| Chapter #44 |
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The Ephod - In The History and In The Kingdom To Come
“And Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel in the breast-pocket of judgment upon his heart, when he goes in to the holy place, for a memorial before Jehovah continually.
And you shall put in the breast-pocket of judgment the Urim and the Thummim. And they shall be upon Aaron's heart, when he goes in before Jehovah. And Aaron shall bear the judgment of the sons of Israel upon his heart before Jehovah continually.” Exodus 28:29, 30
***NOTE*** The Ephod was upon Aaron’s heart with the names of the Children of Israel upon it for two things: {1} A “memorial” and {2} Bearing their Judgment.
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THEN SAID the Lord to me, Go again, love [the same] woman [Gomer] who is beloved of a paramour and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins [used in the sacrificial feasts in idol worship]. So I bought her for fifteen pieces of silver and a homer and a half of barley [the price of a slave]. And I said to her, You shall be [betrothed] to me for many days; you shall not play the harlot and you shall not belong to another man. So will I also be to you [until you have proved your loyalty to me and our marital relations may be resumed]. For the children of Israel shall dwell and sit deprived many days, without king or prince, without sacrifice or [idolatrous] pillar, and without ephod [a garment worn by priests when seeking divine counsel] or teraphim (household gods).
Afterward shall the children of Israel return and seek the Lord their God, [inquiring of and requiring Him] and [from the line of] David, their King [of kings]; and they shall come in [anxious] fear to the Lord and to His goodness and His good things in the latter days. Hosea 3: 1-5 AMPLIFIED
Alas! for that day will be great, so that none will be like it; it will be the time of Jacob's [unequaled] trouble, but he will be saved out of it. For it will come to pass in that day, says the Lord of hosts, that I will break [the oppressor's] yoke from your neck, and I will burst your bonds; and strangers will no more make slaves of [the people of Israel]. But they will serve the Lord their God and David's [descendant] their King, Whom I will raise up for them. Jeremiah 30: 7-9 AMPLIFIED
Therefore thus says the Lord God to them: Behold, I, I Myself, will judge between fat sheep and impoverished sheep, or fat goats and lean goats. Because you push with side and with shoulder and thrust with your horns all those that have become weak and diseased, till you have scattered them abroad, Therefore will I rescue My flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between sheep and sheep. And I will raise up over them one Shepherd and He shall feed them, even My Servant David; He shall feed them and He shall be their Shepherd. And I the Lord will be their God and My Servant David a Prince among them; I the Lord have spoken it. And I will confirm with them a covenant of peace and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land, and [My people] shall dwell safely in the wilderness, desert, or pastureland and sleep [confidently] in the woods. Ezekiel 34: 20-25
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We have now come to the concluding study on The Royal Ephod. This last writing on this subject will be the crowning glory of this relic of History, yet spiritual truth for the Kingdom of God that is now dawning upon this weary earth. For the Ephod is to us the “witness” of the Spirit of Truth upon the basis of our doctrine, and upon the purposes of God and His inworkings in those who are called by His name.
We see the last mention of the Ephod by David when he fled from Saul. He asked for the Ephod that he might inquire of the Lord. After that, the Ephod is not seen in scripture. So why the emphasis on the Ephod? Because it is an honor for us as God’s Sons and Daughters to seek out the truths of these things. God has not forsaken His standard of truth, His law, but chose to fulfill it in us by our obedience to the gospel. These symbolisms of the life of God in His people and by His workings is accomplished in the details of such things as the Ephod, the rest of the garments of the High Priest and of course the exacting pattern of the Tabernacle of Moses. In the book of Revelation, the book of the unveiling of Jesus Christ, these articles are seen, such as the Ark of the Testimony - Revelation 11:9 - as well as other implements of truth that came by these descriptive scriptures.
We are not “under” the law, or the items described in the Tabernacle, or in the garments of the Priest in this day, but these items and the law of God itself has never been disannulled as to it’s ‘standard of righteousness’ to those who wish to overcome. The pattern of truth that these items portray was expressed perfectly in the person of Jesus Christ. Now that same expression is seen in the description of Christ’s church. In both cases, the outcome is the same. That there is a completed work done by Father in the sense as having all the ground covered for our “overcoming” and that we are now stepping out over that ground, inch by inch in our faith. Overcoming is no different than the depiction of the children of Israel coming into the promised land flowing with milk and honey under the hand of Joshua. Every place that the sole of their foot would tread, God would give that to them. For this hour, overcoming in simplified terms is simply getting “through” each trial and test that comes to your life along with each blessing and encouragement. The topology is the same. That each place we put our foot in forward motion, that place does God give us in victory.
