Colors of the Great Living Fountain – Stones of the Breast
Plate01
October 21st,
2001
For
the past few weeks we have been studying the colors of God as they came forth
from that great Fountain of Life.
HEBREWS CHAPTER 1 57-0821 20-126 Could you imagine before there even was a earth, before
there was a light, before there was a star, before there was anything? There's
a Great Fountain going forth of Spirit, and out of this Fountain came the most
pure of love; 'cause there was nothing for it to come from there but love.
…
QA HEBREWS PART 3
57-1006 339-Q-74 God was this great big
fountain of seven colors. How many knows that? See?
In our study, we found that the colors of the rainbow are manifested only when Light strikes the water crystal, as when it strikes the diamond, and we know in Malachi 4:2, The Lord is spoken of as "the Sun of righteousness", and we know that He is Here, in the form of a Light, the Pillar of Fire.
And brother Branham taught
us what these colors stand for. For each is an expression of the Great fountain
of Life. Each color is a part of the Great Contract between God and Man,
expressing a part of the Contract concerning life. The Contract begins with red refers to Love of God which
has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. It moves into orange which
is a blending of the red with the next primary Color yellow and represents
character which comes by Love putting to trial and child training. Next we have
yellow (Gold) which stands for Deity and trial, and then
we have green, which is a blending of yellow and blue and represents
Life. Next we come to the last Primary color blue which symbolizes Trueness,
and the colors are coming back full circle, blue which is the last primary
color begins to blend with red the first primary color, (The Alpha and Omega
coming together produces Indigo which is Royalty, and then as the blend
comes closer to the beginning red, it turns to violet or purple which is
priesthood.
Now,
this brings us to the color of the stones in the breastplate of Aaron. To begin
our study of the Stones of the Breast plate let's turn in our Bibles to the
Book of Exodus.
Exodus
28: 6,15. “And you shall make the
breastplate of judgment, the work of an artist; after the manner of the ephod
shall you make it: of gold, sky-blue, dark-red, and crimson dyed wool,
and of twisted linen shall you make it”
God
gave the design for this breastplate of Judgment to Moses. It was to be worn
over the heart of Aaron the High priest as He entered into the presence of God.
Now, I believe the location of the breastplate over the heart has significance.
EXODUS 28:29 And Aaron shall bear the
names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his
heart, when he goeth in unto the holy [place], for a memorial before (Paniym,
which means before the face or presence of) the LORD continually. 30 And thou shalt put
in the breastplate of judgment the Urim (lights) and the Thummim (perfection); and they shall be upon Aaron's heart, when he goeth
in before (into the presence) the LORD:
and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart
before (the presence) the LORD
continually.
I guess before we begin to look at the breast plate itself, we should ask our selves, Why Aaron? Why not Moses to wear the breast plate of the high priest. After all, was not Moses, God's Mouth piece on earth? Was not Moses, the Messenger of God's choosing? Then, why his older brother Aaron? And What about Lucifer's breast plate? Why weas He missing three stones as we find in Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14? For the next few minutes this morning we will focus on these two questions. Why Aaron, in Moses day and why the missing stones in the breast plate of Lucifer?
According to Hebrew teaching from the Talmud, (Shabbos 139) we are told: "Aaron the first high priest, merited the distinction to wear the breast plate (which is worn on the heart) because he wasn’t jealous of his younger brother’s superior spiritual accomplishments". In the Midrash Tanchuma: Shemos 27). we read: "Because Moses didn't want to take away any honor from his older brother Aaron, Moses stubbornly refused to accept the leadership position and did not want to be the one to lead the Jews out of Egypt. Because of this, the privilege of the priesthood was transferred from Moses on to his older brother Aaron"
Both the Talmud and the Midrash base these two teachings on Exodus 4:14 that said: 14 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and he said, [Is] not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart. 15 And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do. 16 And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, [even] he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God. The Talmud translates it this way… "God displayed anger toward Moses [for refusing to accept the role of leader]. Is not Aaron [who was originally supposed to be) the Levite your brother (and is therefore not jealous of your greatness]? He (Aaron] is setting out [into the desert] to meet you (Moses), and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart (and not be jealous of your being greater than he. Because of this, you will now be a Levite and Aaron will be the priest]".
