“Ouches” Of Gold - They Pierced My Hands and My Feet

“With the work of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a signet, shalt thou engrave the two stones with the names of the children of Israel: thou shalt make them to be set in ouches of gold.

And thou shalt put the two stones upon the shoulders of the ephod for stones of memorial unto the children of Israel: and Aaron shall bear their names before the LORD upon his two shoulders for a memorial.

And thou shalt make ouches of gold;

And two chains of pure gold at the ends; of wreathen work shalt thou make them, and fasten the wreathen chains to the ouches.

And thou shalt make the breastplate of judgment with cunning work; after the work of the ephod thou shalt make it; of gold, of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine twined linen, shalt thou make it.”      Exodus 28:11 - 15

And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, purple, and scarlet [stuff], and fine twined linen, skillfully woven and worked.

It shall have two shoulder straps to join the two [back and front] edges, that it may be held together.                                            Exodus 28: 6,7 AMPLIFIED

**********************************************************************************

The most striking revelation concerning the Royal Ephod is the fact that it is a picture of IDENTITY. We are IDENTIFIED with the Lord in His passion, death and then resurrection. The entire gamut of our tribulations and testings is to prove us so that we can be so one with the Lord that when others see us, they see the Lord. It is this identity that any Overcomer longs for. However, there will always be the Lord Jesus, with a name that is above every name as that one in particular who was the pattern Son, to whom God has highly exalted and given a name that is above every name. Although we form a part of His body, we will never be “the head” of that body. He alone is exalted to that position and no one else ever will be. How Glorious is the picture of this!

So now we have come to the shoulders of the Ephod, to the two Onyx Stones, the Urim and the Thummim, “lights” and “perfections”. It was my desire to jump right into the study on those two stones in particular however I feel to first study the “ouches” of Gold, the golden sockets into which the Stones were to be set. Once we see the sockets, we will understand better the settings for the Urim and Thummim Stones themselves and their importance to us who desire to walk by the Spirit.

These ouches were joined at the top by chains of Gold {see the above picture} and they joined the two shoulder pieces, the one from the front, the other from the back to make this as one garment that was seamless in its weaving. It was curious to me why I was to stop and look closely at these sockets that the Urim and Thummim Stones were to be set in, but then I began to see this wondrous truth unfold before me by “revelation” and not simply by being curious. For when the ouches were in place at the top of the shoulders, these sockets, readied to receive the Stones of witness, gave a glorious truth which came into my understanding. A truth which humbled me as I began to view the sufferings of Jesus in His passion in an entirely new light because of the Ephod.

This Ephod as I said earlier is a picture of our identity with the Lord Jesus Christ. This part of the “ouches” being on top of the shoulders thus joining the front and back of the Ephod together represents HIS PASSION. For I saw in vision the Lord as He bore His cross up to Golgotha. Once He was there He dropped the cross on the ground just prior to being nailed to it.

The Ephod, when it was made had a curious golden threaded work through the blue linens that made it look as if it were one piece, sort of like wearing a T Shirt with no sleeves. The ouches on the top of the shoulders were there to join the two shoulder pieces together into one seamless garment.

Dear Overcomers. Who else do you know of in the Bible that had a seamless garment?

“Jesus” when He was brought to be crucified!

“Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout.

They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did.”                                                                                          John 19: 23,24

Hear this now you who desire to Overcome! You who desire to be identified with Christ in His sufferings and in His resurrection! Hear this well and take it to heart. Let this be unto you wisdom from God and understanding from the mind of God! Part of your suffering dear Overcomer is to have any semblance of Godliness TAKEN FROM OFF YOUR VERY PERSON. For this PUTTING OFF of the garments of Jesus represents to the Overcomer THE LOSS OF OUR IDENTITY AS MINISTERS OF GOD’S HOLY ORACLE. We now enter a realm of suffering in our overcoming walk wherein we are not able to “testify” of the works of God nor are we able to “witness” to those in the world of God’s life within us. God does not forsake us, but we hold NO OUTWARD DISPLAY OF HIS LIFE. In silent suffering we bear now His reproach and die to this evil world.

