ALL’S WELL
THAT ENDS WELL

 

CONT., page 7

 

SAMSON AND A FRESH JAWBONE OF A DONKEY

 

In the days leading up to the delayed Passover, as we awaited some of the other brothers to arrive, I was personally going through a very difficult time.  In fact, on March 31 Yahweh told me – “You’re going through a difficult place.  You’re going through a difficult place.” 

 

During this difficult time I felt that Yahweh wanted to give me something, and I turned to the Scriptures for that help.  There was a piece of paper in my Bible and I turned over to it to see what was there, and began reading in Judges 15.

 

Here we find the account of Samson (who was definitely not a smooth man), who went to visit his Philistine wife and found out her father had given her to another man.  In revenge, he caught 300 foxes, tied the tails of two foxes together, put a torch between the two, and in this manner released all the foxes into the wheat fields and burned the wheat and vineyards and olive groves.  To counter this, the Philistines burned his wife and her father.  So to avenge this, Samson slaughtered some Philistines, then went and stayed “in the cleft of the rock of Etam.”  Etam means “wild beast’s lair.”  As has been cited numerous times from Exodus 33:17-23, clearly Christianity is the work that is hid in the cleft of the rock.  And as has been noted concerning the beast which has performed the abomination of desolation in the kingdom for 2,000 years, this period of the kingdom is in fact the “wild beast’s lair” – the place where the beast has taken abode, even the place where the serpent abides in the midst of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Thus we find that when Samson went to “the cleft of the rock of the wild beast’s lair,” prophetically he was in Christianity.

 

The Philistines then went to Judah and camped at Lehi (meaning, “cheek or jaw bone”), seeking revenge on Samson.  In order to escape harm, 3,000 men of Judah went down “to the cleft of the rock of Etam” to bind Samson and deliver him over to the Philistines.  Samson agreed to this on one condition – that they not kill him.  This they agreed to and bound him specifically with “two new ropes” and brought him up from the cleft of the rock and delivered him to the Philistines at Lehi.

 

Upon being delivered to the Philistines, the Spirit of Yahweh “rushed upon (Samson) mightily so that the ropes that were on his arms were as flax that is burned with fire, and his bonds dropped from his hands.  And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, so he reached out and took it and killed a thousand men with it.  Then Samson said,

 

‘With the jawbone of a donkey,

Heap two heaps,

With the jawbone of a donkey

I have killed a thousand men’” (14-16).

 

This is a very interesting and exceptionally dramatic account, but it meant very little to me at the time, and I did not gain insight into it until a few days later.  On a very difficult morning for me, I went down to a park and ended up laying on a picnic table pondering my future.  My eyes were closed as I lay there, when I heard in the distance in the tops of the trees a gust of wind coming towards me.  It got closer and closer, and soon I heard it nearby and then felt the strong breeze blowing over me.  Upon this experience, I thought of two things – (1) this is how the Holy Spirit could come upon us, but (2) it reminded me of what I had read concerning Samson, that “the Spirit of Yahweh rushed upon him mightily.”  This sounded very much like the former rain where there was a rushing mighty wind, or possibly what the latter rain might be like.  And as I lay there, Yahweh gave me insight into this account’s prophetic message.

 

To begin with, regarding the wheat harvest that Samson burned, wheat always represents Christianity.  And, as we have already noted, it is remarkably evident that when Samson went to “the cleft of the rock of Etam,” or the cleft of the rock of the “wild beast’s lair,” clearly we are talking about Christianity once again and the abomination of desolation of the kingdom that has occurred for 2,000 years.

 

When the 3,000 men of Judah went to bind Samson, once again we find the precise number of years that the church was supposed to receive – 3,000 years.  And equally confirming, we read in Hebrews 7:11-14 that the priesthood the church possesses is not according to the Law, i.e., of the tribe of Levi, but is of the tribe of Judah, the very tribe that came to bind Samson.  Thus, what we find here is precisely the 3,000 years given to the priesthood of Judah, or the church.

