CHAPTER 8
THE TABLE OF SHEWBREAD
xodus 25:23-25, "Thou shalt also
make a table of shittim wood: two cubits shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit
and a half the height thereof. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, and make thereto a crown of gold round
about. And thou shalt make unto it a border of an hand breadth round about, and thou shalt make a golden crown
to the border thereof round about."
THE TABLE OF SHEWBREAD represents the third church experience as shown in the tabernacle.
THE MEASUREMENTS
Two cubits long and one cubit wide is a square of two, which would signify the WITNESS of the Spirit and the Word. One cannot have the Word without the Spirit, for it is the Spirit that enlightens the Word to us. One and a half cubits high still shows the lack in the fulness of God. This experience of eating at the table of shewbread was not intended to bring the church to the full stature of Jesus Christ, but it was another experience on the way.
THE KING'S TABLE
The crown on the edge of the table, and then the breadth of a man's hand as a border, and another crown at the bottom (one crown was turned up and one crown was turned down), gives the double significance of the table, being the king's table, and at the same time, a place of kingship through suffering and tribulation. The crown turned up was a sign of an exalted position; turned down was a sign of humility. All through these types, we see the gold as the nature of God, "pure gold." The vessels on the table were of pure gold. Spoons, bowls and covers were also of gold. The table itself was wood overlaid with gold - humanity, with God outside. But the dishes and spoons and bowls were of "pure gold," signifying that the service at this point of God's dealing with man, or with His church, is purely of the Spirit, though man is used.
FEASTING ON JESUS CHRIST
The whole operation of the third church realm, as represented here in the tabernacle, is a type of man feasting
on Christ.
John 6:48-51, "I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This
is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which
came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my
flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."
This does not merely represent man feasting on the word of God from the pages of the Bible, BUT it represents man
feasting on the living CHRIST Himself. Feasting on Christ is a spiritual business, not a memorizing of scriptures
or any other physical act, but an entering into the Spirit, and a submission to the Spirit of God, who is able
to feed us with the living word.
We feed upon Jesus Christ in three dimensions.
(1) The Christ Within - Christ is in the Holy Ghost. When the believer receives the Holy Ghost, he receives
Him in his spirit. Immediately, the Holy Ghost begins to energize the soul, so that the Christ might enter. The
still, small voice within the soul of the believer should be nurtured and obeyed. Very often, our tendency is to
obey the voices from without, and to reject the voice within. As a matter of fact, the majority of the churches
teach that we must obey our leaders, and that women must obey their demon-possessed husbands, no matter what they
say or what they do. I am teaching that we obey the HoIy Ghost. The Holy Ghost in the believer will lead us to
obey good and not evil. If a woman takes this as license to rebel against her husband, or if any Christian takes
this as encouragement to rebel against his leader, then that Christian is not hearing the voice of the Spirit.
The Holy Ghost leads us into all truths.
(2) We feed on the Christ in the body of believers. Those who have gone before left us very real teachings
and examples which we should keenly observe and follow. Since there are so many counterfeits, we have to depend
on the Holy Ghost. God, therefore, will send to the body the necessary spiritual food they need. In the assembly,
there is a movement of the Spirit, which cannot be found anywhere else. Where the two or three are gathered together,
the Spirit will move with gifts and blessings which are not present anywhere else. "Not forsaking the assembling
of ourselves together." Hebrews 10:25. Two words stand out in this quotation: "ourselves," and
"together." "Ourselves" in this passage means those who are one with you in the Spirit, and
"together" means being in one accord. On many occasions, many assemble, but they are not together and
they are not the "yourselves." Sometimes we gather together under man's auspices, and man dictates the
terms upon which we meet, therefore God is secondary in the gathering or the assembly. Every assembling of Christians
must have God as King of the congregation, and He must be thus recognized in our gatherings. The following scripture
will bear this point out.
Matthew 18:19-20, "Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing
that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered
together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."
This passage clearly shows that Jesus Christ attends our meetings, and that the key of our gathering is being "together."