Hebrew
teaching tells us Aaron displayed true humility, for he wasn't jealous of his younger
brother's achievements. Aaron merited to the priesthood for himself and all of
his descendants because it did not matter to him that his younger brother
greatly surpassed him. Aaron was a great figure in his own right. The book of
Yeheskel mentions that before Moses became the leader, it was Aaron who was the
leader and chief prophet of the Jews in Egypt. It was Aaron who everyone came
to for advice and direction on how to find God. Despite all of Aaron's toil and
effort that he expended for the sake of the Jewish People, Moses surpassed him
in greatness. Aaron was happy in his heart when he discovered that Moses had
surpassed him and thus replaced him as leader and chief prophet.
This
means that Aaron was able to humble himself and submit himself to the truth.
In PROVERBS
15:33 we read, ¶ The fear of the LORD [is] the instruction of
wisdom; and before honour [is] humility.
PROVERBS
18:12 ¶
Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour [is]
humility.
PROVERBS
22:4 ¶
By humility [and] the fear of the LORD [are] riches, and honour, and
life.
COLOSSIANS
3:12 ¶
Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of
mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
Notice the attitude of the Apostle Paul.
ACTS 20:18../ I have been with you at all seasons, 19 Serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears, and temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews: 20 [And] how I kept back nothing that was profitable [unto you], but have shewed you, and have taught you publickly, and from house to house, 21Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
And look at the attitude that
the Apostle Peter tells us we should have. I PETER 5:4 And
when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that
fadeth not away. 5 ¶ Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto
the elder. Yea, all [of you] be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility:
for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. 6 Humble
yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due
time:
Brother Branham said in the message, LETTING OFF THE PRESSURE 62-0622B E-14 Humility is a way to success. And again in the message, IT IS I BE NOT AFRAID 62-0726 E-45 he said, That's what makes Him God to me, because He humbled Himself. God is humility. Don't never forget that. Humility is God. Never boastful, nor--it's always humility.
The whole ordeal with pharaoh took place because he refused to humble himself. EXODUS 10:3 And Moses and Aaron came in unto Pharaoh, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? let my people go, that they may serve me. God doesn't want a bump of showoffs. That is not his nature.
He rebuked Miriam and Aaron for
getting uppity one time and was ready to slay them for it. Numbers 12:1 ¶ And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of
the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman.2
And they said, Hath the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not
spoken also by us? And the LORD heard [it]. 3 (Now the man Moses [was] very meek (humble), above all the men which [were] upon the
face of the earth.) 4 ¶ And the LORD
spake suddenly unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto Miriam, Come out ye three
unto the tabernacle of the congregation. And they three came out. 5 And the
LORD came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood [in] the door of the
tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam: and they both came forth. 6 And he
said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, [I] the LORD will
make myself known unto him in a vision, [and] will speak unto him in a dream. 7
My servant Moses [is] not so, who [is] faithful in all mine house. 8 With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even
apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he
behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? 9
And the anger of the LORD was kindled against them; and he departed.
Notice how
Jesus humbled himself to the word of God, when he said, Not my will but thy
will be done.
WHY
62-0622E E-55 The Holy Ghost don't shine; the Holy Ghost glows. There's a
difference between glowing and shining. The church shines with its big
programs; but the Holy Ghost glows in humility, humbleness, reconciling to the
Word, believing the Word.
WASHING
JESUS FEET 57-0310A E-13
We see that same thing today, people wanting to put on a show that the outside
would look at, that somebody would think they would be big. They want the
biggest meeting, or the biggest this, or something on the better dressed crowd
coming to their church, the biggest church, the highest steeple, the best of
pews, something big. What we need is more God and not so much of the world.
"He that will humble himself, God will exalt." But humbleness has
to come first.
BE
NOT AFRAID IT IS I 61-0414 E-66 Some people
thinks humility is something that ought to wear a skirt. No, no. You
misunderstand that. Jesus, the humblest Man that ever lived, He could plait
ropes together, and look on them with anger, and run them out of the temple.
Yes, sir. Certainly. You say, "He had compassion." He did. Why
did He pass through thousands of people that were laying blind, halt, withered,
and found a man laying on a pallet, maybe he had prostate trouble? … He
said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you: "I can... The Son does nothing
in Himself; but what He sees the Father doing, that doeth the Son
likewise." That's compassion. Compassion is follow the will of God,
not human sympathy, but compassion. Oh, it's two different words altogether:
sympathy, and compassion. See? If it wasn't, Jesus sure made a rude mistake
when He did that. See? So you must realize that the compassionate Christ...
