ASCENDING ALIVE

 

CONT., page 10

 

THE DIVINE OVERLAP

It has briefly been noted that the return of the Remnant on the eighth day of a heavenly Tabernacles, coincides with the first day of Tabernacles on earth (the fifteenth), producing a very interesting and vital overlap. Christians will have already experienced the sorrow and repentance of the Day of Atonement on the tenth, realizing that the Remnant were right in what they were saying. So when the Remnant return with Yahshua on the fifteenth, the first day of Tabernacles, this will actually be their eighth and final day of a heavenly Tabernacles. Let us spend some time in seeing how vital this overlap is, and what it means for Christianity. To assist us in understanding this, the following graphic presentation is provided.

This overlap, as you will see, is actually a created overlap, for it ties the Remnant, which enters into Tabernacles early, to Christianity! In The Issue - II, page 12, we find other testimonies that Yahweh indeed overlaps time. Let us here consider further evidences to this. In so doing, we will likewise learn some very important things about Yahweh.

We do not have to look very far for His testimony that this overlap that unites is indeed the case. Significantly, in the account we have been considering in 1 Kings 8, this time verse 8, as well as 2 Chronicles 5:9, we read regarding Solomon's temple - "But the poles (of the ark) were so long that the ends of the poles could be seen from the holy place before the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen outside; they are there to this day."

On the surface, one wonders why Yahweh would even record that the two poles for carrying the ark that rested in the holy of holies, extended into the holy place. What difference could that make? That seems so incidental to the natural mind. But to Yahweh - who takes the little, the despised, the weak, and the foolish things to confound and shame the mighty, the valuable, and the wise things of this world (1 Corinthians 1:27-31) - poles protruding from the ark into the holy place are actually a very vital piece of information. Let us see!

When Yahweh places His ark of the two Remnant within the veil of the holy of holies, the two poles of those two Remnant deeds extend into the next work. They overlap into the holy place where the other priests are called to serve. Do you see this? The one day overlap created by the eighth day of a heavenly Tabernacles for the Remnant, causes a link, a very vital tie with Christianity that will come into a Tabernacles resurrection later. It provides a guarantee, or the "anchor of hope" for Christianity, a work "both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil." The two-part Remnant are those who enter within the veil as mentioned in Hebrews 6:16-20 - the "two indisputable deeds, in which it is impossible for God to lie," testified by the two overlapping poles in Solomon's temple.

And when we realize that the overlap of these two poles is a prophetic promise to Christianity which cannot be changed, we are equally assured that this pattern, this promise, exists "to this day." His promise, His plan, even His pattern has not gone away. It is an everlasting pattern of hope. It has not changed. And it remains as a sure account of what will happen in His temple work.

Let us consider another highly significant and revealing example of this. Even as there was this divine overlap in the natural temple, so there was equally a divine overlap in the national temple of the sons of Israel. What do we mean by this? Let us see.

When the sons of Israel entered into the promised land, it was a macro picture of the temple of Yahweh. Keep in mind that the temple of Yahweh is His pattern for His kingdom. As we stated regarding the temple in Ezekiel, Yahweh does not want a temple made with hands, a mere shadow of the spiritual. But until He can get that complete and finished spiritual temple, all His works follow the temple pattern. And as we will see in examining the sons of Israel, Yahweh has already had a temple made without hands, only at the nations level. And once again, even a temple made without hands at the nations level is still a shortfall and must be torn down, just as this nations level temple was in time torn down.

When the sons Israel entered into the promised land, they were directed to take over and possess the land of Canaan. Two and a half of the tribes - Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh - preferred living east of the Jordan, and per a request to Moses and Yahweh, were allowed to do so. But there was one condition - their men had to cross over into Canaan and fight to obtain that land, to which they agreed. After conquering Canaan, Joshua called together the men of Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh and allowed them to go back across the Jordan to their waiting families (Joshua 22).

As they returned, they performed an act that turned out to be highly misunderstood by the rest of the sons of Israel. They built a large altar on the west side of the Jordan in the land of Canaan. This greatly concerned the remaining tribes, for they thought they were going to offer sacrifices there instead of at Shiloh on the altar before the tabernacle. Thus, they planned to gather together an army to attack the two and a half tribes and destroy them.

But when they sent men to meet with them about this, they found that this was not at all their intentions, for they had not planned to offer sacrifices on that altar, but had built it as a witness that they were to offer their burnt offerings on the altar in Shiloh before Yahweh. When the sons of Israel heard this, they were very glad and returned in peace.