Part of the suffering we must come into as Overcomers is the suffering of total rejection.

All that we hold dear to us, all that we count as worthy of great price. All of it now must be laid aside as we come into the trial of complete identity with the Lord. For you cannot overcome unless you have been identified with the Lord Jesus Christ who suffered the loss of all His identity to the world and was as a living sacrifice unto God.

Christendom teaches that God could not stand sin and therefore He forsook Jesus when He endured His passion and the cross. NOT SO. For Jesus said: “Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” John 16:32,33.

And the Apostle Paul stated this: “To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.” 2 Corinthians 5:19.

So what exactly is this realm of suffering we now enter into? It is the act of being cut off from the world and from everything in the world. It is a display of no reputation. It is a display of being regarded as totally worthlessness to the world. It is enduring realms of disdain from those who would mock your progress in God. It is the loss of the very seamless garment you held once so very dear, even the witness of the Ephod, just as Jesus lost His coat to the soldiers dice. It is such a “strange suffering”. For that which we hold as years of spiritual progress and revelation is suddenly laid down. All we had as a testimony of God’s grace in our lives is suddenly disregarded. Any witness of the Spirit we had towards others is removed from us. This truly is the final stage in the suffering life of they who would overcome.

See Jesus crucified, and the soldiers casting lots for His vesture. See yourself as also impaled upon the cross with Him, and your very testimony by all those around your life in the place wherein you live is held in contempt and you are utterly cast down and forsaken. This is the final pang of death for they who would conquer all that was once their life in this present evil world. It is also however, the entrance into the Glorified State. Now God will raise you from the dead. Now you will see the promised inheritance in Father, even your Glorified Body. This form of suffering is nothing short of crossing the finish line in this race to win Christ as the Prize. We are not exempted from sharing His sufferings, and if we do, we will succeed in the race that is set before us. The end of this putting off of the seamless garment will be utter Glorification in every realm of your being, body, soul and Spirit. Eternal, abiding forevermore in resurrection life in the very Heaven’s themselves. Membership of those who will be of the 1^st resurrection upon which the 2^nd death has no hurt or power. “Blessed (happy, to be envied) and holy (spiritually whole, of unimpaired innocence and proved virtue) is the person who takes part (shares) in the first resurrection! Over them the second death exerts no power or authority, but they shall be ministers of God and of Christ (the Messiah), and they shall rule along with Him a thousand years.” Revelation 20:6 AMPLIFIED

Here then are the areas of Suffering by the cross and the

putting off of your seamless garment.

✼ Complete loss of identity in the world.

✼ Complete loss of any “ability” to show forth any type of “ministry” to the world.

✼ Complete loss of any oneness with “the Word of God” as no one can see anything in your life that denotes any semblance of a “Holy Priesthood”.

✼ Complete loss of showing forth any “power with God”.

Here then are areas of Sorrow that you would now endure.

✼ Sorrow over the loss of your seamless garment, even the identity you have as a Priest of God wearing the Royal Ephod. Those things that bore witness to God in us.

✼ Sorrow over the scattering of the sheep. Our very vocation as ministers of righteousness is removed because we become “smitten of God and afflicted”. It is the verbal action of “smiting” that separates you from the “success” of any past ministry you may have had in the Body of Christ or in the world in general.

✼ Sorrow over the death of your life in the earth. However. This death of your life actually becomes an area of intercession, a most Holy act of faith for we become “Saviors” upon Mt. Zion {The Kingdom of His Anointing} {Obadiah 21} who hold no guilt or shame over the lives of men.

Our Spiritual witness in the earth becomes an area of mocking and is cheapened rather than respected for what it is. It is cheapened by those in the world who reject your walk and your words. Any area in your life that may have been worthy of recognition is removed from us by the stripping off of our seamless garment.

