25. Patterns of God

I want to use Agur’s four patterns as the layout of this chapter: the way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent on a rock; the way of a ship upon the sea; and the way of a man with a maid.

All four of these patterns are found as the entire essence of Revelation 12, the chapter of the culmination of the purposes of God. Three of these patterns are, in fact, written right there in the text. The fourth, the way of a ship on the sea, is also there, and I will show you how in a bit.

Genesis 1-3 is an essential part of John’s vision, to the extent that we could bring Genesis 1 into the layout of the parts of Revelation along with portions of Daniel. So many of the symbols in the vision refer directly to those same things inside these first three chapters of the Bible.

Three of these four primary patterns begin in Genesis 1-3, except for the way of a ship upon the sea, which begins in Genesis 6. Yet all four also come to the full completion of their purpose in Revelation.

And everything begins with “In the beginning.” Let’s trace it out.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. - In the beginning [the source, the generation of life] in action was the word, and the word actively was towards God, and God was actively the word… All through Him became, and without him not even one thing became that has become. – That from the two [Jew and Gentile], He might create inside Himself one new man. – through whom He formed the ages… carrying, upholding and sustaining all by the word of His power. - These things says the “Let it be so,” the faithful and true Witness, the beginning or source of the creation of God.

You see how John’s vision brings it full circle back to Genesis 1:1.

Look through that entire paragraph of verses stitched together. It’s easy for us to reduce all of that into one word – Jesus.

Let me now show you the way of a man with a maid in the picture God gives us in Genesis 1:2-3. – The earth {the woman) was without form, and void (no child was in her womb); and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters {“hovering” is the romance of marriage union}. Then God said {the planting of Seed}, “Let there be light” {the Sperm of God}; and there was light {the birthing of the manchild}.

Here is what John then says about that Sperm of God entering the woman. – In Him was life, and the life was actively the light of men.

Because the pattern of the reproduction of life is the most important pattern in God, in the Bible, and in the universe, NOTHING in John’s vision has any meaning whatsoever apart from that pattern. And for that reason, I place this picture above all other symbols there might be as the greatest thing in our sight right now, the most important single metaphor in the Bible.

– A woman enclothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a garland [of victory] of twelve stars. And having a child in her womb, she screams, being in travail and being tortured to bring forth in birth. –

This is our calling, the passion and drive of the One who fills our hearts and who is far more passionate about this woman then all the explosion of all the stars in the universe.

But what does it really mean? – It means Father revealed through our human weakness, through believers in Jesus loving one another; it means Jesus proven faithful and true out from our hearts in the face of all opposition.

And what is that? – It is the greatest GLORY in all history, now and forever, and in the entire universe.

This is the way of a man with a maid – the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. (Ephesians 5:32-33).

And that brings us to the next pattern of God being fulfilled, with Agur’s words being the simplest expression – the way of a serpent on a rock.

By the very action of speaking the first words that he spoke, the serpent drove God straight into the courtroom with whips and put Him on trial as a criminal before all creation. – “Did God indeed say?”

That trial of the Accused, our Father, is taking place entirely inside the minds and hearts of every human on this planet. Yet it is the Lord Jesus Christ, every Word God speaks, the One sustaining all things by Word, who is the direct target of the accusation.

Every Christian is lining up as a witness for or against the Lord Jesus. Those who are giving witness FOR Him are those who say, “Let it be to me,” towards every Word that is Jesus entering into their hearts. Every other response to Word is nothing other then testifying with the serpent in accusation against the Word God speaks. “We’ll know what it means when we are dead.”

Here is the rule of this pattern.  – Let God be true and every man a liar [a fake], as it has been written, “That You may be justified inside Your words, and will overcome inside Your being judged” (Romans 3:4).

Then here are the two sides of the tension in-between the accusation and the verdict. – For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. – Matched perfectly with – When the Son of Man comes {actively to you personally}, will He find faith in the earth?

Then here is the verdict of this great trial of God 6000 years in length. – And they overcame all accusation …by the word of their testimony. – And He… was called Faithful and True.

The Word God speaks proven faithful and true through you and me who believe in Jesus.

And so what is the single most critical point, the greatest single “verse” expressing the pivot upon which this great mystery, God Himself on trial for lying and for murder inside the consciousness of every human being?

Revelation 12:11: And they overcame him by the Blood of the Lamb, by the Word of their witness, and because they did not love their own self-stories but placed them into the one death of Christ.

These two patterns, especially, are familiar to any who has done much reading of my pages. Yet look at this layout, covering about two pages, but filled with a weaving of critical Bible verses from Genesis to Revelation.

