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SUPERNATURAL MATHEMATICS
Part 5
March 12, 2021
We got started last week on this
look at the number, 12, and the significance it plays in the picture of the New
Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem, of course,
is the portrayal of the Bride of Christ John saw and wrote about in Revelation
21. Because the number 12 has such
significance as a metaphor for the completed Bride, the Bride who has gone
through the fire, been tested, and overcame all in order to become the
Counterpart and Other Self of the Lord Jesus Christ, we see all of the other
intricacies of this number unfold before us.
Last
week, we said that the New Jerusalem does not only consist of Jews. Representing the call to, and gathering from,
the nations are the twelve foundation stones, and on them the names of the
twelve apostles who made up that first Ekklesia.
The
dual groups of 144,000 represent the two Brides – now made One. The significance of the number, 144, is that
it is 12 X 12; that is, a finished, a completed, a fully tested and tried
people. The work of the Paraklete in
Ekklesia has been accomplished. The time
of Ekklesia has come to an end, and the finished Bride has been joined to her
Bridegroom.
If
you will recall the vision of Zechariah, he saw the Golden Candlestick between
two olive trees. When he asked the angel
of the Lord what the two olive trees represented, the angel replied, “These are the two
anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.” (Zechariah 4:14)
While
I recognize that there are other explanations and interpretations of these two
“anointed ones,” I am convinced that they represent the two segments of the
completed and anointed Bride. The two
olive trees are the source of the olive oil used in the Golden
Candlestick. The Golden Candlestick was
always representative of the flame of love burning night and day for the
Bridegroom.
In
Zechariah’s vision, there is only one candlestick – not two. The flame of the Bride is one. But it burns out of the oil from two source
olive trees: the Bride taken from
A
corollary to this picture is the evidence of the two witnesses who appeared
with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration.
Peter, James and John saw Moses and Elijah. Moses is representative of the Law, and the
Bride of Law. Elijah typifies the Spirit,
and the Bride of the Spirit.
John
witnesses this in two other sets of measurements. The city is 12,000 furlongs (roughly a
distance of 1,500 miles) long, 12,000 furlongs wide and 12,000 furlongs
high. Thus you have the twelve
multiplied by a thousand in triplicate.
It is a square of twelve.
Then
John sees as the wall of the city is measured, 144 cubits thick. Again he is shown the completion of the work
of the Paraklete in Ekklesia as the city is protected by a barrier measuring 12
X 12 cubits (roughly 216 feet) in thickness.
That barrier is the work of the Holy Spirit in the erection, the
building, and the fortification and complete protection wrought in the realm of
the spirit within the Bride.
The
picture of the city with its measurements, the makeup of the foundations in
twelve specific precious stones, and the representation of the gates in pearls,
all depict a finished, a glorified, a united people – all grafted and
integrated together -- made One with Jesus Christ. The study of the New Jerusalem is a study of
the completed Bride.
There
is no more Bride of Flesh or a Bride of Law, separated from the Bride of
Spirit, or the Bride of Love. Jesus
Christ has reconciled all to Himself.
By
this, I do not mean that the flesh and the Law can coexist with the Spirit and
love. They can not! This is not a picture of the Bride of flesh
continuing to serve the flesh, or the Bride of Law continuing in her bondage to
the Law. Jesus was the end – the
completion of the Law. He was its
objective! Jesus, however, has made it
possible, and is making it possible, for the those who have served the Law and
the flesh to have one more opportunity to reject them and overcome by the
Spirit.
The
New Jerusalem is that finished and prepared people, no longer divided by the
Law from relationship with the Bridegroom, and subservient to the flesh. Flesh and Law, Love and Spirit have been
reconciled together in and through Jesus Christ.
Do
you see it? Do you see what the Lord is
doing among us? Do you see why you have
been going through the trials and afflictions which never seem to end? Do you see the objective of Jesus Christ, our
Bridegroom? Do you see the two Brides,
made One?
If
you do, then you see what John was permitted to see in the Spirit! If you do, you are seeing the Brightness of
the Lamb, the Glory of the Father, the surpassing greatness of His Love toward
us. It has all been wrought because it
is the will of the Father, the desire of the Son, and the purpose of the Holy
Spirit. That will, that desire, that
purpose are all summed up in Jesus Christ’s inheritance in us!
The
Tale of Two Brides really is just one tale.
Consider
this.
Jesus
Christ has never had two plans. He has
never had a plan “A,” or a plan “B” if the first plan did not work.
When
the first words of Creation were spoken, Jesus knew, as did the Father and the
Holy Spirit, that there was only one plan for one Bride and Counterpart.
Adam
and Eve were not Israelites. Contrary to
the opinion of some, Abraham and Isaac were not of the House of Israel, and
they were not Jews. They were simply the
forebears. (I’m not trying to shock
you. I just want you to see past
Abraham
was the father of the Bride.
