~ The Mystery Of The Seven
Stars– The Earnest Expectation ~
....PDF Version
AS READ BY KENNETH B VISSCHER, WINDOWS MEDIA FILE - MP3
I was
in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a
trumpet, Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou
seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia;
unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto
Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. And I turned to see the voice
that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; And in
the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with
a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His
head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as
a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a
furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right
hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his
countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, I fell
at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear
not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and,
behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things
which shall be hereafter; The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in
my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the
angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are
the seven churches. Revelation 1:10-20
And
when He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in Heaven for about half an
hour. And I saw the seven angels who stood before God, and seven trumpets were
given to them. And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden
censer. And many incenses were given to him, so that he should offer it with
the prayers of all saints on the golden altar before the throne. And the smoke
of the incense which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before
God from the angel's hand. And the angel took the censer and filled it with
fire from the altar, and cast it into the earth. And voices and thunderings and
lightnings and an earthquake occurred. Revelation 8:1-5
For I
reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared
with the coming glory to be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the
creation waits for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creation was
not willingly subjected to vanity, but because of Him who subjected it on hope
that the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption
into the glorious liberty of the children of God. And we know that the whole
creation groans and travails in pain together until now. And not only so, but
ourselves also, who have the firstfruit of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan
within ourselves, awaiting adoption, the redemption of our body. For we are
saved by hope. But hope that is seen is not hope; for what anyone sees, why
does he also hope for it? But if we hope for that which we do not see, then we
wait for it with patience. Romans 8:18-25 MKJV
Keep
thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than
to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil. Be not
rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before
God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.
For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool's voice is
known by multitude of words. Ecclesiastes 5:1-3
So says
Jehovah to me, Go and buy for yourself a linen girdle, and put it on your
loins, and do not put it in water. So I bought a girdle according to the Word
of Jehovah, and put it on my loins. And the Word of Jehovah came to me a second
time, saying, Take the girdle that you bought, which is on your loins, and arise.
Go to Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole of the rock. So I went and hid it
by Euphrates, as Jehovah commanded me. And it happened at the end of many days
Jehovah said to me, Arise, go to Euphrates and take the girdle from there,
which I commanded you to hide there. Then I went to Euphrates and dug, and took
the girdle from the place where I had hidden it. And, behold, the girdle was
rotted; it was not good for anything. Then the Word of Jehovah came to me,
saying, So says Jehovah, In this way I will spoil the pride of Judah and the
great pride of Jerusalem. This evil people, who refuse to hear My Words, who
walk in the stubbornness of their heart and walk after other gods to serve them
and to worship them, shall even be like this girdle, which is good for nothing.
For as the girdle holds fast to the loins of a man, so I have caused the whole
house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to Me, says Jehovah; so
that they might be to Me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and
for a glory; but they would not hear. So you will speak to them this Word: So
says Jehovah, the God of Israel, Every skin shall be filled with wine. And they
shall say to you, Do we not surely know that every skin shall be filled with
wine? Then you shall say to them, So says Jehovah, Behold, I will fill all the
people of this land, even the kings that sit on David's throne, and the
priests, and the prophets, and all the people of Jerusalem, with drunkenness.