Anyone reading John’s vision who does not know these four patterns of God and the incredible extent to which they are woven all through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, ruling over how we are to know everything, CANNOT know anything of what the book of Revelation might mean. All they can do is find blither and nonsense; all they can do is testify against the Word God speaks.

And what is the CENTRAL word of the Bible out from which everything in these patterns is found? – Christ lives inside of my heart through faith. Here is another way of saying the same thing. – And her child was seized into God and into His throne. For, you see, Ephesians 3:17 must rule Revelation 12:5.

For the other two patterns, however, I want to switch tack just a little bit. By using these two patterns already so familiar to you, I was able to give just a few out of the many, many verses, Old Testament and New, that connect the patterns that begin in Genesis directly to their completion in Revelation, as God says in Revelation 1, “I am the Source and the Completion.” Or – “I am the Source and the Unveiling.”

Having demonstrated this massive connection, through all the pages of the Bible, between the source and the completion of all the patterns of God, I now want to apply the other two patterns as expressed by Agur personally to us right now inside this mighty deliverance service in which we are engaged and the glorious task of constructing a wall of defense all around God’s people.

Picture again in your mind the way of an eagle in the air and then the way of a ship in the midst of the sea. These two pictures share some major similarities. First, both carry people from one place to the next. And second, both are carried themselves by forces of nature, the eagle by the currents of wind and the ship by the currents of water.

(As I have called our Father, now, as God All-Carrying, I see more and more how a God who carries is woven all through the fabric of the Bible. Whereas the image of a God All-Controlling, as we once knew, seems to us now to be entirely forced upon the Scripture.)

Yet there is one significant difference between these two pictures that show us the two sets of patterns used by God.

The wings of an eagle are an emergency rescue, carrying the children of Israel out of Egypt into the place where they could meet with God, carrying us out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of His love. And thus, this picture corresponds with that of Passover, of the angel of death being unable to touch those protected by the blood.

We see this eagle again in Revelation 12, carrying God’s people out of the grip of the wicked rulers of this world and away from the flood of the serpent into a place prepared for her by God, that is, into a world of life. And thus this picture of the eagle’s wings remains for us an “emergency rescue.”

The picture of a ship in the midst of the sea carries a different connotation, however.

You see, the way through the Tabernacle into the Holiest is a way that is to be traversed only once. It is a rescue, so to speak, bringing us into the place where we now live.

But the picture of a ship filled with people and all their belongings, leaving one port and then traversing a far distance over much time before arriving at the port on the other side of the sea, is more in tune with the story of our lives, a story that is Christ and that continues forever.

The way of a man with a maid is brought to its completion in Revelation 12 – and she brought forth – the very life of God from out of her womb. The way of a serpent on a rock is brought to its completion in Revelation 12 – and they overcame him. The way of an eagle in the air is brought to its completion in Revelation 12 – and she is carried into her place.

What about the way of a ship in the midst of the sea? What about God’s great pattern of Christ Jesus as the entire story of our lives, personally and together?

Before we bring God’s picture into this setting, let’s look a bit more at this great eagle. You see, in ancient, non-Biblical imagery, the eagle is pictured as the one who seizes the serpent in its talons from off the rock upon which it is sleeping and who tears that serpent apart with its beak.

Thus we see in Revelation 12 that this eagle is you and me, with the Blood of Christ as one wing carrying us and the Cross of Christ as the other. And the sword of our “beak” is the Word of our testimony, speaking Christ our only life. In this way we cast down the accuser and shatter his rule.

What then is our back, upon which the Church of Christ rides into the safety of the place prepared for her? That’s easy – And we also are committed to laying down our lives for our brethren – 1 John 3:16, the ruling verse of our ministry, of life laid down and love poured out, of sharing heart with God.

Do you see how John’s vision is meant for one purpose only, to enable us to see the effectiveness of the central verses of Paul’s gospel confirmed by John as we apply their reality through us into our present world? Is that not God’s purpose – rather than, say, giving foolish humans the ammunition to run around predicting the future?

In other words, God is giving us a powerful picture of the gospel through us in power into this world and for the sake of His Church caught in the face of a great darkness arising against her. And God is doing that for one reason, that we might stand in absolute confidence in our place.

The way of the eagle in the air is the fulfilment of the Day of Atonement in the life of the Church, this great deliverance service in which you and I are presently engaged.

Here is the way of a ship in the midst of the sea.

