"My God! My God! Why has thou forsaken me. Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?" *** Psalm 22:1

Mark recorded Jesus' words just before Jesus gave up the ghost: 

"And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" *** Mark 15:34

David wrote in verses seven and eight:

"All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,

He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him." *** Psalm 22:7-8

Matthew recorded,

"And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross." *** Matthew 27:40 

David foretold the nails that would be driven into Jesus' hands and His feet.

"For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet." *** Psalm 22:16

David also foresaw that Jesus would have a special generation that would not only serve Him, but become that chosen people of God.

"A seed shall serve Him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation." *** Psalm 22:30

Peter who was given the keys to the kingdom by Jesus, foretold and foresaw this special generation that would be accounted to Him for a seed.

"But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:" *** I Peter 2:9 

God truly is calling a people out of darkness into the glorious light of His gospel of truth. This will be a people chosen of God to shine forth as the noonday. God is raising up a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a generation who will praise Him with their whole heart, soul and mind.

An unknown psalmist wrote:

"This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord." *** Psalm 102:18

Jesus' whole life, death, burial and resurrection was foretold in the Old Testament. God's prophetic Word is sure. Many of the truths the prophets declared have already come to pass. There are a multitude of prophecies on the horizon of the new day that lies directly ahead of God's creation, man.

David made a declaration about the body of Jesus as He hung on the cross,

"I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels." *** Psalm 22:14

David further proclaims,

"I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me." *** Psalm 22:17

Bones speak of the framework of the body. The framework speaks of the foundation, the foundation upon which God is going to erect His temple. The temple speaks of unity. All the framework must come together if the body is going to function properly. 

The word bone is ETSEM and was translated bone, 104 times; selfsame, 1 time; some, 5 times; and life, 1 time. David recorded that every bone in Jesus' body could be seen. As Jesus hung on the cross every joint was out of place. Anyone who has pulled a tendon or bruised a muscle knows the pain that it causes. Those who have dislocated a joint know the excruciating pain that comes. This is the pain that Jesus suffered when every joint in His body was dislocated. 

David records another aspect of Jesus' time on the cross, 

"He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken." *** Psalm 34:20

Although every joint was out of place, not one of Jesus' bones would be broken. 

Jesus was crucified on the Day of Preparation before the Feast of Passover, which was a high and holy day in Israel. The Jewish day began at sundown. Jesus and the two thieves were still on the cross at sundown, or the beginning of the Passover Feast. Because the Israelites could not remove the dead bodies after sundown, they besought Pilate to break the legs of those who were crucified. This was done to kill them, so they could be buried before the Passover because, if they were to touch a dead body on their Holy Day, they would be defiled.

"Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him.

But when they came to Jesus, and saw that He was dead already, they brake not His legs:

For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of Him shall not be broken." *** John 19:32,33 & 36

Israel was about to celebrate the killing of the Passover Lamb, which commemorated the blood covering for their sin when the Lord slew all the firstborn in Egypt. Israel was required to keep the Passover every year to obtain this blood covering for their lives. The Passover was to be kept even though Israel had daily sacrifices for sin in the temple. But they had already killed God's Passover Lamb. Israel had killed the Lamb who would forgive their sin for all eternity, not just cover their sin for another year. John the Baptist proclaimed the Lamb for all Israel to see: 

"The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." *** John 1:29

Jesus was the Passover Lamb that God had provided. He was the perfect sacrifice for the sins of fallen man. This was the lamb that was foretold by Abraham, when in obedience to God's voice, Abraham was ready to offer up Isaac, his promised son. Isaac questioned, "Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" *** Genesis 22:7. Abraham's words to Isaac were:

"My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together." *** Genesis 22:8

The burnt offering was the sin offering required to cover Israel's sin. God gave Israel a covering for their sin the same night that He delivered them from Egypt. Specific instructions were given them concerning the Passover Lamb. Israel was to select a lamb on the 10th day of the first month and kill the lamb on the 14th day of the same month.

"In one house shall it be eaten; thou shalt not carry forth ought of the flesh abroad out of the house; neither shall ye break a bone thereof." *** Exodus 12:46 

Israel was not to break a bone of the Passover Lamb. It was only to be disjointed. This is a picture of the body of Christ that hung on the cross with every joint out of place. As we view Jesus' body as it hung on the cross with Spiritual eyes, with every bone visible and every bone out of joint, we begin to see a picture of the body of Christ in the earth today. All the bones are there, but they have not come together, and there is no unity, no sameness, no oneness. Every bone, every joint does what it wants to do. Paul wrote to the Ephesians:

"For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones." *** Ephesians 5:30

God only has one body, and those who are members of that one body are bone of His bone. This is the oneness God desires in His creation, man. 

When God recognized that Adam did not have an helpmate, He took of Adam's framework to create Adam an helpmate.

"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. *** Genesis 2:23

God proclaimed that man and wife would be one flesh. This is the relationship that God desires with His creation. It was His original intent to commune with man on an intimate basis. His desire has not changed. God will have a chosen people who are truly seeking Him with their whole heart, soul and mind; a people who are hungering and thirsting after righteousness with every fiber of their existence; a people intent upon becoming pleasing in their Father's eyes. This is the generation that is being created to praise Him in unity and oneness of the Spirit. Paul wrote:

"That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another." *** I Corinthians 12:25

Schism causes division and separation. God's desire is that we all become one in Him. The beloved John recorded Jesus' words: 

"That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:

I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me." *** John 17:21-23

When we become one in Him, He will then become one with us. Then the glory that was upon Jesus will reside upon us. We will become bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh.

"From whom the whole body fitly joined together and

compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love." *** Ephesians 4:16

God is building His framework and the joints are coming together; every joint that is part of the body will be supplying to every other joint. This will bring forth increase in the body. When God's people cease to think selfishness, and begin to move together in unity, then love will be the edifying, unifying power in the body.

"And not holding the head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God." *** Colossians 2:19

All of the body must line up with the head, and be fitly joined, compacted and knit together in love. This speaks of unity and oneness, being bound together by the bands of love. Paul wrote of the body edifying itself in love as being knit together in love. When something is knit together it is woven together and becomes one unit. Solomon wrote:

"A threefold cord is not quickly broken." *** Ecclesiastes 4:12

A single cord can be broken easily, but the more we become knit together, the stronger the body becomes; and the harder it becomes for the enemy to have any access to any one member of the body. When the body begins to function as one, with every joint supplying, that is when the body will begin increasing with the increase of God. We cannot increase in God without the Spirit of God operating in every aspect of our lives. Neither can we increase in God without the knowledge of His will in our lives. 

It is also necessary to come into His perfect order in every aspect of our lives if we are to increase with the increase of God. This will become a reality to the body when all joints begin to supply to every other joint. Only then will unity and oneness become reality in the consciousness of every member in particular. 

Jesus hung on the cross with every bone protruding from His body and every joint out of its socket, the strength of His body completely exhausted. This is the true picture of His body in the earth today. The prophet Isaiah wrote:

"As many were astonied at thee; His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men:" *** Isaiah 52:14

Jesus' visage, or His appearance, was marred more than any man's that had ever lived. So also the church's visage, appearance or image, has been marred beyond recognition of what God intended it to be. Through the corruption, greed, and unChristlike behavior of self-appointed leaders, the church has become a laughing stock and a byword by those who, at one time, had a fear and reverential awe of its power and authority. The church's image has been marred beyond repair. 

We need to take comfort in the fact that God will have His church without spot or wrinkle in the earth when He returns, "that He might present it to Himself a glorious church," *** Ephesians 5:27 

David wrote:

"All my bones shall say, Lord, who is like unto thee, which deliverest the poor from him that is too strong for him, yea, the poor and the needy from him that spoileth him?" *** Psalm 35:10

"All of God's bones, the bones which are becoming the framework of His body, shall say, "We are His". We need to ask ourselves, "Who is like unto thee"? John wrote:

"Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is." *** I John 3:2

John asked the question, "Now are we the sons of God?" Then he stated, "It doth not yet appear what we shall be! But we know that when He shall appear we will be like Him". When the bones that make up God's framework come into the unity and oneness that God has desired for His creation, then, we can answer David's question, "Who is like unto thee?" We can answer this question because we will see Him as He is, because we will be like Him in every way. When God's framework comes together and His body is complete, then Christ will set His head on His completed work. 

God showed the prophet Ezekiel a vision of this completed work; the coming together of the framework of His body, that He would raise up in the earth before His return. 

FOR FURTHER DISCUSSION
* THE FORETELLING OF JESUS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
* A SPECIAL GENERATION
* THE PASSOVER LAMB
* THE CONDITION OF THE BODY OF CHRIST
* THE TRUE PICTURE OF THE BODY OF CHRIST TODAY 
* GOD'S DESIRE FROM THE BEGINNING
* THE TRUE BODY OF CHRIST
Chapter One Questions
1. To whom do many of the Psalms make Prophetic reference to? 
2. David foresaw that Jesus would have a special generation that would not only serve Him, but would become the of God. Psalm 22:30
3. What four areas were foretold concerning Jesus in the old Testament?
4. What must come together if the body is to function properly? 
5. Although every was out of place, not one of Jesus' would be .
6. What do we begin to see a picture of when we view Jesus' body as it hung on the cross?
7. God only has one body, and those who are members of it are referred to as .
8. What has been God's desire from the beginning?
9. God's desire is that we all become one in Him, and that there be no schism. Explain. I Corinthians 12:25
10. What will happen when we become one in God?
11. When God's people cease to think selfishness, and begin to move together in unity, what will take place?
12. What shall all of God's bones, which are becoming the framework of Christ's body, declare? Psalm 35:10
13. All the body must line up with the and be fitly joined, compacted, and together in love. Colossians 2:19 
14. If we are to increase in God what must happen? 
15. How has the church become a laughing stock and a byword? 
16. What did God show the prophet Ezekiel a vision of?
17. What is the true picture of Christ's body in the earth today? 
18. When God's framework comes together, and His body is complete, then Christ will .