(3) We feed on Christ in a third dimension in His presence and person. This means that the man Christ Jesus
is walking about our houses, in our bedrooms, in our dining rooms, in our living rooms and in our churches. He
is not there as a visitor to whom we will show kindness, but as Lord and King. If this is so, then we Will feed
on Him night and day, sleeping or waking.
THE SPOKEN WORD
From the Living Word (The "Logos," John 1:1) comes the spoken word. When the living word is within,
then the words spoken are SPIRIT and life. When we speak in the voice of Christ, all the AGENTS OF GOD obey us.
THE SPOKEN WORD, therefore, is the commands of the Spirit carried out by the angelic servants of God who are "ministering
spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation." Hebrews 1:14.
The Old Testament was written as a type and shadow of the things which are to come to pass in Christ Jesus. Thus
everything written in the Old Testament points to Christ. Christ therefore, is the theme of the scripture. One
will inquire if some statements of scripture were not instructions to the Jews for proper living in the physical.
The answer is yes, BUT since the spiritual made the physical, there can be nothing in the physical that is not
a lesson or a shadow of the SPIRITUAL.
DESERT CHRISTIANS
God was dealing with a people who were traveling through the natural desert, and He deliberately gave them rules and laws for their subsistence which were good in the natural, but which when applied in the SPIRITUAL is also good for SPIRITUAL DESERT CHRISTIANS. In the spiritual sense, we are in dry places. Man and the devil have overshadowed the gospel with so much trash, that had it not been like pure gold, we would not have been able to redeem it. This world of sinners is indeed a desert place. Therefore, even as Christ was that Rock which gave the Israelites water, so is He now in our desert. 1st Corinthians 10: 4, 11.
THE CLEAN ANIMALS
Leviticus 11:2, "Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, These are the beasts which ye shall eat
among all the beasts that are on the earth."
Jesus said, "eat of me." Here we find a principle laid down; the principle of taking into one's spiritual
system that which is life and that which is wholesome. Eve fell when she believed the lie of the devil. She had
fellowship with Satan and she tasted of death. SHE FELL FROM GOD CONSCIOUSNESS TO SELF CONSCIOUSNESS; from life
to death. In the present confusion of things, one finds it hard at times to identify that which is of God and Christ,
or that which only bears the coloring of God designed to deceive and ensnare us. The Christ will appear to us in
many forms and in strange vessels at times, thus it is absolutely necessary for us to be so equipped to know Him.
Matthew 7:16, "Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?"
If a man is doing great miracles, yet cannot live a clean Christian life, do not judge him by the miracles, but
by the life he lives. Victory in the Spirit begins with victory over one's own soulish carnal nature.
EATING CLEAN ANIMALS
In the Old Testament, therefore, when we see the word "eating," we must realize it is the type and
shadow of the act of absorbing within one's own being some spiritual work or influence from without. In this sense,
we can now understand Leviticus 11:3.
"Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted, and cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that shall ye
eat."
The whole lesson of the tabernacle is one of God working through human agents to bring forth life in the earth.
This instruction here is showing us how to assess all AGENTS when they bring the word to us before we absorb it,
and when we absorb it. The key words here are "cheweth the cud" and "parteth the hoof." Those
who chew the cud are those who speak the word, and those who part the hoof are those who walk in the word they
preach. If a minister preaches a wrong word, he will find out his error when he walks in it, and his error will
be made open and known to all. Thus the word of God here requires that we only become part of that person, that
spirit, that word, which is proved by the working or daily life of those who preach it.
2nd Timothy 2:6, "The husbandman that laboreth must be first partaker of the fruits."
One is not equipped to preach patience if he has none. "No love," cannot preach love; "no joy,"
cannot preach joy, lest preaching becomes only a repetition of words and not the "power of God unto salvation."
