Restoration Of The Tabernacle Of David That Is Fallen. -- Amos 9:11


    We’re going to minister to you on the subject of stars in the Bible.  A study into stars.  Now, we know in the world that people study the stars, but they’re studying these natural stars out here, and that’s something called astrology.  When you’re out here stargazing, studying natural stars and trying to find signs and wonders and guide people’s lives by the natural stars, we call that astrology, or it’s called astrology in the Bible.  And astrology’s a form of witchcraft, fortune telling, if you will.  And of course the word of God is against that.  It’s against studying the stars out here in order to project or prognosticate on people’s individual lives and what’s going to happen to them in the future and so forth.  That is called astrology and fortune telling.  It’s a form of witchcraft.
    But the Bible also tells us that there’s another aspect to the study of the stars, and it’s not witchcraft at all.  In fact, in Genesis, God talks about when he created the stars, and he said that he had set the sun and the moon and the stars, the heavenly bodies up here, for signs and for seasons and for times and for years.
    So we know that the sun, the moon, the stars, these things which God has set in the heavens, these heavenly bodies, are there for different reasons.  They have to do with seasons of the year.  They have to do with our calendar year.  They have to do with many things.  And the Lord also said they have to do with something called signs.
    There are signs in the heavens connected with the stars.
    Now, we’re not studying these natural stars out here to try to project anything in the future, but there are stars indicated in the word of God.  There are stars revealed in the word of God that have very definite prophetic plan in God’s holy word, and we’re going to study into the stars this morning, and mainly we’re going to come to the theme of the Morning Star.  We’re going to study on the mystery of the Morning Star.  That’s going to be the main theme of this message:  the mystery of the Morning Star, the identification of that Morning Star and what it typifies to us in the spirit.  That is the star that is mentioned twice in the Book of Revelation and has something to do with what God is going to give to the overcomers.  
    It tells us in Revelation “to him that overcome,” he says, “I’m going to give you power over the nations, to rule the nations with me,” the Lord says, “with a rod of iron, and I’m going to give to him that overcomes, I’m going to give to him the Morning Star.”
    And so we want to study this morning on the stars and what the stars represent.
    First of all, the most notable of all stars which God has given us in the scripture is that star which is called the Sun. We know in the natural that the Sun is the center of our solar system, that our planets and our solar system revolve around the Sun, the Sun is the center of the solar system.
    In Scripture the Sun is called the Day Star.  It’s the star of the day.  It’s the Day Star that give us the light of the day.  It’s the center of our solar system in the natural, and it’s also the center of our solar system in the spirit, if you see what I’m driving at.  The Day Star always typifies the Lord Jesus Christ.  He is spoken of in Malachi as the S-U-N, Sun of righteousness who shall arise with healing in his wings.  Peter calls him the Day Star who is to arise in our hearts.  
    The Day Star, which typifies the Sun, which is the center of our natural solar system, is also the center of our spiritual solar system, to speak, which is the center of the church, and the entire church involves around this Sun of righteousness who is Jesus Christ.  We revolve around Jesus Christ; he is the center of our spiritual solar system, so to speak, in the Lord.  He is the center of all things in God to the church, Jesus Christ.  He is the Day Star.
    The word of God speaks to us in Malachi 4:2 and says

But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.

And so that’s a beautiful prophecy, that God’s people are to grow up as calves in God’s stall, and that the Lord Jesus Christ himself is going to be that Sun of righteousness who will arise with healing in his wings to heal all things unto us.
    In 2nd Peter 1:19, the Scripture reads:

We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.

    Now, this brings us to a point:  when does the Day Star appear?  The Day Star appears when the night season ends.  In fact, the Day Star or the rising of the Sun signifies the end of the night, that the night is over whenever the Day Star arises.  So we know in the spirit that Jesus Christ himself, until he returns to this world, the night season will not end.  We are the close of the night season, the long night season of this world.  We are at the threshold of the coming of the Day Star, the dawning of the Day Star, the coming of Jesus Christ.  We are at the threshold of his coming, both spiritually and physically.
    Not only is the Lord Jesus Christ here signified in typology, using the Sun, the center of our solar system, to typify the Lord Jesus Christ here as the centermost of all of God’s glorious star, the most glorious of all stars typified in the Bible, signifying the Lord Jesus Christ as the Sun or the Day Star.  So also in Daniel’s prophecy, the 12th chapter of Daniel, verse 3, the Scripture also identifies that there are also many other stars in God’s glorious celestial realm or his kingdom.  Many other stars are identified, in the word of God, and we’re going to see who these other stars are, or the great multitude of these other stars are, besides the Sun of righteousness.
    In Daniel 12, verse 3, the Scripture reads:

And they that be wise

Not the foolish but the wise --

And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.

Here, the signification of stars is identified with the saints.  It’s identified with the church.  It’s identified with us, that we, each one of us who belong to the Lord Jesus Christ are one star in God’s mighty universe.
    Did you know that every one of you is a star in God’s book?  You are a star in God’s astronomy, every one of you is a star.  You are appointed to have an eternal, fixed place in God’s heavenly kingdom, as a star, a perpetual star in his kingdom, that your light should shine forever and ever and ever in his kingdom.
    And there are different degrees of glory to these stars.  As one star outshines another in glory, so is the kingdom of God.  These stars have different dimensions of glory.  The greatest of all stars signified to us is the son himself, Jesus, but there are many other stars that have different degrees of glory in God’s eternal kingdom.  But they are all called wise, wise stars, and they will turn many to righteousness and therefore they will shine as bright and burning lights forever and ever in God’s heavenly kingdom.
    So we see stars here as signified as bright lights that give light when there is darkness, and that’s why we are in the world.
    Jesus said, “When I was in the world, I was the light of the world,” but he said, “now that I’m no longer in the world, you are in the world, you are the light of the world.”  That’s where we become the stars that shine while Jesus is in the heavens, while Jesus is gone and until he comes again, we are the stars that must shine during the night season, while we wait for the coming of the Day Star, while we wait for the appearing of Jesus Christ.
    Now, in Romans Chapter 13 and Verse 12, the Scripture specifically speaks of the night season.  The Scripture says:

The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.

    Now we know, prophetically speaking, that we are coming to the end of the long night season.  We’re coming to the time now when the stars are going to finish their courses and the Day Star is going to come, and when the Day Star comes, then every other star fades into the background and you don’t see those stars for the glory of the Day Star because the glory of the Day Star fills everything, and all of the stars of the night then blend in with that Day Star.
    So all of the light of the saints that have had to shine through the whole night season of the church age for nearly two thousand years, all these glorious stars are going to fade into the light of the Day Star when he comes and become a part of that Day Star and a part of that one great light which is Jesus Christ, manifested.
    Specifically I want us to go into the Book of Revelation in this study, and we’re going to study the different stars that are revealed in the Book of Revelation, primarily because the Book of Revelation is the book of stars that deal with our dispensation.  The stars which are to appear in our time in the church.  
    When we talk about the many stars of God, and the Day Star being symbolic of Jesus, we realize that there are many other stars besides the Day Star, and these other stars have to do with the saints of God.  They have to do with the ministry of the saints in the world.  So before the Day Star appears, before Jesus Christ comes, there are some notable stars mentioned in the Book of Revelation that are going to arise in our time.  It speaks of stars that will arise and stars that will fall.
    Did you know that in the Book of Revelation there are going to be falling stars?  There are going to be stars that rise and stars that fall, and that’s talking about the sons of God.  It’s talking about God’s people.  It’s talking about the church.  The stars are the saints.  There are going to be saints who will rise in these last days as bright and shining lights, and there will be saints in these last days who will fall as stars falling from the heavens, as untimely figs are shaken off the fig tree when a mighty wind blows, and that’s talking about a great shaking that’s coming in the church, a great shaking in our time.  A time when stars will rise and stars will fall.
    I want to take the stars of the Book of Revelation in their order of appearing.
    First of all in revelation, Chapter 1, Verse 20, as Jesus appears to John on the Isle of Patmos to give him the Revelation which he is to deliver first of all in the form of seven letters to the seven churches, Jesus addresses John, giving him the interpretation of what he sees.  Now, when Jesus appeared to John, Jesus appeared having seven stars in his hand and seven golden candlesticks beside him.  Jesus gives the interpretation to John of what these things signified that he saw.  I’ll take it up first in Verse 19, where Jesus says to John:

Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter

So John was to write something that had to do with things which John had already seen, things which were now existing, and things which would be hereafter, concerning his times.
    In verse 20 Jesus says:

The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.

