WHITEWASHED TOMBS
By Bonnie Jones
May, 2020
Sometimes the word the Lord gives me for the body of Christ is rather stern and/or startling. However it is not for me to question the heart of the Father, it is my place to be obedient to speak His word to His children. First of all God is Love and because of His great abounding unconditional love for us He knows every aspect of our very being. He knows our thoughts before we think them. He knows our beginning from our end. (Psalm 139) There is nothing that we do that ever takes God by surprise. He knew us before He formed us in our mother’s womb. (Jeremiah 1:5)
Although He’s forgotten our repentant sin, (Psalm 103:11-12) the Father is well aware of our shortcomings. The desire for God’s divine nature was birthed in us at salvation. It was a free gift yet we need to grow up into His nature. (Ephesians 4:15) He knows that we will be tempted by our old sin nature and the carnal world around us. Yet we must rule over our thoughts and decisions. He cannot do this for us.
In the scripture below we hear a conversation between God and Cain. Cain is angry with God because his offering was not acceptable while his brother Abel’s was. God knew the hurt, rejection and an ill temper brewing in Cain’s heart. Therefore in His tender mercy and loving-kindness He gave Cain a stern word yet an opportunity to repent. But Cain’s hatred and jealousy toward his brother was greater than his love toward God. In the very next verse, he lures Abel into the field and there kills him.
And Abel brought of the firstborn of his flock and of the fat portions. And the Lord had respect and regard for Abel and for his offering, but for Cain and his offering He had no respect or regard. So Cain was exceedingly angry and indignant, and he looked sad and depressed.And the Lord said to Cain, why are you angry? And why do you look sad and depressed and dejected? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin crouches at your door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.And Cain said to his brother, Let us go out to the field. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. (Genesis 4:4-8 AMPC)
I believe this is true of each believer today and throughout all of history. We need to continuously take our thoughts captive (2 Corinthians 2:5) and bring them into the obedience of Jesus Christ therefore ruling over the kingdom of darkness. Look at Judas! Jesus knew he would betray Him yet there was opportunity for him to repent even after the fact but he didn’t.
When Judas, His betrayer, saw that [Jesus] was condemned, [Judas was afflicted in mind and troubled for his former folly; and] with remorse [with little more than a selfish dread of the consequences] he brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, (Matthew 27:3 AMPC)
Although I believe Judas loved Jesus but his love of money and selfish ambition was more valuable to him. Therefore he returned the thirty pieces of silver because he feared the chief priests and elders would turn against him. He was more concerned about his own reputation. The remorse he felt was toward himself not the Master. When the priests rejected him as well as the silver he ran off and hanged himself.
Jesus knew Judas would betray Him and not repent. John 17:12 states that; While I was with them, I kept and preserved them in Your Name [in the knowledge and worship of You]. Those You have given Me I guarded and protected, and not one of them has perished or is lost except the son of perdition [Judas Iscariot—the one who is now doomed to destruction, destined to be lost], that the Scripture might be fulfilled. This had to take place to fulfill scripture. Yet I believe it reveals a dark side of man’s heart. Mankind can express love yet hate can rule if they are not totally committed to the one they love. It’s only by knowing the person named “LOVE” that we begin to love others unconditionally and walk in His divine nature.
It’s because the Lord so dearly loves us that He corrects us. The writer of Hebrews 12:6 tells us that the Lord corrects and disciplines everyone whom He loves, and He punishes, even scourges, every son whom He accepts and welcomes to His heart and cherishes. (AMPC). On that note, I’m going to share the word the Lord gave me this morning. I believe it’s a stern word yet out of His heart of love He’s asking us to bear witness to His Word and repent while we are still home bound to avoid public exposure when the stay at home order is lifted. With all humility and joint concern, I submit this to you the reader.
Note: The words the Lord spoke are in quotations and my comments are indented.