Romans 1:16. In this passage, the apostle Paul uses the Greek word "dunamis," which is the explosive
power of the Holy Ghost
CHEWING THE CUD
There is no phrase more apt than "chewing the cud" to explain the process of hearing the word, and rehashing it in the mind until the word becomes "flesh" within us. John 1:14. Jesus was the word made flesh. We are flesh being made the word, so that one day we shall be like Him - the living word manifested on earth. "It takes time to be holy" means there is much chewing on the WRITTEN WORD to produce within us the LIVING WORD, so that which is written on the pages of the book may come forth in real life in us.
CLOVEN HOOF
An animal that is cloven footed has the hoof parted in two, and encased in a hard bone-like substance. This
animal walks in mud as well as on stones, and there is hardly a case of sickness in the hoof.
The cloven hoof signifies a spiritual walk that is "shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace."
Ephesians 6:15. The two toes signify the walk that is balanced by the Spirit and the Word. A person who walks in
Spirit alone, and does not believe in the authority and authenticity of the Word, is bound to be tripped up by
Satan somewhere along the way. The written word is the balance which God has placed here for us in our walk. When
the church began to accept dogmas and logical assumptions to add to the word and/or to rationalize it, then it
marked the decline of its spiritual life.
Many teachers of the word assume that since John said in John 21:25 that there were other words spoken by Jesus,
it was a license to add other words to the Bible.
"And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one,
I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written."
Many teachers imply that there are other words and other Bibles just as important and authentic as this one. BECAUSE
OF THIS, I went to the Lord for an answer, as this piece of rationalizing seemed to be well founded.
GOD SPOKE TO ME. The Lord said to me, "That which is written in our Bible is sufficient for your salvation."
This was a most satisfactory answer to me, for I have been discovering that we do not yet even understand that
which is written, that it is just being revealed to us in a deeper measure, and there is much more to come. It
is also true as Paul said,
"But I follow after; if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:12
UNCLEAN MESSENGERS
Leviticus 11:4-8 speaks of the cud chewing animals which are unclean, in spite of their agreeing with the word and chewing the cud. If they do not have cloven hoofs along with the cud chewing, they are UNCLEAN. There is here a basic lesson in discernment by observation. One cannot walk in the Word, except by the Spirit of God. SATAN CAN PREACH THE WORD, but neither he nor his angels, nor sinful carnal man can walk in the WORD. It takes the Spirit of God in man to walk in the Word.
NO IMITATION
If we imitate Christ by our walk only, scripture likens us to the swine who walk with a cloven hoof, but does
not achieve the distinction of chewing the cud. If we preach the right word, but do not walk or live that which
we preach, verse 4 likens us to the camel. Thus our pastures are well prepared by God, and those who obey the Word
of God, which is His revealed will to us, will know the truth, and the truth shall make us free. Here is a scripture
which beautifully illustrates this thought.
John 7:16-17, "Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but His that sent me. If any man
will DO his will he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself."
Let us be reminded here that the word "eat" has the meaning of becoming one with that which we eat. So
that even as our bodies feed by taking in natural food, which supplies energy for our lives, the soul feeds on
spiritual food either from God or from elsewhere. Many times, Jesus made reference to natural and spiritual food
in the same utterance. When Jesus was being tempted of the devil to make stones into bread, He shifted the argument
by one utterance, from the natural to the spiritual
"And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word
of God." Luke 4:4.
Again, there was another occasion when His disciples left Him with the woman at the well in Samaria and went to
procure meat.
"In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat. But He said unto them, I have meat to
eat that ye know not of. Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his
work." John 4:31-32, 34.
THE ANALOGY OF THE FISH
Leviticus 11:9 gives TWO qualities which distinguish the clean fish from the unclean. They must have scales. They must have fins.
The fish with scales is shielded from the water by the scales and is not a part of the water. This is a dry fish in a wet environment. Even the eyes of this fish are shielded with a kind of "contact" lens from the water. The scales also have a rough surface which causes a certain amount of friction when the fish darts along, supplying heat to its body. So the fish draws heat from the cold water. THE SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE of this is that the fish represents the Christian in the world. The water is a type of the world, and the fish is a type of the Christian. He is in the world, but not of the world. He is a paradox, drawing good from an evil environment. A warm-blooded animal in a cold environment, breathing air from the water. He beats the water with his fins to propel himself, unlike the unclean fish which goes with the flow of the water, coiling and uncoiling like a serpent, to propel himself onward.