Chapter Two

THE WHOLE HOUSE OF ISRAEL

God appeared to the prophet Ezekiel:

"The Hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones," *** Ezekiel 37:1 

Ezekiel was a prophet of the coming kingdom. Ezekiel's name means "He will be strengthened of God". God referred to Ezekiel 93 times as the son of man. The word man is ADAM; or God referred to Ezekiel as "the son of Adam". The only other man in the Bible that was referred to as the son of man was our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Ezekiel was caught up into God and was shown a vision of God's endtime work on His body. God caught Ezekiel up into the Spirit and set him in the midst of a valley. This valley reveals the time of testing and judgment in our lives. The prophet Joel foretold where the multitudes of God's people are in this hour of His judgment: 

"Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision." *** Joel 3:14

Joel informs us that as the day of the Lord draws near, the multitude of God's people are still in the valley of decision desiring the things of God, but not willing to pay the price to obtain the oneness and the sameness that is necessary if we are to be like Him when He returns. This valley where God placed Ezekiel in this prophetic vision was full of bones. 

"And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry." *** Ezekiel 37:2

God caused Ezekiel to walk around these bones. When he did, he discovered that there were many bones, and that these bones were very dry. 

"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

Many have taught that Ezekiel's visions was fulfilled in 1948 when ancient Israel became a nation after not being a nation for over 2500 years. But Ezekiel's vision was not fulfilled when Israel became a nation. 

Ezekiel went on to explain who these bones were. These dry bones in the valley were the whole house of Israel. The word Israel means "He shall be a prince of God". A prince is the son of a king; or, God's nation, Israel, is made up of the sons of God. 

The word house is BAYITH. One of the uses of the word BAYITH is "temple and dwelling place". The house is where God will dwell for all eternity. God is erecting this temple in the earth from living stones, *** Ephesians 2:21-22. This house is made up of all those who will become the temple of God. The temple represents a permanent dwelling place. Today we dwell in a house covered by skin, a temporary dwelling place. We are now tabernacle. Paul proclaimed,

"For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life." II Corinthians 5:4

Paul knew we had not yet become temple, because mortality (apt to die) had not been swallowed up of life. Peter understood that we were not temple when he proclaimed:

"Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me." *** II Peter 1:14

We will not become temple until that change takes place which was spoken of by Paul to the Corinthians:

"So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." *** I Corinthians 15:54

When mortality is swallowed up by life, then death will have no more hold upon our life. The law of sin and death, man's covenant with death, will have been annulled as Isaiah the prophet spoke:

"And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it." *** Isaiah 28:18

God's people have made a covenant with death and they are in agreement with hell (the grave). They proclaim that their only hope is dying and going to heaven; or, if they do not make it to heaven, they will go to hell (eternal punishment). God has a much more glorious hope for those who love His appearing. Paul made his proclamation of hope before he went to his death in Rome,

"Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing." *** II Timothy 4:8

Paul will receive his crown of righteousness at that day, when all those who love his appearing will also receive their crown of righteousness. This did not happen at Paul's death. This will happen in the day of Christ's appearing. 

Christ's appearing will be when He is revealed in His people. Christ in us is the hope of glory and this is a great mystery to the Gentile nations, *** Colossians 1:27.

God set Ezekiel in the midst of these very dry bones. This is a picture of the body of Christ today. These very dry bones were all scattered and separated. 

God spoke four things to Ezekiel concerning these bones: 

# 1 These bones were the whole house of Israel 
# 2 These bones were very dry
# 3 Their hope was lost
# 4 They were cut off from their parts. 

The word dry means "ashamed, confused, disappointed, confounded and utterly withered away". This truly is a picture of the body of Christ in the earth today. Many are ashamed, confused, disappointed and confounded because their hope is lost. Paul informs us that it is Christ in us that is our hope in glory. 

Christ is "The Anointing" that has dried up in the church system. Many have replaced the anointing with emotion and call it "anointing". The parts of God's unified body have been cut off, separated and divided by the denominational church systems. The body of Christ has been separated by man's doctrines and his misunderstandings of God's Spiritual Word. The body is dry because it has not been watered by the water of the Word. The prophet Amos spoke of this day,

"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: 

And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it." *** Amos 8:11-12 

Truly we live in the day of the famine of the Word. God's people run from meeting to meeting, convention to convention, and come away dry, confused, disappointed and confounded because their hope, the Holy Spirit, has departed.

God spoke to Ezekiel that these bones are the whole house of Israel. God's body consists of both houses of Israel, not just ancient Israel, and not just His true church, but all those who love His appearing. 

God used the olive tree as the symbol for Israel. In his letter to the Romans, Paul spoke about the olive tree (natural Israel) and the wild olive tree (Spiritual Israel).

"For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:" *** Romans 11:13

Paul was an Israelite of the tribe of Benjamin, but God called him to be the apostle to the Gentiles.

"If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them." *** Romans 11:14

When Paul spoke of his own flesh, he was speaking of natural Israel. Paul proclaimed who he was in the flesh in his letter to the Philippians:

"Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more:

Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;" *** Philippians 3:4-5 

Paul was an Hebrew of the Hebrews. He followed the law as a Pharisee. So Paul was not referring to his new walk in Christ. He was speaking of natural Israel.

Paul stated, "If by any means I may provoke them to emulation". The phrase provoke to emulation means "to provoke to jealousy, to anger, and to rivalry". Paul was trying to stir up the Israelite as God is trying to wake up the church today. 

Paul spoke of the grafting in of the Gentile into the olive tree:

"And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;" *** Romans 11:17

Paul's letter to the Roman church was his first letter to the Gentile church. He was explaining that God had not forsaken His natural people, but that He was allowing the Gentile nations to be grafted into the foot of the olive tree. Jesus proclaimed, "I am the root and the offspring of David." Christ is the root that all must be grafted into. Paul explained,

"For if the casting away of them [natural Israel] be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?" *** Romans 11:15

When natural Israel comes into the saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, they are reconciled back into God. Paul stated that this is receiving them as alive from the dead because they have accepted the way, the truth and the life. When the Israelite receives the gospel, they become alive from the dead, and become part of the first resurrection on which the second death has no power, *** Revelation 20:6. 

Paul's revelation to the Romans was a two-edged sword. It not only gave hope to natural Israel, but it gave a warning to the wild olive tree (Spiritual Israel).

"Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: 

For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee." *** Romans 11:20-21

We are told not to be high-minded, but fear. The church has lost its fear of God. If God did not spare the natural branches (natural Israel), we, also, as Spiritual Israel need to take warning so that the same thing does not happen to us. God rejected Israel as a nation. Each one of us are referred to as a nation. God accepts or rejects us on an individual basis. He does not accept us because of where we fellowship, or who we are. God is no respecter of persons. He accepts or rejects us on the basis of our relationship to Him. Paul continued His warning:

"Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in His goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off." *** Romans 11:22

The church talks of their goody, goody God. They never speak that He is a God of severity and judges disobedience severely. Paul warned the new church at Rome that if they did not remain in God's goodness, they also would be cut off because of their unbelief, as natural Israel had been. God warned Spiritual Israel and He gave hope to natural Israel through the pen of Paul: 

"And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again." *** Romans 11:23

When natural Israel accepts their Messiah, Jesus Christ, they will be grafted back into the root and offspring of David their king. Their bones are lying in the valley of decision with the rest of the body of Christ. If they will come together with, and become part of the body, then they, also, will be accepted in the beloved. God will have one body, one nation, one dwelling place, one house. 

God spoke to Ezekiel,

"Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:

And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand." *** Ezekiel 37:16-17 

These two nations, natural and Spiritual Israel, will become one in the hand of the son of man, Christ Jesus.

God showed us these two houses of Israel in Jacob and Esau. Rebekah bore Isaac two sons. God spoke to her:

"And the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger." *** Genesis 25:23

Jacob and Esau represent two nations of people, or two peoples. God told Rebekah that the elder, the older, would serve the younger. Jacob means "supplanter". He is also called "heel grabber". 

Esau became the country of Edom. Edom means "red". Adam means "red earth". Esau represents the old Adam, earthly, carnal nature of man. Esau sold his birthright to Jacob. When it came time for Esau to receive his blessing there was no blessing because he had given away his birthright in God. The old carnal man has no birthright and will receive no blessing. 

Jacob was the supplanter. Supplanter means "one who takes the place of another". When we come into the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, our old Adam carnal man is supplanted by the new man who comes forth and begins to replace everything the old man stood for. 

When Jacob received the blessing from the Father it was necessary for him to flee from those who were still dwelling in that old Adam carnal nature of man. A further change was to take place in Jacob's life at Peniel. Peniel means "turn ye to God", or "seeing the face of God".

"And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with Him until the breaking of the day." *** Genesis 32:24 

There was a new day about to break and Jacob wrestled with a man. The man that Jacob wrestled with was the man, Christ Jesus. A new day is about to break for the body of Christ, as with Jacob who wrestled with this man,

"And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him." *** Genesis 32:25

God was changing Jacob's walk. No longer could he walk in his own strength, but only as God gave him strength to walk.

"And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me." *** Genesis 32:26

Jacob had received the blessing from Isaac which represents the son of the father, or Isaac is a type of Jesus. But Jacob was seeking a further blessing than he had received from Isaac (Jesus). He wanted the blessing that could only come from the true anointing of God.

"And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.

And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed." *** Genesis 32:27-28 

God changed Jacob that day. He changed his walk, He changed his name and He changed his position. God told Jacob, "As a prince (son of the king) thou hast prevailed." Jacob (Israel) had come into a new relationship with the Father. God revealed that Jacob now not only had power with man, but with God also. 

We, too, must come to that place where we wrestle with God to receive His perfect will in our life. Jesus came to this place in the Garden of Gethsemane. There had to be an overcoming of the flesh so that Jesus could proclaim, "Not my will, but thy will". We, too, must come to this place and proclaim with our whole heart, soul and mind, "Lord change my walk, change my name, and change my position." As sons we will prevail.

