|
My Powerful Vision on the Twelve Shewbread Loaves
and the Twelve Baskets of Barley Fragments
"The
Lord has shown me that precious souls are starving, and dying for want of the
present, sealing truth, the meat in due season; and that the swift messengers should
speed on their way, and feed the flock with the present truth. I
heard an Angel say, 'Speed the swift messengers, speed the swift
messengers; for the case of every soul will soon be decided, either for
life, or for death.'" Review and
Herald, September 1, 1849 (vol 1, p 11).
Click to go to our Home Page
Dear Reader,
At 1:30 p.m., January 11,
2008, I experienced a most powerful vision that showed me the following
matters of serious import for the bride of God’s Army of Joel 2, and for
making herself ready for His coming. The Lord showed me a powerful view of
all of the following factors and their relation to one another. I felt a
powerful compulsion to arise immediately and write this out for God’s
people.
The Lord showed me that
Ellen White’s statement of Christ’s
Object Lessons, 406, concerning the voice of God AND THE VOICE OF THE
BRIDE, designate His bride, the 144,000, who awakens the ten brides maidens.
Rev 18:23 And the light of a candle shall
shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of
the bride shall be heard no more at all
in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy
sorceries were all nations deceived.
Joel 2:16 Gather the people, sanctify the
congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck
the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet.
"Lingering
near [not at] the bride's house are ten young women robed in white. Each
carries a lighted lamp and a small flagon for oil. All are anxiously
watching for the appearance of the bridegroom. But there is a delay [since
1844]. Hour after hour passes the watchers become weary and fall asleep. At
midnight the cry is heard, 'Behold, the bridegroom cometh go ye out to meet
him.' The sleepers [all ten slept Matt. 25:5], suddenly awaking, spring to
their feet. They see the procession moving on, bright with torches and glad
with music. They hear the
voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. The ten maidens
seize their lamps and begin to trim them, in haste to go forth, But five
have neglected to fill their flasks with oil [character]. They did not
anticipate so long a delay, and they have not prepared for the
emergence." E. G. White, Christ's Object Lessons, pp. 405, 406.
The voice of the bride that awakens
all ten virgins [all slumbered and
slept Matt. 25:5], then the
bride is a separate entity, who is awake before the awakening of the 10
virgins. This is attested to in Isaiah 62:11, where the mother, Zion,
says the same thing, in similar other words, to her daughter. Like the
firstfruit crop of grain, the bride is ripened (readied) first.
The bride is made ready first:
Rev 19:7 Let us be glad and
rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and
his wife hath made herself ready.
I was shown the significance of the 12 baskets
of fragments of the barley loaves.
John
Previous Chapter | Next Chapter
Chapter 6
1 After these things
Jesus went over the sea of Galilee,
which is the sea of Tiberias.
2 And a great multitude
followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were
diseased.
3 And Jesus went up into a mountain,
and there he sat with his disciples.
4 And the passover,
a feast of the Jews,
was nigh.
5 When Jesus
then lifted up
his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy
bread, that these may eat?
6 And this he said to prove him: for he himself
knew what he would do.
7 Philip answered him, Two hundred
pennyworth
of bread is not sufficient
for them,
that every one
of them may take a little.
8 One of his disciples,
Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith unto him,
9 There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes:
but what are they among so many?
10 And Jesus said, Make the men sit down.
Now there was
much grass in the place.
So the men sat down,
in number
about five thousand.
11 And Jesus took the loaves;
and when he had given
thanks, he distributed
to the disciples,
and the disciples
to them that were
set down; and likewise of the fishes
as much as
they would.
12 When they were filled,
he said unto his disciples,
Gather up
the fragments
that remain,
that nothing
be lost.
13 Therefore
they gathered them together,
and filled twelve
baskets with the fragments
of the five barley
loaves, which remained over and
above unto them that had
eaten.