OVERCOMERS
Beating his way through the waters with his fins is a type of the Christian overcoming the world. Slithering
along like a serpent is the type of a person who has to go along with the world in order to make headway. This
is unclean. BE REMINDED, WE ARE not discussing NATURAL FOOD, but SPIRITUAL principle. For those who think of this
in the natural, I will quote this scripture and leave it there.
"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed
to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a
hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with
thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused,
if it be received with thanksgiving. For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer." 1st Timothy
4:1-5
SPIRITUAL BUT ABOMINABLE
There are those with whom we should not have fellowship among the very spiritual. These are described in Leviticus 11:13 as ABOMINABLE FOWLS. The inference here is that they are birds that defy the laws of gravity and fly above the ground. They are not earth bound, they are SPIRITUAL. These fall into four disfinct kinds.
| 1) The predators | 3) The birds of night |
| 2) The scavengers | 4) Creeping birds |
1) HUMAN PREDATORS
Birds that capture their prey are a type of spiritual men and women who do not have a ONENESS OF MOTIVE in preaching the gospel. Those who preach the gospel with any other motive besides doing the will of the Father are preying on the people of God. They are using the people of God and the gospel as a GIMMICK to foster their ambitions in other areas. Truly, Paul spoke in 1st Corinthians 9:9,
"For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen?"
and in 1st Timothy 5:18, quoting Deuteronomy 25:4,
"Thou shaIt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn."
The phrase, "take care for oxen," simply means that God does not write a bible for oxen.
THIS DOES NOT GIVE the "OX" the right to own the field, as some preachers do.
BIG BUSINESS
Every business must have a "stock in trade," or service which is sold to the public for a consideration or remuneration. The stock in trade of the PREDATORS is the people of God. They buy and sell them and use them as sheep of the pasture. In type, they feed upon their flesh, fleece them and sell the wool, and make merchandise of them, then keep them in darkness in order to be able to hold them for ransom. Actually, what they do is "buy and sell the SOULS of men." Revelation 18:13, last clause.
FEED ON CHRIST
If the people were feeding on the blood and body of Jesus Christ, their spiritual energy would be so great,
that they would overcome their captors and set themselves free. But the predator ministries see to it that the
people do not get to Christ, by giving them false spiritual food, which saps their energy. An example of this is
the doctrine of "transubstantiation," which cheats the believer out of a true relationship with Christ,
making him or her believe he is partaking of a carnalized Christ through the blessing of the minister, when taking
the bread and wine.
We would not have space here to expose all the gimmicks and programs, garden parties, Christmas, Easter, St. Valentine's
Day, Halloween, St. this and St. that, bingo parties, rock Sunday school, cantatas, love feasts, and all the money-raising
schemes of Babylon. We are sure that you know much more about these than I mention. As you walk in the light, the
darkness will become extremely dark. Do not look at the darkness, neither dwell upon its quality, but look steadfastly
upon the light, and you shall become sons of the light.
2) THE SCAVENGERS
These predators snatch live birds from the air. They prey on Christians. We are not to eat the scavenger birds.
"They are unclean unto you." We are dealing with the spiritual meaning. Spiritually, God is saying
to His people, "Do not fellowship or make them a part of you; those who feed on dead things." Life comes
from God. We cannot feed on dead things and bring forth life. Among the natural birds, there is a kind of segregation
on the basis of the food they eat. Doves eat grains and berries and crows eat carrion. They could not fellowship
because the food of the one would be offensive to the other.
Churches and groups are divided in many instances because of the word which is preached among them. MAN'S DOCTRINES
have wrought havoc among God's people by dividing them. When we begin to feed on Christ, we will automatically
come together under one HEAD.