GOD
HIDING HIMSELF IN SIMPLICITY
63-0412E E-111 Our heavenly Father, the humility, humbleness of believing
You, how You reveal Yourself in humility, how that we find out in these days,
and all days, that the church will get itself in that condition. Then You'll
stoop right down into the gutter, from nowhere, and pick up something, anoint
it, send it out, and it'll be rejected, then judge the world by it.
II
CHRONICLES 7:14 If my people, which are
called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and
turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive
their sin, and will heal their land.
The
truth is that Moses was the leading tzaddik (saint) of his generation. Aaron
recognized this and he immediately deferred to Moses. Aaron humbled himself to Moses who was one of the greatest
tzaddik who ever lived. Likewise, a person cannot receive illumination from
God, a tzaddik, or from one's teacher unless one humbles himself before one who
is greater than himself. A person should always seek out someone
who is truly greater than himself. Once a person freely decides to
submit to the influence of such a mentor, it is only then that the person can
absorb the light and good character traits of his chosen mentor. This can
be compared to the light that the moon absorbs from the sun. Aaron's
greatness was that he had the ability to humble himself before Moses;
therefore, Aaron emulated the moon. He was then able to absorb the great light
of the sun, Moses. Once Aaron absorbed the great light of Moses he was able to
mold and shape this light and make it more digestible for the consumption for
the common man. The great Tzaddik
(saint) draws the great light of God into this world. The priest is able to
absorb and reflect this light from the tzaddik, so it can be used to benefit
the world.
Even Brother Branham points this out, in the church age book on page 156 when he said,
156-2 SMYRNAEAN
CHURCH AGE - CHURCH AGE BOOK CPT.4 In every age we have exactly the same
pattern. That is why the light comes through some God-given messenger in a
certain area, and then from that messenger there spreads the light through the
ministry of others who have been faithfully taught.
The Hebrew teaching goes on to
quote from the book of exodus and says, that this is the main function of
the priest: Exodus 4:14 Therefore, the
beginning of the verse says: "Is not Aaron your brother [who originally
designated as) the Levite? [Who has now been chosen to be a priest, because he
has humbled himself to you the tzaddik Moses]""When he [Aaron] sees you [Moses, the leading Tzaddik of the
generation] he will be glad in his heart [and submit himself to you to be able
to receive God's light]"
The Hebrew teaching by Lekutai
Halachot: Orach Chiam: Hilchot Tefilin 7:8) goes on to say, The breast-plate of judgment had the proper name of God
written on a parchment, which was inserted between its folds. This gave the
breast-plate the power to provide the Jewish people with true and good
advice. Only a person who is wise enough to make the right decisions is
truly worthy of wearing the breast-plate. The right decision is always to
negate the desire for power and to submit to the will of God. The will of God
is to adhere to the commands of the leading tzaddik. The breast-plate
could only be effective if a humble person such as Aaron would wear it, for
only a humble person, who is only interested in the truth, could be the proper
receptacle for the word of the God of truth.
The man had to be very humble and sensitive to the Word or breathe of God. The breastplate consisted of two pieces, which formed a purse, or bag, and in which were kept the two sacred stones, named the Urim (representing light and excellence) and the Thummim (representing perfection and completion). These stones were God ordained instruments in which the High Priest used them to inquire God about matters concerning the children of Israel.
The Urim and Thummim were two Precious stones. When someone needed an answer from God before making an important decision, they would go to the high priest, and enquire of him to take their request into the presence of God for an answer. The high priest would stand before the Lamp stand, holding the Urim in one hand and the Thummin in the other. As the light reflected from the Urim and the Thummin onto the stones of the Breastplate, this flash of light provided up to 24 combinations (2 x 12). Since there are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet, the flashes of light could produce strings of letters.
As God breathed upon the Ark, the Veil would move, permitting a breeze to flicker the flames in the Lamp stand which would alter the angle of direction of the light onto the Urim and Thummin, and through them onto the Breastplate. In this way God communicated directly, but not audibly, to the high priest and answer the enquiry. This is a type of the Word which we have for this day as Paul tells us in
And today we are told that the Word of God is still God breathed. II TIMOTHY 3:16 All scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. And let's face it, the word comes out of where? The Mouth, right? And in order to speak you have to breathe, right? Therefore the word of God is God breathed.