The Lord
has shown this writer in vision that that the twelve baskets represent the
literal twelve tribes of Israel, the literal 144,000 and the barley bride,
the firstfruits bride, for barley was the first crop to ripen and harvest
in the Middle East. Barley was waved as the wave sheaf unto the Lord, as
the firstfruits of the harvest. Likewise, the Lord has shown me that His
144,000 strong bride is the firstfruits wave offering of righteousness unto
Him. All the earth will see her (Zion’s)
righteousness, Isaiah 62.
The guests
are the wheat, GC 427. If guests (wheat) they cannot be the bride (Barley
firstfruits). The guests at the wedding feast are the brides maidens. The bridesmaids are not the bride and the bride is not the brides maidens. The bride is the leaders (pillars in the temple
Rev.
3:10-12), and the guests are the people of God—the brides maidens. The firstfruits bride, awakens all ten of the bridesmaids at the Loud
Cry, Christ’s Object Lessons,
405-6. Once awakened, the guest brides maidens join in giving the call
and they will be seed for fruit by being martyrs, for only the 144,000 are
translated without seeing death.
"The marriage
represents the reception by Christ of His kingdom. The Holy City,
the New Jerusalem, which is the capital and representative of the kingdom,
is called 'the bride, the Lamb's wife.' Said the angel to John: 'Come hither,
I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife.' 'He carried me away in the spirit,' says the prophet,
'and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem,
descending out of heaven from God.' Revelation 21:9, 10. Clearly, then, the bride represents
the Holy City,
and the virgins that go out to meet the bridegroom are a symbol of the
church [militant]. In the Revelation the
people of God are said to be the guests at the marriage supper.
Revelation 19:9. If guests, they
cannot be represented also as the bride...He will receive the New
Jerusalem, the capital of His kingdom, 'prepared as a bride adorned for her
husband.'" E. G. White, The
Great Controversy, 426, 427.
1Ch 28:16 And by weight [he gave] gold for the
tables of shewbread,
for every table; and [likewise] silver for the tables of silver: [All gold in the Sanctuary symbolized
Christ]
Mat 12:4 How he entered into the house of God, and
did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which
were with him, but only for the priests?
Strongs #3899 for shewbread
Bread of the presence
The food of God
Those who eat of they
table, they household [eg. The
bread of heaven, the Word, the bread of Christ, His body]
To furnish a banquet [the
marriage feast of the Lamb in honor of the bride]
Twelve
small loaves which were set out in the holy tabernacle before Jehovah every
week.
The Four
Pillars. The gate of the sanctuary court was hung on four
pillars, Ex. 27:16,--only four, no more, no less, with the command,
"See that thou make it after the pattern," lest thou mar God's
great plan. Why four? For the same reason that the vail, which represented His flesh, Heb. 10:20, was
hung on four pillars, and for the same reason that when He
tabernacles on earth, inspiration gave us His life in four gospels.
As seven in the Bible indicates completeness and perfection, so the
number four in the sanctuary, dictated by God, must have some divine
significance. This number occurs in the four coverings, the
four ingredients of the shewbread, the incense, the
anointing oil, also in the fourth commandment and in other places, where it
always points to Christ. As the number four points to Christ, so the multiples of four, 12, 24, 48, 60, 12,000, 144,000 are
used to indicate special groups of His true followers. Continuing our study, we shall notice that this
number, the number four, recurs frequently, and to the spiritual
minded the promise is, "The Spirit of truth will guide
you into all truth." John 16:13. The
Path to the Throne of God, [The Sanctuary Service], by Sarah Elizabeth
Peck, p. 41.
The Significance of the Shewbread [From: The Path to the
Throne of God, by Sarah Elizabeth Peck]
Page 122
"unworthily." I Cor. 11:28,29. A spiritual understanding of the
sanctuary will help us to discern the Lord's body.