This morning (April 29, 2020) I heard the Lord say, “People can perform from the sands of human time!” Needless to say, this caught my attention and I grabbed my pen to write. This is what He said,
“Not all the trees are righteous”, says the Lord. “Some of their roots go deep into the sewers of mankind. They’ve never been washed in the blood of the Lamb. Each week they put on their suits and hats and fancy dresses and trot off to church. They’re great performers, yes performers! They can put on a great show and everyone believes they are righteous. But I say they are whitewashed tombs. Now I’m dealing with their soul and allowing them time to repent. Repent and turn from the wickedness of your heart, says God or else I’ll expose you publicly! Amen.”
“All mankind is making a showing of their own free will right now. I’m examining everyone’s heart and showing the wickedness that lies within. All mankind has the seed of Adam and all mankind needs to repent. This is the day I have made so repent and turn from the wickedness of your heart and do not turn back to it again.”
When we are born again, we are born into the Seed of Righteousness in Christ Jesus. But to the degree we are not committed to His righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ, the seed of Adam continues to rule over us. Fear, doubt, unbelief, anger, jealousy, pride, prejudice and hypocrisy are some of these seeds. The roots of these seeds can go deep into our soul and out of them shall flow the fruit of unrighteousness.
He went on to say,
“How can you avoid turning back you ask? Keep your eyes on Me. Make Me the only idol of your heart. Turn from your options when tempted and say no, I will follow Christ! Take authority over your fleshly desires. No, No, No, is the word to become accustomed to and say it to the Devil. Yes Lord I will follow You is the word on your lips and in your heart. Follow Me says God and put on the cloak of righteousness. (Isaiah 61:10) These are the days says God that I’m pulling the covers back and exposing man’s nakedness. All things man does in secret will be exposed for all mankind to see.”
My Comment; I’ve taken an excerpt from evangelical pastor Colin S. Smith’s commentary on James 1:15. He gives an excellent understanding of this scripture on hidden sin.
Then the evil desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully matured, brings forth death. (James 1:15 AMPC)
James is using a picture here—desire conceives. The point about conception is that it is a hidden thing. Nobody knows when it actually happens, and it only becomes evident later on. When the impulse to sin remains hidden, undetected, and unchallenged, sin will grow. James speaks about “sin, when it is full-grown.” Sin grows, and once it takes root, it will gain strength in your life. Like a weed that has become established, it will become harder and harder to pull out. When it is full-grown, sin “gives birth to death.” So, there are three steps to destruction: Sin hidden, sin growing, and sin bringing death. We do not want to go down this road. We want to follow the way of repentance—the hidden path to a transformed life. (Colin S. Smith)
Continuing, the Lord said;
“You shall see many fall from grace says God as secret love affairs are exposed in the church and financial advisors come forward to return stolen funds. Amen. There’s a house cleaning taking place like you’ve never seen before and it’s going to be ugly. Do not speak ill about your brother; no one is without hidden sin. All sin is going to be exposed in Jesus name. Amen.”
In Summary;
Personally I take this word to heart. I believe all people; tribes, tongues and nations are going through an individual time of shaking and sifting. Right now we cannot gather in the house of God to worship and this is all part of God’s ultimate plan for mankind. Shaking comes to the house of God first and we (individually) are that house. And we had better let Him show us the wickedness of our heart and repent quickly. Don’t resist what the Holy Spirit is doing. Let Him wash away the moral filth of the daughters (and sons) of Zion so we can walk in His holy ways.
After the Lord has washed away the [moral] filth of the daughters of Zion [pride, vanity, haughtiness] and has purged the bloodstains of Jerusalem from the midst of it by the spirit and blast of judgment and by the spirit and blast of burning and sifting. (Isaiah 4:4)
Then the Lord will place a canopy of His glory over us for protection from the snare of the enemy because we walk in His ways. We’ve allowed the Lord to purge us by turning from worldly desires and turning our entire being toward Him.