Period! He was the father of
Isaac, and the grandfather of Jacob,
from whom descended the twelve tribes of
The
fact that
From
the beginning of time, Adam and Eve, Shem and his wife, Abraham and Sarah,
Jacob and Rachel and Leah, Judah and Tamar (the Canaanite), Salmon and Rahab
(the Jebusite), Boaz and Ruth (the Moabite) Joshua and his wife, Caleb and his
wife, David and Bathsheba (the Hittite), Esther and Xerxes (the Persian king)
and a slew of others too numerous to recount, were incorporated into a single
plan, together with those of every generation since the time that Jesus Christ appeared
in person.
Adam
and Eve were the first picture of the Bride in the earth. Shem and his wife were the second. Isaac and Jacob were the third.
Along
the way, the Lord incorporated into
Tamar,
Rahab, and Ruth were (ex-) citizens of those nations who had been judged,
rejected and cursed by the Lord because of their sins of the flesh and their
sins of the spirit. Yet these three
women were incorporated not only into the Bride, but into the direct lineage of
Jesus Christ because of their stupendous demonstrations of faith in God in the face
of certain death.
That
which occurred on the day of Pentecost was a follow-up to Tamar, to Rahab, to
Ruth, to Esther. On that day, there were
gathered together some seventeen different peoples or nationalities or ethnic
groups, all of whom heard the praise and glorifying of Jesus Christ in their
languages as they were uttered by the 120 gathered together in the upper
room. Suddenly the Bride began to exist
as Jew and Gentile, Israelite and Arab, bond and free, male and female without
any regard for race, nationality or sex.
From
that time to this, there has only been one Bride in the earth. Even though we all know that there is a very
unique calling going forth among the Jews around the world, and an incredible
response taking place even as this letter goes forth, it is happening only because
they are being rejoined to Jesus Christ as a direct product of His everlasting
Covenant.
The
gifts – which represent His dowry to the Bride – and His calling of that Bride
are without repentance. Even though we
have seen what appears to be the processing of two, there really is only one
Bride. The two parts of the Bride have
become one.
Jesus
Christ is receiving His inheritance!
Let me wrap up this discussion
with a portion of a poem that I wrote for my wife on Christmas of 1995. It puts things in perspective.
BRIDEGROOM
and BRIDE
That
wonderful day, those years ago,
The Lord brought a bride -- a counterpart;
Eons
had passed, it seemed, while incomplete:
This
was a day designed to fill the heart.
Destined
from the beginning, an Eve to be:
The
picture of perfection, grace like a dove,
She
came from the cry of a being in need:
The
Lord Jesus Christ, who sought for His love.
Flowing
in beauty, filled with desire,
Her
whole being spoke, "I love you!
I'm
yours!"
Adam's
very essence leaped as he saw
God's
gift to him, his delight, his concours.
Then
as the years turned into millennia
A new
cry was heard, a cry in the earth:
A cry
for completeness with
She
who'd be His,
A
yearning which most surely would be brought to the birth.
This
second Adam then went to the cross
To
buy back a people in captivity,
Created for Him;
Pierced
with a sword thrust into His side,
He
foresaw the future -- love filled to the brim.
The
process began, a people in fire:
A
Bride in the making, a Bride to abide;
Years
again became millennia,
But to Jesus ‘twas irrelevant:
He
saw to the day they’d sit at His side.
A
people came forth -- a people who loved -
A
people who overcame all to say,
"I
love you, My Lord!
Your
onoma I take;
All
that I am, or ever will be, is yours for eternity, going forth from this
day."
The
creator of all, the Lord Jesus Christ,
Now
made complete -- having been joined to His Bride --
Sees
destiny unfold, eternity resume,
His
cry has been answered,
His
love's at His side.
The
future unfolds, a thousand years of time,
The
throne of the heavens,
a new
onoma presides;
The
past is behind, the cry is fulfilled;
The
need has been met,
In
Bridegroom and Bride.
Know this: “that He who began a good work in you will
perfect and complete it up to and until the day of Jesus Christ!”(Philippians 1:6,
my translation)
It
is happening! He is doing it! The work of perfecting and completing
continues so long as we continue wholeheartedly responding to everything He
says, does and requires in us!
Let
us go on to the finishing!
In case you are missing out on real fellowship in an environment
of Ekklesia, ourSunday worship gatherings are available by conference call –
usually at about 10:30AM Pacific. That
conference number is (712) 770-4160, and
the access code is 308640#. We are now making these gatherings available on
video usingZOOM. If you wish to
participate by video on ZOOM, our login ID is 835-926-513. If you miss the live voice-onlycall, you can
dial (712) 770-4169, enter the same access code
and listen in later. The video call, of
course, is not recorded – not yet, anyway.
Blessings on you!
Regner
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
RIVER WORSHIP CENTER
Temple, Texas 76502
Email Contact: CapenerMinistries@protonmail.com
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