This is a two-part presentation in which I shall share some thoughts based on a sapphire and then on the Throne of God. In the latter, I shall give testimony to things I have seen at first hand, where, in the opening comments, I ask two questions:
(i) “Can you imagine standing face to face with God?” (ii) “How would you react?”
One day we shall all stand before God. Some people are uncertain, perhaps a little apprehensive at the prospect. Others may not fully comprehend it and that is not surprizing. I am looking forward to it. In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul said that he witnessed things that were impossible to describe. Some folk say that he was not permitted to share them, but in reality, there were no human words adequate enough to describe the indescribable.
God knows what we are like and to help us to understand such things, even if only in part, He has given us examples, figures of speech, types and shadows, parables and the like to help us. One day we shall not see through clouded vision, but plainly as Paul again said: ...now we see but a faint reflection of riddles and mysteries as though reflected in a mirror, but one day we will see face-to-face. My understanding is incomplete now, but one day I will understand everything, just as everything about me has been fully understood.
1 Corinthians 13:12
I’d like to whet your appetite now by taking you up Mount Sinai, where in Exodus chapter nineteen, Israel was camped at its base. God called Moses.
And Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel... Exodus 19:3
There is a certain way that God called His people, depending on their status before Him—how they behaved. When they were faithful and obedient, they were usually called the children of Israel, but when they were otherwise, they were the house of Jacob. He told Moses:
Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to me. And you will be my kingdom of priests, my holy nation. This is the message you must give to the people of Israel. Exodus 19:5-6
Moses had to tell the people to be ready to hear God’s voice! God wants to talk to us! He has not changed so He still desires to speak to us and the issue is in the listening and our preparedness. Anyone and everyone can hear God for themselves and as I have often said, Jesus clearly said that His sheep hear His voice. Moses told that to the people and God started speaking again.
Moses told the Lord what the people had said. Then the Lord told Moses, “Go down and prepare the people for my arrival.
Exodus 19:9
This reminds me of the ministry of John the baptist who came to God’s own covenant people for precisely the same purpose. If the Lord’s first coming needed such preparatory work then, similar preparations will be required to usher in His return. Human nature being what it is, we all tend to drift and become complacent, avoid change and want to remain in our personal comfort zones, forgetting that our lives are transitory.
One day, we shall be with the Lord, either by leaving our earth tents or meeting Him when we hear that sound of the last trump and meet the Lord in what we call the rapture. What a day that shall be—but we must be ready! That’s what God told Moses. Consecrate them today and tomorrow, and have them wash their clothing. Be sure they are ready on the third day, for on that day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai as all the people watch. Mark off a boundary all around the mountain. Warn the people, ‘Be careful! Do not go up on the mountain or even touch its boundaries. Anyone who touches the mountain will certainly be put to death. No hand may touch the person or animal that crosses the boundary; instead, stone them or shoot them with arrows. They must be put to death.’ However, when the ram’s horn sounds a long blast, then the people may go up on the mountain. Exodus 19:9-13
We live in days of grace because of what Jesus did, but God never changes. His commands and statutes and prescribed ways of doing things remain the same. “Don’t touch” means, “don’t touch”. “Do not go there” means do not go there. “Flee from evil” means to flee from evil. We may ask questions of course as a way of seeking answers, but “questioning God” in a “But why?” attitude most often leads to disaster. It may sound childish perhaps, but the answer is a simple, “Because God said so”.
We can enjoy an intimacy of relationship with God and call Him “Abba, Father”, but we are still dealing with the Almighty who never changes and should revere Him accordingly. I have met the Lord face-to-face more than once and cannot honestly say what those encounters were. They were not dreams as I was awake. On every occasion, it was almost too awesome; too holy to want to spoil the moment. I’ve been to Heaven several times literally and physically and it is absolutely beautiful and on each occasion it happened suddenly, without warning. The Lord took me to hell once, after telling me this was going to happen and hell is horribly dark, dismal, foreboding and eerily cold despite the fires. We have much to learn and experience this side of Heaven. Back in the church in the ‘70’s we had a few occasions when during “real” worship the presence of God entered the house more than once and we fell on our faces on the floor and remained there, scarcely able to move or breathe, not game to look up for several hours! Although I have often wanted to have such times return, I am not sure how we could handle it. In fact, I’m sure that most churches won’t be able. If you read about the time Solomon dedicated the Temple in 2 Chronicles 5, you may see what I mean. See also Revelation 3:20.
There are prescribed ways to approach God. We can do so with boldness now, by comparison to the terms of the Old Testament, but certain protocols should still be observed. Moses told the people to prepare themselves for a Divine encounter and the moment came when that happened.