Again, what we see here is nothing less than the temple of Yahweh on the nations level. In Exodus 25:10, we read of the dimensions of the ark of the covenant, which we see was two and a half cubits long, one and a half cubits wide, and one and a half cubits high. Do you think that Yahweh randomly selected those dimensions out of thin air? Of course not! In fact Moses was specifically told that he was to make the tabernacle and all of its furniture and utensils precisely according to what Yahweh had told him, for it was an earthly representation of that which is heavenly. In Hebrews 8:5 we read - "who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle; for, 'See,' He says, 'that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.'" When Yahweh set forth those natural dimensions of the ark, they had prophetic meaning regarding the kingdom of heaven.

Let us note here regarding this national fulfillment of the tabernacle, that even as the ark of the covenant was two and a half cubits long, so there were two and a half tribes east of the Jordan! Likewise, even as there was a veil separating the holy of holies (where the ark of the covenant rested) and the holy place, so the Jordan separated the two and a half tribes and the nine and a half tribes of the sons of Israel. Thus we begin to see Yahweh's temple in the promised land that was made without hands. Undoubtedly no man at that time knew what Yahweh was doing in establishing this nations level temple. They were not consciously trying to establish a temple at a nations level. Yahweh was doing this without their knowledge, even as He is doing so again in the church. And in equally revealing testimony, even as Yahweh objected to David wanting to build a temple of stones for Him and declared that He would build David a house (2 Samuel 7:1-17), so Yahweh today is fulfilling that promise and building that temple made with living stones. More on this shortly.

What we see here then was that the two and a half tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh, at a nations level, were the two and a half cubit ark of the covenant that rested in the holy of holies. And even as the veil separated the holy of holies and the holy place, so the Jordan separated the sons of Israel. The Jordan was the veil. Now let us consider the testimony of the divine overlap that we once again see evidenced here.

Even as the two poles provided a divine overlap in Solomon's temple, so we find two witnesses of a divine overlap here in the nations level temple in the promised land. The first is evidenced in the tribe of Manasseh. Manasseh was split into two tribes, one settling east of the Jordan and one settling west of the Jordan. Thus the unique split of this tribe so that a portion of it was on each side of the Jordan, provided an overlap or tie between these two groups. The two half tribes of Manasseh on each side of the veil were the first overlapping pole.

The second pole was the altar that the two and a half tribes built which was quickly misunderstood by those west of the Jordan. This altar was built west of the Jordan in Canaan as a visual reminder of their commitment to faithfully worship Yahweh in Shiloh with their sacrifices.

Thus we see the two "poles" that provided the divine overlap in the promised land temple - the two half tribes of Manasseh and the altar built in Canaan. But now let us see more.

Even as these two parts in the promised land represent the two parts of the temple, so they equally represent the Bride and the body. We have said that the Bride is the holy of holies and the body is the holy place, and this is exactly what we see evidenced here in the promised land. From where is the Bride obtained? Is she not from the body? Yes indeed. Thus in like witness, the men of Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh (the holy of holies Bride) first had to cross over into the land of Canaan and fight for the deliverance of the holy place land (or, the body), then leaving that land they returned to their own holy of holies place. In the true fulfillment of this pattern, the Bride has served in the body of Christ - the first Remnant was sown into the body, and today the Bride members formerly served in the body. It is now time for the Bride to come out of this holy place of Christianity and return to their own place, the holy of holies.

This holy of holies place seen east of the Jordan where the sun rises is further confirmed by Moses and Elijah, the two Remnant representatives. Let us briefly look at this, for it is MOST worthwhile to do so.

First Remnant Moses was not allowed to cross the Jordan but died in that land. This is the same land from which the wives and children of the two and a half tribes did not depart. Even though Moses' failure to enter into the land west of the Jordan was a response to him striking the rock, Yahweh used that to provide a promise that the first Remnant would not lose their place in the holy of holies. Moses died in the holy of holies place as a clear statement of the promise to the first Remnant - the negative being a statement of the positive, much like the 3,000 killed on the first ever Pentecost was a negative statement of the 3,000 who would come into the kingdom on a Pentecost nearly 1,500 years later.