"And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there." *** Genesis 32:29

Man is still seeking the name of the one who can bring this change in his life, where he can have power with God and man. When God changed Jacob, "the one who had taken the place of another" into Israel, "a prince of God", Israel found power with God and man.

There is no place recorded in the Word where Esau became Jacob's servant. This is not what God was referring to when he said the elder would serve the younger. When we are changed and become those anointed in the earth, then the old man must begin to serve the new man, or the anointing. We must daily bring the old man under submission. Paul understood this change in his letter to the Galatians. He proclaimed,

"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." *** Galatians 2:20 

Paul's old man was crucified daily, and the daily life Paul lived was the Christ life of the new man. His old carnal nature served this new man. Paul lived the rest of his life by the example that Jesus left. We, too, must follow Jesus' example on a daily basis, if we are to become that holy nation Israel that God is raising up in the earth.

Paul was part of natural Israel. He had all the religious credentials. Paul, like the multitude in the valley of decision today, had a zeal to serve God. Paul's heart's cry was:

"That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;" *** Philippians 3:10

Paul wanted to know the power of that resurrected life in Christ. Paul knew that those who suffer with Him will reign with Him, *** II Timothy 2:12. Paul wanted to be made conformable unto His death, dying to self and his carnal nature.

Jesus overcame all things in the natural. He did this by having the mind of Christ. He only did and spoke what He saw the Father doing and speaking. This should be our desire also; to follow the example Jesus left us, being accepted in the beloved. 

God has one nation, and that nation is Israel. Paul explained who would make up that holy nation.

"For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.

And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God." *** Galatians 6:15-16

Those who have become part of that new creation, man, in the earth are the Israel of God. These are those who have been grafted into the root of the olive tree which is Christ Jesus. In Paul's letter to the Ephesians he further proclaimed Spiritual Israel, 

"That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world." *** Ephesians 2:12

When we were without Christ (The Anointing) we were aliens (Gentiles) from the nation of Israel. We were strangers from the covenant that Jesus made with all mankind, the covenant of His shed blood and broken body. But when we come by the Spirit into a relationship with the Father, then we are partakers of that covenant of promise that Jesus made with all mankind. God had a purpose in bringing forth this covenant. His purpose is to bring forth a body through which He can manifest His headship.

Ezekiel, "one who was strengthened of God", walked in the presence of these dry bones, the divided, separated, scattered body of Christ.

"And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O lord God, thou knowest." *** Ezekiel 37:1 

Can these bones live? Or, can these bones become alive unto God? Paul wrote to the Romans,

"Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." *** Romans 6:11

The question that many are asking today is, "Can the body come together in oneness and total unity with all the division and separation that is evident in the church today?" Every group is doing its own thing and proclaiming that they are the "only ones". How is the body of Christ to come into "oneness"? God is going to build His house, His temple, that He will dwell in, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 

Ezekiel was shown the endtime dwelling place of God: 

"Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern." *** Ezekiel 43:10

God told Ezekiel, "Show the house to the house of Israel. Let them measure the pattern." Our pattern is Jesus Christ. He is the pattern of the house that we are to build. If this house is going to stand, we need to dig deep and establish our house on the rock, *** Matthew 7:24. Our rock is the Word of God. The Word is the only foundation that is safe to build upon when the storms of life hit us from all directions.

When we consider the pattern for our house, we will be ashamed of our iniquity. Our iniquity is what keeps us separated from the rest of the bones in God's house. God asked Ezekiel, "Can these bones live?" We need to ask ourselves, "Do we want to be a lively (living) stone in the house of God? Do we want our bone to be joined to the rest of the bones in God's house? Or, will we be left in the valley of decision, unable to become part of what God is doing in the earth?"

A new day is breaking. Are we wrestling with the man, Christ Jesus, to receive a blessing, or are we going our own religious way, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel. God's "out of joint" body is coming together under the headship of Christ. Are we going to become a part that makes up the body, or will our bone be left in the valley of decision?

Many voices in the world today are speaking "one church". Beware! Many are proclaiming a counterfeit to God's eternal purposes. Jesus proclaimed for all to see and hear:

"Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." *** John 2:19 

God is going to raise up His temple on the third day. It will be constructed of living stones. Those bones that have made their decision and have come alive unto Christ will be part of God's temple, the body of Christ on the third day. 

We are now coming to the close of the second day. The third day is on the horizon. Jesus warned those who would live in the last hour of time, 

"Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.

For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." *** Matthew 24:23-24

Those who are proclaiming a new one world order and a one world church are deceivers, and only the very elect will not be deceived by this seemingly wonderful move of God.

God's elect need to know and hear God's voice, then heed what He is speaking in every situation.

FOR FURTHER DISCUSSION
* The Valley of Decision
* The Valley of Testing and Judgment
* The Whole House of Israel
* Who are the Stones of God's Eternal Temple?
* What is our hope?
* The Olive Tree and the Wild Olive Tree
* Jacob's Peniel
* Paul's Total Desire
* The Third Day on the Horizon
Chapter Two Questions
1. Where are the vast majority of God's people today? Joel 3:14 
2. When Ezekiel was caught up into God and shown a vision of God's endtime work on His body, where was he then set, and what did that reveal?
3. The Valley where God placed Ezekiel was full of what? Ezekiel 37:2
4. Who were these dry bones that Ezekiel saw in his vision? Ezekiel 37:11
5. God's nation Israel is made up of what?
6. The represents a temporary dwelling place, while the represents a permanent one.
7. When will death have no more hold upon us? I Corinthians 15:53-54 
8. God's people have made a covenant with , and they are in agreement with .
9. Why do many today feel all hope is lost?
10. What is our more glorious hope? Colossians 1:27 
11. Why is the body so dry? Amos 8:11-12
12. The Apostle Paul spoke of the olive tree and the wild olive tree. What does each represent?
13. The two nations, natural and Spiritual Israel, will become in the hand of the Son of man, Christ Jesus.
14. What is the only way that natural Israel can be reconciled unto God?
15. We, like, Jacob, must come to the place we wrestle with God to receive what?
16. How did Jesus overcome all things in the natural?
17. What must we do daily to overcome all things?
18. What is it that keeps us separated from the rest of the bones in God's house?
19. Who will not be deceived by the New World Order?
20. Who will become a part of the body of Christ as the Third Day arises on the horizon?

Chapter Three

PROPHESY THE WORD OF THE LORD

In God's revelation to Ezekiel of His endtime body, God asked Ezekiel, "Can these bones live?", *** Ezekiel 37:3. The word live is CHAYAH and has the meaning "to live, be alive, to come alive, to be revived, to recover and be restored". 

The question God asked Ezekiel is, "Can the body of Christ be restored to a living, breathing entity in the earth?" Jesus left us His example of ruling and reigning over His creation. The body of Christ must become like our example if they are to be God's glory in the earth when He returns. Jesus spoke of a city set on a hill for all the earth to see, *** Matthew 5:14. Ezekiel's answer was:

"O Lord God, thou knowest". *** Ezekiel 37:3

God knows His people. When Paul wrote to Timothy, he related: 

"Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." *** II Timothy 2:19

God's foundation is sure. God has sealed those who are His. One might say He knows every bone in His body and those who are named Christ have ceased from iniquity. God's next statement to Ezekiel was:

"Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord." *** Ezekiel 37:4

Ezekiel was commanded to prophesy to these bones. What was he commanded to prophesy? "O ye dry bones, hear the Word of the Lord". Today God is wanting His people to hear the Word of the Lord. The question arises, "What is the body to hear?"

Every church is proclaiming, "We are declaring the true Word of God"; but their teachings are not producing the life of Christ in God's people. So, what are God's people to be listening to? John the beloved wrote:

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." *** John 1:1

First we must come to the understanding that the Word has always been. John went on to explain:

"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." *** John 1:14 

God made His Son, Jesus, the Word. Jesus became the Word and came and dwelt among His creation, man. He came to leave us an example that we must follow. The prophet Isaiah foretold who the Word of the Lord is:

"So shall my Word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." *** Isaiah 55:11

God sent His Word and His Word did not return unto Him void. Jesus accomplished what the Father sent Him to do. When it was time for Jesus to go to the cross, He proclaimed, "I have finished the work the Father has given me to do," *** John 17:4. On the cross, Jesus proclaimed, "It is finished", *** John 19:30. God's Word, Jesus, did not return unto the Father void, but He accomplished what the Father sent Him to do. 

Ezekiel was to prophesy the Word of the Lord unto these bones. When Jesus was on the Mount of Transfiguration with Peter, James and John, the Father spoke to all those in the mountain that day: 

"While He yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; Hear ye Him". *** Matthew 17:5

A bright cloud overshadowed those who came up into this high place with God the Father, and the voice proclaimed, "Hear ye Him". 

Ezekiel was to prophesy the Word of the Lord unto these bones. The Word of the Lord is the Word of God. Jesus proclaimed, "I only speak what I hear the Father saying." All the words of Jesus are the words of the Father. So when the Father spoke that we were to hear His Son, we can be assured that Jesus' Words were the Father's words, because He only spoke what He heard the Father saying.

Paul in his last letter, written towards the end of his life, came to the realization through the Spirit that, 

"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:" *** II Timothy 3:16

All scripture, both the Old and the New Testament, is given by the inspiration of God through the Word, the whole Word. We need to establish our doctrines on the whole Word of God, not just using parts of the Word, or only that which we want to believe; but, using the whole counsel of God to establish not only what we believe but how we live. 

Our reproof and correction must come only by and through the Word. Any other reproof, correction or counsel can only come from man's carnal understanding of God's Spiritual words which genders to bondage and fear. We must, instead, begin to apply the inspired Word of God given by the Holy Spirit through the pens of Spirit-led men of God to our daily lives.