On the morning of the third day, thunder roared and lightning flashed, and a dense cloud came down on the mountain. There was a long, loud blast from a ram’s horn, and all the people trembled. Moses led them out from the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. All of Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the Lord had descended on it in the form of fire. The smoke billowed into the sky like smoke from a brick kiln, and the whole mountain shook violently.
As the blast of the ram’s horn grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God thundered his reply. Exodus 19:16-19
I’ve heard that the sound was so intense that it shattered rocks. Little wonder that the people trembled.
Up to that point, only Moses had gone up the mountain when God called to him as seen in verse 3 earlier, but something was different. God descended down onto the mountain.
And יהוה came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain. And יהוה called Mosheh to the top of the mountain, and Mosheh went up. Exodus 19:20
God then called Moses up higher. What this means to us is that God is always calling us up higher. “Come up hither”. We could consider that as an invitation—or is it a command? God is always offering us more. The outcome depends on how hungry we are as individuals. If we are content with our lot and unwilling to adapt, to open up to receive whatever it is that God is offering us, we may never “get there”. Salvation is a free gift from God that is offered to every human being on earth, but it is not automatically activated. This is why we are to preach and teach about the things of God—about the Kingdom. That is why Jesus told Nicodemus, who was a devout and sincere religious leader about being born again. Saul of Tarsus was a highly educated Jew, steeped in the Jewish tradition of the day, but He had to have a personal Divine encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ and be converted. Attending church will not save anyone. Reading a bible will not save anyone. The devil can read scripture and misquotes it excellently! Saying that we believe in God means nothing because according to James 2:19, the devils believe in God and they’re not saved.
We are in a season when a line is being drawn, just as it was in Egypt when God separated the Israelites from the Egyptians. The Lord is not only going to separate sheep from goats but sheep from sheep in readiness for His return. God is preparing us for a Divine encounter...
Then the Lord told Moses, “Go back down and warn the people not to break through the boundaries to see the Lord, or they will die. Even the priests who regularly come near to the Lord must purify themselves so that the Lord does not break out and destroy them.”
“But Lord,” Moses protested, “the people cannot come up to Mount Sinai. You already warned us. You told me, ‘Mark off a boundary all around the mountain to set it apart as holy.’ ” But the Lord said, “Go down and bring Aaron back up with you. In the meantime, do not let the priests or the people break through to approach the Lord, or he will break out and destroy them.” So Moses went down to the people and told them what the Lord had said. Exodus 19:21-25
Moses told the people what God had told him—nothing else! Jesus ministered like that. He told us that He only said what the Father told Him to say and did what the Father told Him to do and we should follow His example more than we do.
I am mindful that others including pastors who use my material in their own ministries receive what I preach and teach. If what I share is not correct and adversely affect others, then I am accountable to the Lord accordingly. My approach is that if the Lord speaks, I speak but if He is silent, I remain silent. We do not have to come up with something to please man and tickle itching ears and we should be open to scrutiny as per Acts 17:11 and 1 John 4.
When the Lord took me to hell for 45 minutes, I saw preachers there and He told me that they were there for not preaching truth! That’s a sobering thought. God had precise standards, terms and conditions for approaching Him. He said if the people and His priests did not meet His requirements, He would break out and destroy them! God is a God of love and He does not want any form of destruction, but He is a Holy God and cannot permit things that are not holy.
I’m not talking about man-made legalism. More often than not, such things are usually formal, ceremonial, ritualistic traditions. I’m talking about the inner man—his heart. God is preparing our hearts so that we will be able to handle what comes.
The Ten Commandments were given at that time, but they were just the starting point—there were hundreds of them and were very practical. They covered every aspect of life and are still applicable to this day. Jesus did not annul them—He fulfilled them. They start with the following:
I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. “You must not have any other god but me.
“You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands.
“You must not misuse the name of the Lord your God. The Lord will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name. Exodus 20:2-7
It must have been awesome when God was giving those commandments to Moses.
When the people heard the thunder and the loud blast of the ram’s horn, and when they saw the flashes of lightning and the smoke billowing from the mountain, they stood at a distance, trembling with fear. And they said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen. But don’t let God speak directly to us, or we will die!”
“Don’t be afraid,” Moses answered them, “for God has come in this way to test you, and so that your fear of him will keep you from sinning!”
