And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him: for he had straitly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you.
Exodus 13:19
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.
Ezekiel 37:11
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
Matthew 23:27
Recently, I was listening to a message from the 1960s called The Fallen Reformation. The minister spoke of when the children of Israel were departing Egypt and how Moses took the bones of Joseph. He explained that when Joseph was second to Pharaoh in Egypt, it was a place of refuge for the children of Israel. Under Joseph, they were nourished and preserved, and the children of Jacob were not under any type of bondage. However, after four hundred years the children of Israel were slaves to the Egyptians, and the golden days of Joseph turned into a dark night of Pharaonic bondage. As they departed out of the land of captivity, the only glory they had to show after four centuries were some old bones. Today, the only glory contained within Church of God fellowships are some old bones.
The prophet Ezekiel tells of a vision in the 37th chapter that consisted of a valley of dry bones. Those accustomed to the Bible know the account well. Verse 11 says, “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.” In this account, the bones represented the whole house of Israel, and they were described as “very dry.” Sadly, the term “dry” would precisely describe the False Church of God of today. The prophet was asked if the bones could live, and the prophet’s answer could not be characterized as full of faith. Ezekiel only responds with, “O Lord GOD, thou knowest.” Consequently, the Lord tells Ezekiel to prophesy upon the bones and say “O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.” Essentially, the bones were in the dry condition because the word of the Lord was not feeding them. Wherever there are people who are not being fed the Word of God, there is left a starving, lifeless, dry valley of bones.
The bones Ezekiel saw in his vision were “the whole house of Israel.” The chosen people of God, who in their history were blessed with the parting of the Red Sea, the conquering of Canaan, prophets like Moses, Samuel and Elijah, kings like David and Solomon, and manifestation unlike any people on the face of the earth, were now reduced to a valley of dry bones. Their history did not make them glorious, for in their present condition they were left for dead in a dry valley. It did not matter that they once possessed glorious manifestations from God because at present, they were nothing but a mere skeleton of their glory days. Ultimately, the children of Israel lost glory because they were not being fed the Word of God. You might be able to rattle the bones that at one point may have been nourished, and you may point back to the days where God manifested signs and wonders, but at the end of it, if you’re not producing it today, you are nothing more than bones.
Without any hesitation, it must be declared that the False Church of God is nothing more than a valley of bones. You know you’re in the False Church of God if the best that can be done is some bone-rattling. You know you’re in the False Church of God if the message is not feeding you. You know you’re in the False Church of God if the Word is not going forth and if the Spirit is not breathing life into your soul. Furthermore, too many preachers cannot get out of the 1980s, that cannot impart the Word of God with a fresh anointing from heaven, and who cannot inspire souls to win the lost, trust God for their bodies, and consecrate to the highest level that God demands. Additionally, these preachers are contending for the status-quo, working to build up their fellowships, and send to the fringes anyone who would dare to challenge or question them. Nothing more can be expected from a ministry who does not have any spiritual food to feed the flock but can only throw the sheep some old bones on which they can gnaw their teeth. Eventually, when the sheep do not get any sustenance, they become sickly and thin, and then they also become nothing more than bones.
Jesus also exposed the real condition of the Pharisees - they were just old bones themselves. They worked so hard to appear spiritual and to outwardly impress with their fasting, tithing, and consecration, yet in reality, they were hypocrites. The definition of a sepulcher is a small room or monument cut in rock or built of stone, in which a dead person is laid or buried. The False Church of God is also a whited sepulcher that serves to house the bones that represent the glory of yesteryear. Just as it was in the days when Jesus exposed those old Pharisees, it is the same today. The False Church of God’s ministry is hypocrites. They try their best to appear beautiful and spiritual, but they are nothing more than some dry, lifeless bones. They cannot produce the Church of God because they are too busy trying to build up their ecclesiastical structures. They cannot recognize the message of our time. Just like the Pharisees rejected the Messiah and his message because they were too busy rattling the bones of Moses, the fellowships/sects of the Church of God will reject the same Christ and the message of our time. It is time to flee the valley of bones and take a flight to the heights of Mt. Zion.
All that is needed to produce the Church of God is the Word and the Spirit. While those bones were very dry, and Ezekiel was not able to say with certainty that the bones could live, when Ezekiel began to preach as the Lord commanded, the Spirit of God entered into the bones and they were brought to life. God is looking to bring the glory back to the Church of God. May we stop pretending that because a soul or two got saved or that some bodies have been healed sporadically, that the Church of God is as glorious as it has ever been. The Church of God is not a name in the earth, but many going under that name are better characterized as some dry bones. God is looking for a ministry who will hear straight from the Lord the message of the hour and declare that message under the anointing of the Holy Ghost. The time has come to cease the rattling of bones and for God to raise up a mighty army with glory, power, and life. As we look at the Church of God at this hour, God is asking the question, can these bones live? Lord, only you know.