Jacob and The Angel, Songs by Suzanne Vega and Chris Welch (separately)

"Jacob And The Angel"

The angel came to Jacob
The room began to glow
Jacob asked the angel
Are you friend or are you foe?

The angel never answered
But smote him on the thigh
They wrestled through the darkness
Till morning filled the sky

This thing between us, has wings, it has teeth
It has got horns and feathers, and sinews beneath
Angel or demon, to the truth I am bound, and so
This thing between us must be wrestled down

Jacob held on to the angel,
Who turned to fly, and to flee
He said I must have your blessing
Before I let you leave me

The angel never answered
But smote him on the thigh
They wrestled through the darkness
Till morning filled the sky

And in the light
He knew another name
As he struggled and surrendered
To the next part of the game

This thing between us, has wings, it has teeth
It has got horns and feathers, and sinews beneath
Angel or demon, to the truth I am bound, and so
This thing between us must be wrestled down

This thing between us, has wings, it has teeth
It has got horns and feathers, and sinews beneath
Angel or demon to the truth I am bound and so
This thing between us must be wrestled down.

From Suzanne Vega's latest CD available also as mp3
Tales from the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles
(Yup, that'll be tarot then! Blog editor does not in anyway
encourage the reading of Tarot cards. There is no need
because the Holy Spirit has been sent to tell us all we
need to know)



THE JACOB SONG: Words and Music: © A. Christopher Welch 1988.
There is no easy way
It doesn't matter what you say
But it is possible / For you....
Now Jacob did a runner
To flee from his brother
Got himself caught on a sheep farm
His Uncle was nice
But kept him there twice
As long as he should've been.
He 'faithed' in speckled,and he 'faithed' in striped
His sheep numbered many
but this life he didn't like
Thought he'd do a runner to flee TO his brother
To get himself off of that sheep farm.
Met any angels lately?
Met any men with knives?
Met any angels lately?
Met any men with knives?
Jacob dreamed up a dream
He schemed up a scheme
With his wives he fled by night
So with his wealth and stealth
Thought he'd preserve his health
Rather than face the one appointed.
Met any angels lately?
Met any men with knives?
Met any angels lately?
May give you quite a surprise.
Now the Lord's kinda kind
But it's not in his mind
That we stay in the state that we are
So he rigged up a fight
With Jacob one night
And fixed him up a name transplant
Yes fixed him up a name transplant.
Met any angels lately?
Met any men with knives?
Wild beasts are clawing at your heels
Maybe it's God in disguise.
There is no easy way
It doesn't matter what you say
Its possible..... For you (x 2)
A name transplant
For you.
Additional Vocals: Nicholas +Elisa Daniels. copyright A. Christopher Welch 1988

Peniel - Meaning

I have never heard a full meaning. The Holy Spirit continues to fill us in.
At the moment I am feeling that there is something 1.about this incident and 2. my intention in writing this song IN 1988 that divides me (at present) from an easy relationship with Daniel Yordy, and others that I believe have similarities with him, such as Brad Jersak and Michael Hardin.
The division seems to stem from this.
If you still see separation ....the genesis 3 condition of man down here and God way off somewhere, then forever and a day you will be praying, hoping, somehow that God's angel/s will  mediate....will somehow come and bridge the gap....come and touch us....or  to use the Bethesda incident....stir the waters.

Ed Miller thought in these terms and really relayed his experience of seeking God in the late 40s in Argentina.
He described the spiritual desolation he went through in a fairy tale....where he representing the Bride earnestly seeking her Prince...the bridegroom Jesus, was led out into a wilderness where she ran out of all resources. At her wit's end. in total weakness, she suddenly is aware of her Prince who comes and sweeps her onto His stallion with Him, and like all good romantic stories they ride off together.

In the Old Testament and the New are a whole series of individual stories of how God "gets" His men and women. The Peniel incident is one of the most mysterious. Yet it is impossible to overstress the importance.
Why? History DIVIDED at this very point.

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were three consecutive generations of one family that not only were believers, they each pressed on further into seeking God. Peniel marks the culmination of this .
Jacob had already wrestled with the man, the angel, or God in physical form. Genesis 32.
When the man saw Jacob was just not going to let go the scripture says
"he touched the socket of his thigh; so the socket of Jacob’s thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him.
Then he said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” 
But he said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 
27 So he said to him, “What is your name?” 
And he said, “Jacob.” 
28 He said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.” 
29 Then Jacob asked him and said, “Please tell me your name.” 
But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And he blessed him there.
 30 So Jacob named the place Peniel, for he said, “I have seen God face to face, yet my [p]life has been preserved.” 
31 Now the sun rose upon him just as he crossed over Peniel, and he was limping on his thigh."