    Jesus reveals to John here that these seven stars which John saw Jesus holding in his hand were symbolic of seven angels.  That these seven angels were the overseers of the seven churches that were in Asia or Asia Minor, that were contemporary with John’s time.
    Now, angels have different forms of meaning.  The Greek word in the New Testament that is consistently used for “angels” is a word that means “messengers” or “messenger”.  It can be referring to a theophany, which is divine being, a heavenly messenger or an angel as we understand it in a heaven sense, a supernatural being, a divine being, an angel, as a messenger from the heavens, or it can be referring to a terrestrial messenger, a terrestrial angel or overseer, in which case it is usually referring to the bishopric, the overseers, that is, the elders or bishops of the church.  
    In this reference, the seven stars which John sees in the hand of the Lord are seven angels that are the overseers of these seven churches that are in Asia.  He is specifically instructed to write seven letters, addressing each letter to each angel of each church.  Now we know rationally that theophanies, or divine beings were not ruling over those seven churches in the physical dimension.  In the invisible, spiritual sense yes, they were.  But in the physical, literal sense, these seven angels that the seven letters were written to were terrestrial angels.  That is, they were men.  These seven letters were written to seven men.  These seven men were the messengers, the overseers or bishops of these seven churches that were in Asia.  They were referred to with the same Greek word used for theophanies, but it had to do in this case with terrestrial bishops or overseers, ministers if you will, because, you see, you don’t write seven letters and send a footman to deliver them to angels, do you?  Because he’d have to have wings to deliver them to angels.  He’d have to be able to fly out of this world.
    No, these angels or seven stars mentioned here, these stars were men.  They were not theophanies, they were not divine beings, they were men.  These seven letters sent to these seven stars were sent to seven men, seven overseers over these churches.
    So here we see an analogy in the spirit of God using stars to depict overseers, in this case men, not theophanies or divine beings but men as angels, terrestrial angels, overseers or bishops of the churches.  So these letters were handwritten and delivered by footmen to these seven bishops or overseers of these churches whom God called messengers or angels or stars.
    The next mention then of stars of God appears then in the letter to the Church of Thyatira, where Jesus speaks to the saints.  He says

And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations.

Now that’s talking about this world, isn’t it?  This is where the nations are, nations are not up in heaven.  This is where the nations of the world are.  He says

And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations.

That’s here in this world.

And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.  And I will give him [that is, the overcomer] the morning star.  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

    I want to tell you a little mystery about the Morning Star.  We have just indicated to you that the Day Star is the Sun, that the Sun typifies Jesus Christ.  He is the Sun or the Day Star.  But anyone who has an elementary knowledge of astronomy knows right away that the Day Star and the Morning Star are not the same star.
    The Morning Star is a different star than the Day Star, and Jesus is speaking to the overcomer here that’s going to rule the nation and he says concerning this power to rule the nations with a rod of iron, he says to you overcomers that are going to have power to rule the nations, he says, I’m going to give you something.  I’m going to give you something called the Morning Star, and that Morning Star is going to be with you when you rule the nation.  
    That’s what he’s talking about.  That Morning Star will be with you when you rule the nations with a rod of iron.
    Now, the Morning Star is very interesting.  In fact, the Evening Star and the Morning Star, in astronomy, is usually always the same star that appears.  It actually in natural astronomy it’s generally recognized to be the planet Venus, that bright, brilliant “star” that appears in the western sky at the beginning of the night, and then as the night season passes all the way through and the darkest part of the night comes, which is just before the sunrise -- did you know that?  The darkest part of the night is always just before sunrise, and what are we approaching spiritually speaking?  The Bible says the night is far spent, but what are we approaching now?  The darkest part of the night.  The darkest part of the night season.  The time of tribulation, the time of distress and trouble in the earth, like has the world has never seen nor ever shall see again -- that’s what God says.  The darkest time in world history is approaching us, the darkest part of the night season.
    And yet, what is about to happen just before the sunrise, just before Jesus Christ comes, there is another glorious sign that’s going to reappear to us, and it’s the sign of the Morning Star.  The Morning Star is the last great star of the night season.  It is the brightest star of all the stars that shine at night, and it appears in the eastern sky, in the darkest part of the dawn, just before the sun comes up.  In fact, you can still see it when the sun starts to come up.  It’s the last star that fades out.  It’s the brightest star of the night and the last star to fade out into the glory of the sun when the sun arises.
    So we are approaching something, which is the reappearing of a beautiful star that was once in the earth.  That star was not Jesus Christ himself, but it was a bright and it was a burning light, and in the beg of the night season it appeared in the earth and now at the end of the night season it’s going to reappear again, and we’ll get into that and that will be the main theme of this message.
    But as we move on here, the next mention of stars is over in Revelation Chapter 6, in the opening of the seven seals book.  When the Lord opened the sixth seal in Verse 12, we see the appearing of stars again.  This becomes the third mention in the Book of Revelation of the appearing of stars.  
    These stars that appear here in Revelation 6 have to do with the time and the generation that we’re living in.  

And I beheld when he [that is, the Lord] had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.

    Now, that’s an ominous vision that he has when the sixth seal is open.  An ominous vision of great trouble, great persecution, a time of great trouble and distress in the earth, a time also when many of the stars of heaven will fall unto the earth “as a fig tree casts her untimely figs.”  And that’s got to do with a great falling away that’s coming.
    These stars that are going to fall from the heavens have to do with a great falling away in the church in these last times, in the time of the shaking of the fig tree, the time of the great earthquake.  Remember what Jesus said?  “Yet once more I’m going to shake all things”?
    This earthquake here is what shakes the fig tree, and all of the loose figs, all of the untimely figs that are not firmly fastened to that tree when this earthquake comes, it’s going to shake all of those loose figs off the tree.  Do you know what that tree is?  That tree is the church, and the loose figs on it are the apostates that are going to be shaken out of the tree.  They are going to be shaken out of the church when the great earthquake, when the great trouble, the great tribulation -- when the great persecution comes.  The great persecution is the great earthquake, that’s the great shaking that’s coming to the church.
    When that great persecution comes, it’s going to shake the church, and every son that’s fastened to the church, every fig that’s fastened to the tree that is loose on that tree is going to be shaken off of it.
    That’s why Jesus said “I am the vine and ye are the branches; if you remain in me, you shall bear fruit, and your fruit shall remain.”
    So it depends now, when the great earthquake, the great persecution and the great shaking come, it’s going to depend on which of those figs are firmly fastened to the branch of the tree that cannot be shaken off.
    And the Scripture says in Hebrews, 12:27

And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain

And he’s talking about shaking everything out of the church that can be shaken out of the church.  Did you know that that’s a heavy word?  But the Lord says I’m going to shake every son, I’m going to shake everybody out of my church that can be shaken out of it.  So that the sons that love me, that are holding fast to me, that nothing can shake them loose from me -- they’re the ones who are going to remain.  The fig that cannot be shaken loose from Jesus, who will hold on to Jesus in spite of everything, in spite of fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, everything, they hold on to Jesus.  They’re not going to be shaken off that tree.  Those are the figs that are going to remain for the master’s use.
    Isn’t that glorious?
    So there is a great shaking coming, and there will be stars that will fall off that tree, and it will be a grievous thing, but there are going to be apostates.
    Jesus said in Matthew 24, when offenses come, when persecutions come, then shall many in the church be offended and they will betray their brothers, even to be put to death.
    If we’re going to betray our brothers and sisters in the Lord, the only way we will not betray one another in the time of great persecution is if our figs are firmly fastened to Jesus.  If we are firmly fastened to him, if we love him above all things, we will not betray because the love of God will constrain us, it will hold us fast to the tree.
    And then the next mention of stars in the Book of Revelation is found over in Revelation Chapter 8, Verses 10 to 13, and this is the blowing of the trumpets of the angels.

