This exposure story, Dead Men’s Bones, illustrates two images: one on top of the ground and one below the ground. I assure you, dead men’s bones are an ugly sight, and ugliness is an unavoidable description of them after the flesh dies.
Dead men’s bones are an inevitable thing of uselessness, and as far as I know, nothing else exceeds their worthlessness. Their practical purpose has ended, and they aren’t different from the bone of any other dead creature.
Furthermore, they remain in the grave for thousands of years because they are the last substance of the human to deteriorate. I assure you, there’s nothing anyone can do to make dead men’s bones appear pretty, and we all know they’ll never be pleasing to look upon after the flesh turns to dust.
However, we can make the burial site of dead men’s bones pretty and clean outside the grave with some hard work, but six feet under the ground or within a tomb. Dead men’s bones are still ugly and dirty and useless, and they are nothing special without a spirit.
This informative story is a metaphor story example, and this story parallels and illustrates men and women who are clean on the outside but ugly on the inside. Similar to a clean and pretty gravesite that can cover up and hide ugly dead men’s bones.
The Son of God speaks the following exposure scripture of God, describing the Pharisees, the scribes, and a parallel analogy. The statement means the following scripture has a dual meaning, and the metaphor of it fits the description of a false appearance.
I am sure the following awareness scripture is extremely meaningful and revealing. It portrays a description of anyone guilty of having a hidden, ungodly corrupt image on the inside of the heart.
Matthew 23:27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites (means you, insincere people)! For ye are like unto (means the same as) whited (means pretty painted) sepulchers (means pretty cave graves),
Matthew 23:27, which indeed appears beautiful outward, but are within full of (ugly and dirty) dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.
The extraordinary Son of God had a picturesque way of illustrating His words, and how He reveals His analogies put His words into a picture form. Listening to the Son of God speaking was similar to looking at a picture; no one can create parallels and metaphors better than Him.
Positively, the Son of God compared the scribes and the Pharisees to the outward appearance of a beautiful gravesite, a gravesite full of ugly and dirty dead men’s bones on the inside but their wicked thoughts veiled from the mind of everyone around them by outer beauty pleasing to the eyes.
Indeed, the Illustration the Son of God makes about the scribes, Pharisees, and anyone who fits His analogy. It’s a character image that portrays pretty and clean on the outside, but deception is involved, and the character image of the scribes and Pharisees is ugly, dirty, and unclean on the inside.
It’s easy to see that Herod’s temple and many churches today are parallel and illustrated in the same painted-up and pretty way. They have a beautiful outward appearance and appear holy to the eyesight, but they are full of extortions, uncleanness, and manufactured traditions.
However, this revealing story about men of deception hasn’t anything to do with buildings. Although it’s an awareness story, it has everything to do with a false image. For this reason, pretty painted-up gravesites are a metaphor illustration, and their accurate picture coincides with a deceptive character image.
I assure you that a beautiful outward appearance deceives many because people put too much confidence in a designed image. Especially if they assume the outward appearance reflects the inward appearance.
I guarantee you that having a beautiful outward appearance doesn’t mean a thing to God, and I am sure the beauty of the flesh will not influence any of His decision-making toward anyone.
I assure you a beautiful outward appearance will not be a free pass into Heaven, regardless of whether it’s a male or female. It’s because appearance hasn’t a thing to do with godliness, and many beautiful things will burn in the fire.
Positively, it doesn’t take a genius to know a burning fire isn’t concerned about a beautiful outward appearance, and not any more than a pretty gravesite is concerned about dead men’s bones. I am confident an attractive appearance will help in some situations among our fellow people, but not on Judgment Day.
Therefore, a burning fire has one objective: it burns whatever is cast into it, just like the flesh falls from every bone. Furthermore, when God sees men and women, He looks at their appearance portrayed by the heart, not their pretty appearance.