The guy's socket is wrenched but he's still clinging on!!!! WOW.

The Kingdom suffers violence until now and violent men take the Kingdom by force.

What is your name?
Usurper. Twister. Manipulator. Deceiver. Jacob.

We are forced into face to face mode with God. Well that's the point , we are not forced...BUT IF WE FORCE THE ISSUE....if we really want it....

Jesus is the WAY, the Truth and the Life.
He is the WAY through to the Truth about ourselves and about the holiness of God. In that ugly NON LIFE
moment. When we see our nature...our inner identity full on...our very character....our true agenda of self for self.....
IRONY of IRONIES this is the exact time God births His Life....or unstops His Lifeflow in our inner being, and rivers of Living Water begin cascading out!!!.

THIS IS THE SUBJECT OF THIS BLOG. THIS IS THE THIRD LEVEL.
It is not Abraham's encounters. They were the foundation.

It is not the wells that Isaac dug. Representing the baptism in the Holy Spirit realm. Uncovering new anointings. New waters of the Spirit.

THIS IS A NAME CHANGER.
Where NAME is the Hebrew understanding, and means essential character , essential  PERSON.

In this awful moment  which is exactly related to the end of Romans 7. We see sin in the flesh.
Not the activity sin.
SIN spirit.
In our members.
Rendering us powerless.
And desperate.

The Name change is the realisation that the ONLY LIFE in the Universe is GOD.
We suddenly see through to God.
The devil sells us this fairytale that we, like him can live powered by our "own life", without telling us that it is spirit of wrongdoing which roots itself in us as we fall for the lie of independence.

Even his life is God's life.
Even he is totally deceived.
But it is God's life twisted back in on itself. SELF for SELF. What the Greeks term hubris, or Ego.God's own pure life is self for others love.

For more forensic detail, study the early chapters of Norman Grubb's series "Yes I am".

It is here I want to say something very radical.This is the game changer.
This is is something new.
This is something the Union crowd who formed thenselves around Norman's revelation have yet to see.

Up until now there has been something deeply personal in seeking God's face.
But the scriptures Psalm 110 and Psalm 24 use a shocking phrase which is KEY, and which Daniel Yordy has not yet grasped.

The phrase is:
THIS IS THE GENERATION WHO SEEK THE FACE OF THE GOD OF JACOB.Ed Miller was on his own.
Daniel Yordy has been on his own seeking out the truths behind "the Eyes of Fire"
I was in the Emsworth church and as a church we sought the face of the Lord together. But it wasn't deep enough. You can take that as if I am talking from pride. But you would be 100% wrong. Quite simply I was desperate. No amount of anointing to lead in worship was cutting anything at all. And believe me God had blessed me with much anointing. So I was forced deeper. On my own.

Daniel talks of Asbergers and I have absolutely no idea of the things he has had to face. But as bad as Asbergers is you can still talk about it.
My testimony is not something that can ever be talked about.
Adultery was bad enough ( I as a single) but that was just the beginning as God used a prophet to bring me down to Emsworth.

THIS IN FRONT OF EVERYBODY.
OR EVERYBODY THAT KNOWS....and is now too disgusted to speak.

As more and more come into the RIGHTEOUSNESS of JESUS CHRIST and Him only.
Ian Clayton, Mother Basilea Schlink and others speak of an intense time the Lord takes us through where we actively cover everything...and I mean everything....all figleaves torn off....and we cover everything with the Blood of Jesus.

In the 12 step course devised originally by Jessie Penn Lewis of Keswick Conventions there is the taking of a personal inventory.
There is the NAMING of our NAME....as did Jacob.
For Ian Clayton this meant months of entering the Presence of the Lord and letting the Holy Spirit review every time period of Ian Clayton's life.....and actively he was led to sprinkle the Blood of Jesus over it. After months of this he felt soooooo clean, soooo renewed , a totally new person.

Now as a community forms of such people the Christ Righteousness Forcefield that will be among them shall mean that people will enter and immediately fall before the Lord and repent.