There is a lot of CARRION floating around in the name of the gospel. Anything which does not bring spiritual life
to the believer should not be entertained. Some of the doctrines which some of the churches preach are only DIVISION
DOCTRINES to split hairs to get people away from other groups to their own, and these doctrines have no life in
them. LIFE can be described as that which emanates from God, and makes the believer show forth the FRUITS OF THE
SPIRIT. Feed on anything which tends to change your nature to the nature of Christ, your mind to the mind of Christ,
your emotions to the emotions of Christ, your will to the will of God and your desires to the desires of Christ.
That is living food.
SPIRITUAL GARBAGE CANS
When a person brings evil tidings to you concerning another, and asks you to keep it a secret, he or she is binding you from your duty towards God. He or she lets loose a demon spirit upon you against your brother, and at the same time USES YOU AS A GARBAGE CAN to dump spiritual waste. Do not allow it. Either do not listen, or if they tricked you into listening, let it cease with you by applying Matthew 18:15-17. 1) Tell him his fault privately. 2) If no result, then tell him with witnesses. 3) If no result, then tell it to the church. You wiIl ask the question, "which church?" The answer is a gathering or group of the called-out saints, real saints. 4) If no result, then he does not regard God's authority on earth, so pray for him as for a sinner, show him love, and commend him to judgment which will surely fall upon him to bring him back to God. THIS IS THE METHOD OF DEALING WITH GARBAGE. Unless a person wants to be exposed in the future, he will not come to you with tales against God's people.
MY BROTHER'S KEEPFR
If you entertain evil thoughts against the people of God, and that which you have heard is true against them, then you immediately become responsible to help them repent. If the tales are not true, then the Cbristians who spread them should be brought to account.
3) THE BIRDS OF NIGHT
Night birds are mostly predators, plus one special quality of being able to see in the dark. This quality, though
an advantage at night, is a disadvantage in the daytime. Therefore, this bird will reverse his sleeping habits.
They will sleep in the day and hunt at night. The spiritual meaning applied to predators, therefore, persists here.
This person is able to operate with great vision in things pertaining to the carnal and in an evil spirit, but
is not able to see the smallest things in the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Leviticus 11:16-17 describes
them as the...
"Owl and the night hawk, the cuckow and the hawk after his kind, the little owl and the cormorant and the
great owl."
This group of people includes the palm readers of our time, also the horoscope readers, and some of the prophets
of our time, who are giving prophecies about world conditions without seeing this in the light of the word of God,
and without bringing any deliverance to the people of God by their prophecies. This includes those who prophesy
lies in the name of Jesus.
Prophecies must bring forth Godly edification, exhortation and comfort. 1st Corinthians14:3. If Ahab, the king
of Israel, believed and obeyed the prophecy of Micaiah pertaining to his death, he would not have died in the battle
1st Kings 22:28. Although it was a rebuke to this sinful monarch, it was also an exhortation to life which, when
rejected, meant death. There must be two sides to every prophecy. Exhortation, edification and comfort is only
one side. The rejecting of these must be judgment. God is light, and the sons of God are able to see in the light.
The vision which God gives is for the uplifting of the body of Christ, thus all visions that are not for God's
people are not of God. Some of us have visions to help us camally, to make us better businessmen, or to make us
rich. These are camal and cannot come from God, EXCEPT they are designed to help God's people to be more spiritual.
Those, therefore, who are expert at seeing in the dark, which is in the things not pertaining to Christ life, are
classified in Leviticus 11 as birds of night - spiritual but not godly.
4) CREEPING BIRDS
Leviticus 11:20, "All fowls that creep, going upon all four, shall be an abomination unto you."
The analogy here is bringing to our notice the unnaturalness of a flying creature which cannot fly. This is the
type of the Christian which should be spiritual, but is not. He cannot defy the law of gravity and rise above the
earth, because of some defect in his nature. God says such a Christian is an abomination. In the category, we find
all the carnal Christians who have a doctrine for their carnality, so that they say they are good and fine without
any spiritual life. This includes those who say God is a spirit, yet they refuse to admit the infilling of the
Holy Spirit, and deny the supernatural in their lives and behavior.
In verse 21, there is a qualification, and it would be good for us to take a note of this.