And it is the way this breathe struck the Light of his Presence that reflected through the Urim and Thummim, and struck the other stones that gave the answer. And it still takes a yielded vessel today to humble himself before god to get his own thoughts out of the way and to let the word of the Lord have the preeminence.
Rabbi
Nachman gives an insightful explanation to the following verse: "[The land
of Israel is] a land that consumes its inhabitants" (Numbers 13:32). This
verse conveys the evil and discouraging report that the ten spies brought back
to the Jewish People, concerning the land they were just about to enter and
settle. At the time the Jews were given this bad report, they were camped
in the desert. Rabbi Nachman explains this verse as follows: If a person stays
close to a righteous man, even if he does not hear any Torah teachings from him
or he doesn't follow any of his advice on how to come closer to God, this
closeness is still a very good thing. The nature of eating is that the food
that one eats becomes transformed and becomes part of the person who ate the
food. For example, if an animal ate some grass, when the grass is digested by
the animal it then becomes part of the animal itself. This is how our
verse can be understood: "A land that consumes its inhabitants" -
"Land" is the code-word for faith, as the verse says, "Dwell in
the land [of Israel] and be nourished by (its] faith" (Psalms 37:3).
"Consumes its inhabitants" - When one enters the land of Israel,
which God saturated with faith, one is digested by the land itself. The person
is transformed into the substance of the land itself, just as food becomes
merged with the one who ate it. If one believes in God and in the righteous
tzaddik of the generation, he literally becomes consumed and digested into the
tzaddik. That person literally becomes transformed into the same spiritual
substance as the tzaddik himself. In addition a person must allow his soul
to consume his flesh and let his body become just like his soul, for the verse
says: "[Let my soul] To devour my flesh" (Psalms 27:2). In another verse
it says: "Let the companions eat" (Song of Songs 5:1). This verse
refers to the necessity for the two companions, who are the two sides of the
brain, to eat one's flesh. That one should allow the discipline that comes from
the mind to control the body in order to make the body become like the soul.
If
one has no desire at all to serve God, living in the land of Israel and
befriending a tzaddik will not help him cultivate his faith in God. This type
of person can be compared to eating tainted food, which is vomited out. Since
this type of person refuses to allow himself to be digested by the tzaddik, the
tzaddik has no choice but to vomit this person out, just like indigestible food.
For the verse says: "Don't allow the land [of Israel] to vomit you out
also [through your sins), when you defile it [the holy land], as it has vomited
out the nations that were (living there] before you" (Leviticus
18:28). (Lekutai Moharan I:129)
GALATIANS
6:6 Let him that is taught in the
word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.
Wuest:
Galatians 6:6 Moreover, Let the one who
is being taught the Word continually be holding fellowship with the one who is
teaching in all good things.
We
can now understand why the most important character trait necessary in coming
close to God is humility. This is
why Aaron was chosen to be the priest and wear the breast-plate. For Aaron
by humbling himself to the tzaddik Moses, had become a fitting conduit to
disseminate the power of God to the Jewish people. This is why Joshua was
chosen to be the next leader after Moses. For he realized that the only way to
learn from Moses and to become like Moses is to void himself before his master,
as the verse says about Joshua: "
In Exodus 33:11 we read, His (Moses's] attendant, Joshua the Nun, a simple youth,
departed not out of the tent [of Moses)".
This verse describes Joshua as being a mere simple youth when, in fact, he was
at that time 70 years old. What this verse is telling us is that Joshua
humbled himself before his master and acted as if he knew nothing before Moses,
as a mere youth. By doing this, Joshua absorbed more of the personality and
wisdom of Moses than any other person was able to. Because Joshua was able
to excel in this, he was therefore chosen by God to be the next leader.
Rabbi
Nachman's chief disciple, Rabbi Nosson, had this very same attitude. Rav Nosson
said the following about every word that he ever heard from Rabbi Nachman:
"A little more wisdom, I have just acquired a little more wisdom.”
It was this submission that allowed Rabbi Nosson to absorb and understand more
about Rabbi Nachman than any other person was able to.