BUT HERE IS THE RADICAL THING....
Some people won't behave in this way, but God in His mercy will increasingly use His collective people to unearth this junk.
Unearth the scrawlings on the inner walls of the Temple as in Ezekiel 8:10.

We will begin behaving as a GENERATION. A NEW GENERATION.

Up until now the only thirdlevellers have been loners. Watchman Nee. Basilea Schlink. Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Ed Miller. Sam Fife.   They have then gathered a people to disciple them.

What I am saying is we as a generation will begin to radically disciple each other.

This is the true third level meaning of the scriptures penned by St Paul in Ephesians.

"The body building itself up in love, joined by that which each supplies (of Christ substance alreadsy inworked in each) once each part is working properly."

When does a part work properly?
The first level? No at that stage, they are learning about basic forgiveness and grace.
The secondlevel? No, this is when the Holy Spirit starts teaching and leading people into the experience corporately of the Holy Place....of learning the basics of the new identity in Christ...

but no...outsode of meetings they are not "fixed there" in their consciousness yet.

NO. THINGS REALLY START TO ROLL IN THE THIRD LEVEL OF GROWTH.

Typically people are not used to FUSED people.
People are used to seeing others after the flesh.
But this is not so applicable if people are fused with Christ in their consciousness.

If like Jesus they are driving moneychangers out of the temple with whips it can nolonger just be assumed that anger is in the flesh. It just may not be.

And this was the path that got me ejected from Emsworth Church, because they too were not prepared for their prayers concerning me to be ever answered.

And this is the problem with Bethsaida type places all waiting round a pool for an "angel to stir the waters". You see it might just be that the third level man called Jesus turn up and suddenly say....Forget the endless charismatic routines....now I AM HERE....God in flesh and blood. Now do you want to get healed and delivered TODAY.

TODAY is the day of salvation.
Today is the DAY God is squeezing us into.
He is the I AM and TODAY is where He lives.

The shadows flee away....the tussles are over...
Our Name has changed.
We are now Prince of EL
Israel
Prince of God.

YES I AM.

It is nolonger I who live but Christ who lives in me. The life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God.......

FOT9 - A Change in Priesthood by Adeyemi Adegbile,Ole Henrik,Fred Pruitt,and Chris Welch

Adeyemi Adegbile on Facebook Group : Mystery Revealed

You are the living and heavenly Ladder of the Most High sent into the midst of the creation both visible and invisible to allows all things to ascend(Songs of degrees) into the Essence of the Heavenly Father...Abba Father... You are now and was and will be the administration of the unlimited treasures of truth and life ... .The Angels are indeed ascending and descending through your visible form ..as John "the Grace of the Lord" envisioned in this age and into all the ages of the unveiling of the Lord Jesus... the Essence of your FLESH(Bashar in Hebrew.. this is the everlasting gospel..)... for the Temple is the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb . But Ye are the Temple of the Most God... as it is written in you by the Spirit of Truth ... Bring forth the heavenly upon the earth and swallow up the earthly into the heavenly (the life bearing spirit)... Have I not given YOU ... all authority in the heavens and on earth...saith the Lord ... exercise the rights of the government that is upon your Shoulder... saith the Most High God. Create the new heavens and the earth ...through the agelasting Fire of Love which you are. Daughters and Sons... ... Arise... SHINE...ILLUMINATE...AND FILL all things with the glory you had before the conception of this Kosmos(World). As you express the glory before the conception of the Kosmos... none will be able to minister in the temple... this is the end of all the ministries.. except the FATHER OF SPIRITS.. this is the end of ALL DEATH IN THE UNSEEN AND THE SEEN , then shall all indeed see that all families in the heavens and the earth derive their name and nature from HAELOHIM(THE GOD).. THE ONLY TRUE GOD.. then you shall SEE the rain of glory upon both the invisible and visible CREATION ... HIS GLORY FILLS THE TEMPLES...

Shalom & Selah.

He Must Increase – A Change in Priesthood

Posted on September 14, 2011 by Ole Henrik

By Fred Pruitt and Ole Henrik SkjelstadOle Henrik:

Assume you were a disciple of John the Baptist about whom it was said that he had come to prepare the way of the Lord. In what way could you have magnified his ministry? Would not that have been to go (on) from his teaching and to be taught by Christ to whom he directed you?