Fine
Flour Bread. Not only as a whole, but in
each of its "four" ingredients, the bread symbolized
Christ. The
fine flour of which it was made, was flour ground fine, all unevenness and
all coarse particles removed. This represented Christ, who was made perfect
through suffering. If we are to be like Him, we too, must pass through the
grinding process--we must be refined, all coarseness and roughness removed
from our lives. "In Jesus there was no unevenness. He was always even,
always the same. In Him one day's walk never contradicted another, one
hour's service never clashed with another. In Him every grace was in its perfectness, none in excess, none out of place, none wanting.
In Him firmness never degenerated into obstinacy, or calmness into stoical
indifference." Andrew Jukes, in The Law of the Offerings, p.
75.
Ron’s Commentary: The Lord has shown
me in vision that the twelve loaves of bread also symbolize the twelve
tribes of Israel,
the 144,000,
Other Ingredients. The shewbread was a true meat offering, besides the fine flour, there was
oil, salt, and water, but, like our communion bread, no leaven. Lev. 2:1,5,11,13. Oil
symbolized Christ working through the Holy Spirit. "We receive Christ through His Word; and the
Holy Spirit is given to open the Word of God to our understanding, and to
bring home its truths to our hearts." MB 164.
Salt is a
preservative, a symbol of incorruption. A reverent study of the Word will
preserve the Christian Bible student from corrupt doctrines as well as
corrupt manners. Salt is sometimes put on icy walks to keep people from
slipping and falling, and the Word of God in our hearts will keep us from
falling on the slippery paths of life. Salt is
not only a preservative, it is also a symbol of perpetuity. "The Lord...gave the kingdom...to David forever...by
a covenant of salt." II Chron.
13:5. It is also a symbol of wisdom: "Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know
how ye ought to answer every man." Col. 4:6. It is a symbol of
friendship and hospitality. Reference to this is made in Ezra 4:14, margin:
"Because we are salted with the salt of the palace." And so the
Christian is admonished, "Have salt in your selves, and have peace one
with another." Mark 9:50. As we share our faith with others, we must
do so with incorruption of mind and sincerity of heart. Our attitude must
be one of friendship and hospitality, of peace and good will, and our
speech "with grace"--never unkind or critical. It is when we
mingle these graces with our efforts to give the Word to others, that we
shall become "the salt of the earth." Matt. 5:13.
God's Word Cleanses. The water used in the
bread represents the cleansing power of the Word of God. "Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his
way? By
taking heed thereto according to Thy Word." Ps. 119:9. Jesus gave Himself for the church,
"that He might...cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word."
Eph. 5:26. "Now ye are clean through the Word which I have
spoken unto you." John 15:3. Obedience to the Word of God cleanses and
refines and ennobles our lives, and enables us to be true servants of God.
The Word Sanctifies. To sanctify is to make
sacred and to set apart for a sacred use. Obedience to the Word of God, represented by the bread, sanctifies
the soul. "Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy Word is truth."
John 17:17. We are born again only of the incorruptible Word of God. I
Peter 1:22, 23. It is by the Word that we become "partakers of the
divine nature," II Peter 1:4. Its influence upon our lives destroys
the carnal life, and imparts a new life--the life of Christ. The Word of
God "is able to build up, and to give you an inheritance among all
them which are sanctified." Acts 20:32.
Page 123
It is through the Word that we are made perfect. "All scripture...is profitable...for
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect." II Tim. 3:16, 17. "Let those who would be sanctified, search
the Word of God, with patience, with prayer, and with humble contrition of
soul." R
& H. [No further reference given].
Unless we
eat, digest, and assimilate this bread of life, we can have no life in us,
John 6:53, any more than we can live a physical life if we neglect physical
food. We may drag along in a
semi-starved condition for a time, but sooner or later life becomes
extinct. This neglect is the first step toward going back to the beggarly
elements of the world. "My people are destroyed for lack
of knowledge." Hos. 4:6
When Jesus said, "I am that Bread
of Life...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," the Jews and also the disciples murmured, and said, "How
can this Man give us His flesh to eat?" Jesus explained, saying, "It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are
life." John 6:48,51, 52,63.
