The Twelve Gates Of The Holy City

Chapter Six

(Clear as Crystal)

 

Rev. 21:9-11 says,

"Come I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb. And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. Having the glory of God, and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like jasper stone, clear ascrystal."

Let us take a closer look at this word `jasper'. Rev. 4:3 says, "And the one who sat there had the

appearance of jasper...."

This City has come into the nature or the appearance of the one who is setting on the throne. Christ was the first fruit, we are the harvest. Jesus said, "You are the light of the world, a city sat on a high hill that cannot be hid." Jesus said; "I don't just speak truth, I am truth."

Moses was instructed in Exodus 28:17-20 concerning the breastplate of the High Priest:

"Then mount four rows of precious stones on it. In the first row there shall be a sardius, a topaz and a beryl; in the second row a turquoise, a sapphire and an emerald; in the third row a jacinth, an agate and an amethyst; in the fourth row a chrysolite, an onyx and a jasper. Mount them in gold filigree settings."

The King James version says...."they shall be set in gold in their enclosings."

In the Old Testament, the jasper stone was the last stone on the breastplate. It says that the jasper stone was set in gold and enclosed. Song of Solomon 4:12 says, "A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse, a spring shut up, a fountain sealed." I see this jasper nature as the nature of Jesus enclosed, and as long as you are in a covenant where there is a law of sin and death, it will always be that way. However, when you come to a better covenant and a new testament and better promises and a better blood, His blood, the jasper stone is no longer last. It is first and it is no longer closed in and no longer a fountain shut up, but it is released and the nations shall walk in the light of it.

On the breastplate of the high priest, the jasper stone was in the last row and the last stone on the plate, and it was enclosed. Look again at Rev. 21:19 which says:

"The foundations of the City were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper.."

In the Old Testament the jasper was last, but in the New Testament the jasper is first. Jesus said in Matt. 19:30, "Many who are last shall be first."

We must realize that the jasper stone speaks of Jesus Christ, the stone most precious, the stone which the builders rejected, that now has become the head of the corner. It denotes His nature, His light, which is as clear as crystal.

In Rev. 4:3 it says, "And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and sardius or carnelian".

The sardius stone was thought to be a ruby stone. Ruby is red in color and would depict the color of blood. The name Judah was scratched on this stone in the high priest's breastplate. The name Judah means to praise, and so today we praise God for the blood of Jesus which purifies us from our sins. In the Old Testament the jasper stone was last, but in the New Testament the jasper stone is first. However, between the last and the first is included all that is in between.

The jasper stone or the nature of God is seen first of all in Jesus, but knowing that He is the firstborn among many brethren, the head of the body, then the body which is last, shall also be as the jasper stone, clear as crystal having the nature of God. We must become as clear as crystal.

Song of Solomon 1:2 says:

"Let him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth (she is already saved, she already loves Him therefore this whole book deals with the believer, from infancy to maturity) for thy love is better than wine (She has a grasp of the Kingdom for she says this love realm is better than Pentecost and she says) because of the savor of your good ointments (She is talking but His name, His fragrance,) she says it is as ointment poured forth, therefore the virgin loves you. (In other words, this book is just for pure people.)

Draw me, we will run after you: The king has brought me into His chambers: (When He brought you into His chambers is when you were filled with the Holy Spirit.)"

Chapter 2: 8 says:

"The voice of my beloved! Behold, He comes leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon hills. My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: He stands behind our wall (This is where she made a mistake: for He is the vail) gazing through the windows, peering through the lattice. (She says I can see him every once and awhile, but I am still looking through a glass darkly.)

My lover spoke and said to me, `Arise, my darling, and come with Me.' (This is the same thing spoken to John who was told to [Come Here!] `See the winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in the land. The fig tree forms its early fruit; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance. Arise, come, My darling; My beautiful one, come with Me.'"

God is saying, "I want to now deal with what most people whitewash or candy coat. I want to bring you into a local assembly and deal with you until you are as clear as crystal." He says, "I want you to come out of the playpens of religious games and come to a place where We can get those foxes, those deceiving cunning little foxes that love to lay down and play dead. I do not want you to just play dead. I want you to be dead."

Verse 16 says, "My lover is mine and I am His:" My, how carnal she is . My lover, my healing, my ministry, my, my, my. It is carnal to say, "My lover is mine and I am His," because later after she has gone through some fire and some testing, she changes her tune. Look at chapter 7:10 "I belong to my lover, and His desire is for me."

Back to chapter 2:16, "My lover is mine and I am His: He browses among the lilies." Where does He feed? Among the lilies. Only among the pure. "Until the Day breaks and the shadows flee." A new day has broken forth and we no longer need the light of the moon in this City. The moon is just a reflector of the sun, but we do not need these types and shadows any longer. We do not need that impart realm anymore, because we have come into the clearness. Clear as crystal. Until the day breaks and the fears and doubts flee away, repent, turn, my lover.

God's message to a Spirit filled Church in this hour is to repent and turn from your wicked ways, and seek My face and I will Heal you. Turn away from your carnality and be like a gazelle or like a young stag on the rugged hills of Bether. Bether means to divide and that is exactly what Jesus came to do to the Church, but She says, "I do not want it." This is why in the next chapter the heavens become brass and she loses Him.

"Who is this that appears like the dawn, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners."

Who is this that appears like the dawn? Not looking for the dawning of a new day, but appearing like the dawn. Most people are looking for the morning. Why don't you start looking as the morning? One of these days the Sun will come up! Greater is He who is in you than he that is in the world. Now, why don't you start looking like the greater one in you? If you had a revelation of who is in you, you would never say that again. The seed that is in you could not be holier, and the potential that is in you could not be any greater.