And the third angel sounded [or he blew his trumpet], and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; and the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.

That’s the next mention of a star.  The star that is to fall from the heavens, a star which has a name, and the name of it is Wormwood, and it falls into the waters, and when it falls into the waters, many men will die because the waters will be come bitter.  And when he sees this star fall, he sees it as a bright and shining lamp.  He says, “I see a bright star.  It’s shining like a lamp.”  And suddenly it falls from its high, exalted, bright and shining place; it falls into the waters.  And when it does, the name of it becomes Wormwood and it turns the waters to bitterness.
    I believe that this is a vision in prophecy of the rise and fall of antichrist, coming as a bright and shining light, and the fall of antichrist.  His falling into the waters has to do with the church, because water speaks of peoples and multitudes, and men and nations.  His fall is going to bring destruction upon many.  I have always believed, because the Bible indicates that antichrist himself, that his name is called the son of perdition, I have also believed from God’s typologies in the word, that the antichrist that we are looking for, the one that is coming in these last days is going to be a fallen star from among God’s stars.  It’s going to be a bright and burning light from God’s kingdom that’s going to fall.
    I believe the son of perdition is going to be from among the sons of God.  Even as you have the anti-type of that in the fall of Lucifer.  Lucifer, you know, was one of the bright if not the brightest of all of the archangels that fell, and he fell from a realm of celestial glory, and I believe the antichrist in these last days is going to rise and fall through the church.  That antichrist is going to be a bright light that will shine in the church for a season and fall, and through his fall he will bring down many sons into perdition when he falls.  This word wormwood, which means bitter or bitterness, has to do with the fall of this star which will cause bitterness and death to come upon many.
    Revelation Chapter 8, Verse 12 continues:

And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.

And I believe all of that has to do with the rise and fall of a star that is called wormwood, which I believe is the star of antichrist that will arise as a minister of light, as a burning light, a burning lamp, and through the fall of this star, many will be destroyed.
    Revelation Chapter 8, Verse 13 continues:

And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!  

Now comes the fifth mention of a star.  At the voice of the trumpet of the fifth angel there appears now the next star in order of the Book of Revelation (Chapter 9, Verses 1 through 3):

And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.  And he opened the bottomless pit; --

Now I want to state this at this point:  This star which is mentioned here has a key to open the bottomless pit.  The bottomless pit has nothing to do with this particular world right here.  The bottomless pit has to do with another world or the lower world.  This star which John sees here falling from the heavens is a star that has a key.  This star has power to open up something in the lower world, and to release something terrible out of the lower world and into this world.  
    He sees this star fall from heaven, and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit,

And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.  And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.  And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree;

They couldn’t hurt any living thing, that’s what I want you to notice here.  Anything that had green, the color of life to it, they could not hurt anything that had the color of green life.

but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.

Now this is a parable in the spirit, of a star that is to fall from heaven, that has power to open the bottomless pit and release something that is going to bring torment to the human race for a season, but it will not be able to touch, afflict, or torment any living green thing that has life.  I believe that these green trees and green grass here -- that have life and cannot be hurt or touched by these powers that are to be released from the bottomless pit -- this living trees and grass are God’s sons.  
    God’s saints, God’s true people that have life in Christ will not be hurt, touched or tormented by the creatures released from the bottomless pit.  The creatures will only be able to harm those who do not have the seal of the living God upon their bodies.
    I believe that this is a prophecy of the casting down of Satan in the time when he shall lose his access to the heavenly as the accuser of the brother and he shall be cast into the earth according to Revelation Chapter 12, and that when he is cast down, he is going to lose from the bottomless pit creatures that have been bound up there for centuries.  
    As many of you have heard me minister in the past on this subject, I brought out about the chariot wars, how that I believe by revelation God has revealed to me that these are the angels that kept not their first estate, those theophanies that broke through their vows and went down and cohabitated with the daughters of men in Genesis, in the antediluvian age, to whom God destroyed their progeny in the earth whom the Hebrews called the Nephilim or the giants that were born unto these theophanies, or angels, and that these angels were taken and bound according to Jude’s prophecy in chains of darkness and reserved there.  And that at this season which is coming in the future, these theophanies are going to be released again in the earth for a short season to wreck havoc in the earth.  That this is a phenomenon that is coming unto the sound of the trumpet of the fifth angel in times that are approaching which are called the dark times, the dark season of the night.
    The next mention of stars is in Revelation 12.  The Book of Revelation, of course, is a fantastic book of symbols and the main theme of it, from Chapter 4 right on through Chapter 19, the entire context of it, I believe in that area, deals with the very generation we’re living in.  Everything in there is going to be visited upon this generation which is alive today to see the fulfillment of everything in there.
    In Revelation Chapter 12, Versus 1 to 4, John sees another appearing of stars...

And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:

This woman is clothed with something beautiful called the sun.  We know who the sun typifies:  Jesus Christ.  By the way, the putting out of the sun or the darkening of the sun in prophecy always has to do with blotting out Jesus.  Any time Jesus is darkened, any time his name is blotted out through apostasy, through falling away, that is always prophetically indicated as apostasy.  
    Of course it tells us in prophecy that in these days the sun shall be darken.  We know the name of Jesus is going to be blasphemed, that his name is going to be darkened, that his name is going to be hated and persecuted in the earth, and those who hold to the truth of God are going to be persecuted, when a price is put on your head to name the name of Jesus and walk uprightly before him.
    But here there appears a great wonder in Heaven:  a woman clothed with the sun, literally clothed with the bright and shining light of Jesus Christ.  This is a glorious woman.  This woman is God’s true church.  This woman who appears here in Revelation 12 is God’s beautiful and glorious church.  She is clothed with the sun of righteousness.  She is clothed with all the radiating beauty and glory and spotless perfection of Jesus, and she has something under her feet called the moon.  Upon her head is a crown of twelve stars.  
    Because we’re dealing specifically with stars here, I believe that this crown of twelve stars has to do with the same foundation stones that are described in Revelation 21, that the bride of Christ has twelve foundation stones and in them are written the names of the twelve apostles of the lamb.  I believe this crown of twelve stars denotes that this woman is the church which has the crown of the twelve apostles, that the twelve apostles are her crown.
    This is the church, you see, that the twelve apostles founded.  This is the true church, which is to be restored, the church which has the crown of the twelve apostles,

And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.  And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.  And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.

    I believe these third part of the stars which the dragon is to draw down by his tail represents in the spirit here the third part of the waters and the third part of the stars which we brought out to you in Revelation 8, that this star called Wormwood would corrupt or draw into perdition the third part of the stars of heaven.
    Again we have other symbolic scripture that tells us in the spirit that the holy city of the Lord, the great city will be divided, in the time of the great persecution, into three parts.  That a third part of it will fall into perdition and into destruction, as will a third part of the stars.  It’s a prophecy and a prognostication of the coming great falling away in which many stars will fall away, many untimely figs that do not have their true roots in Jesus will fall away, and the dragon that draws these stars down, these saints into perdition, is the Devil himself.
    And finally, in Revelation 22, the culmination of the Book of Revelation, of this age, Jesus makes final mention of that star which he mentioned way back there in the seven letters to the seven churches two thousand years ago.  In Revelation 22:16, Jesus speaks to John and he says

I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.

