| Chapter #31 |
|
As read by Kenneth B Visscher |
The Jasper Stone - Holy Holy Holy, Lord God Almighty
NAPHTALI....Wrestling, trouble, temptation, tribulation....FRUSTRATION....
JASPER....That which is yet impure. A stone of hard red color with streaks of black. This stone is formed by quartz silicate forming in the decaying wood of ancient trees.
JEHOVAH SHAMMAH....Our LORD is there....He who is ever present in time of TROUBLE....HE is in His abode..... Ezekiel 48:1
When Israel's spirit was broken and they were in captivity, the LORD was there.
In the midst of trouble, the VISION of what was to come made Ezekiel say, "The LORD is there...."
So we must know that our GOD is there in our most troublesome times. For He is an ever-present GOD who will not forsake us if we TRUST in HIM for our LIFE. If we trust in our own spirit, He will cast us into outer darkness in the day of judgement. If we trust Him, He is there in THAT darkness....
**********************************
And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.
And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.
And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.
And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. Revelation 4:5-8
{Vision}
And I looked down and saw His feet upon Gabbatha and the fray that was against Him, and He stood upon the grey paved floor in Pilate’s house. {End Vision}
The Jasper Stone upon the Royal Ephod is one of the most expressive elements listed in the Book of Revelation. For the Jasper appears both on the Ephod, as well as the description of the facial features of God upon the Throne in Revelation chapter 4:3 and also as the walls of the New Jerusalem. Revelation 21:11, 21:18,19.
(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled. 2 Corinthians 10:4-6
There is a vast difference between what the scriptures call “VAIN IMAGINATIONS” and what I call “RECKONING BY FAITH”. One is surety for spiritual attack, the other is a realm where FAITH pulls your life through the darkest of times into the Glorious light of victory which Christ wrought by His resurrection out from among the dead. Vain imaginations are based on scriptural ignorance and unbelief and are rooted in a firm foundation of self preservation. RECKONING BY FAITH allows one to walk in FAITH while rightly dividing the Word of God to every situation and circumstance that may assail a life in this world. The one who is creative in their identity with the Living Christ will DENY SELF in every area to gain the prize of the high calling of God in Christ. At the same time however the one who is RECKONING BY FAITH will remain as a WHOLE LIVING STONE, created with all their personal talents and abilities and goals and ambitions that tend to a fulfilled life and that are used as a part of God’s plan to bless His creation.
The Jasper Stone upon the Royal Ephod and repeated in the description of the Lord upon the Throne, as well as the walls of the New Jerusalem, will teach one to cast down vain imaginations and to bring every thought into perfect obedience to the Will of God.
During the casting down of vain imaginations, every aspect of that vanity will be revealed, layer by layer, by JEHOVAH SHAMMAH who is there to expose our need to “RECKON BY FAITH”. For the Lord has created each one with abilities and talents which will allow them to contribute as part of the whole, or as part of the Living Temple in Heaven who’s walls are composed of Jasper. We are “Living Stones” in those walls. In the Old Testament the Body of Christ is seen as an “Altar”. There is NO IRON lifted upon any who abandon themselves to JEHOVAH SHAMMAH to be found as whole, created persons with no loss of individual identity. None shaped by man or Babylon’s doctrine. No outer influence, but only that which comes from the Spirit of the Lord abiding upon an individual redeemed by the blood that was shed.
“As Moses the servant of the LORD commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of whole stones, over which no man hath lift up any iron: and they offered thereon burnt offerings unto the LORD, and sacrificed peace offerings.” Joshua 8:31
There are two realms that any Overcomer must walk through to be found as a Living Stone, or as a Completed Life before JEHOVAH SHAMMAH. This is where our creative identity comes into action as we reckon by faith our place in the Lord. For we IDENTIFY with the Lord Jesus Christ in His baptism by John in Jordan, by the witness of the Holy Ghost as a dove settling upon the Christ, by His passion in Gethsemane and then later by His judgement as Jesus stands upon Gabbatha, the pavement, before Pontius Pilate to be judged. That is the 1st realm.
The second realm for an Overcomer must walk through in their reckoning by faith is in the very Heavens themselves. For now in Christ the Overcomer must pass over the sea of glass before the Throne of He who bears all 12 names, the Ancient of Days, there to take His place at His right hand until all His enemies are made His footstool.
