genesis in short says when the spirit of man (both male and female which was made in the image of God) was put into the body, the soul or inner-man came alive or mouldable.

When we die our body perishes but our spirit does not, also do not our soul or inner-man. Our inner-man after death stops becoming mouldable, in other words non changeable. That is why everything about us to be saved, or the extend we reap in Heaven is only possible when we are alive, when our soul or inner-man is mouldable. Our faith, knowledge, character, will all are in our inner-man thus we are judged according to our inner-man. Once we die we cannot do any changes to our inner-man. Born again in other words means bring the image of the inner-man back to how God created - in His image and overcoming means keeping it that way.

People are actually identified by the inner-man and not by the body. An identical twin will look externally the same yet they are 2 different beings, their nature even though may be alike in many area yet they will not be the same fully. If we swap the inner-man of 2 people with their bodies, we will identify them by their inner-man not their body.

On a broad physical scale the flesh symbolizes our desires in turn symbolizes the body, the bones the character (inner-man) and the bone marrow the spirit. Life (blood) comes from the spirit (bone marrow) and it is the bones (character / inner-man) which give shape to our being.

The flesh symbolizes the desires of man, the bones his nature and his bone marrow his spirit. Although the human flesh (desires) of Jesus was bruised yet God did not allow the bones (nature) of Jesus to be broken because His nature was perfect and in the image of God.

When God created woman He made her by taking the bone of man and the flesh of man, meaning although she was in spirit made in the image of God yet in the natural she was made in the image of man with the desires and nature of man. That is why we have marriage only among humans, which in another words marriage symbolizes the coming of God and man together in other words marriage symbolizes Christ. It is through the understanding of marriage we can understand Christ for it is a statute of what will happen in Heaven when we become one with God the Son.

People normally say a person has a heart for God. This is because in English translations the Hebrew word 'labe' which means the inner-man (which includes mind, thoughts) is also translated as heart, then people symbolize it with the organ heart. But when we study the Bible these people will look foolish for we see Jeremiah stated he loved God from the depth of his bones. He stated the fire in his bones did not allow him to stop doing the things which God asked of him even though at times he found them destroying more than building, leading man to suffer more than blessing them. He did not go by what he understood but did what the Spirit led him to, because he had a passion for God in the depth of his bones (nature / inner-man).

Today's message is telling us we the people of God lack passion for God, our bones are like dead bones. We have failed to show the nature of God in us. It is for this reason the world lacks hope.

God is telling us He wants to see life in our inner-man; our character or nature that has a passion for God and His Kingdom. It is only when from within we desire God, work for Him, live Him, not because we feel good or we see something good is happening but because we love God. We may land up like Jeremiah doing things which may shake the lives of people or like John the Baptist bring hard sense in them by strong words or like Jesus with strong actions and sharp words, but unless we do what God leads us from within, this world will lack hope.


[ Prayer Starter ]
Lord, the world does not know You or experience your Power because your people have failed You. Your people lack the fire in their bone. They love from the flesh according to world desires and thinking. Lord we pray this Sword (Word) pierce them and split the joints of their bones from their marrow. That it ignites a fire in their bones and they cause change in this world. That the world experiences your Power...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.


[ Reference Scriptures ]
Genesis 1:26-27
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them [him - male gender, plural].

Genesis 2:7-8,21-24
7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

Leviticus 17:11 - For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.

John 20:22 - And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit:

Job 30:17 - My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest.

Psalms 6:2 - Have mercy upon me, O LORD; for I am weak: O LORD, heal me; for my bones are vexed.

Psalms 34:20 - He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken.

Proverbs 3:6-8
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.
8 It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.

Ecclesiastes 11:5 - As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all.

Isaiah 66:14 - And when ye see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb: and the hand of the LORD shall be known toward his servants, and his indignation toward his enemies.

Lamentations 1:13 - From above hath he sent fire into my bones, and it prevaileth against them: he hath spread a net for my feet, he hath turned me back: he hath made me desolate and faint all the day.

Ephesians 5:30 - For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

Hebrews 4:12 - For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

The Word of God was given free to us, therefore we should also share it freely with others. (All rights are with God)