The Word of God is the living bread, giving refinement, wisdom, cleansing,
spiritual strength and endurance, and finally sanctification and eternal
life.
Ron’s Commentary: His Live, His Holy
Spirit life and soul.
Frankincense
on the Bread. "And thou shalt put pure frankincense upon each row, that it may
be on the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire
unto the Lord." Lev. 24:7.
This frankincense was the same as that burned daily on the golden altar. At
the end of the week, it also was burned on the golden altar, "an
offering made by fire unto the Lord." It represented the righteousness
of Christ, which mingled with sincere prayer is given to those who eat the
Bread of life "continually." It taught the lesson that "never should the Bible be studied without prayer." When the Bible is studied without prayer, we are told that
Satan stands ready to suggest error, or belittle the sacredness of the
Word. [Emboldened emphasis
added]. The frankincense was on the bread "for a memorial," or as
Moffatt has it, "a reminder to the Eternal"--a
reminder that His righteousness is promised to all
who give prayerful study to the Word.
Ron’s Commentary: An offering of
self-sacrifice by buying gold tried in the fire—faith that works by the
indwelling righteousness and self-sacrificing love of Christ.
The
"Continual" Bread. Of the
type, Christ said, the bread was "before Me alway." Ex. 25:30. The table was never without it,
therefore it is called the "continual" bread.
Num. 4:7. Chosen ones of the Kohathites, a division of the Levites, prepared it every Sabbath, I Chron. 9:32, and at the beginning of each Sabbath, the
"newly baked" bread was brought to an incoming priest who
"set it in order" on the table "before the Lord." Lev..
24:5-8; PP 348; Smith's Bible
Dictionary [No further reference given]. Then the old bread was taken
away, and eaten the following week by the outgoing priests "on behalf
of the Israelites, to mark a lasting compact." Lev. 24:8, Moffatt. At the end of the week, whatever of the old
bread remained, was burned on the brazen altar, "for it is most holy
of the offerings of the Lord made by fire." Lev. 24:9. Does this not teach us that our study
of the Bible should be constant, a daily partaking of the bread of life?
Does it not teach us that during the week we are to eat and digest
the holy bread continually?
This special Sabbath feast, together
with daily and prayerfully partaking of the Living Bread, is the first
essential to "growing up" into perfection of character. It is
essential if we are to be kept from sin,--"Thy Word have I hid in my heart,
that I might not sin against thee." Ps. 119:11. It is essential to
sanctification--it is "most holy" unto the Lord. There is no
substitute for earnest study of the Word; it is "fundamental;" it
cannot be merely "supplemental," as Christ, the Word, was made
flesh, John 1:1,14, so the Word of God in us must be made flesh. We must
not only know the word, we must be the word.
Page 124
Earnest Study Essential. Some Christians who have passed through a sincere court
experience, know very little of the experience of growing up "unto a
perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of
Christ." Eph. 4:13. They remain "babes," or at least dwarfs,
in the Christian life. Why is this? All have equal access to the divine
Word, but many neglect or ignore their privileges. Although the banquet is
spread before them, they allow the cares of life or the deceitfulness of
riches to choke the Word. At times they read the Bible as a Christian duty,
but their hearts are on the trivial concerns of everyday life. They hear the word as it is preached from the sacred desk, but
if falls on stony ground or among thorns; it does not take root, and soon
withers away, or the thorns grow up and choke it, and it yields no fruit. As Paul says, they are "dull of
hearing." He further says, although "ye ought to be teachers, ye
have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the
oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk and not of strong
meat. For everyone that useth milk is unskillful in
the Word...for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them...who by reason of use (of the Word) have their senses
exercised to discern both good and evil." Heb. 5:11-14. Should not
this be a challenge to all who have entered the holy place? If the Spirit
of God discovers to us spiritual malnutrition, the surest remedy is an
earnest study of the Word of God, which is our spiritual food.