I want you to notice something here:  as I have mentioned in the past, many times the editors who composed the translations and so forth of our bibles, when they feel that a sentence is not complete, they will add a word or words in italics.  The words which are added in italics are inserted there by the editors to give what they think is the complete meaning of the sentences, they have added the word “and” after “David” because the editors who made up the translation presumed that Jesus was referring to himself when he spoke of the bright and morning star.  So they inserted the word “and” in italics, after “David” to extend the sentence to mean that Jesus was referring to himself as the morning star.  But if you will read verbatim, word for word, as Jesus said it, he said,

I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright and morning star.

Now this is a mystery.  Jesus is the Day Star, the Day Star is the sun, and the Morning Star is not the sun, and all you have to do is have a little lesson in astronomy and get up in the morning and take a look in the eastern sky sometime, and you’ll see very plainly that the Morning Star is not the sun, and the sun is not the Morning Star -- they are totally different stars.  
    We’re talking about something in the spirit here.  Jesus is speaking in a mystery, and he says, I am the root and the offspring of somebody called “David”, and this David, he says, “is that bright and morning star which is to appear just before I appear.”  That’s what he’s talking about.  Jesus is the Day Star, and just before Jesus comes back, before he appears, there’s another star that’s going to appear, and that’s the Star of David that’s going to appear.  
    Before the seven-seal book of the Revelation is opened up, and I want to indicate a mystery to you here, that just before Jesus, in Revelation Chapter 5, just before he opens the first seal of this book, Jesus is called “the root of David”, and the Scripture says, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book.
    Now, if you’re very, very discrete in the spirit, if you’re very keen in your discernment, you will notice that in the beginning Jesus is referred to as the “root of David” who is about to open the book.  But at the end, when all things are finished and fulfilled, he is called “the root and the offspring of David”, but he’s not called the offspring until after everything is fulfilled in there.  So that’s telling us something:  that back in the beginning he’s the root, he’s the beginning of something.  He’s the beginning of the manifestation of something called “David” and he’s the root of that which is called “David” and at the end he becomes offspring.  
    He’s the beginning or the root of a ministry that is to come in the spirit of David, before the seals are opened, and after the seals are fulfilled, he becomes the offspring or the product of that ministry, which is coming in the spirit of David.
    Did you know, and I can reveal to you, and I will go into these prophecies in God’s word and reveal to you, that there are two notable persons mentioned in the Bible which are to appear unto us as spiritual Israel, which are to appear unto us in these last days before Jesus comes.  These two personalities, which God speaks of in the scripture, in Malachi he says,

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord

And he’s going to restore all things.  
    Then in the other prophets, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Isaiah, he says, “I am going to raise up unto you my servant David, and I’m going to make him a shepherd over my flock,” the “shepherd of my people” and “I’m going to restore the tabernacle of David which is fallen.”
    So there are two notable personalities that the word of God reveals to us who are to be restored before Jesus comes:  the spirit of Elijah and the spirit of David.  
    The identification here of the Morning Star has to do with the last great light that is going to shine in this world before Jesus comes, and that light is signified in parablistic terms in the spirit as the Star of David which is to arise, which is “the bright and morning star.”  Jesus is the root of this star.  He is the offspring of this star.  He is the root of David, he is the offspring of this David, he is the offspring of a ministry that is coming the spirit and power of David, and that ministry is called “the bright and morning star,” the last great light unto the church, before Jesus comes.  The last great ministry that’s going to shine in this world before Jesus comes.
    I mentioned earlier to you that the Evening Star and Morning Star are one and the same.  That the Evening Star appears at the beginning of the night season, and the Morning Star appears at the end of the season.  Now there was a great ministry that appeared two thousand years ago at the beginning of the church age.  It was a bright and burning light.  It was  not that true light, but it was a bright and a shining light, and Jesus said, “You loved that light and you endured that light for a season until the true light should come.”  And that bright and burning light which came in the evening time, two thousand years ago, at the beginning of the night season, that bright and burning light that came in the spirit of Elijah was the ministry of a forerunner.  And that forerunner who came in the spirit of Elijah, his name was John the Baptist.   
    Of all the law and the prophets, of all ministries that had ever come in the earth, there was none greater than John the Baptist.  Jesus said that.  Jesus said, “John the Baptist is the greatest of all the law and the prophets.”  He was a bright and a burning light, the Scripture says.  He was the brightest light of the beginning of the church age.  John the Baptist, the forerunner of the church age, the first star to appear at the beginning of the night season.
    He came in the spirit of Elijah.  What does that mean?  He came with the same mission and calling of Elijah, and the word of God reveals to us that that bright light, that same light, that same star that appeared in the evening is now again to reappear in the morning.  Does that mean that John the Baptist is going to be resurrected with a new head on his shoulders, in the last days? No more than Elijah’s going to drop out of the sky.  John the Baptist isn’t going to be resurrected any more than the natural man Elijah’s coming back.  The Lord is talking in the spirit about the restoration of a ministry!  That a ministry shall be restored to you in the spirit and type of Elijah, in the spirit and type of John the Baptist.
    This same light that appeared way back there at the beginning is going to reappear at the end.  It’s a bright and burning light that’s going to be a forerunner ministry.  What did John and Elijah come for?  What was their ministry?  Their ministry was to turn the heart of God’s people back, to restore paths to walk in, to restore the true foundations and the truth to the church and God’s people.  That was their ministry, to prepare a way for God’s people, to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord.  That was John’s ministry, to prepare the way for the first coming of Jesus.
    Now that ministry is to reappear in the end time to prepare the way for the second coming of Jesus.  It’s coming again.  In the Book of Revelation it’s exclusively referred to as coming in the last days in the spirit of David, and so the spirit and ministry of David, the spirit and ministry of Elijah, the spirit and ministry of John the Baptist are all one and the same spirit, one and the same ministry, it’s prophesized in typology to appear to prepare a people to meet their God.
    Now what was David to Israel?  What was David’s ministry?  David was a prophet and he was a king.  What does it mean?  The Scripture tells us that David was raised up by God to defeat the giant, Goliath.  He was raised up to put every enemy under the heel of God’s people which David alone accomplished.  He was the only king that ever put every enemy of Israel under the feet of Israel, did you know that?  David was the only king in all the history of Israel that God ever blessed by putting every enemy under his feet during his reign.  David accomplished to subdue every enemy of Israel during his reign, and every one of his enemies was at peace with him at the end because they were subdued by him.
    This is the spirit of David which the Scripture says “I’m going to restore to my people, I’m going to raise up unto you David, I’m going to give you a shepherd, and he is going to feed my flock.  He is going to have the shepardship, he’s going to be the prince, and he’s going to restore to my people houses to dwell in and pastures to feed in for my sheep.”
    What David was to Israel in the natural, this ministry that’s coming is going to be to the church in spirit.  It’s going to be the raising up of divine leadership, where there is no leadership.  It’s going to be the raising up a mighty ministry that’s going to guide God’s church into perfection, into a place of conquering and overcoming and putting under the feet of the church every enemy that wars against the church, including the biggest giant of all -- death himself.  Old Goliath.  
    And it’s a ministry that God’s going to raise up in the spirit of David that will subdue under spiritual Israel the church, every enemy that fights and wars against God’s church in the spirit.  
    That’s the mystery of the coming of the Morning Star in the spirit of David.
    Now I want to give to you some beautiful prophecy on David, in the word of God.  Did you know that the man David is the most mentioned man in the Bible?  The most mentioned ministry in the Bible.  The most mentioned man in the Bible is the patriarch David.  David received the highest order of God’s covenant.  Of all men who God made promises to, he made no greater promises to any man than he made to David.  He made great promises to Abraham in the sense that he would make Abraham the father of the children of faith and multiply his seed like the stars of heaven, for multitudes.  
    But to the House of David, he promised that he would give the scepter or the crown or the dominion or the government or the rule over all the seed of Abraham.  David’s house would rule over Abraham’s house, which is the children of faith.  And so unto the House is David is given the place of divine government.  That’s what it means, the high calling in Christ.  The bishopship or the overseeing of the flock of the Lord, the high calling in the Lord.
    I believe the high calling in the church in this hour is to have the bishopship calling, to have the overseer calling in the church in these last days, for God desires to raise up many apostles, many prophets, many evangelists, many pastors, and many teachers for the perfecting of the saint.  That he desires in these last days to raise up a great ministry of many who are going to sit on the throne of David in the spirit; that are going to excel into the high hill of the Lord; who are going to have their tabernacle on the top of Mt. Zion -- that’s where David’s tabernacle was, on the top of the holy hill of God, the high calling in Christ in the spirit.  
    This is what the Lord is purposing in this hour to raise up in our midst, a ministry of overcomers, a ministry of people who will excel in the high purposes of God.  And I believe that is what we are under the sound of in this hour, that we are called to excel in the Lord.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear, because everybody in the church doesn’t have ears to hear that.  But to whom it applies, let him fulfill it.
    I just want to go through and give you some Old Testament Scriptures relative to the raising up of the tabernacle of David.  In Amos, the Prophecy of Amos.  Amos is right after Joel in the Old Testament.  In Amos, Chapter 9, Verse 11, the Lord speaking, by the Holy Spirit through the prophet Amos, speaking of the end times:  