Thus when Elijah, the second Remnant representative, was to ascend alive, where did he go to effect this promised departure? As a foreshadowing fulfillment of the promise given to the first Remnant, he passed through three towns in the holy place land west of the Jordan (for the 3,000 years originally given to the church), miraculously passed through the veil of the Jordan by striking it with his mantle (even as Moses struck the rock), and entered into the holy of holies land east of the Jordan. Elijah, as a representative of the second Remnant, and just like the two and a half tribes, had to return to the land that was the place of the Remnant - the holy of holies land east of the Jordan where Moses died. While Moses died in that land, it was here that Elijah returned to ascend alive! We as the second Remnant take our stand in the holy of holies where our forerunners died, and we will ascend alive because of the promise given to them.

Furthermore, when the Remnant return to this earth, they will find the same thing that Elisha found when he returned to the west side of the Jordan - "the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees; but the water is bad, and the land is unfruitful" (2 Kings 2:19). Such is the case with Christianity - it may be at peace, but the water is bad and the land is unfruitful. Elisha instructed them to bring him "a new jar, and put salt in it." He then went out and threw the salt into the bad spring of water and declared - " Thus says Yahweh, 'I have purified these waters; there shall not be from there death or unfruitfulness any longer.' So the waters have been purified to this day, according to the word of Elisha which he spoke."

When the Remnant return in their "new jars," or their new bodies, the salt they add to the old bad waters of Christianity will purify them and there will no longer be "death and unfruitfulness" any longer; they will be purified forever, even as these natural waters were perpetually purified. Oh what clear and telling evidence we have here! Let us now return to the testimony which we have been considering regarding the divine overlap.

This divine overlap of the Bride being sown into or serving in the body of Christ, is the TRUE overlap to which all to these testimonies look. But, the day has now come when the Bride must come out of the body and cross over the Jordan to enter into their own place in the kingdom of God temple - the holy of holies.

Do Christians understand this overlap? Absolutely not! Even as the two and a half tribes performed a work that was completely misunderstood by the remaining tribes, so the Remnant work is completely misunderstood, and with the same results - they want to battle us and destroy us. But they do not understand that the work we perform is entirely for their best interests!

We have said many times that the second Remnant is the Elijah work. In John 1:6-8, we read about John the Baptist, who was Elijah on a single man basis.

There came a man, sent from God, whose name was John. He came for a witness, that he might bear witness of the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came that he might bear witness of the light.

Forerunning and foreshadowing the first Remnant who had to die, John likewise had to die. And neither through John nor through the first Remnant did all men believe, as we read here. Though the first Remnant died, Yahweh nonetheless built an altar at the beginning of the holy place work of Christianity. What was that altar? It was the altar built without hands of the first Remnant! The first Remnant is the beginning witness, even as we read in John 1:6-8 that John was a witness. So what then was the name of the altar that the two and a half holy-of-holies-representing tribes built in Canaan by the Jordan? "And the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad called the altar Witness; "For," they said, "it is a witness between us that Yahweh is God." Thus we see clear testimony that the John first Remnant who had to die, is in fact a true divine overlap, a link between Christianity and the holy of holies. And let us recall at this point that all of this is equally evidenced in the overlap of the Remnant's heavenly eighth day of Tabernacles and the earth's first day of Tabernacles.

Before proceeding, something more must be said here regarding this true temple Yahweh is building without hands. This temple is that which was spoken of by Yahweh is Zechariah 4 - "Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit." - and is a work that until now has not been understood for the entirety of the church, or even since the beginning of man. Why have men not understood? Because this is Yahweh's work alone!

Let us look once again at Yahweh's response to David when he wanted to build Him a house, or a temple. (Much like what the three disciples wanted to do on the mount of transfiguration. Neither understood the true plan.) Yahweh declared to David - "Are you the one who should build Me a house to dwell in? ... Wherever I have gone with all the sons of Israel, did I speak a word with one of the tribes of Israel, which I commanded to shepherd My people Israel, saying, 'Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?'" (2 Samuel 7:5-7). Yahweh neither asked David nor the sons of Israel to build Him a house. We see that He already built Himself a house on the nations level. He most certainly did not need a house made of stones, even the one Solomon built. In Acts 7:48 we read - "But it was Solomon who built a house for Him. However, the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands." In like truth, Abraham "was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God" (Hebrews 11:10). Neither was Abraham looking for a work built by man. Let us continue reading Yahweh's response and promise to David on this issue.

I will also appoint a place for My people Israel and will plant them, that they may live in their own place and not be disturbed again, nor will the wicked afflict them any more as formerly, even from the day that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Yahweh also declares to you that Yahweh will make a house for you. When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever (verses 10-13).