"Yet these may ye eat of every flying creeping thing that goeth upon all four which have legs above their
feet, to leap withal upon the earth."
Verse 22 names the locust, the bald locust, the beetle, the grasshopper after his kind.
These creeping, flying things show that there are those who are not able to stay aloft in God or in things of the
Spirit, but we should not reject them, because these will be able to survive spiritually when they are absorbed
into the body of Christ. The reference to the body of Christ is not a reference to a group or a church organization,
but a body of people which have entered into Christ through death to self and death to sin, whom the Spirit of
God has baptized into the body of Christ. This is NOT WATER BAPTISM, NOT THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST, but the
irnmersion of the man into the mystical body of Christ, by the Holy Spirit.
CREEPING THINGS
All creeping things are a type of fleshly, carnal, unsaved man. Christians should not marry an unsaved person. Even in the different levels of Chrishanity, it is not the perfect will of God for marriages. We find that a sheep is a clean animal, but it does not have union with a cow, nor does the dove with the chicken. To have the perfect will of God, we must obey His orders in all things. Disobedient people will never know the right people to fellowship with, neither will they know the right doctrine, because you have to obey the will of the Father before you know the truth. John 7:16-17.
This does not mean that we cannot talk to sinners, and even love them, but it does mean that we are not to become one with them, but lead them unto Christ.
TWELVE LOAVES OF BREAD
Twelve is the number of COMPLETION. It also signifies a divine accomplishment in the absolute, which, in other
words, means PERFECTION.
We can see, therefore, that twelve loaves of bread would mean the perfection of the feeding on the Word, since
the bread signifies Christ as the Word of God. 1st Kings 4:7 states,
"And Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel, which provided victuals for the king and his household."
In Revelation 22:2, there is the reference to twelve manner of fruits. "In the rnidst of the street of
it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve rnanner of fruits, and yielded
her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations."
Here again, we see a reference to Spirit food; this time not as bread, but as fruit. The reference here is that
the sons of God will bring forth the very essence of God's nature, even as a tree brings forth fruit from that
which it feeds upon, and will give forth spiritual energy to support life in others.
The twelve manner of fruits in Revelation 22 refers to the complete life of God coming forth through His people,
not through one man, but through a people. Jesus began a work to be completed in us and through us. The TABLE OF
SHEWBREAD was made of wood overlaid with gold. Man was the base of the table, but gold or the nature of God was
the overshadowing or covering. These twelve manner of fruits should come forth in TWELVE MONTHS. Twelve months
make a complete year or measure of time. This refers to the fulness of time, when the sons of God will bring forth
all the glory of God.
TWELVE NATURES OF LIFE
Within the twelve tribes of Israel were the twelve basic natures, through which God was manifesting His life
to humanity in the earth. The names of the tribes carry the clue to the natures which God is working in His people.
1. REUBEN means visions, from the root word to see or discern. In Ezekiel's vision in Ezekiel 1, the picture
of the Holy Ghost is one with eyes all over, depicting the spirit quality of seeing or discerning.
2. SIMEON means hearing. The idea expressed by Paul when he said,
"So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Romans 10:17
3. LEVI means attached, cleave, unite, remain. Here is another God quality, which is absolutely necessary
in the armor of those who would come to perfecfion.
"But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with
the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord." James 1 :6-7.
The Levitical priesthood was that which united God and man until Shiloh (Jesus) came. Union with God is now being
accomplished by the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost to bring forth Christ within the soul of the believer, which
is the womb of the church.
4. JUDAH means praise; worship with outstretched arms. The nature of praise is not the nature of a servant,
but that of a SON. The spirit of praise is not that of earth, but of heaven. When man praises God, he joins in
a heavenly chorus which he hardly understands, but nevertheless from which he derives benefits. As we join heaven
in praise, our spirits become brighter, and as we pull energy from the realms of heaven, we give forth SHAFTS of
life in the form of light, which drives all the forces of darkness away. "Praise is comely."