God's Word is to be used for our instruction in righteousness. Paul wrote to the Romans concerning those who have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge, *** Romans 10:2. Of these he related: 

"For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God." *** Romans 10:3

Those who have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God and have refused to submit themselves to the correction of the Word have gone about to establish their own righteousness. These compare the life they are living with those around them, stating that they are OK because they are more righteous than those to whom they are comparing themselves. This is also true in church groups. Many feel they are more holy and more righteous because they display this gift or that; or fast more; or hold more services, etc. Jesus proclaimed,

"For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." *** Matthew 5:20

The Word was given by the inspiration of God for instruction in righteousness. So many today compare their righteousness by the doctrines of their religious orders, instead of comparing their righteousness by the life that was lived by Jesus Christ. In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul wrote:

"For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise." *** II Corinthians 10:12

Those who do these things are not wise. They have fallen into the trap that man has set for God's people. They are being made merchandise of, by men, *** II Peter 2:3.

God told Ezekiel to prophesy the Word of God to these very dry bones. These bones are dry because they have not been partaking of the water of the Word of Life. If these bones are to live and be revitalized, they must begin to hunger and thirst after the righteousness found only in God's Word. 

God translated the apostle John, while on the Isle of Patmos, through the eons of time, to the seventh day of time. 

"I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet," *** Revelation 1:10 

The Lord's day is the seventh day. 

God gave John the revelation of Jesus Christ, the revelation of whom Jesus is to be in each life. John was admonished to make this revelation clear to those who have come to the end of this age, and he was to proclaim "Hear what the Spirit is saying unto the churches."

Today the church is more prone to listen to man than to seek the face of God and hear what the Spirit of God is speaking to His people in this hour. Most are still trying to establish their own righteousness, living by obeying man-made rules and order, believing what they choose to believe, and walking the way they desire to walk. God told Ezekiel to prophesy the Word of the Lord unto these very dry bones.

It is time the church hears what the Spirit is saying unto the churches. It is time to hear the words of the Father, "This is my beloved Son, Hear ye Him." It is time the body of Christ begins to prove what they believe and what they are doing by the Word of God. If they cannot find what they believe or what they are doing in the Word, then they need to stop believing it and stop doing it. God's people should only be speaking by the Word of God. These are the Holy Spirit-inspired words of the Father. Paul wrote to the Corinthians,

"And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:" *** I Corinthians 2:4

Paul did not speak enticing words to the people. He spoke by the power of the Spirit. These are the only words that will produce life. These are the words of the Lord that the body of Christ needs to hear today if their very dry bones are to live. 

Paul wrote of silly women, laden with sin, who are being led away with divers lusts:

"For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts.

Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." *** II Timothy 3:6-7

This is a picture of the church in our day. Man's doctrines have crept into the house of God, and the church (female) is being led away with divers lusts. Paul describes these:

"Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away," *** II Timothy 3:5

These have a form of godliness, but have denied the power. The power is the Holy Spirit. Paul commanded, "Turn away from those who have denied the power of God." Paul revealed that these are ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. These are never able to come to the truth, the Holy Spirit of Truth, who inspired the Word of God. 

Can these bones live? Only if they begin to drink of the wells of living water. The prophet Jeremiah wrote:

"For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." *** Jeremiah 2:13

Those who have forsaken the fountain of living water are drinking from their broken cisterns that can hold none of the water of life. These broken cisterns are full of the precepts and doctrines of men. These sit in their religious orders whose righteousness do not exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees, who cried out, "Crucify Him!" God's Word reveals that they are vipers and children of the devil. 

Those who continue to tickle the ears of this silly church that has risen up in the earth, who desire to only have their ears tickled will no longer endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; *** II Timothy 4:3

These fulfill the words of the prophet Isaiah:

"Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:" *** Isaiah 30:10

These who want to hear the smooth, easy things are not interested in what the Spirit is saying unto the churches in this, the most crucial time in the body of Christ. 

If these bones are to live, then the Word of God must become the marrow in their bones. The Word of the Lord that is prophesied unto them must become their way, their truth and their life. It is the only way back to the Father. We must become the Word that will not return unto Him void (worthless), unfit for His kingdom use. 

When Ezekiel began to prophesy the true Word of the Lord unto these bones, things began to happen:

"Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: 

And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord. 

So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone." *** Ezekiel 37:5-7

When the Word of the Lord came to these bones there were five things that began to happen,

# 1 Breath entered into these bones
# 2 God laid sinew upon these bones
# 3 Flesh came upon these bones
# 4 A noise and a shaking came into the mist of these bones 
# 5 These bones began to come together, bone to His bone 

God told Ezekiel He would cause breath to enter into these bones and they would live. The word "breath" is RUWACH and is translated spirit 332 times; wind 92 times; and breath 27 times. 

Before anything can happen in the body of Christ, the Word must be proclaimed to them and the breath of the Spirit of the living God must enter into them. When this happens a mighty shaking is going to take place in God's body and these bones are going to come together bone to His bone. This is when our bone will become a total part of His body. When this is complete God will then set His head on His body.

We need to know that if our bone is dry, the only substance we need to revitalize our bone is the water of the Word of Life. Our lives should be like sponges that soak up that water so when the world comes against us, all that will come out of our sponge is the water of the Word of God. When persecution comes all those who are around us will receive the applied Word of God flowing from our innermost beings. God knows every bone in His body. He is desiring to have each of His bones soaking up His Word of Life so that when the shaking comes, He will have a people prepared for Himself.

FOR FURTHER DISCUSSION
* Who are God's Bones?
* The True Words of God or a Substitute?
* Jesus, The Word of God
* The Whole Counsel of God
* Instructions in Righteousness
* Self - Righteousness
* The Dangers of the Doctrines of Men
* Shall These Bones Live?
Chapter 3 Questions
1. God asked Ezekiel a question, "Can these dry bones live?" What was Ezekiel's answer? Ezekiel 37:3
2. The word "live" translated from the word CHAYAH means: 
3. God knows His people, and He as those who are His. 
4. Although every church is proclaiming that they are declaring the true Word of God, they still are not producing what? 
5. Jesus became the and came and dwelt among His creation man so that we would have an to follow. 
6. What did Jesus proclaim when it was time for Him to go to the cross? John 17:4, 19:30
7. What realization came to the Apostle Paul through the Spirit, towards the end of his life? II Timothy 3:16
8. Reproof, correction and counsel from man's carnal
understanding of God's Spiritual words gender what? 
9. What is God's Word to be used for? Romans 10:3
10. Many today compare their righteousness by the of their rather than by the that was lived by .
11. If the dry bones that Ezekiel prophesied to are to live and be revitalized, what must they begin to do?
12. Why should God's people be speaking only by the Word of God? 
13. If the body cannot find what they believe or what they are doing in the Word, then what must they do?
14. What are the words that the body of Christ needs to hear if their dry bones are to live?
15. Who was it that Paul commanded us to turn away from? II Timothy 3:5
16. Those who have forsaken the fountain of living waters are drinking from what? Jeremiah 2:13
17. Name the five things that happened when the Word of God came to the dry bones:
18. Before anything can happen in the body of Christ, what must happen? 

Chapter Four

SHAKEN BY THE WORD

God commanded Ezekiel to speak the Word of the Lord to these dry bones.

"So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone." *** Ezekiel 37:7

When Ezekiel prophesied unto these dry bones, there was a noise. The word "noise" is the Hebrew word GOWL and was translated 383 times as "voice". It was also translated thunder, or thundering. When God's anointed Word begins to go forth in power, then things begin to happen in the kingdom of men. 

As the Word went forth these bones began to shake and come together. The word used for "shaking" is RAASH and was translated 6 times as earthquake and 3 times as shake, or shaking. It means "to quake and tremble". 

Ezekiel stated that he prophesied as he was commanded. When God's ministers begin to speak as God commands them, there is going to be a great shaking, trembling and quaking in the body of Christ. When everything they think they know about God and His kingdom will be shaken to the core, they will come together with those who have been shaken in their walk also. Many believe they have it all figured out, down to the last detail. Paul warned the Corinthians,

"And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know." *** I Corinthians 8:2

This does not mean that God's people have not learned anything. Most have come to a carnal understanding of the Word of God. What Paul is speaking of is a people who will hear what the Spirit is speaking unto the churches. This can only be spiritually discerned. Most of the church systems have no "one-body" concept. All they know is their little group, and that is all they are concerned about. They only listen to those who are approved by their denominational order. They refuse to hear or read anything not approved of by their hierarchy. Isaiah warned God's people, 

"Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?" *** Isaiah 2:22

God's desire for His people is that they quit putting their trust in weak, dying men; and begin to put their trust in the eternal one. Jesus asked, "Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" *** Luke 6:46

Many today call Him Lord, Lord, but they are not obedient to His Word in every area of their life. They go about doing what pleases their old, fleshly desires, never taking time to seek or hear the Father's will for their life. God is going to send His true, life-saving Word back into His body by prophets who will speak as God commands them, and those who will receive will be shaken. 

Bones are the foundation of the body. God is going to shake every bone in His body right down to the foundation. The writer of Hebrews spoke of this shaking that is coming into His body: 

"See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:" *** Hebrews 12:25

God spoke audibly to His people Israel in the Old Testament. When God spoke to Israel on Mt. Sinai, it was recorded:

"And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly." *** Exodus 19:18

Israel refused to hear God's voice. They saw the fire and the smoke. They saw the whole mountain shake. But they refused to hear His voice. The writer of Hebrews goes on to say, "How shall we escape if we refuse to hear Him that speaketh from heaven." Heaven is the Spiritual realm. How will we escape if we refuse to hear what the Spirit is saying unto the churches.

"Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.

And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain." *** Hebrews 12:26-27

God has promised a great shaking of His body. When this shaking comes it will remove those things that can be shaken in our walk with God; those things that we have depended upon that have failed. God is not only going to shake our earthly existence, but He is going to shake everything we think we know about the Spirit and our Spiritual walk. We are truly going to understand that we know nothing as we ought to know it. 