I chose carefully the verses above to show you how Israel fell away from the Lord. They were set in that carnal place in their walk which caused them to leave the precepts of their God and marry themselves to the idolatries of the false gods that encompassed the lives of the “ite” nations that inhabited Canaan. But this falling away was infinite wisdom from the Lord. For that very falling away of Israel into idolatry was named later by the Apostle Paul as “The Mystery Of Israel’s Blindness”. “Lest you be self-opinionated (wise in your own conceits), I do not want you to miss this hidden truth and mystery, brethren: a hardening (insensibility) has [temporarily] befallen a part of Israel [to last] until the full number of the ingathering of the Gentiles has come in, And so all Israel will be saved. As it is written, The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will banish ungodliness from Jacob. And this will be My covenant (My agreement) with them when I shall take away their sins. From the point of view of the Gospel (good news), they [the Jews, at present] are enemies [of God], which is for your advantage and benefit. But from the point of view of God's choice (of election, of divine selection), they are still the beloved (dear to Him) for the sake of their forefathers.” Romans 11:25-28 AMPLIFIED
Part of the reason for the continual warnings of “Lucifer” and that which imitates God during the course of these writings on the Ephod was partly because of the example of Israel going into blindness. Their blindness was struck upon them by God when they were carried away into idolatry with the heathen practices of the intruding nations in the land of Canaan, a picture of this day. I have demonstrated in these writings how many are following the false picture of God in this hour. The image of Jesus who is not truly Jesus. Do not forget, all the main prophets of the Old Testament were dealing with this idolatry. Elijah, when he withstood the priests of Baal at Mt Carmel was withstanding Baal’s priests WHO WERE SONS OF ISRAEL! These were the very ones to whom God had committed His most Holy Oracles, even the pattern of Moses Tabernacle which included the Ephod. And if you would take the time to study this out, you will see that later on in the Old Testament there are other ephods mentioned that related to idolatry and false gods.
So then God, in His infinite wisdom, struck Israel with blindness, so much so that they did not even know the Lord of the Sabbath, Jesus, when He arrived on the scene. They were not able to fathom that this was indeed the Lord Almighty Jehovah, in human flesh. Blind to it, they kept the tradition of their fathers and continued in the service of the temple eventually crucifying the King of Kings. In this hour, most of Christendom does not even know the true God. They worship what they think is God, but it is not God. This is that perdition that the Apostle Paul warned us would come in the latter days. These of Christendom persecute those who hold this pearl of great price fast in their faith, that God will in time reconcile all things back unto Himself. That God first will raise up an overcoming troop through which He will manifest fully all His Glory and will raise them up in bodies that will never die. But for now, just as Israel was struck with blindness in the time of Israel possessing Canaan, so now Christianity for the most part is struck with a “new” form of blindness. They too will miss out on the Glorious manifestation of the Sons of God and will be denied a part in this because they hold fast to the worship of “strange gods”, even the “image of God” which is not God but is this Lucifer I have carefully revealed in these studies. Modern Christendom will not have part in the reign of Christ in the earth at the time of His revealing. Just as ancient Israel missed out in being a “Glory” and “A Name” in all the earth, modern Christendom is missing out in seeing Jesus in the true light of Glory that He eternally abides in. This comes by taking up an easy cross, a light cross, one that does not require any personal effort or discipline. A cross that never cancels out self but rather gives a person a state of religiosity that gives false comfort and false blessing. These have been my warnings.
The Ephod is not worn by all. It is only relegated for those of The Royal Priesthood, even those I have mentioned before as being of the order of Melchisedec, Priests having no beginning of days nor ending of life. It is the smattering of the Gentiles who will bear the spiritual principles of the Ephod upon their persons. These, when finally Glorified, will show forth the judgement and the remembrance of Israel in the earth during the Millennial reign of Christ. The Ephod therefore is one particle of the full expression of God in a material form. The symbolism gives credence to present truth, present truth to present spiritual walk, present spiritual walk to overcoming victory. The Ephod pictures perfectly the person of Jesus Christ. For Jesus did not flow with the religious, those who were caught up in programs or activities around the “knowledge of God”. But Jesus showed in reality WHO God was. Who God is. He was the full expression of God, as God IN the flesh. First in a natural body, but then raised in a spiritual body which was comprised of his body of flesh. This mystery of Glorification was first seen by His resurrection from the dead. This very same pattern is now to be repeated in His Overcomers, those who have come into identity with Jesus in His passion.
Right under the noses of modern Christendom God is preparing those who are the “called out” of the called out! Those who are the “church” within a church. The Overcoming troop, this small “group” of people who comprise the Army of the Lord. The rest of Christianity does not know of this group except to disagree as to their doctrine. For this group holds fast to the cross of Christ, they never leave that first precept of their faith and this group does not fit in at all with any of the institutions of modern Christianity.