In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old

That’s a prophecy of restoration.  That God will raise up something that’s called the tabernacle of David that’s lying in ruins today, spiritually speaking.  It’s been breached, scattered, pealed, divided.  The strength of that ministry has been weakened and divided.  It has been laid down in ruins and yet God says,

I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old

So he’s talking about a ministry.  Raising up kings, if you will.  David was king in Israel.  He was ruler in God’s house.  And the Lord says, “I’m going to raise up kings and priests that will rule and rain in my kingdom.  Kings that will sit upon the throne of David.  Kings that will sit in a spiritual dominion in me and have the authority of divine government on their shoulders even as I gave it to my servant, David.”
    A faithful people who will have the inheritance of divine government, who will be raised up in the spirit of David, to have the oversight and guidance of the church in these last days.
    Please note that we’re not looking for the man David to come to the church, we’re looking for the spirit of the man, the spirit of a ministry.  We’re looking for the type of a ministry to be restored.  I’m not looking for David or Elijah to come.  There’s only one person who I’m looking for to come literally, physically back to this world, to have anything to do with me or you, and that’s Jesus Christ.  I’m looking for Jesus to come literally, but I’m not putting a candle in the window waiting for Elijah to fly in.  See what I’m saying?  This is the spirit of a ministry, not the literal coming of a man.
    In Jeremiah, Chapter 30, and Verses 6 to 9,

Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child?  Wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?  Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it.

Did you know you’re approaching the time of Jacob’s trouble?  Jacob’s trouble is your trouble, because you’re Jacob’s seed.  That’s what the Scripture means.  You are Jacob’s seed, you’re the church of faith, are you not?  That’s the only seed God’s talking to in this hour.  It is the time prophesized as the great time of Jacob’s trouble, the great time of the persecution of the church, the great time when the seed of faith will be troubled in the earth, persecuted -- it’s the time when men’s hands will be upon their loins, when they will be in great pain, travailing like a woman to bring forth birth.  A time when the church is going to be travailing like a woman in great pain, in great persecution.  And at that time, it says,

For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck,

That’s the yoke of Satan.  

I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of [Jacob]:

You’re not going to be trodden down any longer, he says.  

But they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them.

In the time when the woman travails, God is going to raise up a ministry for her.  And this ministry is referred to as David their king, who the Lord will raise up unto them, the spirit of David, the spirit of a great shepherd, of a great ministry that will be raised up unto them.
    Did you know in Revelation 12 there is a description there of the church travailing?  As a woman in travail, paining to bring forth something?  Here is the same symbol, Jeremiah sees the same vision in typology, as the church like a man travailing in pain to bring something to birth.  To bring forth a deliverer, like as all Israel was, in pain!  Defied by Goliath the giant, until the Lord raised up a deliverer, David, and David smote the giant delivered all Israel.
    So there is in the time of great persecution a great ministry which the Lord will raise up unto his people, that will deliver his people out of the hands of their persecutors.  By force of spiritual arms, exactly as Moses delivered the children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage by force of spiritual arms.  So this ministry will rise in the spirit of David to smite the giant, to deliver God’s people in the day of tribulation and trouble, and this is the ministry which is to be birthed out of the travailing church, which is in the figure of a man child of Revelation 12.  This man child is that spirit of David, is that Morning Star, and is that delivering ministry which God will raise up unto the church in the time of her great tribulation, in the time of her great persecution.
    Again, we find in Scripture mention of this ministry in Isaiah 55, Verses 3 and 4:

Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; [says the Lord] and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.  

Now he’s speaking to us in the spirit, and he says “Incline your ear, listen to what I’m telling you,” he says, “draw near to me and your soul is going to live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.  Do you know what the “sure mercies of David” were?  Well, the Lord said to David, “Fear not,” he said, “you shall not die.  I have pardoned your iniquity, you shall not die.”  That was the “sure mercies of David.”
    Satan fought to destroy David all the days of his life.  Raised up many enemies against him.  Sought to bring him into the grave, but from every enemy, God miraculously delivered David out of the hands of all his enemies, and David was never destroyed by his enemies.  He went to be with the Lord in peace.  The “sure mercies of David” means to be delivered out of the hands of all your enemies in the day of trouble.

Behold, I have given him [the spirit of David] for a witness to the people

This is what the ministry of David is going to be in the last days.

I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people.  Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee.

You know that nation which the Lord shall call, that the children of Israel didn’t know anything about?  That nation is the church.  You’re that nation that they didn’t know anything about, that God called.  That nation is the church, and unto the church shall he give this spirit of David, this leader and commander ministry to guide them in perilous times.
    I’m going to close off here with these specific prophecies on David and the ministry of David.  In Ezekiel 34, Verses 22 to 26,

Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey [that’s God’s people, his flock]; and I will judge between cattle and cattle [that’s between people and people].  And I will set up one shepherd over them [one ministry], and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.

That’s this great ministry, this last great light which is to appear as the Morning Star.  The shepherd ministry of David which is to guide the church unto the perfect day, unto the coming of the Lord.

And I the Lord will be their God,

Now this is Jesus speaking, did you know that?  When the word says “I the Lord”, who is “I the Lord”?  “I the Lord” is the word of God.  The word of God is Jesus Christ.  This is Jesus talking here, and Jesus says, I the Lord will be their God.  Jesus is going to be their God, he says, but

my servant David a prince among them; I the Lord [Jesus] have spoken it.

Jesus is the word of God, Jesus is the Lord who’s going to be their God, but David is going to be their prince among them, their shepherd and their leader and their God, among them.  This ministry that he’s going to raise up.  
    So you see, we’ve got an important role to fulfill.  
    This isn’t talking about one man, David, this is talking about a ministry that is going to sit on the throne of David.  A many-membered ministry that’s going to be raised up in the spirit of David, to spearhead and lead and guide and shepherd God’s people in these last days, to guide them through the perilous times.
    In Ezekiel 37, on the resurrection of the dry bones, which is a prophecy in the spirit of the restored church, as the invisible spiritual Israel of God, the restored church, that in the restoration of God’s church he’s going to set up a ministry over the church.  In Ezekiel 37, in Verses 24 and 25, when he has resurrected the dry bones, when he has resurrected his church, when he has empowered it with the Holy Ghost and raised it up to be a mighty army in the earth, he speaks in Verses 24 and 25 and says,

And David my servant shall be king [shepherd or leader] over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them.  And they shall dwell in the land [that’s the kingdom of God] that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children's children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever.