And I will smash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons
together, says Jehovah. I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, to keep
them from their destruction. Hear and give ear; do not be proud; for Jehovah
has spoken. Jeremiah 13:1-15 MKJV
Sorrow
is mine! for I am as when they have got in the summer fruits, like the last of
the grapes: there is nothing for food, not even an early fig for my desire. The
good man is gone from the earth, there is no one upright among men: they are
all waiting secretly for blood, every man is going after his brother with a
net. Their hands are made ready to do evil; the ruler makes requests for money,
and the judge is looking for a reward; and the great man gives decisions at his
pleasure, and the right is twisted. The best of them is like a waste plant, and
their upright ones are like a wall of thorns. Sorrow! the day of their fate has
come; now will trouble come on them. Put no faith in a friend, do not let your
hope be placed in a relation: keep watch on the doors of your mouth against her
who is resting on your breast. For the son puts shame on his father, the
daughter goes against her mother and the daughter-in-law against her
mother-in-law; and a man's haters are those of his family. But as for me, I am
looking to the Lord; I am waiting for the God of my salvation: the ears of my
God will be open to me. Do not be glad because of my sorrow, O my hater: after
my fall I will be lifted up; when I am seated in the dark, the Lord will be a
light to me. I will undergo the wrath of the Lord, because of my sin against him;
till he takes up my cause and does what is right for me: when he makes me come
out into the light, I will see his righteousness; And my hater will see it and
be covered with shame; she who said to me, Where is the Lord your God? my eyes
will see their desire effected on her, now she will be crushed under foot like
the dust of the streets. A day for building your walls! in that day will your
limits be stretched far and wide. Micah 7:1-11 BBE
Little
children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come,
even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. 1
John 2:18
Cast not away therefore your confidence,
which hath great recompence of reward. For ye have need of patience, that,
after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a
little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Hebrews 10:35-37
(3 Visions)
“Then from this place of great holiness I saw
God who had become wroth with His people who had disobeyed His word and who had
separated themselves from Him as though they were fruitful standing alone,
without God being their very life in them. So God took the clusters of grapes,
and the stems, and the entire branch and the root and pressed them hard into
the winepress of the fierceness of His wrath destroying all the clusters along
with the stems, the branches and the root. Nothing of the entire planting of
grapes remained as God in wrath destroyed them all so that their taint and
their stain and their pride were known no more. This did God do to those of His
people who did not repent of their pride and of their delusions, those who
confessed that they held the wealth of God’s Kingdom as a source of power but
who did not identify with God by the spirit of truth. By this God cleansed the
soil of the earth from their delusions. These were the ones destroyed in the
winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God. There was no remedy for this,
the destruction of the planting was complete, nothing remained of it nor could
anything be found of it anymore except for the stain left by that fruit which
was a false fruit according the nature of true fruit verses false fruit that is
known by God.”
(End Vision)
“Then saw I Jesus, standing at the right hand
of the Father, and in His right hand He did hold the seven stars. As I beheld
the stars from this vantage point on the earth I saw that in front of the
Christ, on the earth was erected a great white cross. As the cross became more
and brighter in whiteness, so the stars increased more and more in their
brilliance in the hand of Jesus. As the cross grew brighter, so it grew in
size. As the stars grew brighter, so they also grew in size until the stars and
the cross were bright with the same glory and equal in size and in holiness and
purity and in the glory that excelled in brightness. It came then into my
understanding that as the cross grew and as the stars grew so the believer in
Christ grew and came into greater holiness and glory with both the stars and
the cross shining forth the light of glory at the very same time. The believer
who adhered to their cross would then know how to return to Jesus who held the
stars in His right hand in the heavenly place.”
(End Vision)
“Standing then just behind the Christ who
stood at the right hand of the Father was the Overcomer, tattered clothing
covered him, weary from the long journey home, they were tucked away behind the
robes of Jesus who stood at the right hand of the Father. Then came the sons of
men gleefully before Christ and the Father who confessed their faith in Christ
but who did not overcome all things in the earth. These came up and approached
the Throne, but then they were shocked to see the Overcomer hidden away in the
robes of Jesus, tucked away there and hidden. These same who had come up before
the Throne had rejected and disqualified the Overcomer from any standing in God
in the earth, they were disregarded. As these gleeful ones saw the Overcomer
hid in Christ in God they were ashamed and realized their error and knew that
they had sinned against the Lord’s own, even that Overcomer who was now hidden
away. This Overcomer was not an individual, but a company of those who have
become the off scouring of the earth and who only knew of their need for Jesus
day by day. These had fully identified their lives with the fellowship of Jesus
sufferings being made conformable unto His death; these were seen as one man
who was the Overcomer hid in Christ in God.”