Now I have been speaking of having the seamless garment “stripped off of you”. When in fact the only seamless garments are those of the Ephod and the coat of Jesus. Why after all this study of the Ephod am I speaking of it being removed from us? My reason is quite simple. In this walk of overcoming, we must come to NOTHING for our lives to become EVERYTHING. We must lay down all we hold dear to gain all we hold dear. Nothing in us that we have built up of doctrine or faith can stand the test of having to lay it down to receive the nails in our hands and feet in identity with Christ’s suffering. That identity is where the world cannot follow and where the religious hold us in disdain. For the laying down of all we hold dear is the gaining of all God has promised to us. AND FURTHER TO THIS. WE CANNOT BEAR THE URIM AND THUMMIM STONES, THE STONES OF WITNESS, AND DISCERN THEIR LUSTER WITHOUT FIRST HAVING LAID DOWN COMPLETELY OUR LIVES, BODY, SOUL AND SPIRIT. For you dear Overcomer cannot know the life of God in witness if you have not laid your life down as a living sacrifice, Holy and acceptable unto God. There is NO OTHER WAY. This identity must be in oneness with the passion of the Lord.

This is indeed the preaching of the cross, to those that perish, it is foolish, but to us who are saved, and especially to us who long to Overcome, it is the power of God unto salvation. Here then are the results of obeying the Lord in the laying down of your life totally and in the stripping away of any semblance of life in God.

The nails in your hands.
✼ No more worldly works.

✼ No more worldly efforts.

✼ No more worldly witness.

✼ No more worldly ministry.

✼ No more words to tell anyone what the Lord is doing or saying.

    ✼ ✼ ✼ ✼ FOR A TIME ✼ ✼ ✼ ✼

The end of self effort to display the love and mercy of God to those round about us. For the horrendous sight of crucifixion causes all that to flee away. God Himself shows forth His love and mercy through the laying down of your life. As God did reconcile the world through the atonement of Christ, so you too become part of that. And God in the purpose of His love is able to show this love forth unbounded by your obedient sacrifice. This is a Holy work which is accomplished by our creator alone when we obey God and lay down our lives in complete surrender to the final working of having our hands impaled by the nails of Roman crucifixion. Truly this is done by God, not by “might”, not by “power”, but by His Spirit alone through your totally yielded vessel.

Nails in your feet.

✼ The end of the course of this world.

✼ The end of ceasing to circumvent the earth in faithful effort to show forth God’s Love.

✼ No righteous steps openly displayed to those round about.

✼ No steps based in and empowered by any effort whatsoever. We are impaled and we cannot move till death has done it’s work in us.

The “ouches” or “sockets” of Gold that hold the Stones of Witness, the Urim and Thummim stones represented on The Royal Ephod cannot be discerned or used in spiritual progression or in seeking the Will of God unless you have DIED to this world or are willingly in the process of DYING. The 2^nd death process is what I speak of, for this 2^nd death process is the putting off of the man of sin in you. It is that man of sin which causes such conflict and prevents one from knowing perfectly the Will of God in a person’s life. To understand the rising and falling of the Spirit of God in your life, you must lay your life DOWN. I can see no other way.

Jesus bore for us the atonement so we can be saved. But we also now must obey that same in-working by allowing that death He accomplished to work in us. This is done by becoming identified with His cross.

But that is not all, for there IS an end! We come to that place of Revelation 20:6 mentioned earlier in this writing WHERE THE 2^nd DEATH HAS NO POWER OR AUTHORITY OVER US. We actually DO COME to the END OF SELF. There IS an end to this tribulation! The goal does come in front of us and we do pass over the finish line! The death to self process, the separation of the flesh from the Spirit ENDS. Because there is NOTHING MORE IN US TO OVERCOME. We actually come to that place when we lay our Glory aside, just as Jesus laid His Glory aside and took up His cross. When the nails are pounded into your hands and your feet Dear Overcomer know that you have come to THE END OF YOUR 2^nd DEATH PROCESS. YOU NOW DIE COMPLETELY TO THIS WORLD THAT GOD MAY RAISE YOU FROM THE DEAD.

The “ouches”, or sockets that hold the Urim and Thummim Stones speaks to me of a great Glory that is ours as the process of death is completed in us. Death dies. And we remain alive. Resurrected, alive, new, Glorified and eternally alive in Glorified Bodies. Out of the tomb we come with our Lord, raised into newness of life that can never pass away.

To be continued............... Kenneth B Visscher

Site Navigation