“The Baptist was indeed a burning and a shining Light, and so are the holy Scriptures; “but he was not that Light, but was sent to bear Witness to that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every Man, that cometh into the World. What a Folly would it be, to say that you had undervalued the Office and Character of John the Baptist, because he was not allowed to be the Light itself, but only a true Witness of it, and Guide to it? Now if you can show, that the written word in the Bible can have any other, or higher Office, or Power, than such a ministerial one as the Baptist had, I am ready to hear” (William Law).
He must increase, but I must decrease, John the Baptist humbly declared. John, being a type of the outward written word which office is to direct every man to the true inward Word, clearly stated that the outward word must diminish in us so that Christ can be the Word in us. John as a person was not to decrease. What folly that would have been and what a contradiction of God’s eternal purposes of seeing His image in every man. No, no, no! John was addressing his office and ministry which would decrease when its purpose was fulfilled by referring people to the true inward light.
The scriptures are our guide to Jesus Christ, the true Word whose office must increase in us. The letter can merely instruct us in an outward manner. Thus approaching the scriptures as merely being instructions on how to live will avail nothing. The true ground for life is the inward Christ who by His Spirit teaches us all things. He must increase in us and every effort at approaching the scriptures in an outward manner must decrease.
When John the Baptist’s ministry and office had accomplished everything it was designed to attain, that is, directing man to Christ he died a most violent death. In the same manner the letter’s outward influence upon us must be vigorously severed off from us when it has directed us to He whom by His inward work in us makes us wise in all things.

John the Baptist being beheaded symbolizes that the office and ministry of what directs us to Christ can only teach us separation.

Its outward ministry can merely teach us to see everything as disjointed and dismembered. It is Christ who takes us to unity in outlook and consciousness. That which guided us to Christ has to die in us so that what is alive can usher us into the total truth of who we are.

The beheading of John also signifies that a new head would be ‘installed’ to govern the body of believers. That old Adamic head with its limited consciousness, which outlook, seeings and knowledge imbued by the fall, could only relate to the elementary principles of this world. The mind of Christ had to be reinstalled in man, as it were, to assure the efficacy of the New Covenant.
Fred:
I’m in awe,, Ole Henrik! Truly — stunned with awe!
I have no words. You ARE a prophet, as was once said of you. This is a very deep dive that you have attempted here, and you went deep and came back up with the Treasure. O blessed’ Day!
Interesting your take on “office.” In my mind you have certainly cleared up some major cobwebs of the “outer story.” To me you opened the curtains and let it receive the full light of the Sun. And how brilliantly it shines!
I maybe have shared this, cannot remember, but I saw that aspect of “office” on the Jesus side of the story a while back.
Here is how I saw it. Jesus came to Jordan and stood in line like everyone else waiting for a turn. It is impossible for us to know what was going on in His mind, or how much He understood.

Boehme says that everything we need to know of God in macrocosm, is in us in microcosm, so that everything there is to know is within man.

I read that in Boehme years ago, but it struck home. I began to trust that God would reveal Himself in me.
In doing so, I see I come to “know” Jesus both as a man (since I am a man [human being] and know the things of a man myself), and in God and as God, as He journeys as me. This is the training ground of the Spirit, here inside us, and hearing that from Boehme many years ago and having increasingly walked it since, I testify of its truth. That reorientation from how I started, of wanting to know a Separate God outside me, maybe knee to knee with me, or hovering above willing to “come down” if I fervently enough wanted Him and demonstrated it – that all led finally into a completely different consciousness, understanding and Spirit knowledge. It was in that I found “myself” when I found Him incarnate in me, and “me” being Him incarnate!

I know that might sound scandalous to some, but where else can we go but here, if we are to see the “finished work of the Cross” to its conclusion? Is the incarnation of Deity as Jesus of Nazareth really the main point of all this? Again we sound scandalous, as if we somehow belittle our precious Lord Jesus by getting to the heart of His Heart? Is not His Heart the topmost of all that He Has imparted within us? And what IS His heart?

That we might be the Same as He is because He is this Same in each of us, an outgoing, unreserved for itself, heart of love, knowing only the bounds of the Spirit’s winds within us.