(End
Vision)
Continuing on now in the Epistle Mystery
studies, this being the second one in The Mystery of the Seven Stars. It is to
be noted that the seven stars remain in the hand of the risen living Christ who
is stationed in true position at the right hand of the Father. The seven stars
represent the angels, or messengers, to the seven churches mentioned in the
book of Revelation chapters 2 and 3. These angels or messengers are “witness
signs” unto the churches of the hope kept in store, reserved for us in Heaven
in the person of Jesus. Take these stars as “messages” unto us as to what the Lord requires of us in
the way of being developed in holiness and what the Lord needs of us in the way
of gaining wisdom and understanding. These seven stars map out the course we
are to take in returning to the Kingdom of God. With these stars comes as stern
warning to keep the way of life lest turning aside we fall away into varied
delusions which run rampant in this hour. The seven stars are the witness and
the hope and the earnest of our expectation of having eternal life and glory
with Christ forevermore.
With that being said it must also be stated
that the seven stars are NOT in the earth, they are IN heaven. They belong to
the constellation of heaven; they do not embed themselves in the dust and clay
of the earth. Now the memberships of the seven churches, men and women who make
up those churches are in the earth, but their hope is not here in the earth,
but in heaven where the seven stars reside. The Lord gives us the baptism of
the Holy Spirit into our lives AS A DOWN PAYMENT of that which is promised to
us, a life eternal in heaven in Christ in God. It is a HOPE that we HOPE FOR.
It is NOT a present reality, but a HOPE FOR THAT WHICH IS YET TO BE. When you
see in the eye of faith the seven stars in the right hand of Christ, you are
seeing the earnest expectation of your eternal life with Jesus in the
everlasting Kingdom of God. The Holy Spirit in you bears witness to this hope
you have and reveals it to you over time as you go through your earthly sojourn
waiting for this full measure to be granted unto you. The seven stars ARE NEVER
ON THE EARTH except as ‘messengers’ to those who will one day bear the
inheritance of eternal life in a glorified body. At the very end of time, all
humanity will be glorified, it is then that the earth and the heaven will be
one, but until then it will be a glorification of man, man by man until each in
their own order is glorified. This is an earnest expectation and a hope, it is
NOT YET in the earth, but IT WILL BE.
The mistake that many of the Lord’s children
make is that they equate the full measure of their inheritance in Christ to be a
present reality in the earth, the full measure of heaven, theirs now, here in
this present terra firma. In every single case where a deception comes to a
child of the Lord, it comes because they equate a heavenly future state to be a
current state, a present motion of spirit, a current state of the person of the
Lord in them. Deception comes when one thinks they have arrived at that perfect
state, at that perfect time with the Lord moving in this in unlimited power.
The undeceived, those who may have known deception and who came out of
deception know that the current state in the world is not answered by His fullness
at this time but by the earnest hope of that fullness, that theirs is a “down
payment” of that which is promised to come. If one dwells upon the earth, yet
thinks that the full measure of the seven stars in the right hand of Christ is
their totality and their all HERE in this world, then they have just entered a
deception. Remember, deception comes
every single time when one contemplates that they are PLACED in a measure of
fullness and they FORGET that they only have the promised down payment!
So one day the Lord came to me and started to
speak to me about the personal cross. As I listened to Him the words He spoke
gave me a greater enlightenment and understanding as to the heart of the Lord
concerning those who are obeying Him in overcoming. A true Overcomer is one who
accepts the partial down payment of that which will one day be fully theirs,
and then also accepts that the process of getting there involves a personal
cross. At no time did the Lord in speaking to me of this matter ever express to
me that we would never see His fullness come. Quite the contrary, He revealed
to me just how close the resurrection of the first fruits truly is. It is the
Lord’s plan in this world to raise up His Sons and Daughters in glorified
bodies RIGHT IN THE MIDST OF THIS WORLDS CURRENT WORLD AFFAIRS. Suddenly the
world of men will be turned upside down by the raising of the first fruits unto
God in glorified bodies, right here, on this terra firma of this present world.
Jesus came forth from the tomb in an eternal body, a glorified body, IN THIS WORLD.
And it is here in this world that the Lord is about to do the same with those
whom He refers to as His man-child.