 

And what specifically was it that these 3,000 men were wanting to do?  They wanted to bind Samson with “two new ropes.”  Why did this passage even specify the number of ropes, or that they were new, except that the Spirit was prophesying?  This passage could just as well have simply said that Samson was bound, or even that he was bound with ropes.  But no, for prophecy sake the number of ropes and the fact that they were new was specifically set forth. 

 

Once again (as with the two female bears), how many years has the church received thus far?  Is it not 2,000 years?  And is not the church a new work of the kingdom among man?  Thus, what we see prophesied here is that the power and strength of Samson to defeat the Philistines/Satan was to be and has been bound for “two new ropes,” or for 2,000 years.  But while the power of Samson to defeat Satan has been bound for 2,000 years, there is a most important condition applied to it – do not kill Samson!  That vital power can be bound for 2,000 years, even as Satan gained the authority to enter the 2,000 swine; but, it must be preserved alive for the right time, and obviously that time is now.

 

Even as the Spirit of Yahweh rushed upon Samson and he broke the two new ropes, so the Spirit of Yahweh must once again rush upon a Remnant people and break the bonds that have held kingdom men captive for 2,000 years.  Flax is used to make linen, the garment of priesthood, and the ropes that have held the Samson power in bondage must be broken and men must pass through the fire and, like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego whose bonds were burned away by fire, be released from their bonds.  (Read Upon What Foundation Will You Build?, page 6.)

 

Once those bonds are broken, men under the power of the Spirit must take up, and even become, the jawbone of the donkey and with their words proclaim truth that will slay 1,000 Philistines!  (More on the jawbone in a minute.)  How many years has Philistine Satan corrupted the church?  For 2,000 years.  How many years was the church supposed to have?  3,000 years.  So how many years remain?  1,000 years.  These last 1,000 years must be years that are restored and Satan must be defeated. Thus we see why Samson slew 1,000 Philistines – they represent the restoration of the next 1,000 years of the kingdom from Satan.

 

Thus we see the answer to the riddle Samson propounded (which Samson was good at doing). 

 

“With the jawbone of a donkey,

Heap two heaps.

With the jawbone of a donkey

I have killed a thousand men.”

 

Here we have testified that the work of the latter rain will accomplish not one but two things.  On the one hand it will cut the 3,000 years allotted to the church short to 2,000 years and thus “heap two heaps,” or 2,000 years.  These are the “two new ropes.”  These are the two loaves of leavened Pentecost bread waved before Yahweh, but could not ascend to Him as a burnt offering.  These are the equal “two heaps” seen in 2 Kings 10:8 where the heads of the seventy sons of Ahab were heaped “in two heaps at the entrance of the gate (of Jezreel) until morning.”  The number seventy is always identified with Christianity, which is equally true with Ahab himself, and again looks to this same testimony of the death that occurs in Christianity for 2,000 years or “two heaps” of time in which kingdom men have been cut off from the kingdom by death.

 

Then of course the second thing is that the “thousand men” of the Philistines, or the removal of Satan in the next 1,000 years, must be performed by the latter rain power and the fresh jawbone of a donkey.  This fresh jawbone will be the power of the Remnant to declare truth.

 

Let us add here some confirming testimonies regarding the donkey and its representation of the former and the latter rains.  Saul, who is prophetic of Christianity, was looking for his father’s donkeys when the prophet Samuel called him to be king.  And you will recall that it was the talking jawbone of a donkey that preserved the life of the prophet Balaam after he had narrowly escaped the edge of the sword on two previous occasions, or 2,000 years.  The donkey preserved his life on the third occasion when the angel stood in a “narrow place where there was no way to turn to the right hand or the left” (Numbers 22:26).  This is the narrow way Yahshua spoke of, and was addressed in the writing – Upon What Foundation Will You Build?, page 3. Also, regarding the Ninevites with whom Yahweh equally had mercy and likewise delivered from judgment, in confirming and verifying like identification (for both testimonies speak of Christianity), Yahweh said they too “do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals” (Jonah 4:11).  Both represent the same period of the kingdom.