God has a list of changes that He is working on in each one of our lives; and He is going to shake and chastise us until each of these errors are corrected in each bone of His body. When this shaking begins, many will want to flee and hide from God's correction. Isaiah related to this time when the body of Christ is shaken to the foundation:

"And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty, when He ariseth to shake terribly the earth." *** Isaiah 2:19

God is going to bring a physical shaking upon the earth, but he also is going to bring a spiritual shaking upon His body. When this spiritual shaking takes place, His body will try to hide under every religious rock they have used for a foundation in their lives. 

Isaiah spoke that they would go into the holes of the rock. The holes in the rocks are caves. A cave is the lowest place in the earth. This is called depression. When religious orders fail, the people will believe that God has failed them, and they will enter into their caves of depression. 

When God arises to shake His body, then His glory and majesty are going to be revealed to those who have come into a spiritual place where they can see God in all His glory through spiritual eyes. 

We were shown a picture of this time when Jesus came to the end of His flesh on the cross. Matthew recorded:

"Jesus, when He had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.

And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;" *** Matthew 27:50-51

This is a picture of the body of Christ in the earth today. The true body of Christ is coming to the end of their flesh, their Adam existence. The old, Adam nature is giving up the ghost, and the veil of the temple is being rent. When this veil is rent in our lives, it will reveal God's glory and majesty. The writer of Hebrews revealed this veil to us:

"By a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh;" *** Hebrews 10:20

The veil that must be taken away in our lives is the veil of His flesh. Today the church system is still worshiping their fleshly Jesus. They worship the crucified Jesus instead of the glorified Christ. If the knowledge of His life, death, burial and resurrection is all we needed to know about, then the New Testament would have ended with the book of John. But we need to go through the veil of His flesh into His majesty and glory which He desires to reveal in each of us. This will be revealed when He arises to shake terribly the earth. This will bring a great earthquake in our lives. Every religious rock man has hidden under will be torn apart. The prophet Isaiah spoke of the church system when He revealed:

"Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:" *** Isaiah 28:15 

The church system has made lies their refuge and have hid themselves under falsehoods. They have made a covenant with death and the grave, viewing dying and going to heaven as their only hope in God. They have hidden themselves under the false delusion that when the overflowing scourge (which is God's Judgment, the wrath of God or the Great Tribulation) comes, it will not come unto them. Their hope is that God will take them out by some secret escape or that God will simply take them home. These falsehoods are the religious rocks God's people have hid under while they had their ears tickled as silly women. But when the earthquake begins to shake their lives, God is going to rend (tear apart) every religious rock that His people have hidden themselves under. This shaking is going to be complete. Their physical lives as well as their physical walk are going to be shaken. Isaiah went on to warn:

"And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it." *** Isaiah 28:18

Those who have put their trust in their lies and falsehoods will be trodden down when God arises to terribly shake their earth. Many are already experiencing this shaking in their lives. Some are being shaken in their health, in their finances, in their relationships with each other. Some are finding insecurity in their jobs, government, retirement programs and insurance companies. Many are being shaken as they view the things coming upon the earth. Men's hearts are failing them for fear as they see what is coming upon the earth, *** Luke 21:26. Whole churches are being shaken as they want more than what their denomination has to offer. They are leaving these Pharisaical orders by the thousands. Their big mausoleums sit half full wondering how they are going to keep up their payments to worldly usury systems.

When the shaking comes, it will either strengthen or cause collapse; the difference being, what kind of foundation has been laid. If the life or the house has been built upon the Rock, the true Word of God, trials and tribulations will strengthen it. If it has been built upon the sand, man's charisma or ancient theology, it will fall because it has not been established on the Spiritual truths that God is revealing through His Word in this last hour of time.

We need to hear what the Spirit is saying unto the churches today. The Word relates that God changes not. But our relationship and understanding of God changes daily. As He begins to shake this earth, our relationship with Him will either get stronger, or we will become a part of the great falling away that Paul spoke of in his letter to the Thessalonians. 

In Jesus' own words, what is the shape of His body in the earth today? When Jesus gave the parable of the ten virgins, he revealed,

"While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept." *** Matthew 25:5

God's people are asleep. When did this sleep take place? We are informed that in the beginning when God took Eve from the side of man, that He caused a deep sleep to come upon Adam. God never woke Adam from this sleep. Man has been in his Adam sleep ever since. 

God is beginning to wake up His creation, man. When you want to wake someone up, you shake them. This is what God is doing to His body today. He is shaking them to awaken unto righteousness and true holiness. God told Adam after the fall:

"In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." *** Genesis 3:19

Dust represents the old carnal nature of man. Adam came from the dust. God was returning him to that dust nature. Man has remained there ever since. Isaiah wrote:

"Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead." *** Isaiah 26:19

God asked Ezekiel, "Can these bones live?" Isaiah wrote, "Thy dead men shall live." The Lord revealed this resurrection when He proclaimed, "With my dead body shall they arise". He admonishes us who dwell in the dust to awake and sing, because this earth is going to cast out the dead. Those things in our lives that have brought forth death are going to be shaken out of God's body. God is going to shake His body awake. Paul wrote to the Romans: 

"And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed." *** Romans 13:11

It is high time to awake out of our Adam sleep. Paul stated, " Our salvation is nearer now, then when we first believed." The salvation of the body of Christ is at hand. God is going to bring salvation into His body. This is the complete salvation plan of restoration: we are saved, we are being saved, and we are going to be saved. The spirit is saved, the soul is being saved, and the body is going to be saved when it is changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. Paul revealed to the Ephesians:

"Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." *** Ephesians 5:14

If we are going to walk in the light that is Christ, we must awake and come out of our death sleep. Paul wrote to the Corinthians:

"Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame." *** I Corinthians 15:34

Paul admonished the Corinthians because they did not have the knowledge of God. He said "this is a shame". Today it is no different. It is a shame before God not to have the knowledge of Him. His people have sat in their religious systems for years and are never encouraged to read the Word that they might have a knowledge of God. When the true Word is prophesied unto them, it is going to awake them out of their sleep of death. God's true virgins will awake unto righteousness and true holiness. 

God spoke that the 10 virgins were all asleep. A virgin is one who has not been defiled. God stated that five were wise and five were foolish. The five who were wise were walking in the wisdom of God. The five who were foolish or unwise were walking in the wisdom of men, listening to their precepts and doctrines, sleeping on in their dust existence.

Daniel the prophet spoke of this time of awakening. He spoke of a time of trouble like there has never been upon the earth: 

"And many of them that slept in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt." *** Daniel 12:2

When the 10 virgins awoke, those who were wise were walking in the wisdom of God. They had the extra vessel of oil in their lives. This is the Vessel of Preparedness. They went into the Marriage Supper. These were awakened unto everlasting life. 

The other five virgins had oil in their lamps, but their lamps went out because they were not prepared. When they arrived at the door of entering in, it was shut. They, too, were shaken awake, but they were awakened to their shame because they did not have knowledge of God in their lives. 

David, the Psalmist, gave those who are being shaken awake encouragement. These beautiful words flowed from his pen, 

"As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness. *** Psalm 17:15

When we are awakened in His likeness, then we will see Him as He is because we will be like Him, *** I John 3:2.

The question that one could ask is, "How many will be left at the end of this shaking process?" Israel (natural and Spiritual) is foretold in the Word as the olive tree. Isaiah prophesied concerning the shaking of the olive tree:

"Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof, saith the Lord God of Israel." *** Isaiah 17:6

When the shaking is over, there will be two or three berries in the topmost bough, and four or five in the outmost fruitful branches; in other words, there will be only a few left when this shaking process is over. Only those who have a good hold on the branch, Christ Jesus, will be left when this shaking is complete in our earth.

The Bible speaks of a tree that casts its fruit before its time. That fruit never comes to maturity, but rots in its green immature state. Only those who endure unto the end will be saved. Isaiah went on to reveal,

"At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel.

And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves, or the images." *** Isaiah 17:7-8 

Those who have eyes (Spiritual eyes) to see will behold their maker, Christ Jesus, the Holy One of Israel. Man will cease to look to the religious altars they have constructed in their lives. They will no longer give glory to the works of their hands. The works of man's hands have become their pride of life.

Man's works are the works of their own flesh.

This shaking of God's dry bones will come when the true Word of God is prophesied unto them. When these dry bones are watered by the Word and the Holy Spirit anointing they will either be shaken together, or they will come apart. When this earthquake takes place it will tear all their lies and falsehood apart, those things that man has put his trust in. This great earthquake will shake God's body together.

When Ezekiel began to speak life, the Word of God, to these bones, they came together, bone to his bone. This is the day that our bone will be connected to His bone. This great shaking will shake the body to the foundation. Then, and only then, will Christ set His head on His body. Our bone will become one with the head. Then the scripture will be fulfilled that Paul related to the Ephesians:

"For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones." *** Ephesians 5:30

We will not become part of His body until our bone has come together with His bone, and the head and the body become one. The shaking that God is allowing to come into His people is to line them up with His Word. If our lives do not line up completely with his Word, then we cannot become the pattern that Jesus left us. We must go through this shaking. 

The only way back to the Father is by following the way that Jesus left us to follow. Shaking is necessary because only through shaking and chastisement can God correct His children. Jesus informed Paul on the road to Damascus, not to kick against the pricks. The prick is an ox goad that the ox driver used to guide the ox. He did this by sticking the ox on the side of the head with the goad to cause him to go the way that he wanted him to go. God is trying to get us to go His way. We, too, should not kick against the pricks or the shaking that God is bringing in our lives. 

God's Word is a life changing Word. When God's anointed Word goes forth in power and the Word is prophesied as God commands, then this life-changing shaking will happen in the body of Christ. The ox goad is in the hand of the Son of man. How hard it is applied in our life is determined by how hard it is for God to change our direction. If we do not change willingly, then more force will be added to get our attention. The Word can be applied in His goodness or His severity. The choice is ours.

As we witness the Word that is shaking God's body awake, we can only rejoice that God loves His people so much. It is not His will hat any should perish.