Do you know who your children’s children are?  And who your great grandchildren and so forth are, that the Lord’s talking about in the spirit?  Well, he’s not talking in the natural now.  If you’re a son of God and you’re going to bring forth children in the kingdom, the Bible says you’re going to have children and children’s children.  You’re going to have children and great grandchildren in the kingdom.  How are you going to have that without a natural life?  
    He’s not talking in the natural here when he says your children’s children’s children are going to inherit this kingdom.  That’s your converts’ converts’ converts’ converts are going inherit this kingdom.  You’re going to convert children who are going to convert children who are going to convert children who are going to convert children, and way down the line, and way down the line you’re going to have great grandchildren in the spirit.  
    And that’s what you’ve better be praying for, is children’s children in the spirit.  That you’ll have children and great grandchildren, children and great-great grandchildren, that you will multiply according to your kind with the seeds you sew in the earth, which is the seed of the kingdom of God.
    Isn’t that beautiful?
    The final Scripture I want to give you -- there are many other Scriptures but I wasn’t to give you this final Scripture in closing.  It’s in the Prophet Hosea, Chapter 3, Verses 4 and 5.  And of course I’ve always maintained that prophecy has a dual meaning, has an evening and morning fulfillment, former and latter fulfillment.  It has a fulfillment, first of all to natural Israel and secondarily and more importantly to spiritual Israel, which is the church, and what’s relative to natural Israel is secondary to what’s relative to spiritual Israel.  As the heavens are higher than the earth, so is spiritual Israel higher than natural Israel in God’s prophetic blueprint.  
    Do you believe that?  Do you believe you are spiritual Israel, the church, that’s what the Bible says you are.  Your mother is the heavenly Jerusalem, which is from above, not the natural Jerusalem, which is from beneath.  You’re born from where?  From above, by the spirit!  You are the citizen of a city that has a kingdom and dominion that is heavenly.  You don’t go to heaven to get that kingdom, that kingdom comes to you and is in you, and is to be fulfilled in you -- which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.  And you’re a citizen of that Jerusalem, which is the bride of Christ, the church, the spirit.
    In Hosea 3, versus 4 and 5, where this prophecy, of course, applies both to the natural and to the spiritual, but we’re only relative here to one thing, and that’s what applies to the church.

For the children of Israel [spiritual Israel, the church] shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim:

In other words, the glory and the leadership is going to be departed for many days, he says, to the church, in the spirit.  The church is going to languish for many days without any leadership, without any king, any prince, no leadership.  Without any sacrifice.  Without any image to worship, any spiritual image of Christ.  That’s what he’s talking about.  Without any spiritual vision or image of God.  Without an ephod (the linen ephod was what God spoke through, that was an audible expression of God), there will not be a seers ministry, an open-vision ministry is what he’s talking about.  
    That the church will abide many days without the sure word of God, without divine leadership, without sacrifices in the spirit, without an image or a true vision of God in the spirit.  Without teraphim, which of course was an idol, and he was talking about doing away with idols.  They would abide many days without idols because they had made idols to their own abomination.  That’s why the church fell away, you know, because they made idols to themselves.  I’m talking about human idols.  They made men to be their idols instead of God.
    Did you know that the reason why God removed King Saul was because the people idolized him?  They said, “Give us a king, we want a man to look up to, we want a man of tall stature, we want to idolize a man,” so God said, “Okay, Samuel, go tell ’em I’ll give ’em what they want.”  So he gave them just what they wanted, a man they could look up to and be proud of, but the Lord took him away in his wrath.  And the Lord said, “I will find me a man after my own heart, and I’ll set him up and give him the throne.  He will be the leader that I chose.”  So God put down Saul, who was the choice of the people and he raised up David, who was nobody.  And he gave David the throne.
    So God speaks in the spirit, he says “I’m gonna remove the teraphim,” the idol, the visible images that they bowed down and worshiped.  He said they’re going to abide many days without an idol, without a man to look up to, without an image to look up to.
    But he said,

Afterward shall the children of Israel [the church] return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days.

He says, “In the latter days, they’re going to become weary, they’re going to return back to me, my people are.  They’re going to seek my face again, as in days of old, and they’re going to seek a ministry that I’m going to raise up to them in the spirit of David and seek this ministry in the last days.”
    And this is called God’s goodness, which is going to be restored to his people in the latter days.  Isn’t that glory beautiful?  I’m glad the letter’s not dead any more.  It’s alive.  The word of God is alive and well, but we could be dead, and if we’re dead, the word of God’s dead.  But the word of God is only dead to us because we’re dead.  If we come alive, this word is always alive.  It’s waiting for us to wake up.  It’s always awake, just waiting for us to wake up.  
    Do you know who you are and where you’re going in God?  The book has just told you who you are and where you’re going.  How are you going to get those promises?  Are you going to lay back and wait?  No, the Bible says you’ve got to press in, go after your kingdom.  Don’t you know you’ve got some Canaanites to route out of this kingdom?  You’ve got some enemies to defeat.  The children of Israel were afraid to go up against Goliath, but David went up against him.  
    Are you afraid?  Are you afraid of the enemy?  Are you afraid of the thing that has laid siege against us, out here, that’s bigger than we are?  It’s a giant, it’s bigger than we are.  If you look at it in the natural, it’ll smother you.  I’m talking about this great religious image that surrounds and envelops the world today.  If you look at that image, it’ll dwarf you by comparison.  You will throw up your hands and say there’s no way we can defeat that thing, no way.  That’s what the children of Israel said about Goliath.  Man, they looked at the stature of that giant, they said no, no way!  Nobody here gonna go out and fight with that guy!
    But the Lord found him a man after his own heart and that’s what he’s looking for today.  He’s looking for a people that hope beyond hope, that are ready to take up the sword and the spirit and go out and challenge the giant.  If you’ve got that spirit working in you, then God will use you.  If it isn’t working in you, if you’re resigned to circumstances, you are defeated and will stay defeated and God will move your candlestick out of the way and bring somebody in who’s got the spirit of David to take your place.
    So remember, let the spirit of David arise in your hearts, because God is calling you to take a mantel of authority, to claim and to possess your calling.
    Yea, saith the Lord God, unto thee, my people.  Yet once, it is a little while, saith God, and I will begin to shake all things.  I will begin at the top of the trees and I will shake from the top to the bottom, saith God.  All things that are not rooted in me, all things that are not fastened to me, saith God, shall be shaken.  Take heed to yourselves lest ye be shaken off with this mighty wind, for behold, saith God, it is coming, it is even furious, it is even at the door, saith God.  Awake, awake!  Put on righteousness, saith God.  Gird up your loins with the truth.  Stand ye forth as a man, saith God, and answer unto me, for behold my armor lies at your feet.  Put it on, saith God, put it on, for your time draweth nigh when you must enter in with a sword of the spirit, when ye must go forth and face the giant, for behold, he comes, saith God.  He is at thy borders.  He has defied you, saith God.  And behold, there is none among my people to go up against him, saith God.  
    But he that hath the spirit of my servant David, saith the Lord.  Behold I am bringing forth my Morning Star.  I am raising up my bright and shining light.  Behold the spirit of Elijah cometh, saith God, and my heart searches the heart of him that has this spirit in him, saith God.  He shall be my shepherd and he shall be my prince, saith God.
    Wherefore, speak ye forth in the spirit of David, come ye forth, saith God.  Take up, saith the Lord God, thy five smooth stones and go forth as my five-fold ministry, saith God, and see if I shall not bring down the giant before thee, saith the Lord.