And the Lord will create over the whole site, over every dwelling place of Mount Zion and over her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory shall be a canopy (a defense of divine love and protection). And there shall be a pavilion for shade in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge and a shelter from storm and from rain. (Isaiah 4:5-6 AMPC)
All people sin and fall short of perfection. No one lives up to God’s standard, which is sinless perfection (Romans 3:23). In Matthew 23:2 Christ speaks out against the hypocrisy of the “Scribes and Pharisees.” These were two of the established religious leadership groups in His day. Jesus says that “they say things and do not do them” and that sounds like what we today call hypocrisy. But with these leaders it was more than an occasional moral lapse, they continually, with intention desired to cover up who they really were.
But as one studies this chapter more, it becomes clear that their problem was not just an occasional, unintentional moral lapse, but a continual, intentional desire to cover up who they really were. These religious leaders wanted to appear to be something they were not. Religion made them look holy but in reality they were impure whitewashed tombs.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, pretenders (hypocrites)! For you are like tombs that have been whitewashed, which look beautiful on the outside but inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything impure. (Matthew 23:27 AMPC)
The reference to “whitewashed tombs” would be very familiar to the Jewish people in Christ’s day. Before the major feast day of Passover, the tombs along the road to Jerusalem were painted white so that anyone coming to Jerusalem could easily avoid them. Because touching them or even coming too close to a tomb would cause them to be ceremonially unclean and unable to participate in the Passover. These religious leaders, like the white tombs looked beautiful, but on the inside was death and decay. They indeed were hypocrites full of indignation and religious rituals wearing a mask of holiness.
When we are born again, we are born into the Seed of Righteousness in Christ Jesus. But to the degree we are not committed to His righteousness through faith in Christ, the seed of Adam continues to have a hook in us. I believe that to the degree of commitment we make to Christ, we allow the blood of the Lamb to cover the seed of Adam. Some of these roots go very deep in our soul. Some people have suffered many deep hurts and painful experiences but never allowed the Lord to fully heal them. They still choose to hold onto their pain. And out of this pain they react and cover it. This is Adam’s seed. But if they submit it to Christ, God will remove it. No longer shall that root remain in the sewer of mankind, it will be washed in the blood of the Lamb.
Here’s one thing the Lord revealed to me today; He said, “You’ve asked to see people like I do yet you judge each one and find fault. That’s the job of the accuser not My beloved. Now humble yourself this day and repent and I will forgive you but you must not turn back to your judgmental demeanor.” This was alarming! It was not the devil shaming me. No, it was our loving Father shining His glory on a throne of my soul to bring me to repentance. After all, the root of this sin is unrighteousness, which leads to death not life. But God is so loving and kind He reminded me that there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:1)
Am I saying that the blood of Christ is not sufficient? No, absolutely not! And you will not lose your salvation. What I’m saying is that there are areas of our life we have not fully submitted to Christ. And they continue to produce Adam’s unredeemed fruit instead of the fruit of God’s righteousness. Until we fully surrender all of our unrighteous seeds, we can’t walk in the fullness of God’s unconditional love. Although we can receive His love, we are unable to release it to others because the seeds of unrighteousness hinder us.
I believe the closet is going to be bare when Christians take inventory with the help of the Lord’s divine magnifying glass. I would much rather repent now and turn from my wickedness than have my nakedness openly exposed. Amen.
Angels On Assignment
America is on the brink of breakthrough and harvest is right at hand although I believe we must first go through a dark season. But then get ready for the billion-soul harvest!
The Scroll Opened And Unrolled
At 5 o’clock on the morning of May 27th the Lord began to speak to me so I grabbed my pen and pad and began to write. I believe it’s a powerful message and pertinent for this time. I feel it’s important to relay His word exactly as I heard it.
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Thanks Bonnie! This confirms what the Lord has been saying to me. 2 chr 7:14 & 2 chr 29. Basically that it’s time to “clean house”...His way.
I found this very encouraging 🥰
A true word from God. Not an easy one to give, but none the less very true. Amen!
I have had thing’s come from deep in my life that I thought were settled before God, but guess what, they weren’t.