So then, in our creative identity, we see the scene change from Pilate’s Gabbatha pavement to the sea of glass mingled with fire, clear as crystal before the Throne. We see Jesus, finished in total triumph the work that Father sent Him to do approach the Throne of God as a completed sacrifice, the only One worthy to take the book of Eternal Judgement, sealed with 7 seals out of His hands and to open the seals thereof to bring liberty to see creation set free. We identify with Jesus there before God as the final and greatest High Priest, as He offers up His own blood to God and God accepts His blood entirely and completely with no other conditions or demands upon His will.
It is here in our reckoning by faith in the Heavenly realm, seated with Christ in heavenly places, that we see the destruction finally of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. For that tree has fulfilled it’s purpose in the life of an Overcomer enabling them to also walk across this sea of glass mingled with fire to rule and reign in life with the Lord in present earthly circumstances. For the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil will be that decaying portion of our lives that will mineralize into Jasper stone. Out of that realm of corruption will spring forth our new identity with our risen Lord in such a way as to bring us to the very Throne of God with full right to rule and reign once our obedience has been fulfilled.
First there is in our reckoning by faith the knowledge that we suffered WITH Christ in His passion. It was in Him that we were identified, rejected and crucified. This has been practically worked into our lives daily as we have traversed this world and have died to it. Deep Love from God has enveloped us and brought us to that place of identity with Jesus. We know that we died WITH CHRIST and now we WALK THIS OUT. We also exercise creative identity with the Lord in coming forth from the tomb, and then rising to cross the sea of glass to take our place at the Right Hand of God. So with Jesus, we first traverse Pilate’s pavement, then God’s. And the difference is NOT VAIN IMAGINATION, but REALITY.
So to recap RECKONING BY FAITH.
1) I am glad - that I do not have to see myself as “alive” in my old nature from father
Adam, but that I died TO Adam with Jesus during His passion.
2) I am glad - that now because of Christ’s obedience to Father, I can RECKON myself dead with Christ on Calvary and ALIVE unto God through Our Lord Jesus Christ.
3) I am glad - that the tribulations my life endures now will work in me a far greater and
eternal weight of Glory which will not pass away from me. For I RECKON by FAITH that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the Glory that will be revealed in me {us} when Christ is revealed.
4) I am glad - that when the Bible was written, and the last verse penned, that God did
not cease speaking, but continued to reveal His will in those who would obey, which will He confirms to us in His Word.
The Jasper Stone upon the Royal Ephod shows forth as red, with black streaks. Sort of like a dual natured stone. Some of the Jasper stones are more golden in color, but they all have their formation in crystal silicate that forms from quartz deposits in decaying trees. In other words, the Jasper stone represents the decaying tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and the formation of our identity because of that tree. But now our identity is in Heaven where Christ sits at the right Hand of God. We have come from a decaying earthly existence to one that shows forth the facial features of God in the Heavens themselves. Even upon the Throne is this Jasper seen. Because the Jasper stone begins in rotting wood and ends in the face of God, we have an identity that cannot be denied. That we were born OF FLESH but end IN SPIRIT. That we can now cast down vain imaginings, those things that puff up in our minds by the power of fallen creation and the powers of darkness, and instead walk in the Mind of Christ. The Jasper Stone represents Christ, not thinking it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation. Christ knew who He was, but He did not proclaim it, He came to this world to fulfill the purpose of God in restoring creation. Christ knew of the decaying wood that created Jasper within it as well as the Heavens where His true identity was.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:5-11
Not only so but Jesus also identified that His earthly body must be exchanged for His Heavenly Body. This could only be done once He fulfilled His obedience to Father. And in that obedience He was declared righteous and was given the nobility of having a Name above every name as God highly exalted Him to His right Hand to rule and reign as One there. Jesus earthly body died in this world, His New Body was raised in it also.
Not just this, but Christ also fulfilled the promise of God to Abraham by His atonement in bringing MANY to become God’s children. For God had promised Abraham that in him, all families and all nations of the earth would be blessed. Blessed because they would be in the adoptive family of Sons and Daughters, given the right to be called the children of God.
{From The Visscher Family Homepage}
“And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude."Genesis32:12.
"John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire: Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable." Luke 3:16,17.
"For our God is a consuming fire." Hebrews 12:29.
We see by these verses that the spirit Christ poured out at Pentecost which appeared as cloven tongues of fire, and God a consuming fire, are indeed fire. In fact, the spirit of judgment and of burning are the same as the spirit of God. And God and the spirit of burning are in fact the same spirit. From where will all nations come? From the blessed promise God gave to Abraham. He was told in the above verses that his seed would be in number as the sand of the sea shore. And we also see that God is a consuming fire. What do we get when we combine fire and sand? Glass. Hence a sea of humanity, all who died in Adam, consumed by none other than the spirit of God who is in fact the fire in this same sea. God has only one kind of fire, strange fire He doesn't know. And what of the overcoming ones who stand upon this sea in Worship of God? Who are they? They are the ones who simply overcame all that was in the sea of the beast, of his image and mark and over the number of His name which number is the number of man. Revelation 13:18.