Endtime Ministries
P.O. Box 1656
Belen, NM  87002

By Larry Libersky

Introduction

An Orthodox Jew addressing an evangelical gathering recently said, “If you are Christian, Messiah is coming for the second time.  If you are a Jew, Messiah is coming for the first time.  The really important thing is that He is coming, to Jerusalem, into the temple.  We can and must work together in this exciting hour!”  This rabbi was not the first religious leader to weigh in on the perceived ecumenical aspects of Biblical prophecy.  Even the pope acknowledges that Jerusalem will be the spiritual center of the world, not Rome.

Common expectations surrounding end-time events are very exciting to contemplate.  Think of it: The destruction of the Islamic holy place (Dome of the Rock) with all of the political and military implications involving the Arab nations and outside nuclear powers.... Restoration of the Cohanim (Levitical-Zadok Priesthood) to the ancient Divine order of temple worship....  The offering of the perfect red heifer to cleanse the new temple (after nearly 2000 years of no temple worship)....  The return of the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem and its resting place in the Holy of Holies....  The rebuilding of the House of God, signaling the arrival of antichrist and the coming of Messiah, Armageddon, and the end of the world.

There is another element to all of this that makes it doubly exciting: its immediacy.  It seems like it could happen at any time.  We know that Orthodox Jews are planning for the rebuilding of the temple.  The cornerstone has even been cut and brought to Jerusalem from the Negev.  Descendents of the ancient priesthood are being identified and red heifers are being examined for acceptability pertaining to sacrifice.  On a more visible (political) front, hostilities between the Arabs and Israelis are intensifying and an all-out war with the Palestinians (and other Arab nations) seems imminent.

In the U.S. awareness of such matters has heightened dramatically in the past years.  A series of novels (“Left Behind”) chronicling events of the Last Days has become a national best seller – unheard of for Christian publications.  These books describe events surrounding the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem, the rapture of the Church, and the end-time tribulation period.  Evangelical Christians are giving millions in support of the rebuilding of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem.  There is no question about it, construction of the temple has gotten the world’s attention and excitement is building everywhere.  The focus is on Jerusalem and the 3rd Jewish temple.  Many recognize this as the sign of the end of the age.

The scenario just reported to you is universally believed, coming to pass right now, and it is a lie.

But, you may ask, if it is coming to pass, then isn’t it true?  No!  Lying wonders (2 Thess. 2:9) are lies.  Lying wonders are astounding acts performed by the father of lies with the intent to deceive.  Today, multitudes of people, believers and unbelievers alike, are deceived.  The point of deception is Jerusalem and events surrounding the 3rd Jewish temple.

Pharaoh’s magicians performed lying wonders in Egypt in order to mimic God’s power in Moses.  They sought to deflect attention from God’s purposes for Israel through his chosen vessel to their own dark agenda.  Let it be known that the rod in the hand of the Evil One today is Jerusalem and a lying wonder is the 3rd temple.  In this he will deflect attention away from the rod in God’s hand and His glorious purpose in the last days.  Let it be known that the rod in God’s hand today is also called Jerusalem (albeit a far different kind of city than the capitol of Israel), and his glorious wonder will also be called the temple of the Living God (albeit a far different kind of temple than the one planned to be constructed with stones from the Negev).

We give no credit to the Evil One, but apparently his deception will be successful, for it is written, “There will be a great falling away” (2 Thess. 2:3), and ”Many will be deceived” (Matt. 24:5).  It is also written, “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb” (Rev. 12:11).  It seems expedient for Satan, therefore, to somehow turn the affections of the redeemed away from the blood of Jesus, and back to the blood of heifers.


Historical Temples

The history of Jewish temple worship records two Jewish temples:  (1) Solomon’s temple, built by David’s son (967-960 BC) and destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 BC. (2) Zerubbabel’s temple built (537-515 BC) after the Babylonian captivity had ended.  Grand enlargements to the 2nd temple were made by Herod (19-16 BC) and the work continued well beyond his death in 4 BC.  This 2nd temple (often called Herod’s temple) was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. Historically then, the Jews have had 2 temples spanning 3000 years.  They have waited nearly 2000 years for the 3rd temple.

Although factually accurate, such knowledge is of limited value because the river of Life is charting a different course than this.  In this writing we seek to examine temple worship, not from a theological / historical perspective, but from God’s perspective.

It is not recorded in Scripture that God told Solomon to build a temple – that was David’s idea, to whom the Lord graciously acquiesced, although deferring the actual construction to David’s son.  Temples are things men like to build.  There was, however, a place that God did instruct to be built for his dwelling.


The 1st Temple

Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.  Make the Tabernacle and all the furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you.  Exodus 25:8,9

This Tabernacle (tent) was the only building that God ever purposed to be built for his Name.  His desire was to dwell with his people and personally lead them through the wilderness and into the land of promise.  The Tabernacle was to be built according to exact specifications prescribed by God to Moses in the mount.  The blueprint was detailed and elaborate.  The reason for all this was not God’s comfort.  The reason was that the Tabernacle and the furnishings were illustrative of what was in God’s mind concerning a true dwelling place for himself they were teaching tools meant to instruct God’s people – to prepare them for the revelation of his true purpose.  (Is this not how education works?  Before a person is ready for calculus, he must learn arithmetic, algebra, and so on.)

The Tabernacle was not an end in itself; it was only the 1st which pointed to a 2nd, which pointed to a 3rd.  The Most High is moving on in his Purpose, one step at a time, and he is taking his people with Him, onward and upward in spiritual realms.  The Spirit of God is a marvelous teacher in this regard – using physical things (pictures) to instruct in spiritual matters.  Someone (Heb. 9:8) put it this way, ”in this the Spirit was signifying.”  In other words, one of the languages of the Spirit is the history of Israel.  Indeed, his teaching abilities are truly marvelous, for Jesus said this of him:  “He will lead you into all truth.”  In the Tabernacle of Testimony then, the Spirit was speaking of (pointing to) what would later be called the “true sanctuary”.  It was only a shadow of that which was real – something physical and temporal that spoke of something spiritual and eternal.

From God’s perspective the Tabernacle in the Wilderness was the first temple.  It was His dwelling place in the earth, with His people – a simple tent that moved from place to place.  As He moved, the Israelites moved.  God led them, in a very real way, through the wilderness of Sinai.

In the fullness of time however, the shadow must fade to the reality and the physical must give way to the spiritual.

Therefore, Christ had this exchange with a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well.

The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet.  Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.”  Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.  You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is of the Jews.  But the hour is coming, is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship Him.  God is spirit, and those who worship must worship in spirit and truth.  “John 4:19-24.

No longer worship in Jerusalem?  How can that be?  This violates what people of all ages have known and believed.


The 2nd Temple

Jesus’ words to the woman at the well foretold something radically new.  Furthermore, the time of transition was right then, when he spoke it:  “The hour is coming and now is here.  “The focal point of his declaration was the worship of God.  It was radical because he announced a fundamental shift in the way man relates to Creator.  God had made it known to that Samaritan woman that the location of worship was moving – from the temple in Jerusalem to a place in the spirit.  Worship was emerging from the shadows (physical) into reality (spiritual).

Such a transition (physical to spiritual) is extremely hard for us to grasp.  God knew this, and so provided ample time (1500 years) to instruct Israel via types and shadows under the Law.  As Isaiah prophesied, however, Israel refused his instruction.  Today, the proliferation of temples and churches testify that the world as a whole has refused it also.  We have not understood what the Samaritan woman heard.

The Jews heard something else from Jesus concerning the temple:

Destroy this temple and I will raise it again in three days.
    John 2:19

By this, Jesus was not only foretelling his death at the hand of the Pharisees and his resurrection by the power of God, he was declaring that his physical body was the temple of the Living God.  (In him dwells the fullness of the Godhead, bodily.  Col. 2:9) God had taken up new residence in the earth – he had moved from the Tabernacle into Christ.  Now, God was made known in fullness to all men, not just to the Priesthood, behind a curtain, in a cloud.  The reality (Jesus) had come, and so the shadow (Tabernacle, temples) passed away.