As the people stood in the distance, Moses approached the dark cloud where God was. Exodus 20:18-21
Generally speaking, most people do not want to hear from God directly. I’ve found that when sharing things with others, especially when telling them that God spoke to me. They are incredulous and this often happens in churches including “evangelical churches”. This is in complete denial of Jesus’ promise in John chapter ten that His sheep hear His voice. He also said that we are His friends! You show that you are my intimate friends when you obey all that I command you. I have never called you ‘servants,’ because a master doesn’t confide in his servants, and servants don’t always understand what the master is doing. But I call you my most intimate friends, for I reveal to you everything that I’ve heard from my Father. You didn’t choose me, but I’ve chosen and commissioned you to go into the world to bear fruit. And your fruit will last, because whatever you ask of my Father, for my sake, he will give it to you! So this is my parting command: Love one another deeply!” John 15:4-17
When people do not read scripture for themselves and put them to work, they often rely on what someone else tells them—not from God. It is usually a leader of some kind such as a pastor, theologian, commentator or a priest. In certain denominations, the priests “interpret“ scriptures for them and such a leader is then often more like a ruler than a servant/shepherd. Although we “serve” the Lord, we are not “servants” because servants do not sit at the master’s table and dine with him, whereas we do. With a servant mentality, there can be no such intimacy of relationship, so the “revelation aspect” is missing. It is evident then that many people in those conditions are dying of spiritual malnutrition.
In the same way that nursing infants cry for milk, you must intensely crave the pure spiritual milk of God’s Word
For this “milk” will cause you to grow into maturity, fully nourished and strong for life—especially now that you have had a taste of the goodness of the Lord Jehovah and have experienced his kindness. 1 Peter 2:2-3
Paul told us that we can “rightly divide” the word of truth and if we can do that, it is quite possible to do the reverse. God’s people told Moses that they did not want to hear from God directly but you talk with God and pass it on. That is a “second hand” relationship, but God does not have grandchildren—He has sons and daughters. Therefore, if someone does not develop and cultivate that personal intimacy and friendship with the Lord, they rely on a third party. If someone does not believe that God can talk to them and this attitude is very prevalent in churches today, they are doing what the Israelites did. They told Moses, “We do not want to hear God talk, but you listen and pass the message on and we will then do what God said”—but they didn’t!
It seems that because of such attitudes, God had to “spell everything out” in fine detail in subsequent chapters, covering every aspect of life.
In exodus 23, God introduced the three major festivals of the Lord and it makes me wonder He had to do that, because the people had to be told what to do; how to live and how to behave, like babies and that is what Peter was talking about. The bible teaches us that the spirit of man is the candle of the Lord. God, who is a spirit, can talk to every individual human being on the spirit level because man is a spirit being. We possess a physical body and have a soul of course, but the line of communication can and should be spirit to spirit. If that is true, then we need not have any such guidelines. Paul spoke at length of these things in Romans chapter eight, part of which is as follows:
The mature children of God are those who are moved by the impulses of the Holy Spirit. And you did not receive the “spirit of religious duty,” leading you back into the fear of never being good enough. But you have received the “Spirit of full acceptance,” enfolding you into the family of God. And you will never feel orphaned, for as he rises up within us, our spirits join him in saying the words of tender affection, “Beloved Father!” For the Holy Spirit makes God’s fatherhood real to us as he whispers into our innermost being, “You are God’s beloved child!” Romans 8:14-16
That “inner witness” should be the motivating factor. When we are born of the Spirit, we can tap into the resources of the Kingdom of God and learn how to walk with God the way Adam did; the way Enoch did and how Jesus did.
“I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’
The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit. John 3:5-8
When God was talking to Moses, the Holy Spirit had not yet come to help us as He does today, so the people needed help that God provided as a temporary measure. He sent His angel ahead of them to guide, lead, protect and provide for them and He said that they had to obey that angel. Such obedience is essential, but it does not bring us into any form of bondage. On the contrary, it liberates us. It is a safety net, guides us and provides real help and assurance. I urge you to read Exodus 19 to 23, especially chapter 23 from verse 20 to the end where God revealed the benefits of following His instructions. He made a covenant and the benefits of this covenant are the things we all want. They are what we also see in Deuteronomy chapter 8 and in the first half of Deuteronomy 28. The latter part tells us what happens if the covenant is broken.
What happened next is very interesting. We could say that Israel “accepted” the covenant and God immediately called Moses up again. He always wants to bring us up higher.