The angel Heylel (erroneously called Lucifer) was the "Memshak," or anointed praiser in heaven before
his rebellion. With praise, he overshadowed heaven, and while the angels opened their hearts to praise, they received
the energy of God. Praising God is feeding the soul.
5. ZEBULUN means dweller. This nature is borne out by many scriptures. Psalm 91:1 says,
"He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty."
John 15:4, "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the
vine; no rnore can ye, except ye abide in me."
6. DAN means to minister judgment, to strive lawfully, to attack, to invade. This nature which God
works into His children is the only one which does not find any place in the final fulfillment of all things, but
in the end is completely abolished, and gives way to another, even to the name MANASSEH. Manasseh means causing
to forget. He was the first son of Joseph, which is of the fruitful vine. Dan, the man of judgrnent, is very unfruitful.
Yet the striving lawfully was necessary for a period of time. When man attains Christ, all striving ceases. Matthew
11:12 states that the violent take the Kingdom of Heaven by force, but Revelation 7:6 excludes the tribe of Dan
from the FIRST FRUIT COMPANY who have come forth in Christ.
7. ISSACHAR means he will bring a reward. This not only suggests the receiving of a reward, but the knowledge
of a new nature within to give a just reward as priests and kings unto God.
8. GAD means that troop. This nature signifies that which is willing and able to be part of a whole
and a unit of an arrny. This is the basic quality which is absolutely necessary in the make-up of those whom God
is choosing to function under one head as one, even under Christ as His body. God is recruiting an army.
9. ASHER means honest; happy; prosperous.
10. NAPHTALI means wrestling; struggle. When the carnal nature is stilled in man, then he will really
leam to wrestle in righteousness. The OVERCOMER company mentioned in Revelation 14 as the 144,000 will confinue
to wrestle until they overcome all things - sin, sickness and finally death. These are God's wrestlers. Praise
His name!
11. JOSEPH means the fruitful vine; obedience. Obedience and fruit bearing go hand in hand. John 15:8,
"Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit."
12. BENJAMIN means son of the right hand, or son of strength. Even as it was said in symbolic language,
that Jesus Christ is at the right hand of the Father, so shall it be said of the sons who will come forth in the
nature of Christ in the near future.
THE TWELVE TRIBES OF ISRAEL
The twelve loaves of bread in the tabernacle are a type of the complete nature of God being absorbed into man,
which must bring forth the GLORY OF GOD, manifested from the human realm. The bread is a type of energy. Jesus
Christ is the bread. When we become like Him, we become the bread. Thus Israel, who was a type of the great people
of the end-time, was also a type of the bread which was broken for the world. They became the tool of God to enact
the Bible on the pages of history, so that we might have not only the type of God's goodness recorded in actual
facts of life, but also of God's severity to them that disobey. We, therefore, eat this bread until we become the
bread broken for a dying world.
If, therefore, bread represents energy, then God, who is LIGHT, would bring forth His final glory in man by showing
forth the energy as light. We, therefore, see the Holy City in Revelation 21 showing forth twelve precious stones,
the same ones the priest had in his breastplate.
THE TWELVE STONES
Jesus praying to the Father in John 17:5, said,
"And now O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the
world was."
And in verse l0b, He states, "I am glorified in them."
In verse 22, "And the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are
one."
The twelve stones in Revelation 21:19-20 brings forth the final glory in the symbolic meaning of the stones. The
revelations must be translated in the Spirit of God, for it is written in mystery. The twelve stones are here given
with their meanings as revealed:
1. JASPER is a translucent stone of various colors, especially that of FIRE. This stone appears in scripture
in Revelation 4:3, 21:11, 18, 19. In Revelation 4:3, we see the Christ appearing on His throne, and His countenance
being described as a jasper. He was giving off a red glow; at the same time, a bright shining. This signifles redemption;
purity, and at the same time judgment.
2. SAPPHIRE is blue. This symbolized anointing. It is a very hard stone, almost like the diamond which speaks
of the permanency of the work. Moreover, it is a stone that varies in the shade of blue, which means it has aIl
the various degrees of anointing.