Just as Israel of old was blinded by God from knowing the true anointing, so Christianity of today is blinded with the same blindness from seeing the truth of Christ’s overcoming walk. They hold to a “false” anointing and blessings. But this is also the design of the Lord. For God has determined to restore all mankind unto Himself. The religious, those who hold to traditions and elements of faith that bind rather than free men, will come last into this full restoration of God’s Kingdom once they have had their resistance dealt with by His Holy Fire. We may very well be surprised at who God declares righteous when Christ is revealed from Heaven in His soon appearing.
Those who are marked to bear the Royal Ephod are enduring the fires of tribulation at this time, not later, to overcome all elements of the flesh and spirit that would taint them. The fire of God has fallen upon this company to consume from off of them all that is dross in their lives as well as all that opposes the workings of the Holy Spirit and the nature of the Lord that would be seen in them. Their identity is consumed. They have no defense for SELF. They lay down their lives in total sacrifice to the will of God. Nothing in them can resist this fire for they have yielded all their lives as total living sacrifices upon the altar of God’s presence, there to be consumed totally as burnt offerings unto God. And God accepts them. How do we know God accepts them? By two means. First, that the sacrifice God accepts is consumed by fire, and second that these who are thus consumed cannot fathom being a part of any of the efforts or schemes of religious attitudes that pervade the world at this time. These suffer the total loss of their identity so that they may win that prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Nothing else is in their vision but to be found in that perfect place in God when Christ shall once again appear, without sin, unto salvation.
This company will be revealed in total completion, Glorified IN the earth at the appearing of Jesus Christ and all those who have overcome and are with Him in Spirit in the Heavens. Only the overcomers will appear in such a manner as this. They will comprise that eternal priesthood order of Melchisedec which is eternal in it’s state, in a Kingdom that has NO TEMPLE THEREIN. At their appearing in the earth the nations will wail because of them for the time of man’s rule in national governments will have come to an end and mankind will only be able to see the Kingdom of God through this manifested counsel of God that now walks in glorified bodies in the earth. And all Israel shall also behold this manifestation and will come to the Lord in repentance so that God may bring them in one day into His salvation. At the appearing of the Sons and Daughters of God the economies, governments and religions of the world will end, abruptly as they will totally and completely collapse at this revealing.
This Army of the Lord, this manifestation of the Sons and Daughters of God will not be able to be resisted by anyone. No one will be able to stop them or say anything to them for they will be Glorified in bodies that are not able to die or perish or be consumed by years. The rest of the world will still be in a natural state, but death will be removed from them, and they all will learn the ways of God in truth and in verity and in judgement. No one will come short of this need for education in His Kingdom, and the Sons of God will be the educators! They hold the reward of righteousness and no one will be able to contend against them or resist their victory. They will march forward and consume off of all the earth any place that is short of the life of the Lord. As they march, they will destroy the fall of Adam off of this creation and will bring forth the peaceable fruits of righteousness to they who dwell upon the earth.
At this time also, the Mystery of Israel’s blindness will end. They will now see clearly the truth of God that they so adamantly refused. And the Lord will give unto them all the elements of His Love and Mercy to bring them in one day to full salvation. Modern Christendom will be no more! For at that time they too will see the futility of their escape doctrines and doctrines of eternal torment. Truly the Glory of the Lord will be manifested to these for their comfort and edification also. The kingdoms of the world will gladly yield to the Kingdom of God that the Overcomers will bring to this earth.
The Royal Ephod is an eternal element of Spiritual Truth. It will never end, just as the pattern of Moses Tabernacle will never end - UNTIL God becomes ALL IN ALL. For God is the FINAL place for all creation to be consumed up into. NO ONE WILL BE OUTSIDE OF GOD WHEN HIS WORK IS COMPLETED. The Ephod, the Tabernacle pattern, the pattern of Sonship IS ETERNAL, but will be summed up by God when He becomes ALL IN ALL. The honor for the Overcomer at this time is that they are coming forth now as those in total agreement with and victory over all of God’s creation. They come forth bearing the weight and glory of The Ephod, but they end in total identity with the Lord Himself so that as one with Him they will eternally abide. What a glory awaits those who overcome because of the blood of Jesus and their identity with The Royal Ephod.
{Vision}
I saw the Jasper Stone walls of the New Jerusalem envelop completely the earth. As the earth went into the 4 squared walls of the New Jerusalem the soils of the earth I saw were consumed as broken elements, and all that was created upon the earth came up into the walls and became one with the walls. I saw the earth become one with the Jasper walls of the New Jerusalem as God set it down from heaven to settle upon the earth. So then, the earth and the New Jerusalem became the same element of JASPER.
{End Vision}
The next writings will begin as the Lord gives unction on the study of The New Jerusalem Who Is The Mother Of Us All.
To be continued.......... Kenneth B Visscher