Then the Lord instructed Moses: “Come up here to me, and bring along Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of Israel’s elders. All of you must worship from a distance. Only Moses is allowed to come near to the Lord. The others must not come near, and none of the other people are allowed to climb up the mountain with him.” Exodus 24:1-2
Once more we see how, although the invitation is always open to everyone, there are prescribed ways of approaching and of service. Aaron, Nadab and Abihu were priests—authorized to be ministers. The seventy elders had a role and function that differed again. Only Moses was allowed to perform a specific kind of ministry function. We see this pattern in the New Testament when Jesus had a group of followers and from those people, chose twelve who He called Apostles, but only three were especially close and He took them up the mountain. I am talking about “mountain top experiences” here. We are all called to be disciples, but not all are called to specific ministry positions. The five Ascension Gift Ministries in Ephesians as follows:
Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ
Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love. Ephesians 4:11-16
No one can choose to become a minister of any kind, unless the Lord calls them, equips them, ordains them and sends them on ministry assignments according to His purpose. Unfortunately many people occupy ministry positions God never called them into and are in essence, self-appointed. That’s not God’s way and this is why the Lord is preparing us, too slowly in my estimation, to be ready and prepared for His coming visitation and I doubt if it is the “revival” many church folk pray for. This “revival” may well be a return to the original pattern and God always talks about specific and precise patterns. In the very next chapter God told Moses to build the Tabernacle, stressing that it had to built according to His set design. In like manner, Jesus is building His Church according to His set design or pattern.
God called a few men, but only Moses could go up even higher. Moses took several clearly defined steps as seen in the next few verses:
• He repeated the instructions God gave him
• He carefully wrote those instructions down
• He rose early the following morning and built an altar to the Lord
• He set up 12 pillars to represent each tribe
• He appointed some young men to make burnt offerings to the Lord
• He collected some of the blood and sprinkled it on the altar. The young men did not do that! Even here, I can see a pattern emerging concerning the various ministries in The Church. Deacons have a part. Ministries of helps have another part. Pastors and Apostles have a part as do all the other gifts to the Lord’s Church. They are designed to be interconnected and interdependent, functioning together as the parts of our human bodies do—but as per their individual design function. The young men did not sprinkle the blood on the altar—Moses did. He did not perform the function of making the burnt offerings—they did that. This is why I keep saying that we have pastors who should never be there or occupying the wrong position and churches that should never exist. The Lord is building His Church according to His pattern
• Moses read from the book of the covenant
• He then sprinkled some of the blood on the people. The blood confirms God’s covenant. People do not like hearing about the blood, but without the shedding of blood, there is no remission for sin. Our eternal destiny depends on the shed blood of Jesus. Everything else is secondary. We major on the things we like such as healing and prosperity, or on certain doctrines that we prefer over others, but without the foundation of the blood, we have nothing
After Moses sprinkled the blood on them and reminded the people of the covenant that God had made that they went higher. Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel climbed up the mountain. There they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet there seemed to be a surface of brilliant blue lapis lazuli, as clear as the sky itself. And though these nobles of Israel gazed upon God, he did not destroy them. In fact, they ate a covenant meal, eating and drinking in his presence! Exodus 24:9-11
That blue sapphire is what inspired this message. A Jewish translation says that when they saw the God of Israel, what was under His feet was like a sapphire brick. It opens up a whole range of questions. Does God have feet? Perhaps and I shall elaborate on that in the next message. What does sapphire mean? Is it prophetic? If it is prophetic, does it have relevance to us?
During one of my visits to heaven that I shall share more about next time, I was walking on a gold garden path that was meandering around in a beautiful garden. As I turned a corner a “clearing” was ahead of me and in the middle was a single tree. Its trunk was approximately the diameter of my forearm. It was a pure blue transparent gemstone—a sapphire. The leaves were green gemstones and I can only assume that they were emeralds. Instead of flowers or fruit the tree was adorned with small glittering diamonds. As I drew near, the tree leaned towards me and said, ”Touch me. Touch me”.
As I gave it the gentlest caress, music emanated from the tree. I do not know what that tree was and I am not going to guess.
Sapphire appears in Isaiah 54, relating to the city of Jerusalem, when speaking of “end times”, he prophesied that Jerusalem’s foundations will be laid with sapphire.
Afflicted and stormed-tossed one, who has not been comforted. Behold I will set your flagstones with carbuncle and lay your foundations with sapphire. Isaiah 54:11
At this point, I must digress to illustrate that we often misunderstand, misquote or half quote certain passages of scripture because they suit our wishes or desires. Whilst we can rightly “claim” those promises for ourselves, Isaiah 54 really speaks about the future glory of Jerusalem and likens this city to the bride who had been abandoned. When I said that we can “half quote” a scripture, such as verse 17 that says, “no weapon that has been formed against thee shall prosper” that’s only half the passage, because Isaiah said that we shall condemn them. This is likened to a legal action in a court when we face accusation. It means that we are the ones to do something about it. We refute the accusations laid against us. The chapter closes by speaking about righteousness that comes from God. We are the righteous and can legitimately say so.