I found this out about myself (Christ in me AS me) long ago, and the reality of it keeps expanding day by day. But it does not matter whether we are only seeing this for the joyous first time, or if we have walked it for decades, finding the Treasure of Christ within, is both the end and beginning of everything, and everyday is the same – Christ! Once caught, no escape! “The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up,” and there is no going back to Galilee to fish anymore.
Why has it come to us to know this? Who knows? Who knows the mind of the Father, except the Son, and to whomever the Son chooses to reveal it?
“I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, saith the Lord, which is, which was, and which is to come, the Almighty!”
I digress, back to Jesus.
I’m sure He must have come to faith about Who He was, and knew He was being driven to John’s baptism. Perhaps He already knew the whole “why,” maybe He did not — we do not know. Certainly, He was familiar with the scriptures concerning Him, and without doubt must have foreseen His end. Perhaps He had angelic and divine visitations, which we might be led to believe as I did in the beginning, but there is no record of that. Chances are he had lived a normal life before that point, because his hometown people knew him as the carpenter who lived down the street. Neither do I think he journeyed to India (in His “missing years”) to sit at the feet of the masters there. (I’m being facetious!)
It was a step of faith, no doubt. Norman always said He only fully knew Who He was after John’s baptism. Now I am beginning to understand that after all these years. I really did not understand what Norman said then.
This further clarity began to form itself on one our trips a few years ago. We stayed with Shelley and her kids Seth, Evan and Abby, in Spring TX, a Houston suburb. She home-schooled the kids then, and they were something like 4, 6 and 8, or 5, 7, 9 at the time. Since John Bunting and I were visiting, she appointed us guest lecturers for the day, in particular subjects they were studying. John was the obvious choice for science. I think I got geography. Shelley gave us the books the lessons came from, so we studied the lessons ahead of time. The kids already knew and loved us, especially John, because we had visited a few times before and we were granddaddy age to them, and John especially is good with young children. So John gave his “lecture,” I gave mine, and then it was time for the devotional. Shelley handled that. The subject that day was Jesus’ baptism by John. Shelley told the story. The kids were all ears; their eyes were fixed on her telling. Then she asked, “Does anybody know why Jesus had to get baptized, since He was without sin?”
I think we were all stumped. I was waiting for the answer myself. The first (and I think only) one to pipe us was Seth, the oldest, and he said, sheepishly, “Maybe he sinned just a little bit?”
We all laughed, and I don’t remember what was said after that. But it did set up the question in me that I kept pondering from time to time. Why DID Jesus have to get baptized? What was up with that?
Then it hit me when he told John, “Suffer it to be so for now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.” (Mat 3:15). Ah, that’s it, it all became clear.
This was the moment of the change in priesthood, from Aaron to Judah, as Hebrews brings out. Even John’s “decrease” is part of this new “office” that Jesus has inherited. John, under the law, comes preaching the law AND the One to come Who will fulfill all things including the law, and will take away the Sin of the world. John’s demise begins immediately causing Jesus to say, “Among those born of woman there are none greater … yet he is least in the kingdom of heaven.”
He and John both know John’s office is finished, just like the Levitical priesthood, most especially the house of Aaron, the high priestly line of the flesh. “I must decrease” is an acknowledging that the New had come, and now the old has served its purpose and is even violently ripped away in the beheading of John.

In Jesus’ going “down” as a good Jewish man under the law, subject to the law and the fleshly priesthood, He rises the Son of God, Savior, Deliverer, Redeemer, God Incarnate, the Eternal High Priest in the heavens, yet right here concretely in flesh and blood as Jesus of Nazareth.

Perhaps Jesus heard whispered in His ears in that moment, “My son, this day I have begotton Thee,” but then a Voice everyone could hear, thundered the final seal — “This is my beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased!” Taken further, since this is also David who is rising: God has “found a man after mine own heart,” a Man to stand in the gap, a man to bring flesh and Spirit together as One — “Thy will be done on earth even as it is in heaven.”