 

And this same donkey which endures, even as Samson endured though bound with the two new ropes, is seen in 1 Kings 13:24 when the lion slew the prophet who had listened to the old prophet in Bethel and ate with him.  When the prophet of Yahweh returned, a lion killed him but did not kill the donkey.  So, the first Remnant has been slain; but, the donkey yet remains alive, and it is this power that needs to equip, strengthen, and establish the second Remnant who will equally be preserved alive. 

 

These are likewise the two donkeys seen in Matthew which were sought out and obtained by Yahshua’s disciples and made ready so as to bear Him up and bring Him into Jerusalem for His triumphal entry, the way being prepared by His disciples (in order that the rocks would not cry out for judgment).  These two donkeys are the former and the latter rains that prepare a people for the coming of Yahshua – “so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:17).  Yes, the enduring donkey speaks of the former and the latter rains.  And it is this empowered jawbone of a donkey that will slay Satan.

 

This same bondage and deliverance leading to a proclamation is seen in Ezekiel 3:24-27 and 24:25-27.  In Ezekiel 3 we read:

 

The Spirit then entered me and made me stand on my feet, and He spoke with me and  said to me, “Go, shut yourself up in your house.  As for you, son of man, they will put ropes of you and bind you with them, so that you cannot go out among them.  Moreover, I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you will be dumb, and cannot be a man who rebukes them, for they are a rebellious house.  But when I speak to you, I will open your mouth, and you will say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh.’  He who hears, let him hear; and he who refuses, let him refuse, for they are a rebellious house.”

 

First, since 1994 after the Spirit of Yahweh came upon me, I have been bound in my house and have never been released to go out and proclaim the Remnant truth.  My tongue has been stuck to the roof of my mouth and I have not been sent out to speak.  Like Samson, I too have been bound and the fresh jawbone of the donkey has not yet been afforded me.

 

But this is true with the church as well.  For 2,000 years the Remnant truth that will set men free has been withheld from it.  Like Zacharias, who was made dumb from the time of the promise until John the Baptist was born and circumcised, so the Elijah message has been made dumb.  Even as Yahshua told the twelve when He sent them out – “Greet no one along the way,” so for 2,000 years as we await the Elijah/Samson power to come, no one along the way has been greeted with the truth.  Indeed, there has been a drought on the truth.  Now we await the circumcision of the Elijah work so the tongue of the Zacharias can be loosed and be dumb no longer and prophesy.  All of these testimonies speak of the same thing – the effectual period of the fresh jawbone of the donkey in which men can declare truth. 

 

And might we add here, it is obviously prophetic when in this account Samson slew the Philistines at Lehi, meaning “jawbone,” where he found a fresh jawbone.  This is an obvious double witness, even as we saw in the lad’s double statement to Elisha, and as pointed out in “Gary, you have a beautiful face,” page 2, applies to the John pure kingdom of God.

 

Now for the next revealing passage in chapter 24 that speaks of the same release from dumbness, but adds a highly revealing statement.

 

“As for you, son of man, will it not be on the day when I take from them their stronghold, the joy of their pride, the desire of their eyes, and their heart’s delight, their sons and their daughters, that on that day he who escapes will come to you with (literally) a causing to hear?  On that day your mouth will be opened to him who escaped, and you will speak and be dumb no longer.  Thus you will be a sign to them, and they will know that I am Yahweh.”

 

Yahweh must yet perform something that provides a “causing to hear”!  In all regard, this “causing to hear” must be the latter rain.  The Spirit of Yahweh must rush upon the Remnant mightily, performing works that cause men to be able to hear and not go by their own intellect, breaking the bonds that have held men captive for 2,000 years, and finally release the tongue of the Remnant to speak “and be dumb no longer.” 

 

 

Continue to page 8 of Alls Well … for THE FINAL MESSAGE OF THE SMOOTH PROPHET

 

Return to home page