Ezekiel 1:22 says,

"Spread out above the heads of the living creatures was what looked like an expanse,sparkling like crystal and awesome."

If you study the characteristics of these living creatures, you will see characteristics of the people who will become clear as crystal. They had the face of a man, a lion, an ox and an eagle. You must have the intelligence of a man, the patience and humility of an ox; the boldness of a lion; and soar like an eagle. It says that their feet were straight. They walked in a straight path. They had four wings and with two of them theycovered themselves. Showing their mode was shy. They did not fanfare their greatness in a monthly magazine. They did not let one hand know what the other hand was doing, because their wings covered their hands. The other two wings were stretched upwards in praise, and the wings touched each other signifying unity in praise. When they moved, it sounded like the roar of rushing waters, and like the voice of God, like the tumult of an army. When they stood still they lowered their wings. They were silent and the Lord spoke.

Jer. 48:11 says,

"Moab has been at ease from his youth, and he has settled on his lees and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither has he gone into captivity therefore his taste remained in him and his scent is not changed."

We find here a description of the purifying process of wine. We are poured from one local church to another. From one people to another. That is, unless you find yourself among a people who would put no limitations upon the pouring. This is the description of the charismatic move today. They do not want to be emptied from vessel to vessel and they do not want to go into captivity. When you go into captivity, you have no choice as to what you wear, to what you eat, as to anything. You have no rights because you are in captivity. You do not lift your voice to express your opinions, you have none!

Now, who wants to come off THEIR throne to do that? There is a people in the earth that are not at ease. Woe be unto them that are at ease in Zion! Moab has been at ease from his youth. That is his problem; he is immature. If he is ever to become mature, he must be poured out from vessel to vessel, but, because he has not been, his testimony, I mean his scent has not changed. If you are giving the same testimony you gave last year, then you have not been emptied. If you do not know more about Him this year than you did last year, you have just been going around the mountain again. You are not praying, meditating and studying and using your payer language. You are probably in the wrong church.

Let me speak an encouraging word to those of you who feel that your world is being turned upside down. You are being emptied from vessel to vessel. About the time you become accustomed to this round vessel, God will put you in a square vessel. If you still want to be round, you are going to have a problem being square.

Then He puts you in a vessel that is the shape of a triangle. You were round, but had thought you would never settle down and become square, however you finally became square and just as you are settling down, He places you in a triangle. Could this be what Jesus meant when He said that we would have to become as little children to enter the Kingdom of God? You see, an adult's head is hard and not pliable but ridged. However, a child's head is soft, pliable, and moldable.

We must become as water; pure, clear as crystal and ready to flow into any vessel that the Lord brings our way. Anything that will not flow has become hard. God's frozen chosen. This is why He puts us in the furnace. To thaw us out so we can flow with the move of His cloud. The reason we experience all of this pressure; is because we will not pour. Spiritual growth requires a pouring out from vessel to vessel, from glory to glory, line upon line, until we are formed into His exact image and likeness, then we will shine forth as the light of this world.

Do not ever drive your stakes down so deep that they can not be pulled up and moved from friends, family, jobs, houses, land, etc. God is looking for a people who will allow His Spirit to purify them in order that His glorious nature may shine through them.

We have seen that the jasper stone, in Exodus 28, was that last stone in the last row and on each of the stones was scratched a name of one of the twelve tribes of Israel. If the jasper stone speaks of the nature of Jesus, that we are becoming, then it would be interesting to know the name of the tribe that is scratched on the jasper stone, because it would give us an indication of how we are going to become clear as crystal.

The name of the tribe of Israel on the jasper stone is Naphtali. The word Naphtali means to obtain by wrestling. This could not mean to wrestle with God. God loves me and it disturbs me when people teach that you must wrestle with God and maybe you just might get your answer or pray through. The idea of praying through does not line up with scripture, because scripture says that Jesus said, "Little flock it is the Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom." If I am not wrestling with the Lord then I wonder who I am wrestling with?

Genesis 32:24 says, "So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak."

They wrestled until the breaking of a new day. Paul talked a lot about sports, and he knew that most of the sports of his day were to the death. Somebody died. Remember in the Song of Solomon 2:17. .."until the day brake and the shadows flee away." The same thing is happening here to Jacob.

Peter said in II Peter 1:19, ..."until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts."

 

Genesis 32:24 says, "And Jacob was left alone..."

No one wants that place; we want the crowd, we want the place of security, the place of comfort where they know the answers, or someone with us knows the answers.

Gen. 32:24 says,

"So Jacob was left alone and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpowerhim, (that Jacob nature is a strong one) he touched the hollow of his thigh."

The Hebrew word for touched is the same word used when it says that Ussiah was touched with leprosy, when God smote Job. It is a strong word, as in Isaiah 53, that says Jesus was smitten. Notice he touched the hollow of his thigh. The thigh speaks of that with which man reproduces; and what man is reproducing in this hour is hollow. They even prophesy and talk in tongues, but you come away from their meetings empty and hollow. Gen. 32 continues:

"And the hollow of his thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. And he said, `Let me go, for the day is breaking' But Jacob replied, `I will not let you go unless you bless me.' The man asked him, `What is your name?.'"

Meaning; what is your nature? And Jacob said; I am a phony, a hypocrite, and a supplanter.

Do you think Spirit filled churches want to stop shouting long enough to be told that they are hypocrites? Therefore, in order for you to become a jasper stone as pure as crystal, you must wrestle with that beast nature of self.

THIS KINGDOM IS NOT FOR HALFHEARTED PEOPLE!!!!