And we can most assuredly know that we were in His spiritual loins at the time, just like Levi was in the loins of Abraham, and Jesus standing in line brings it home to me where I live. And where I live in me — the self-doubt that would gobble you up at a moment’s notice; the “worry” about things I’ve given into the Father’s hands knowing “it’s all going to work out,” and yet the stuff still churns, etc.
Was Jesus already so “holy” as He is standing in queue to wait his turn for baptism? Were His hands upraised, a beatific look on His face, softly singing psalms and praising the Lord? No one knows, but I think not. Like I said, I believe He knew in a “through a glass darkly” way, maybe less dark than it is to us – nevertheless, it was not “certain.” The completion of certainty comes at the moment you put your foot in the Jordan.
And like I have been saying, it is all a change of consciousness! More and more and more Norman’s oft-repeated statement, “all of life is inner consciousness” reverberates more and more in me! More and more I see this is what it is ALL about, there is nothing else. Life comes out of consciousness. It originates in His, but finds FORM in ours. This is what we are after, nothing short of it, the consciousness of the Total Christ totally operating a total humanity that He has redeemed for Himself and taken possession of, so that He is its perfection, perfectly expressing Himself in all His vessels perfectly.
One more thing I forgot to include, the “why” I think that was the moment of the change in the priesthood.
There were two things — first the baptism, which was twofold. First, the high priest, before he could don the robes and go into the inner sanctuary to sprinkle the blood for the sins of the people, had to go through a “baptism,” cleansing himself, for his own sins. He was washed from the laver before he was installed in his vestments.
It is the same when Aaron was first installed, and every high priest since. First wash the priest, before he dons the clean and holy garments.
Once he is clean, he is able to assume his duties of sacrifice, (washing everyday in the laver before their time of service, getting clean again daily), and once a year his most important duty, to enter into the Holy of Holies to intercede for the sins of the people.
So the baptism was and remained a very important operative element of the process for the remission of sins.
Knowing this, then, that Jesus has gone through the ritual cleansing required by the Law, He receives a higher call than that of Aaron, who is an imperfect mediator between God and man. Aaron cannot continue because he cannot deliver himself out of his own sins, but now One has risen Who takes away the Sin of the World! As Aaron dies, Jesus rises and takes the New Covenant upon Himself as the Lamb Slain. This is the “suffereth it to be so to fulfill all righteousness.” The True High Priest has come and has received His ritual cleansing in the Jordan, and after having been made clean, the Voice comes, the Divine Seal on His eternal priesthood!
And of course if we see this then it is easy to see how Jesus fulfilled the office of Eternal High Priest Who enters once into the tabernacle in heaven and no more sacrifice remaineth for sins, and the gift to men is out of that, no more conscience of sin and Sin, among quite a few other things more glorious than that.
Now then, what is this to us — a nice story? Some more Bible knowledge to put down in our notebooks? It is just that and only that, if all we get out of it is a story that happened long ago to other people long ago. We’re not really involved in that. But then we realize that these things are all internal in us, that they reveal US, and they subsequently drive US to the Jordan, to go down under and back up again, and we now are of this Same Eternal High Priest, that He might with us continue His intercession Eternal in the heavens and in the earth.
And this is really the pinnacle. There is nothing more to be said of this. Though we probably will still say a thing or two more, eh?
Ole Henrik:
When I had finished my part I somehow knew something was missing, but here it is in all its radiant glory. Again I am rendered awestruck by the words you speak that originate in the heart of our Father and which He shares with His trusted friends, of whom you are one. We most assuredly will say a thing or two more…….

PSALM 85

⁸ I will listen to what God the LORD says;
he promises peace to his people, his faithful servants—
but let them not turn to folly.
⁹ Surely his salvation is near those who fear him,
that his glory may dwell in our land.
¹⁰ Love and faithfulness meet together;
righteousness and peace kiss each other.
¹¹ Faithfulness springs forth from the earth,
and righteousness looks down from heaven.
¹² The LORD will indeed give what is good,
and our land will yield its harvest.
¹³ Righteousness goes before him
and prepares the way for his steps.

PROVERBS 3

⁵ Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
⁶ in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.^[a]

⁷ Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear the LORD and shun evil.
⁸ This will bring health to your body
and nourishment to your bones.

⁹ Honor the LORD with your wealth,
with the firstfruits of all your crops;
¹⁰ then your barns will be filled to overflowing,
and your vats will brim over with new wine.

¹¹ My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline, and do not resent his rebuke, ¹² because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.^[b]