FOR FURTHER DISCUSSION
* The Necessary Shaking in the Earth
* The Insecurity of the Denominational Systems
* Prophets Speaking True, Life Giving Words
* Caves of Depression
* The Veil of Flesh
* False Securities
* Wake up Virgins!
* The Adam Sleep
* The Complete Salvation Plan
* The Upper Most Branches
Chapter Four Questions
1. What will happen when God's ministers begin to speak as God commands them?
2. What type of understanding do most of God's people have of His Word?
3. God's desire for His people is that they quit putting their trust in , , and begin to put their trust in the . 
4. How is God going to send His true, life saving Word back into His body?
5. God is going to shake and chastise every bone until what is accomplished?
6. Israel refused to do what?
7. When shaking comes, what will be removed?
8. Why will some people enter into their caves of depression? 
9. What is the true body of Christ coming to the end of? 
10. Today the church system is still worshipping the Jesus instead of the Christ.
11. What has the church system made their refuge and hidden themselves under?
12. What is God going to do to every religious rock that His people have hidden themselves under?
13. When the shaking comes, it will either or cause .
14. As God begins to shake the earth, what will happen to our relationship with Him?
15. When Jesus spoke the parable of the 10 virgins, what did He reveal?
16. If we are going to walk in the light that is Christ, what must we do first?
17. Who will be left when the shaking is complete in our earth? 
18. Why is God's shaking so necessary?

Chapter Five

BONE TO HIS BONE

After the shaking of God's body is complete, and the change comes that must come upon each bone that is going to become part of the foundational structure in the body of Christ, God will begin to do a work upon His body. God spoke to Ezekiel of this work: 

"And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord." *** Ezekiel 37:6

The first thing that God is going to do is to lay sinew upon these bones. Webster informs us that sinew is the fibrous cord which unites a muscle to a bone. It is also called tendons. Its purpose is to bind and strengthen. When the shaking process is complete, and our bones come together with His bone, then He is going to bind His body together and strengthen it, to hold it together. 

Paul admonished those in the church at Colosse who were vainly puffed up in their fleshly minds: 

"And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God." *** Colossians 2:19

Paul informed the church at Colosse that they were not holding the head. The word "holding" is KRATEO and means "to lay hold on, to seize, and to take possession of". The church at Colosse had not established the headship of Christ in their lives. They did not recognize the headship of Christ in their midst. If we are going to enter into His kingdom (king's domain) then His headship must be established. Paul wrote to the Ephesians,

"But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:" *** Ephesians 4:15

There is a growing up into the head. The only way we can grow up into the head is by following the example that Jesus left for us to follow. Paul related to the Colossians:

"And He is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the pre-eminence." *** Colossians 1:18 

His body is His church. If we are not part of the body, then it makes no 7 difference what church we attend: if we are not part of His body, then we are not part of anything. Paul stated to the Colossians that the head must have pre-eminence in all things; or, Christ must be all in all. We must take hold of Him as the head. We must seize Him and take Him into our possession. We must give the head pre-eminence in our lives.

Yet many have established the pastor or board of elders of their church as their head, relegating the headship of Christ to a much lesser place, if they give Him any place at all. Most will say, "Our preacher, or our minister, is a good man". But when the rich young ruler came to Jesus and said, "Good Master", Jesus stopped him and asked:

"Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God." *** Mark 10:18

Jesus recognized the fact the Holy Spirit revealed through Paul to the Romans:

"For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not." *** Romans 7:18 

Jesus came to live the pattern life that we should follow and to teach us to give pre-eminence to the Father, Christ, the Holy Spirit. Jesus told the Jews:

"I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive." *** John 5:43

Today the church system is following those who have come in their own name. They have not seized the headship of Christ in their lives. Paul informed the Colossians that they were not holding the head from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.

Paul related that all the body...; how much of the body? ALL THE BODY by joints and bands were knit together, and will increase with the increase of God. The word "bands" is the Greek word SUGKERANNUMIE and means "to temper together, or to weld together to make a unit"; several parts coming together to make one structure.

God showed Ezekiel this coming together of the joints of His body. He showed Ezekiel how He would lay sinew upon those bones and tendons to knit the joints together. He showed him how this knitting together would provide the strength for the body to grow up into the head.

When a certain man said unto Jesus, "I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest," *** Luke 9:57. Jesus' answer was: 

"Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head." *** Luke 9:58

God's whole purpose in the earth is to have a body that He can set His head upon. God desires a people who have seized the headship of Christ in their lives and have made Him Lord. He desires a people who will give Him the pre-eminence and are increasing with the increase of God in their daily walk. When our bone comes together with His bone we will be strengthened and knit together through His supernatural power. We need to awake from our Adam sleep and come together in the oneness of the Spirit. 

We can only come together in agreement with the Spirit. Many have become loners, hiding themselves in the rocks, claiming they are hearing from God. They want to be loners, not a part of anything; and they are not.

God is beginning to shake His bones together. He is creating a need for one another in His body. Earthquakes shake things apart. The earthquake that God is bringing into His body is going to shake it together, and He will continue to shake it until it comes together. Then He will lay sinew upon it to hold it together. Paul revealed:

"That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;" *** Colossians 2:2

God is going to knit His body together in love. He is going to knit it together to make one unit. Then He will set His head upon this body. It is easy to break one thread, but when it is knitted together with many threads, it becomes very strong and useable. Another use of the phrase "knit together" is "becoming one"; as in marriage, where the man and wife become one flesh. Our bone will come together with His bone into the oneness that man had in the beginning in the garden.

Paul proclaimed, "Unto all riches of the full assurance" of understanding. God is going to bring His people into the full understanding and acknowledgment of the mystery of God. What is this mystery that God is going to reveal unto His body?

"To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:" *** Colossians 1:27 

This is when we come bone to His bone, and He begins to strengthen His body. Paul spoke of this strengthening to the Ephesians:

"That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man;" *** Ephesians 3:16

He is going to strengthen the inner man. The old man must perish, but the inner man will be strengthened by the might of His Spirit, working to change that inner man into the image and likeness of Christ, the Holy Spirit, in each bone in His body. Paul wrote in his letter to the Philippians:

"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." *** Philippians 4:13

It is only through Christ, the Holy Spirit, that we can do anything. Anything accomplished without the headship of Christ will come to naught. All that is accomplished without Christ is wood, hay and stubble, and will be consumed in the fire of the judgment that is coming to try man's work.

God gave Ezekiel a vision of God's intent and purpose in raising up His body in the earth.

"And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord." *** Ezekiel 37:6

Once God puts strength and power into His body, He is going to put flesh upon those bones, and cover them with skin. Up until this time what God was doing in His body was not visible to the world. But when His body comes together in the strength and power of God, He is going to begin to make His body visible to the whole earth.

When man sinned, God's Spiritual covering was taken away and man recognized that without God's covering he was naked before Him. His power, strength, and authority that he had in God was gone, and he was naked for all the world to see. God had to kill animals and clothe him in a beast nature. Man will remain in his fallen state until the seventh day when God is going to reunite His body, and set His head upon it. He will, again, lay His flesh upon that body, not sinful flesh, but newly created, Spiritual flesh, that has not suffered the destruction of sin.

Since the garden when man got his eyes off of God on to his body, the flesh has ruled man's life. The color of the skin has brought separation, causing hatred and misunderstandings. When our bone comes together with His bone, man will no longer have his eyes upon his body, but on the whole body of Christ; no longer looking to self only, but what God is doing in the whole earth. God is building His own house bone to His bone, with every joint

supplying.

"So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another." *** Romans 12:5

"In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." *** Ephesians 2:22

God's house is a many-membered body that is being constructed through the Spirit for a habitation of God. God told Ezekiel that He would put His Spirit in His body and they should live. In the beginning God breathed His life into man and he became a living soul. God is the life of the soul and the soul is the life of the body. God is, again, going to breathe His Spirit life into His creation man and he shall live. Ezekiel prophesied as he was commanded:

"And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them." *** Ezekiel 37:8

Ezekiel witnessed the body of Christ coming together, but he proclaimed, "There was no breath (Spirit) in them." Many believe that the Spirit entered into man on the Day of Pentecost. As we look closely at the Word, we find that the Holy Spirit came and sat upon each of them. Luke recorded:

"And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them." *** Acts 2:3

The anointing sat upon each of them. Until man receives the fulness of the Spirit, the anointing can only sit upon this Adamic, carnal flesh. Another example of the Spirit coming upon the Adamic flesh was when Jesus received the baptism of the dove on the banks of the Jordan.

"And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him:" *** Matthew 3:16

The Spirit descended and sat upon Jesus. Today many proclaim that we are already the temple of the Holy Spirit and that we are already filled with all the Spirit. But we are still tabernacle, a temporary dwelling place covered with skin. We have not yet become temple. God's temple will be erected from the living stones that God is now shaping at His quarry. 

When the cloven tongues of fire came on the Day of Pentecost, it sat upon each of them, just as the Spirit came like a dove upon Jesus, and sat upon His flesh. Even though their was no sin in Jesus' life, He was still flesh, still tabernacle. he had yet to become temple. His existence in the flesh was temporary, not permanent. But as Stephen revealed as they were about to stone him,

"Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet," *** Acts 7:48

The word Stephen spoke as "temple" was NAOS and means "that which is constructed to hold the holy things". This meaning was used to describe the Holy of Holies in Moses' Tabernacle. Moses' Tabernacle was a temporary dwelling place. When Stephen spoke, he was referring to our earthly existence which is temporary. God is not going to dwell in temples made with hands. Many would say that God was speaking of Solomon's temple, but He was speaking of our bodies which are still tabernacles. Paul wrote to the Corinthians: 

"For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." *** II Corinthians 5:1

God is going to dwell in a house not made with hands. He is going to dwell in a body that is eternal in the Spiritual realm. He is going to dwell in Spiritual flesh, not the old Adamic flesh that all mankind has dwelt in since the garden. 