So the Lord began to talk to me about this.
He asked me, “Do you know what the cross
is for?” I replied that I thought I did. He asked me, “Tell me then”. I said that it was to cancel out our sinful old
nature. The Lord replied “It is not because
of the nature of sinful flesh that I impose the cross upon my people, but that
they would learn to walk with me in obedience. The cross I give unto my people
is a cross to teach them how to obey me and my word.” At this point understanding began to rise in
me. Sin was not the question or the reason for the cross, obedience was. Jesus
was an example of that obedience, He was the pattern son. He OBEYED God and ENDURED
all the conflict of daily trial and pressure that came to Him. Jesus never
shirked suffering or the pain of flagellation or crucifixion. Why? Because He
learned obedience through these things He suffered. So I asked the Lord why we
needed to learn obedience. The Lord answered, “It is because my people in being disobedient give place to idolatry in
their lives which prevents me from blessing them and giving them place as
victors in my love. When they disobey me, they disqualify themselves from
knowing me. When they do not know me, they do not know the measure of my
purpose in the cross, not to deliver from sin and iniquity, but to make one
conformable unto my true nature.” I
asked about my lower nature, the sinful nature that we have as His people. “It is not your sin or iniquity that the
cross is dealing with for I placed all of that upon the Christ. The purpose of
the cross is to teach you to obey me so that you can be conformed to me, so
that you imitate and enable yourselves to be just like me so that all you are
and all you hope to be are because of this one act of obedience.”
All of this became a bit hard for me to
understand until I saw what the Lord wanted me to see. The habit of the Lord’s
people who truly love the Lord and want to be in the Lord’s image is to hope
for His fullness to overpower them, to take them, to swallow them up and to
make them completely one with Himself with no other force or power working in
them. The mistake that the Lord’s people make is that they take those seven
stars out of the right hand of Christ and they try to make them work here in
this world in this earth. They take all the fullness of the promise THAT IS YET
TO COME TO US, and they attempt to make it happen now. For them to attempt to
make it happen now, they also must confess that the cross is finished, that the
work is done, that there is no more pain of trail for them to endure because
after all, the seven stars have come now to the earth and we are in His greatest
fullness. This is the root and the foundation of all deception that happens to
the Lord’s people. There is not one single deception that does not take the
earnest of our inheritance; that which is YET TO BE; and brings it here
thinking it is happening now. This act of bringing the seven stars here and
making them work here is an action of the antichrist, that spirit of wickedness
(there are many different ones) which works to bring Christ down to us and us
UP to Christ. Remember, here in this world, we only have, by the baptism of the
Holy Spirit, THE EARNEST, THE DOWN PAYMENT of that which we will one day fully receive.
So then, the cross works, trials continue,
suffering remains, temptations are endured, longsuffering is a great big
fruitful bough, all of this works IN THE CROSS IN YOU. Or if I might put it
another way, if you are experiencing crucifixion, YOU ARE EXPERIENCING THE
EARNEST OF YOUR INHERITANCE. The cross working in you is PROOF that you are
slated for greater things AT THE FIRST RESURRECTION. You cannot separate the
cross from the hope laid up before us, they are working together to deliver us
perfect in God’s sight forever.
So the seven stars are the earnest messages
of hope given to the Overcomers in each of the seven churches. We can see those
churches in dispensations of time, but we can also see them in hindsight
working in us a far greater exceeding weight of glory BY THAT SUFFERING WE
ENDURED THOUGH CRUCIFIXION IN THE HOPE OF A BETTER RESURRECTION. The stars will
not be brought to this earth until the Lord brings His entire Kingdom here,
until then they remain in the right hand of the risen Christ at the right hand
of the Father as a our earnest hope of complete full resurrection in that day
in front of us when Christ shall come bearing His rewards with Him, giving unto
us the fullness of our reward, even a glorified body. Interesting fact about
the glorified body, it glows bright with the same brightness as the seven stars;
they are equal in glory and in brilliance!
To be continued………..
Kenneth B Visscher
Copyright