Hillel
had 80 students. The greatest one of them was Yonatan ben Uziel and the least
of them was Rabban Yochanan ben Zakai. The Talmud relates that the Torah study
of Yonatan ben Uziel was on such a high level that if a bird would happen to
fly by when he was studying, the bird would be consumed by fire. However, it
was Raban Yochanon ben Zakai who was chosen to be the next leader. For he
was very humble and therefore, absorbed more of Hillel’s character than anyone
else.
Joshua,
Raban Yochanon ben Zakai and Rabbi Nosson were very highly qualified scholars,
however there were even greater scholars available in the time of Joshua, Raban
Yochanan ben Zakai, and Rabbi Nosson. However, it was their submissive
adherence to their teachers that enabled them to capture and absorb the essence
of their teachers persona. This is why they were the one's chosen to lead
the next generation.
The
Talmud in Sotah tells us that the revival of the dead will be brought about
through Elijah the prophet. Elijah the prophet is really Pinchas, who was the
grandson of Aaron. The main ingredient necessary to accomplish this feat is
true humility. For the Isaiah 26:19 says: "Your dead shall live, my dead bodies shall arise.
Awake and sing, those that dwell in the dust". The phrase in this verse, "those that dwell in the
dust", refers to those people who are truly
humble. They act like they are dust before
others.
Therefore,
the revival of the dead can only be brought about through the agency of a
priest. For it was Aaron the priest, who by his own exceptional level of
humility, caused the characteristic of true humility to be instilled into the
spiritual root of the priesthood. Therefore, every priest has the potential to
activate the spiritual root of the priesthood that he is connected to and draw
to himself the actual humility of Aaron.
True humility is the highest spiritual level of all. For
Moses, outside of Christ Jesus, was the most humble person who ever lived. I
would say the Apostle Paul and William Branham were a close third. What made
men like moses, William Branham and Paul so great was that they like
Jesus, were so humble that they totally
nullified every limb in their body to the will of God. It is the light of God that gives a person life. It is the
light of God that is contained in the food that we eat. It is this light of God
that gives our body and soul the life-sustaining nourishment that we need to
live. We can only receive the light of God indirectly, through the food we eat,
because the coarse materialism of our bodies prevents us from digesting the
light of God directly.
It is our ignoring the wishes of God and submitting to the
desires of our bodies that strengthens and fortifies the coarseness and power
of our bodies. When we try to live independent of God, we become out of touch
with our souls and therefore our spiritual sensitivity becomes dulled. Since
Moses eliminated the coarseness of his body, as much as any human could
possibly do, Moses was able to live for three forty day periods without eating
and drinking. It was Moses's great humility that caused his body to become
sanctified. This transformed his body to become like his soul. Therefore, his
soul and body were able to absorb the life sustaining light of God directly,
without having to obtain God's light through the medium of food, as all other
people do.
The
definition of humility is to acknowledge the superiority of God. When this
belief is put into action, it causes a person to put aside his own wishes to
fulfill the will of God. When a
person actually defers his own desires, and fulfills the will of God, this can
be termed as true humility. By choosing to fulfill God's wishes instead of
one's own is an actual act of humility. For by choosing to do God's will, one
is acknowledging that there is a superior intelligence to one's own. A person
who commits a sin is in effect saying that his desires are more important than
the wishes of God. The sinner is attaching more importance to himself, than he
is to God. This is called in Hebrew, "Yeshus". Therefore, the act of
a sin blocks out God's light. When a person diminishes God's light within
himself, he is diminishing the life within himself. When there isn't enough of
God's light within a person he is subject to the attacks from the forces of
evil. This situation could drive him even further away from God, chas v’shalom.
As
we mentioned above, true humility is the highest spiritual level of all.
However, one must avoid what is termed “anavah pasula”, false humility.
This is termed, the "bite of the snake." God cursed the snake for
enticing Adam to sin as follows: "And the L-rd, God said to the snake:
Because you have done this (tricking Adam to sin against God...upon your belly
you shall go, and the dust shall you eat all the days of your life"
(Genesis 3:14). The phrase, "and the dust you shall eat," refers to
those people who act like they are as humble as dirt, but they are really not.
They fool themselves into thinking and acting like they are like dirt, but they
are just the opposite. These type of people have so much desire for recognition
from others, that they act outwardly as if they are humble and are as low as
dirt. However, inwardly they desire that everyone should respect and admire
them for being humble. This is the highest level of arrogance that there is.