Even though Jesus received the Spirit without measure (the fullness of the Spirit), it still sat upon His flesh. When the Spirit came on the Day of Pentecost it came as the cleansing fire that would cleanse man from the outside in. It is only through this cleansing that we can become the habitation of God. In his letters to the Corinthians, Ephesians and Romans, Paul explained that we have not yet received the fullness of the Spirit of the living God, 

"Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts." *** II Corinthians1:22

"Now He that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit." *** II Corinthians 5:5

"Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory." *** Ephesians 1:14

The earnest of the Spirit is only the downpayment, until the redemption of the purchased possession is paid in full; or, until the fullness is revealed unto His body when we are redeemed from our Adam existence. 

"And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." *** Romans 8:23

The firstfruits in the Old Testament were waved before the Lord to insure a bountiful harvest. The harvest is the adoption when our bodies will be totally redeemed and made like unto His glorious body. This will happen when the first-fruits of the Spirit, the earnest, the down payment, the cloven tongues of fire has completed its cleansing power in our lives. 

We were given insight into God's redemption plan when Jesus revealed the three relationships that man would have with the Holy Spirit. Jesus' words to His disciples were:

"And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever;" *** John 14:16

Our first comforter was Jesus Himself, but He promised a second Comforter. Jesus revealed this Comforter:

"Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you." *** John 14:17

The second Comforter is the Spirit of truth that the world cannot receive. If they do not know the Son, the first Comforter, they cannot know the Father, the second Comforter. Jesus declared that His disciples knew Him because He was dwelling with them. Then He shall be in them. Jesus went on:

"I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you." *** John 14:18

Our first relationship with the Holy Spirit is when He called us. No one comes unless the Father draws him, *** John 6:44. The second relationship with the Holy Spirit was when Christ Jesus came on the Day of Pentecost and sat upon each of them. This is when He came to them, not in them. This earnest or down payment of the Holy Spirit was fulfilled in our lives when we were baptized in the Holy Spirit. This was our Pentecost. 

There is yet another appearance of the Holy Spirit, and that is when He shall come in us. This anointing will come in the form of a dove. This is when His body, the body of Christ, will receive the Spirit without measure, just as our example, Jesus. This is when the rivers of living waters will flow from our innermost being. Wherever this water flows, everything it touches will be healed. 

God showed Ezekiel what He was going to do to His body who, as yet, had no breath of the Spirit in them. God told Ezekiel, 

"Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds. O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live." *** Ezekiel 37:9

Ezekiel was to prophesy to the four winds. The four winds are the four corners of the earth. Ezekiel was to prophesy into the Spiritual realm that wherever those dry bones were, that were part of God's body, the breath of the Spirit of Life should enter into His body. This anointing, this outpouring is not going to be localized as in the past. All those who are part of God's body are going to receive this anointing.

"So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army." *** Ezekiel 37:10

When Ezekiel prophesied, the body of Christ, the whole house of Israel, stood upon its feet and became an exceeding great army. Today we are becoming this great army who will go throughout the earth, displaying the strength, power, authority and glory that God has placed in each bone in His body.

God's Word proclaims that those who God chose to live in this day, and who are waking out of their old Adam sleep as God is shaking His body, cannot imagine what God is going to do with those who love Him. God is raising up an exceeding great army, not to glorify man, but that He may be glorified in the earth. God is shaking and bringing His body together. He is ready to anoint those who are hearing what the Spirit is saying unto the church, His body.

FOR FURTHER DISCUSSION
* Spiritual Sinews
* Establishing Christ's Headship
* Spiritual Flesh
* A Spiritual Covering
* Temporary Tabernacles
* The Permanent Temple
* Cleansing Fires
* Three Relationships in Christ
Chapter Five Questions
1. What is the first thing God will do after the shaking of His body is complete?
2. What is the purpose of the sinews or tendons?
3. What must be established if we are to enter into the Kingdom of God?
4. Who must have preeminence in all things? Colossians 1:18 
5. Who is the church system following today?
6. God showed Ezekiel the coming together of the of His body and how they would be together to provide the strength for the body to grow up into the .
7. When God knits the body together in love, it will become what? 
8. What is God creating in His body?
9. How long has the flesh ruled in man's life?
10. All that is accomplished without Christ is wood, hay and stubble which will come to and be in the fire of .
11. When God reunites his body and sets His head upon it, what kind of flesh will He lay upon it?
12. Until man receives the fullness of the Spirit, the anointing can only sit where?
13. What will God's temple be erected from?
14. God is not going to dwell in temples made with but He is going to dwell in a body that is in the Spiritual realm. II Corinthians 5:1
15. When will the rivers of living waters flow from our innermost beings?
16. What happened when Ezekiel prophesied? Ezekiel 37:10 

Chapter Six

THE EASTERN GATE 

God gave Ezekiel the revelation of what He was going to do with these dry bones after the shaking was over. After they came bone to His bone and He had laid sinew upon them, He then put flesh and skin upon them. This is the time that the fullness of the Spirit of God is going to enter into the body of Christ.

Those bones lived. They stood upon their feet and became an exceeding great army. The church sings the song, "We are the army of God marching through the land". There is no great army of God marching through the land today. Most of God's army is cowering back in their comfortable pews, afraid something is going to happen to their easy way of life. With those, God's shaking is not complete.

The prophet Joel spoke of this great army that God is raising up in the earth, of which He will become the head.

"Blow Ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand;" *** Joel 2:1

This prophecy was given to those who are alive in the Day of the Lord, the time of God's judgment in the earth. Joel relates: 

"A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations." *** Joel 2:2 

The day God is revealing unto Joel is a day of clouds, gloominess and thick darkness (judgment). Then he speaks of a people, a great people, who are as the morning. There has never been a people like this in the earth.

"And the Lord shall utter His voice before His army: for His camp is very great: for He is strong that executeth His Word: for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?" *** Joel 2:11

The Lord is going to utter His voice before His army, His camp, or His great body. These are a strong people who have received strength. They have been knit together with the rest of His body. These are those that execute the Word of God. These are those who, when the Word was prophesied unto them, shook together with the rest of the body and became the living Word of God. The Word has become the anointed Word in their lives.

Joel states that the day that is coming is great and very terrible. Who can abide it? Only those who have become part of this great army God is raising up in the earth will abide that great and terrible day of the Lord. Joel reveals where God's army abides:

"A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them." *** Joel 2:3

A fire is before them and a flame behind them. They are in the midst of the fire, but before them it is as the garden of Eden, the renewed earth. This is the vision that will take them through the fire. Jesus spoke to John on the Isle of Patmos:

"And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful." *** Revelation 21:5

God's army will be His ministers during the time His judgment is in the earth. God is sending this great shaking now, so that His army He is preparing and raising up in the earth may come forth in all His power and authority.

"The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:" *** Joel 2:10

Before God's army can stand upon their feet, their bone must come together with His bone. And before His army can stand upon their feet, their feet must be healed. We are given a picture of this healing in the lame man at the gate "Beautiful". 

Shortly after the Day of Pentecost, Peter and John went up to the temple at the ninth hour to pray. They saw a man there who had been lame from his mother's womb. People carried him to the gate "Beautiful" every day, and he begged alms of all who entered into the temple. 

This is a picture of the body of Christ in the earth today. This man was lame from his mother's womb. He lay in front of the temple of God, but he could not enter in because his feet were crippled. The church has been able by the Spirit and by the Word to see the temple of God, but they have not been able to enter in because they have not had their feet healed. Their bone has not come together with His bone. They need someone to prophesy the Word of God to them as God commanded His ministers. They need the Words of life spoken by the power and authority that can only come from the anointing of God.

This man lay at the gate where the people entered into the temple. The temple faced toward the east. This man lay facing the Eastern Gate. Many have been taught about the Eastern Gate and the return of Jesus. Today the Eastern Gate is bricked up. Many have taught that when Jesus returns, He will open that Eastern Gate. They relate that this would probably be televised, because the Word states that every eye will see Him at His return. These teachings are man's carnal understanding of the Spiritual Word of God. 

Ezekiel was the prophet to whom God revealed the sealing of the Eastern Gate to.

"Then He brought me back the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary which looketh toward the east; and it was shut.

Then said the Lord unto me; This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the Lord, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut.

It is for the prince; the prince, He shall sit in it to eat bread before the Lord; He shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate, and shall go out by the way of the same." *** Ezekiel 44:1-3

God showed Ezekiel the Eastern Gate and it was shut. It was shut because the Lord, the God of Israel had entered in by it . When that happened, God closed the entry into the Holy City. When did the Lord, the God of Israel enter into the Eastern Gate? This prophesy was fulfilled when Jesus made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Matthew recorded:

"And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples,

Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me." *** Matthew 21:1-2

Bethphage and the Mount of Olives are on the east side of Jerusalem. When His disciples brought Jesus this ass colt that never a man sat on, Jesus rode this ass through the Eastern Gate into the city of Jerusalem. Jesus prepared the way for all those who would follow Him into that Holy City, New Jerusalem. When He made His triumphal entry into the city, the way was shut until the day that His body would follow Him into the temple of the living God.

Ezekiel was shown that that gate was for the prince, and the prince shall sit in it to eat bread before the Lord. Princes are the sons of the king. Jesus is not coming back as the prince. He is coming back as the ruling and reigning King. The Eastern Gate is sealed until the princes, the sons of God, are assembled to enter into that Holy City.

Ezekiel was shown that the princes would enter by the way of the porch and go out by the same. Jesus revealed for all who have Spiritual understanding that He is the door (gate) to the

sheepfold. John recorded:

"I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." *** John 10:9

Those who will enter in by the way of the example that Jesus left, will enter through that gate to partake of the bread of life. These will be consumed by the eternal life that dwells in them through the Spirit of the living God. 

The man lying at the Eastern Gate is a perfect example of the church system in the earth today. There is nothing wrong with them except they cannot walk. Their feet have been crippled from the womb, or birth of Christianity, and they lie where man has placed them, begging for their existence. Those who laid them there were unable to deliver them from their affliction. They could only put them into a position to see God's promise, but were unable to provide the way to enter into it.