Who was Yahweh speaking of in this promise to David? Was it Solomon? To answer this, one simply has to ask the question - Did the throne of his kingdom last forever? The answer to that is obviously - No! The natural throne of David in Jerusalem was eventually torn down and the seed of David dispersed. So who fulfills that promise to build a house? The answer is the Son of David, Yahshua. It is Yahshua who is building Yahweh a house, a house of people in which He will dwell - living stones, the church.

Up to now, the church has only been perceived to be Christianity. But as attested in Solomon's kingdom which in the natural was the fulfillment of the promise to David, that kingdom of necessity had to be divided two and ten, much like the two and a half and nine and a half. The difference in the latter set of numbers is of course the vital half tribe overlap. Two and ten is a clear-cut separation with no overlap, and thus those two nations never reunited in all their history. This is true with the two kingdom works while we remain in the flesh. The Remnant and Christianity are two separate works that will not unite while here on earth. But Yahweh will perform in heaven a work that establishes that vital overlap, and not an earthly work that divides without union, for Yahweh will fulfill a two and a half/nine and a half promised land work. Yes, Yahshua is building a house for Yahweh that only He can build - both holy place Christianity, as well as holy of holies Remnant.

Before closing this section, let us parenthetically see another testimony of a vital overlap. The first Remnant was under the former rain for one and a half years - from Pentecost to Atonement in the year following. The second Remnant was established in May, 2000; but we have learned that the latter rain is something that comes in degrees - from ankles, to knees, to loins, to deep enough in which to swim. If everything goes the way it now appears, we should see a great outbreak of the Spirit in 2002, most likely in May. This would be the rain that is deep enough in which to swim. For a number of reasons, this rain would then last for another year and a half, even as it did in the former rain.

We have already seen in the promised land temple that these halves have a unique and important role of tying things together. Thus when the former rain was for a year and a half, it was begging for a completing work - that of the latter rain. Thus, when a latter rain would come for an equal year and a half, this would complete the full period of time of three years. Three is a complete number.

So once again, even with the Remnant, we see a divinely established link or even overlap between the two Remnant parts. It is only with the fulfillment and uniting of these two parts that this work is complete, in the same way the church whole is not complete until the Remnant and Christianity are finally united in immortality. Let these divine overlaps be an encouragement and hope for you, as Yahweh will complete what He began.

And equally encouraging, even as the two and a half tribes east of the Jordan represented the two and a half cubit long ark of the covenant, so we see that the one and a half year first Remnant and one and a half year second Remnant would fulfill the other dimensions of the ark - one and a half cubits wide and one and a half cubits high. Both the Remnant and the tribes east of the Jordan clearly occupy the place in the holy of holies, and these two fulfillments would provide the complete two and a half by one and a half by one and a half dimensions of the ark.

Likewise, we have seen that Hosea's second bride was purchased for "fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a half of barley." Once again we see the testimony of the bride with one and a half, and this time with Remnant barley! Both the fifteen days in heaven, as well as the one and a half year latter rain, are uniquely evidenced here as necessary for the purchase of this second Remnant Bride.

While this section has been so extremely rich in truth, let us note one final thing before leaving this matter of the divine overlap - Does it seem strange and possibly even contradictory that the Remnant would return to this earth on their eighth day of holy convocation, when we saw in 1 Kings 8:66 where the people seemingly fell short by being sent away on the eighth and final day? This might be a concern, except that this is precisely what we see that Yahshua did. He too returned on the eighth day of His vow-restoring process. Again, it is evident that this is done so as to establish a link, a tie that overlaps works like the overlapping poles that tied the temple together, and the tribe of Manasseh and the altar that tied the promised land together, or the one and a half years former and latter rains that tie the two Remnant together. This is likewise seen in the way Yahweh carries out time, which we consider in The Issue - II. But suffice it to be noted here that the Remnant's return to earth on their great and holy eighth day of an early Tabernacles, is greatly to the benefit of not only Christianity, but to all the world!

There is one very enlightening final account we must consider before we address the inclusion of Christianity into their priesthood. But before we look at this, you will notice that those poles that tied the holy of holies and the holy place together, "could not be seen outside." Thus it is with the world; none of these truths are seen by them, and the temple work does not extend out to them. The world has the rights to the outer court.

Continue to page 11 of Ascending Alive for DAY OF ATONEMENT

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