3. CHALCEDONY is a green stone signifying life. It comes from deep down in the earth from whence it
derives its color.
4. EMERALD is a light green color, a transparent stone signifying hope, life and purity. It was the
appearance of the throne in Revelation 4:3, and there it was described along with the other stones as giving the
appearance of a rainbow. The rainbow, apart from its promise factor, has the symbol of the church coming together
in one in Christ. The fulness of light; the oneness of the church.
5. SARDONYX is red and white signifying redemption and holiness, blended together by love.
6. SARDIUS is yellowish brown, giving the appearance of a flame, signifying force and rulership. As
fire changes the nature of the other elements, so nothing shall stand before the burning presence of the Lord when
He sets up His throne within the hearts of men
7. CHRYSOLYTE is God color. It symbolizes the nature of God - Love.
8. BERYL is sea green color. This green completes the third shade of green among the stones and symbolizes
the completeness of life. We had the green of the rainbow, the green of the trees and now the green of the sea.
Life will come forth from the nations and tongues and languages.
9. TOPAZ is yellow. It is almost as hard as the diamond. It has the power of double refraction, and
when heated or rubbed becomes electric.
10. CHRYSOPRASUS is golden green; green rnixed with gold. The nature of God, and the life of Christ,
come forth to blend with the other lights of the city. It must here be noted, that this was one of the stones missing
from Ezekiel 28:13, which states that "Every precious stone was thy covering." It is inferred here, that
God gave every grace and power available at that time to this being Heylel, but then the word "every"
only referred to nine stones. Now here in Revelation 21:19, we read that the city was garnished with "all
manner of precious stones," but this time it refers to TWELVE STONES. Three stones are added. This means
that the perfected man has three added natures of light, which the Adarnic man did not have. This will be discussed
at the end of the chapter.
11. JACINTH is dark blue, meaning purification, anointing, overshadowing.
12. AMETHYST is wine color. The Greek 'amethustos' means "not drunken." This stone refers
to the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ in the first place, and the firstfruits in the second. It being the last
stone in the foundation, also wonderfully refers to the last son of Israel, Benjarnin, the son of strength or the
son of the right hand. The reference to wine is, in many cases, made in connection with Christ's sacrificial death
and subsequent judgment of sin. Isaiah 63:3. Moses, prophesying before his death, spoke to Judah these words,
"He washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes: His eyes shall be red with wine,
and his teeth white with rnilk." Genesis 49:11-12.
The Greek word for the paschal lamb is "amnos," used figuratively of Christ in John 1:29, 36, and this
also refers to blood or wine. This stone also is one of those rnissing from the Ezekiel list.
We see, therefore, that the final presentation of the bread of the table of shewbread is one of the manifestations
of bread after it is appropriated in the body of Christ. This is the symbol of energy coming forth from the sons
of God. Bread going in, and precious stones coming out. Fire going into the bread as an offering of fire before
the Lord, and glory coming forth in the form of lighted gems.
The son of God will not be just one Israelite and one member of a tribe, but he will be all Israel in one person.
Having the fulness of the meaning, and the glory of such a name imprinted upon his nature, he will have all of
God within his being.
On the Day of Atonement, the priests would sprinkle frankincense on the twelve loaves of bread and eat the bread
with the frankincense. The implication here is that the Christ whom we eat, and who brings the perfect manifestation
of Himself within us, magnifies the anointing within us, so even as the frankincense gives forth a fragrant smell,
we give off glory by our partaking of His divine nature.
THE THREE MISSING STONES
(1) The Seventh Stone - CHRYSOLYTE - The Holy Ghost
(2) The Tenth Stone - CHRYSOFRASUS - Christ
(3) The Twelfth Stone - AMETHYST - The Blood of Jesus Christ
YAHWHVH, Jehovah God, in English, gave to all His creatures of light the ability to attain nine natures of light, symbolized by stones. There were, however, three natures which God could not give, and these are represented by the three stones above. Without these three - The Holy Ghost, Christ and the Blood, humanity could not come into completion. Adamic man, therefore, had to fall. He could not overcome Satan without these.
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