Then came along Peter and John. They came at the ninth hour. The ninth hour is the time of judgment or the coming to the end of the flesh. The body of Christ in the earth today was foretold when Jesus was on the cross. Mark recorded:

"And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour." *** Mark 15:33 

Jesus' time on the cross typifies the time just before His body comes to the end of its flesh. From the sixth hour until the ninth hour the whole earth would be covered with darkness. Joel related that it was a day of darkness, gloominess and thick darkness. Isaiah recorded this same day:

"For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee." *** Isaiah 60:2

At the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" The man laying at the gate "Beautiful" thought he had been forsaken, but God had sent His prophets to him to prophesy as the Lord commanded. When Peter and John got there,

"Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us." *** Acts 3:4

Peter said, "Look on us." He did not say, "Look at us." They were not drawing attention to themselves, but what was on them. What had come upon each of them on the Day of Pentecost? The anointing! Peter said, "Don't look at us, but look at the anointing which is upon us. We are not your benefactors. But look to the anointing." When man quits drawing attention to himself and begins to point God's body to the anointing, things are going to begin to happen. Peter went on,

"Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk." *** Acts 3:6

Peter related to the man that money was not going to change his condition. The only thing that would strengthen those crippled feet was the anointing that was upon John and himself. He told the man to rise up and walk. This man, as the church, had never walked. But something was about to happen. By the anointing that was upon Peter he, 

" ...took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength." *** Acts 3:7

Peter did not ask him if he was healed. He knew by the Word of God that he was healed. He had prophesied as the Lord

commanded, and he pulled him up on those ankles that had come bone to his bone and had received strength to stand to become part of that great army that God is raising up in the earth.

This man did not go back and thank those who had allowed him to remain a cripple. He did not go out to polish up his testimony of what God had done. He recognized where his healing had come from. It came from the anointing that was on Peter and John, and he never looked back.

"And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God." *** Acts 3:8

When this body of Christ was raised up they went into the temple together, walking and leaping and praising God. He arose out of the dust of the old Adam nature by the anointing. He entered that sealed gate, which was the veil of the flesh, into the presence of the living God. This was not done through silver and gold. It was not accomplished by the precepts and doctrines of men. It was not ordered by some ecclesiastical head-quarters. God needs none of these things to accomplish His purpose in His body. All He needs is anointed men who will prophesy the way God has commanded them to prophesy; and that is speaking the Word of God with power and authority.

God asked Ezekiel, "Can these bones live?" When the anointing came, they lived. God told Ezekiel to prophesy something else: 

"Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel." *** Ezekiel 37:12

God has promised to open the graves and cause them to come up out of their graves and bring them into the land of Israel. God spoke through Daniel that many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth are going to awake out of their sleep of death. Some are going to awake to everlasting righteousness. These are those whose feet have been healed. These will enter into the Holy City. 

The others will awake, but for these, it will be too late because they did not heed, nor act upon, the true prophet's words who spoke the Word of Life to them. These will awake to shame and everlasting contempt. These will go through the cleansing fire of the wrath, because they have refused to be cleansed by the cloven tongue's fire of the Holy Spirit. 

A picture of this resurrection of the saints was revealed when Jesus arose from the dead. At Jesus' death the veil in the temple was rent (torn) from top to bottom, *** Matthew 27:51

"And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,

And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many." *** Matthew 27:52-53

God promised to open the graves and bring His people up out of their graves. Jesus our example was the first resurrection from the dead. Luke recorded in the book of Acts,

"That Christ should suffer, and that He should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles." *** Acts 26:23

Jesus was the first to rise from the dead, but His resurrection was only the foreshadowing of those who have awakened from their Adam sleep, and are coming out of their dust existence. Matthew recorded that these saints who went into the Holy City came out of their graves after Jesus' resurrection and appeared unto many. 

God is raising up an army for all the world to see. Those who are asleep in the earth today are going to have their feet healed, and they will go walking and leaping and praising God right into the Holy City of God. The veil of the flesh will have been torn wide open. The way has been prepared and the Eastern Gate will be opened to His princes, His sons, the body of Christ. 

After Jesus' resurrection, when the disciples went to visit the tomb, as they entered the tomb, they saw the grave clothes, 

"And the napkin, that was about His head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself." *** John 20:7

The napkin that covered His face was not with the grave clothes. It was lying by itself. The napkin is what concealed the glory. When Moses came down from Mt. Sinai he had to put a napkin over his face because of the glory of God. In his dust state, man could not look upon the glory. Now the glory has been revealed. When we enter into the presence of the living God we will have gone beyond the veil of the flesh, and we will see Him as He is, because we will be like Him, *** I John 3:2.

God is speaking to His body today as He spoke to the resurrected Lazarus, when Jesus with a loud voice said, "Lazarus, come forth," 

"And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go." *** John 11:44

Today God is trying to release His body from their grave clothes, He desires to remove the napkin, so that His glory may be revealed in each life. God's desire is to reveal His glory in those who have risen from their sleep in the dust of the earth, to walk and leap and praise their God, and enter into everlasting life. 

God's body must be loosed from their grave clothes with which the church system has bound them. The napkin needs to be removed that has concealed His glory. God is desiring His ministers to speak the Word of Life unto His people. Only God's Word will cause His people to come out of their graves and enter into His Holy City. 

As God reveals His Word and anoints it with His Spirit, those who will hear what the Spirit is saying unto the churches will arise and go forth in the power and authority of the resurrected Christ. His Glory will be revealed in them and this mighty army will go through the land, not looking to the right nor to the left. Their eyes will be on the Head, and as Joel proclaimed, "There has never been a people like this upon the earth, and never shall be again." These are God's eternal people dwelling in His eternity. Those who have been joined bone to His bone will sit in the Eastern Gate and partake of the bread of life in His presence.

FOR FURTHER DISCUSSION
* A Day of Darkness
* God's Great Army
* The Lame Man at the Gate Beautiful 
* The Crippled Church
* The Sealing of the Eastern Gate and 
* The Princes who shall Enter the Gate
* The Cross and the End of the Flesh
* Walking, Leaping and Praising God
* Awakening from Adam's Sleep
Chapter Six Questions
1. When is the fullness of the Spirit of God going to enter into the body of Christ?
2. There is no great of God marching through the land today but God is raising up one of which will be the .
3. Who will be able to abide the great and terrible day of the Lord?
4. What role will God's army fulfill during the time of His judgments upon the earth?
5. What must happen before God's army can stand on its feet? 
6. What story in the Bible gives us a picture of the healing of the feet of the body of Christ?
7. The church has been able by the and by the to see the Temple of God, but they have not been able to enter in because they have not had their healed?
8. What was sealed that God revealed to Ezekiel?
9. Why and when was the Eastern Gate shut?
10. Jesus is not coming back as a Prince, but as . 
11. Those who will enter in by the way of the example that Jesus left will enter through the gate and partake of the . 
12. Peter and John came to the lame man the ninth hour. What does the ninth hour represent?
13. What does Jesus' time on the cross typify?
14. When will things begin to happen to God's body?
15. To accomplish His purpose in His body, what does God need? 
16. What was the resurrection of Jesus from the dead a
foreshadowing of?
17. Why is God trying to release His body from the grave clothes and remove the napkin from the face?

Chapter Seven

ALIVE FROM THE DEAD

"And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, *** Ezekiel 37:13

Most have taken this to be that great last day resurrection of the dead, when all those who have gone on before come out of the grave in their old bodies. Then, supposedly, God will change them into their glorified body. Paul addressed this issue in his letter to the Corinthians. They asked Paul,

"But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?

Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened [made alive] except it die:

And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain:

But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased Him, and to every seed his own body." *** I Corinthians 15:35-38 

Paul informed the Corinthians that the body that was buried went back to the earth to bear wheat or perhaps some other grain. God gives every seed a body as it pleases Him. There is a physical resurrection and there is a Spiritual resurrection. God was showing Ezekiel the resurrection of those who will awake from their Adam sleep and arise from their dust existence. Paul told the Corinthians he would show them a mystery (hidden truth), that we will not all sleep (die), but we will all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, *** I Corinthians 15:51-52. These are those whose feet have been healed. These will enter into the presence of God, walking and leaping and praising God.

There is much confusion on this issue because the church, with their physical, carnal understanding of God's Spiritual Word, has come to their own conclusions as to what the Word says, instead of relying on Spiritual revelation promised by the Father. The church must come to a clear understanding of resurrection in their Christian walk.

Jesus revealed much about resurrection when Lazarus was raised from the dead. Lazarus had been dead for four days when Martha came to meet Jesus. Jesus told her, "Thy brother shall rise again," *** John 11:23. Martha confirmed, "I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day," *** John 11:24. Martha had been taught the resurrection of the dead from the Old

Testament. This teaching is still in the church system today. They completely ignore the revelation that Jesus revealed unto Martha when He spoke:

"I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:" *** John 11:25

Jesus proclaimed, "I am the resurrection and the life". If Jesus was only speaking about those who have gone by way of the grave, then it would be necessary for us to die before we could partake of the resurrected life. Yet many believe that dying is the only way to have a relationship with the Son or with the Father. Jesus proclaimed, "I am the resurrection and the life." Jesus could have emptied every tomb in that cemetery, but it was not the day of resurrection. He raised Lazarus as an example of all those who sleep in the dust of the earth, to come out of their dust existence and stand in the presence of the living Christ. 

Lazarus is the Greek word for Eleazar. His names means "helped of God, or whom God helps". Jesus spoke to Martha, "Though he were dead, yet shall he live". 

God told Ezekiel He would open the grave and bring His body out of the grave. The grave is the place of the dead. The grave is also referred to in the Word as prisons. The Psalmist David wrote:

"Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name: the righteous shall compass me about; for thou shalt deal bountifully with me." *** Psalm 142:7

The grave and prison are places of darkness. Darkness is caused by the absence of light. Today many churches are places of darkness because they have rejected the Light of Life, the Holy Spirit of Truth, that came to lead men out of spiritual darkness into all truth. These churches have become prison houses and graveyards for those who do not know the way, the tr