This sea, this cumulative mass of mankind, all inherit with the mark of their father Adam. All that was iniquitous in Adam is now a beast, for it has grown to such a magnitude. How did these ones overcome the beast? By submitting to the fire. By our daily tedious trials, longness of trials and by the many things we endure as we seek to follow God in truth, all this is by the purging fire of God. None of the things that beset us will prevent our rising to overcome, and stand upon this sea. All we endure, all the trials, all the testings, all that besets us wether physically or spiritually, all work to that selfsame end, to give us overcoming victory over this bestial nature. They stand, worshipping God, with their own individual golden harps. Individual testimonies of the grace of God that brought them to victory, the victory of Christ's resurrection. They overcome all religious tradition, all grievous works of the life of this world, all that is of the fleshly lusts of unregenerate man. All this they overcome in themselves. All nations, all of them, are in this sea. No one is exempted. All who ever were born in Adam, will be partakers of this fiery sea. So now the overcomers sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb. Here a culmination is upon their tongues and within their lips. Here mercy and truth meet, that which is the common praise of God is fulfilled in they who traversed the seas expanse. Here all that was to be overcome is, and all that is left is a new creation, worshipping God in spirit and in truth. God' s judgments manifest! First this manifestation, then ours! Manifest judgment, how needful as we daily see the world go darker and darker into the darkness of spiritual declension. But the Lord shall arise upon these ones, and the Glory of the Lord shall be seen upon thee, and all nations shall come to the brightness of their rising. Isaiah 60:1-3.
God's way here is just, true and will bring forth the perfection of His spirit in all they who've come to the sea of glass, mingled with fire. Purity, and holiness, transparent and nothing ever hidden, all shall be purged by the one who is a consuming fire. Who shall not fear thee? and glorify thy name? for thou alone art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee for thy judgments are made manifest. No one exempt. Yet how grand that call to overcome and stand upon this sea! How humbling! How we should abase ourselves and seek after humility, even the humility of Christ. Phil2:5-8. Not for ourselves do we overcome, but for the sake of all in the sea, that all in the sea may be restored into the perfect liberty of manifested sons and daughters of God.
{End of the quote from The Visscher Family Homepage}
So now we have come to the Stone upon the Ephod that reveals our beginning in this world, and our end in the Kingdom of God. Beginnings in flesh, endings in Spirit and in Glorified Bodies. Base and earthly, Heavenly with the Mind of Christ.
*This Stone represents - the “forgetting” of those things we have had before and the “revealing” of who we are in Christ.
*This Stone represents - the suffering of tribulation in this present world and the end of suffering by the revelation of Glory in those that overcome.
*This Stone represents - the fire of God consuming fallen humanity and the Overcomers standing upon this fiery sea with the Harps of God worshiping the Lord for His marvelous works of redemption.
*This Stone represents - THE FINAL WORKING OF GOD in “practical redemption”, wherein humanity will come to know the life of God in Christ, abandoning all other religious efforts, cults and practices.
*This Stone represents - the fire red color of the Jasper Stone as the fire of God which removes everything from us of the former bestial nature.
*This Stone represents - all humanity redeemed by the atonement of Christ. All mankind, coming through the processing of Holy Fire to be found redeemed in the Love of God.
*This stone represents - the lives that were earthly to now live in the New Jerusalem who’s walls are composed of Jasper Stone.
*This Stone represents - the former things passing away and being forgotten and the New Nature that God has created in Christ as being man’s eternal portion.
*This Stone represents - the former things passed away, and behold, all things have
become new.
PROPHECY - "Behold the day of my wrath, my indignation. Yet this time shall be short,
the season I will fold up in quickness. Yea I come. Behold it is I, be not afraid. Though
the heavens melt like wax, and the earth be consumed as grass in a field of fire, even so, I
come quickly. And my reward is with me. Behold, it is a righteous thing that I do. My
standard shall be raised and all nations shall flow unto it, for this is my day to be
honored in the eyes of the heathen. And to all that come, shall there be a full reward, for
my age that dawns will deliver all creation into the glorious liberty of my sons and my
daughters saith the Lord."
To Be Continued...................... Kenneth B Visscher