The
Scriptures a Safeguard. If the Bible is truly to be
our "safeguard" through times of trouble, we must dig deep into its rich mine of truth, comparing scripture with scripture. In these
closing hours of probation, we need to study more earnestly than ever
before. Satan knows that the Bible, studied with heart and mind and soul,
will be our "safeguard" during the perils of these last days;
therefore it is his "constant study to keep the minds of men occupied
with those things which will prevent them from obtaining the knowledge of
God." V
Test 740; See also GC 593. But if we
improve our opportunities to gain a knowledge of the Bible, God will not
leave us to the buffetings of the enemy. To those who hunger and thirst
after righteousness the promise is that they shall be filled. Matt. 5:6.
This promise, "set in the framework of faith" and "placed in
memory's halls," will never fail. V Test 630.
The channel of communication will be unobstructed. "Deep, earnest
study of the Word under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, will give fresh
manna, and the same Spirit will make its use effectual." VI Test 163.
Then let us not depend on others to do our thinking for us, but let us sink
the shaft deep into the treasures of His Word.
If our opportunities for education
have been limited, how encouraging are these words: "The understanding of Bible truth
depends not so much on the power of intellect brought to the search, as one
the singleness of purpose, the earnest longing after righteousness." GC 599. "If he (the Christian) would have his powers
and capabilities daily improved, he must study; he must eat and
digest the Word...The soul that is nourished by the bread
of life will have every faculty vitalized by the Spirit of God." VI Test 153. If in this spirit we daily feed upon the Word, Jesus will multiply
it as He did the five loaves, so that not only shall we ourselves be filled,
but through our efforts the multitudes also will eat and be filled. Mark 6:35-44; John 6:9-13.
As Christ multiplied the five loaves
of barley bread, so He multiplies His disciples at the end-time from His
original 12 to a multiple of 12, 144,000.
Bread of His Presence. Shewbread literally means "bread of the face" or "bread
of the presence." "The
bread of the face," says Smith's
Bible Dictionary, "is therefore that bread through which God is
seen; that is, through the participation of which man attains the sight of
God. Whence it follows that we have not to think of bread as such, as the
means of nourishing the bodily life, but as spiritual food,
as a means of appropriating and retaining that life
Page 125
which
consists in seeing the face of God." "The shewbread pointed to Christ, the living Bread,
who is ever in the presence of God for us." PP 354. Now, by faith we see His face through
His Word, but when type reaches antitype, the promise is we shall see His
face and His name shall be in our foreheads. Rev. 22:4.
Moses Built an Altar and Twelve Pillars According to the Twelve
Tribes of Israel
Pillars
as a Symbol. Exodus 24:3-8 gives us a
key to the significance of pillars. After Israel had unanimously
covenanted to obey all the words of the Lord that Moses read to them from
the book where they were written, he took with him a few representative
people and solemnly ratified the agreement by building an altar and twelve
pillars, "according to the twelve tribes of Israel."
Ex. 24:1, 4. This shows that pillars sometimes
represent God's obedient children. In Revelation 3:10 we read "Him
that overcometh
will I make a pillar in the temple of my God." The Path to
the Throne of God, Sarah Elizabeth Peck, p. 46.
The twelve pillars
represent the 144,000--twelve-thousand from each of the twelve tribes. They
are obedient and without guile. Only the 144, 000 enter the Temple, and they are made pillars, leaders,
lesser priests in the Temple.
Christ, of course, is the high priest. The 144,000 are distinguished from
the great multitude by Ellen White, when she said that only the 144,000 are
permitted to enter the Temple on Mt. Zion, Early Writings, p. 19.
God bless
and may His bride make herself ready soon is my prayer,
Ron
|