This new temple (Jesus Christ) is the only temple where true worshipers are found.  Why? Because the two-fold requirement of worship (spirit and truth) is satisfied only here, and in a most glorious way:

For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body – whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free – and we were all given one Spirit to drink.  I Cor. 12:13

If you love me, you will obey what I command.  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of Truth.  John 14:15

The Father’s heart is satisfied in this temple worship because he has found those who worship in spirit and truth.  Worship in spirit and truth occurs because these worshippers drink of one Spirit – the Spirit of Truth.  Spiritual worship absent truth is commonplace in religion and great darkness is associated with it.  Merged with truth, however, the spirit finds rest and power.  (The truth is in Jesus.  Eph. 4:2)


The Third Temple

Jesus went about healing the sick, casting out demons, and teaching about the Kingdom of God.  Much of the time he spoke in parables.  When the disciples asked why he did that he replied,

“The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven is given to you, but not to them.”
    Matt. 13:11

Here we find something fascinating about the gospel of the Kingdom – it is laced with mystery.  The apostles had to wait until the risen Christ sent the Holy Spirit in order to receive understanding of the mysteries.  Even then the process of illumination was not easy.  The difficultly was that spiritual things needed to be comprehended and such things are not easily discerned by those newly born by the Spirit.  They are not understood at all by the natural man.

God found a man though, in whom the mysteries of the Kingdom could find a particularly strong voice – a trumpet sound.  Saul of Tarsus was well suited for the task in this respect:  He was knowledgeable in the prophets and well versed in the Law – a Pharisee of Pharisees – albeit without spiritual understanding.  After God had smitten him on the road to Damascus (and 14 years in the desert) this knowledge would be transformed into a sharp two-edged sword as the mysteries hidden in the Law and the prophets were unveiled by the apostle.

Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation.      Eph. 3:2

Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, this grace was given to me:  to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.
    Eph.  3.8,9

The apostle Paul teaches us that the mystery hidden from ages past, but now made known, concerned a temple.  It is difficult enough to grasp the reality of the transition from the Tabernacle of Testimony to the physical body of the Lord Jesus as the temple of God.  Now, however, God asks us to go one step further, a step that requires the faith of Abraham who offered the son of promise, seeing that God could raise the dead.

God wants us to “see” the 3rd temple, to gaze on its glory, marvel at its beauty, and hope in its purpose. 

When Jesus said (to those who would have him crucified) that he would raise the temple after three days, he did not bother to explain that he was referring to his physical body.  And although he attempted to explain this to the twelve, he was silent about the fact that much more would happen on the third day than a man being raised from the dead.  This is the essence of the mystery:  there is something beyond than the resurrection of the Lord Jesus – something greater than the 2nd temple.

Behold, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation. 
    Isaiah 28:16

When God raised Christ from the dead he started construction of a temple – the 3rd and final temple – the “true” sanctuary that he purposed in himself in eternity past.  Today, multitudes await the laying of the cornerstone of the temple in Jerusalem.  The hope is empty.  God laid the true Cornerstone 2000 years ago.

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 
    Eph.  2:19,20

Having laid the Cornerstone, the Master Builder then set the foundation in place.  According to the Architect’s plan, the foundation was made of a unique admixture that formed an unshakeable underpinning – the apostles and the prophets.  It is here that the Most High invested his word and his authority in the earth, the word and authority of the Kingdom.  Any other foundation will crack and give way under the shaking to come (Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens. Heb. 12:26).  But this foundation is sound – it is of the Kingdom and therefore cannot be shaken.  Everything built on another foundation will collapse under the shaking that determines what is worthy of the Kingdom.

The world and the Christian religious system as we know it will not survive the shaking, but the Foundation will hold, and that which is built on Christ the Cornerstone and the foundation of the apostles and prophets will emerge glorious in the earth.


Cornerstone of the 3rd Temple – Christ

Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.  But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.  The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against the house, and it fell with a great crash.  Matt.  7:24-27


Foundation of the 3rd Temple – Apostles & Prophets

I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles. 
    2 Pe. 3:2

In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets.
    Eph. 3:4,5

Not much attention is given to apostles and prophets in the Church today, nor to keeping the commands of the Lord for that matter; the emphasis is grace, heaven and the rapture. This house is built on sand.


Stones of the 3rd Temple – Living Stones

As you come to him, the living Stone – rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him – you, also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifice acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.  1 Pe. 2:4,5

First there is Christ the Cornerstone, then the foundation of apostles and prophets.  On this base the house of God is being built.

Solomon, in the midst of his prayer of dedication for his magnificent temple, was strangely moved upon by the Holy Spirit to momentarily ponder what he had spoken concerning a dwelling place for the Most High.  We emphasize this most curious happening.  Solomon actually paused and pondered the meaning and import of what he was saying as he prayed.

And now, O Lord, God of Israel, let the word that you promised your servant David come true.  But, will God really dwell on earth with men?  The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you.  How much less this temple that I have built!  Yet, give attention to your servant’s prayer, and his plea for mercy, O Lord my God.
    2 Ch. 6:17-19

Solomon received this revelation as he prayed, but understanding of his utterance would remain hidden until the Holy Spirit was given in power at Pentecost.  Here, Steven, filled with the Spirit proclaimed:

It (Ark) remained in the land until the time of David, who enjoyed God’s favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob, But it was Solomon who built the house for him.  However, the Most High does not live in temples made by men.  As the prophet says:  “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.  What kind of house will you build for me? Says the Lord.  Or where will my resting place be?  Has not my hand made all these things?” 
    Acts 7:45-50

How much clearer can it be said?  The Most High does not live in temples made by men!  Yet, multitudes of God’s people just can’t wait for that temple to be built in Jerusalem.  God’s temple and eternal dwelling place is being built right now, from living stones, and the preachers are telling us to keep our eyes on the middle east.  How tragic it is – such a glorious thing hidden from the people by the rebellious shepherds.

Woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces.  You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.
    Matt.  23:13

But the word of the Lord spoken through Isaiah will resound in the earth once again – the word of the Lord concerning his house – the word of the Lord that answers Solomon’s great question:  “Will God really dwell on earth with men?”

This is what the Lord says:  Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool.  Where is the house you will build for me? Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being? Declares the Lord.  This is the one I esteem:  he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.  Isaiah 66: 1-2

Yes, God will dwell, on earth, with men, and his house will be the bumble, the contrite, and those who tremble at his word.  These are the living stones that make up his house and his temple – the stones that are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, and the chief Cornerstone, the Lord Jesus Christ.  This is the mystery of the third temple -it is also the mystery of the Kingdom.  Glory to his name.

In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it.    Isaiah 2:1


Summary

Plans are being made for a 3rd Jewish temple to be built on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem.  Jews and many Christians view this as fulfillment of Biblical prophecy pointing to the return of Messiah.  Most evangelical Christians supplement this view with a Rapture of the Church to heaven and a period of Great Tribulation in the earth.

Ironically, we don’t have to wait for the antichrist to arrive to be deceived – many antichrists are already here and the deception is already happening.  If we do not love the truth we will believe the lie.

The lie is that God will dwell in a 3rd Jewish temple that has been cleansed with the blood and ashes of a heifer.  This hope reckons the sacrifice of Christ an unholy thing, bringing judgment.

The truth is that God will dwell in a 3rd temple, but a temple worthy of the blood of the Lamb and the sanctifying power of the Spirit.  A temple made of living stones for the display of His glory.

I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one.  I in them and you in me.
    John 17:  22,23

As surly as I live, the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord.
    Numbers 14:21




In memory of

Larry Libersky

Endtime Ministries
P.O. Box 1656
Belen, NM  87002