Another prophetic vision involving sapphire is in Ezekiel chapter one and it is one of the most difficult-to-understand passages in scripture when trying to reason it out by the natural senses. It describes the “chariot” or “throne of God”. Ezekiel saw God sitting, so to speak, on His throne of glory. I shall share more in the next message about the throne I saw.
Above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, like the appearance of sapphire stone; and upon the likeness of the throne was a likeness, like the appearance of a person on it from above. Ezekiel 1:26
I can now start bringing this to a conclusion.
Exodus 24 describes a vision “like a configuration of sapphire brick” under the feet of God in the wake of receiving the law at Sinai. Isaiah prophesied that the foundations of Jerusalem of the future will be made of sapphire. In Ezekiel’s vision of God sitting on His throne, the throne is made of sapphire.
Sapphire is a beautiful gemstone. Although it can appear in a variety of colors, including colorless, its most common color is sky-blue. Like many gems, sapphire is transparent like glass. To describe something as “like sapphire” is to say that it is beautiful, sky-blue, and transparent.
When we say that an object is “transparent”, we are describing the fact that its inside and outside are visible simultaneously. For a transparent object, it’s difficult to tell where the outside ends and the inside begins. An object that is not transparent, on the other hand, cannot be seen on the inside by looking at the outer surface. The internal nature is concealed by the opaque outer layer.
God is the creator and sustainer of all things. The inner purpose of everything in creation is the glory of God. The goal of a life according to the Bible is to see God in everything. Unfortunately, this isn’t how we experience the world on a day-to-day basis. When we look at the world around us, the internal essence and purpose of creation is not readily apparent to our senses. We don’t easily see Godliness in all things. Our vision is obscured by the dark outer layer of reality. According to most Jews (I quote):
when practiced properly, the laws of the Torah sensitize us to God’s presence all around us. A life of obedience to God’s law allows us to see God. For example, when I praise God before and after I eat, the experience of eating becomes about so much more than the taste, texture, and nutritional value of the food. By reminding myself that the food I am eating was created for me by God, I experience the Godliness inherent in the food.
The goal of the entire Bible, the goal of a life of faith and service of God, is to make everything like sapphire. With the Bible as our guide, everything in creation speaks of God’s beauty and reminds us of the heavens. More importantly, everything becomes transparent, meaning that the inner essence and purpose – the glory of God – becomes visible. Like sapphire, external material existence and its internal Godly essence become indistinguishable.
Perhaps what Isaiah’s prophecy means is that the foundations of Jerusalem of the future will be sapphire. Jerusalem, the capital city of the kingdom of God on earth, will be a place where the beauty and Godliness inherent in everything is visible and tangible.
This same idea is expressed by Ezekiel’s vision of God’s throne. Kings sit on thrones. God is all-powerful. God is creator and ruler. This is true in all times and all places. It is true whether or not people recognize Him, but when the Bible refers to God as king it means something more specific. Zechariah 14:9, one example among many verses, conveys this same idea.
The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name.
We may well exclaim, “Isn’t He already king?”
When the Bible refers to God as king, it means much more than the fact that God is supreme ruler. It means that people recognize Him as such, so when Zechariah said that “the Lord will be king,” he means that everyone will know Him and serve Him. When Ezekiel described God’s throne as made of sapphire, he was telling us that God’s kingship is all about what sapphire represents, seeing the inner heavenly truth of the earthly material world.
Let’s return to our verse in Exodus 24. Moses and those few saw this immediately after the children of Israel received God’s law at Sinai. The vision of Moses, Aaron, his sons, and the elders is described as, “like a configuration of sapphire brick.” In the original Hebrew, this phrase is ke’ma’aseh livnat hasapir, which literally translates to “like the work of the brick of sapphire.”
It seems that this vision was a description of the covenant itself. Moses read the covenant more than once and reminded them of the things that God had done for them. After spending generations making bricks in Egypt, the children of Israel are told that they now have a new task. They will no longer make bricks for Pharaoh. Their new construction project is to build the kingdom of God “under His feet,” in the lower, material world. They are to build a world in which God’s presence, the inner essence of everything, is tangible and perceptible. This work is “the work of the brick of sapphire.” Their new construction project was the Tabernacle.
Everything about the Tabernacle and its worship spoke of God’s plan of salvation for all mankind. Everything about it from the tent pegs to the ropes, including the layout of the camp itself, spoke in one way or another of Jesus and the cross.
The construction activity that is now taking place is in us—The Church.
Please allow me to encourage you to dig deeper into God’s word in ways you have not done before and do it for yourself. There is great un-mined wealth of information and revelation to be gained...