This can be truly be termed eating the dirt of humility from the food of the
snake.
True
humility does not mean that a person thinks that he is nothing or acts like it. In order to have true humility one must believe
that he is very precious in God's eyes. Man is so important to God, that
God desires that he use his free choice to do His will. One of the reasons why
we sin is that we have no self-confidence in our own worth. If we actually felt
that we were important and that what we do has tremendous impact on the
universe, we would not sin.
One
must be aware of and acknowledge one's talents as well. However, one must
realize that all of one's talents, intelligence, and abilities are a gift given
to him by God to be used as tools to serve God. To concede and come to this
recognition is the definition of true humility. The highest level of true
humility is to say about oneself, "I am a very talented” but not feel any
self-pride, for if a person is truly aware that all of his talents and
accomplishments are a gift given to him from God, then even the good deeds that
we perform are also a gift from God.
If
God did not allow us to perform the good deed, we would have never been able to
do it. Therefore, true humility is to recognize the source of where our talents
and achievements come from. We should never be fooled and use the excuse
motivated by false humility to cause us to be negligent and not take the proper
action. One shouldn't say, "Who am I?" The Talmud says: "In a
place where there are no men [of action] strive to [take charge and] be a man
[of action]" (Talmud: Avot 2:6). We find that there where many humble
and righteous tzaddikim (saints), who were the leaders of their generations.
They were all well aware of their great talents, but they used their talents to
serve God. They didn't say, "Who am I?" They knew their self- worth
and took charge and lead the people of their generations in the service of God.
(Lekutai Halachot: Orach Chiam: Hilchot Tefilin 7:9-12)
Rabbi
Nachman taught: It is written, "For whoever was despised, the day of small
things" (Zechariah 4:10). The Talmud says that this verse refers to the
following: "Why are the tables of the tzaddikim despised in the hereafter?
Because of their own smallness." That is, because they do not believe in
themselves. The Talmud concludes that there were some among them who did not
believe in God. If they were tzaddikim (saints), how is it possible that they
didn't believe in God? Rabbi Nachman explains that they did not have enough
faith in God's goodness to believe that they were important to God. This is why
the Talmud speaks about their smallness. Their lack of belief was really a lack
of faith in themselves. The main thing is that everyone must have faith in
themselves and believe that they are very dear in the eyes of God. One must
constantly ask God for help to achieve true humility. (Sichos HaRan 140)
ENSIGN
AN 62-0119 E-57 Jesus said in Mark 16, "These signs
shall follow them that believe." What kind of an ensign is it? Some great
stuffed shirt? No, humility. The Fullness of God in Christ Jesus made Him walk
like a humble peasant, made Him wash the feet of His disciples, had not a place
to lay His head. Some of us calling ourselves Christians, we go to a place, we
got to have the best there is in the country; got to be guaranteed so much
money or we won't go (the evangelist). Some pastors won't go to a church unless
it's a high class and big place. Oh, my. We need another experience like Paul
saw when he was on the road to Damascus. Paul saw that ensign lifted up, and he
said, "Who are You, Lord?" He said, "I'm Jesus." What we
need tonight is another Pillar of Fire hanging over the church again tonight,
that people's blinded eyes would be opened and could see it. Jesus still lives
and reigns, the ensign.
Look, God has called us to be kings
and Priests, and we have proven this morning that until you can come with
humbleness of mind, He can't even use you. So how are we ever going to be used
by god if we can't get ourselves out of the way. The greatest gift is to get
yourself out of the way. That is true humility, because Like Jesus, you can humbly
and honestly say in your heart, "not my will but thy will o
God."
We've got to come to the place of Revelations Chapter
5:1 ¶ And I saw in the right hand of him that sat
on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven
seals. 2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy
to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? 3 And no man in heaven, nor
in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look
thereon. 4 And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read
the book, neither to look thereon. 5 And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep
not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed
to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. 6 ¶
And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four
beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain,
having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent
forth into all the earth. 7 And he came and took the book out of the right hand
of him that sat upon the throne. 8 And when he had taken the book, the four
beasts and four [and] twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one
of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of
saints. 9 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book,
and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God
by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; 10 And
hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.