In the following scripture, as accurate as the sun’s pattern, the perfect Son of God explains a false image better than I can, and it’s because He can look inside our hearts and see the truth. I want you to know that a veil of pretty smiles and expensive clothing can’t stop Him from reading our thoughts.
Matthew 23:28 Even so ye (scribes and Pharisees) also outwardly appear righteous (means you look good and honest) unto men,
Matthew 23:28, but within ye are full of hypocrisy (acting a part, lies, insincerity, and pretending to be virtuous, but full of sin) iniquity.
The above scripture proves that the righteous outward appearance of the scribes, Pharisees, and the chief priests didn’t trick God’s excellent and wise Son. I want you to know that our Messiah disapproves of lies, insincerity, and pretending to be something different than the sincerity of our hearts.
Obviously, this world is a stage, and many people are actors, and insincerity is probably more typical than sincerity. This truth means only a few people are what we behold through appearance. Sadly, I must say, pretense and acting seem like a natural way of life for most people.
For the above reason, a seemingly righteous appearance isn’t always accurate, and trying to read an appearance is similar to playing poker. However, I want to warn you that surviving among the actors and not being taken advantage of will be hard to avoid without help.
However, you and I do not have to be tricked by a false outward appearance if we have a strong Holy Ghost living within us. Nor do we have to fit the analogy of dead men’s bones and be fierce deceivers hidden behind fake smiles and insincere words.
This truth means our inward appearance can entwine our outward appearance if our hearts are sincere. As for our gift of discernment, we are given by the power of the Holy Ghost. It can look deep inside the soul and warn us concerning the actor and the presence of false appearances.
Therefore, all Christians must listen to the Spirit within them and give our power of discernment credibility. But for sure, we shouldn’t evaluate any person solely on their outward appearance or the pleasantry of their smile.
I assure you what I say is true, and the wolves in the sheep’s clothing analogy describe many people. Although I warn you, there’s a “but” and an “if” accompanying a strong Holy Ghost and a strong gift of discernment.
Indeed, the following statement is the formula for having a strong Holy Ghost and a thoughtful gift of discernment. However, I want you to be warned to prevent failure, the formula has stipulations. Truly, for the benefit of a strong Holy Spirit, we must live by the stipulations.
This truth means “if” we’ll keep the commandments of God” and “if” we’ll keep our living temple clean for the Holy Ghost to live within, then our power of discernment will be strong, and the Holy Ghost will teach us many things. I assure you, our hearts will be defensive against evil influence, and tricking us into doing wrong will not be easy for a deceiver.
However, “if” we do not keep God’s commandments and our living temple clean. Then, the invisible Holy Ghost will have to avoid being contaminated by the unclean, and He will not live within us, and we will not have a strong gift of discernment.
Nor will we be wise enough to understand the wonderful word of God the way we should understand it, and we should do everything we can to increase our knowledge from above. I want you to know keeping a clean-living temple will help increase our knowledge from above.
Therefore, the primary stipulations applying to us are to live by the commandments of God and not be overly concerned about appearances. After all, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and commandment keepers are beautiful people before the eyes of God.
Furthermore, it’s important not to eat the unclean, lest we become unclean ourselves. Truly, if we eat the unclean, our inward appearance will not match our pretty outward appearance, and because we love the Holy Ghost, we should avoid eating anything unclean.
I guarantee our wonderful God likes a righteous heart and hates a falsely righteous appearance. Sadly, I am one hundred percent sure most false appearances in this world are designed to deceive someone.
Conclusively, dead men’s bones and a false outward appearance and pretense and acting. All three are entwined together to create the scenario analogy of a beautiful gravesite. This truth means pretty means nothing in the realm of things, but godliness means everything.
This truth means flowers on the grave, a painted-up white fence, and a manicured sepulcher are the outward appearance. However, nothing changes the facts; a grave is still full of dead men’s bones. For this reason, I warn you, in a short while, we’ll all be reduced to dead men’s bones, except for our spirit.
Paul Douglas Castle
Bible story writer