A Change in Priesthood By Chris Welch

If I could have booked Ole and Fred to write a link piece between FOT 8 The Waving of the Sheaf of Firstfruits and FOT 10 Feast of Pentecost, this would be it. But I didn't, they wrote it and I then had to choose whether to follow George Warnock's writings rigorously or not.
You see, what is being spelled out here between us, without any human coordination , is also something that Clive Jackson of Shaftsbury picked up from his last journey to the States.
It also marries with two of the last blogposts from our brothers.
Rich Novek This is my Body broken
Daniel Yordy The Image of God
The Two sides of the same Priesthood coin are : 1. His treasure in 2. earthen vessels.
Priesthood Just got Personal
My two pennarth about the Change in Priesthood are these two.
1.If you track Jesus life as a man, and as a priest, He fulfilled in His very being All the Jewish Feasts, and all the STEPS/STAGES as you approach the Holy Of Holies in the Tabernacle. EXCEPT for one!!!!
In His OWN personal walk, as He was without sin....there was no equivalent of a time of entry into the Tabernacle...because there was never a time when He was outside of God's House. His own life, His own Body was the Temple. HE NEVER NEEDED a BRAZEN ALTAR. (Now later on His Life poured out would become the New Covenant equivalent of a pure spotless Lamb that was slain. A New Testament Brazen Altar for US to pass through.) But for Jesus Himself....He joined the trek into the Tabernacle at the Laver. This means washing. Washing with the Word. Baptism in water ....and at the same time an external Spirit anointing that prepares the priests to enter and function in the Holy Place.

So Jesus was baptised. Baptists , who think only in terms of sin, and repentance, do not really get why He was baptised, other than as Fred has written, "to fulfil all righteousness." But Baptism, as Fred has already stated , is ALSO entrance into something. He was the Forerunner. We undergo both water and Holy Spirit baptism to conform to and be empowered to perform our role as priests alongside the Great High priest.

If we were called to just live a renewed human life, the Feasts of the Lord could happily stop at the Waving of the Sheaf of First Fruits. But we are not.

This is where the Christ as Us revelation takes a new turning. Primarily the last few decades have been about unearthing the missing jewel about how we live life. There was just something not working in our evangelical and charismatic understandings. And through the revelation given to Norman Grubb and a handful of other explorers we began to understand what went wrong in Genesis 3 and what went right at the Cross. And as I said in FOT8 , we have had to retrace our steps, and track backwards to see why it was our lived experience, as Maurice Smith described it, did not match our life in meetings.
But the Earth has been given to the sons of men.
Sons of men like Abraham and Jacob, who blessed their offspring, and whose blessings stand firm in the Earth even today.
We are to learn ABOUT blessing.
Priests bless. And that Blessing comes to pass.
It's BLESSING that is taking place in Psalm 133 and Psalm 134 at the very pinnacle of the Songs of Ascent, psalms demonstrating the very High purposes of God through man.
So now, recognising we are not independent beings.
Recognising that it is not we who live, but Christ who lives within us....we can begin to more properly understand what on earth we were touching before in the charismatic movement, in between all the whistles and the bells, and the many many things that were completely superfluous to the actual plan of God in the Earth.

My second pennarth is to view how this Priest Man Jesus FIRST functioned in His new priesthood.
JESUS came out of the wilderness, having bound the strong man (His words) and now He was going to plunder the devil's goods. How did He begin? Well He began in a synagogue, but His first miracle wasnt religious AT ALL.
EXCEPT FOR THIS.
The water that got turned to wine came out of Jewish ceremonial washing pots.
It may have begun religious.....but it came right out of those jars....as first class wine....in a totally non religious setting.
Wedding Ceremonies are about relationships. Celebration. They are about life. The parties are not religious.
Genesis begins with God preparing a Bride for Himself: Adam and Eve and their offspring. Revelation ends with this marriage being consummated. God tabernacling Himself with His Bride.
Jesus ministry if about anything....is about the JOY of reconciling and preparing His Bride....but in the context of life and living. This is a totally different order of priesthood.
His disciples called Him rabbi....but He was a rabbi like no other. He wasnt teaching them morals. he was teaching them authority in life and LIVING.
Like Jacob, when he had the dream about the ladder...he was desperate...
Like in the first song of Ascents Psalm 120 when things are desperate
Like in Psalm 85 above (the green speech bubble) things were desperate
But the answer is always the same....a completely new priesthood.
One totally able to identify with us as humans, someone who has come down from the sky, but now injected into the human race, one who demonstrated righteousness and faithfulness. One who could actually hold the bottom of the Covenantal ladder that Jacob saw.
So it is on all this basis that we continue with George Warnock's writings about the unfolding plan in the Body of Christ. Spiritual. Priests. Who bless. Who see what Jesus is doing and do likewise. But ones who are being trained in Life.
Ones who respectfully appreciate the role of John the Baptist...but who really dont want to continue with that kind of human "Law" type of head, but to continue now with the NEW MIND of Christ". Trusting in the Lord with All our heart, and not relying on our insight anymore.
Ones for whom the Jewish purification pots are now irrelevant, because we have the wine in our glasses.
Cheers!