By [full assurance of] faith, Noah, having been warned [by God] concerning the things not yet perceived, having been moved with caution, constructed an ark for the salvation of his household; through which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is according to faith (Hebrews 10:7).

The eagle’s wings are the rescue to the place prepared by God; the ark in the midst of the sea is that place prepared. And so the way of a ship in the midst of the sea is also brought to its completion in Revelation 12 – a place prepared for her.

I have stated many times that Revelation 12 and Romans 8 are companion chapters that must be read and understood together. In fact, this place of safety and protection, carrying the story of Christ our life through the battering storms, is stated clearly several times in Romans 8.

– The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made us free from the law of sin and death. – BUT YOU ARE NOT in flesh, but INSIDE OF Spirit. – Into the freedom [liberty] of the glory of the children birthed out from God. –

And then the big one – Who will separate us away from the love of Christ? Pressures [within and without] or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it has been written, “For Your sake we face death all day; we were accounted as sheep of slaughter.” BUT inside of all these things, we are hyper-overcomers through the One having loved us. – I am persuaded [filled full with confidence] indeed that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things at hand, nor things about to happen, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing has the ability to separate us away from the love of God inside of Christ Jesus our Lord. {End of story.}

The symbols found in John’s vision are nothing more than a visual expression of the mighty power of Paul’s gospel. And God gave them for one purpose, that we might see the powerful power of that gospel in all confidence.

In the remainder of this letter, I want to talk about this place prepared by God for His Church in terms of Noah’s ark, the way of a ship in the midst of the sea.

In an earlier letter, I placed Agur’s “eagle in the air” together with God’s pattern of the way through the Tabernacle and the journey of Israel. And I placed Agur’s “ship in the sea” together with God’s pattern of Christ as the only story of our lives.

I want to show you how the first of these two great patterns connects entirely together with the second.

The WAY through the Tabernacle, carried on the wings of an eagle right over the top of the preachers in front of the veil vehemently keeping God’s people out of living only inside of Jesus, is finished the moment God’s people are living only inside of John 14:20, inside of all the fullness of God revealed now through them.

And the journey of Israel, carried on the wings of an eagle to that final place of meeting together with God comes to an end that very moment when and where God fills His House in Jerusalem, the city of David, the place that He has chosen.

And thus the central part of the Feast of Tabernacles is not our way into life, but rather the life into which we go, that is, dwelling in booths, that is, Christian Community, the Church, which is His Body, the fullness of Christ who fills all inside of all.

Christian Community is not “the way” into life, but the LIFE into which the Way carries us. – If indeed, being hostile, we were reconciled [exchanged – life for life] to God through the death of His Son {the rescue}, much more, having been exchanged, we will be saved [made whole] inside His life {the place prepared – Christian Community} (Romans 5:10).

And thus we see this place prepared for God’s people, this ship in the midst of the sea, is nothing other than the arising of a world of life in the midst of a world of death.

And this is exactly the picture of how God wants us to KNOW our present reality.

The place of safety, that is, SALVATION, inside of which God’s people live forever is expressed in Symmorphy V: Life. I wrote it because I believe this absolutely and have believed it with the same fervor and certainty for forty years.

My confidence stands upon FIRM, and I am not moved.

Let’s put two parts of John’s vision together here, enabling us to see that they are both speaking of the same thing.

And the woman escaped into a desolate place where she has a place there having been prepared by God, so that they should nourish her there… – And the two wings of a great eagle were given to the woman so that she could fly into the desolate place, into her place where she is nourished there for a time, and times, and half a time away from the face of the serpent. – And I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having been prepared as a bride having been adorned for her husband (Revelation 21:2).

Notice that “having been prepared” is the same word.

Then we put these verses together.

In that day you shall know that I am inside of the Father and you inside of Me and I inside of You. – The Church, which is His Body, the fullness of Christ who fills all inside of all. – That you might be built together as a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

In an upcoming chapter, we will look more closely at that Day, the first Day of Tabernacles, in which God filled the temple of Solomon with His presence.

Apart from knowing the great patterns of God, all the symbols and statements in John’s vision cannot be understood except as confused nonsense. Yet by these great patterns, it all fits together, and we see and know and walk in the absolute confidence of the revelation of Jesus Christ through us.

The New Jerusalem, the place into which God’s people are carried, the central fulfilment of the Feast of Tabernacles, is Christian Community, God among us, our dwelling place forever.

Then look at these words - so that she could fly into the desolate place, into her place where she is nourished. The word “desolate” (or wilderness) means “no life.” Why a “desolate place?”

Now, it is clear that she is “nourished” inside this “desolate place.” And it is also clear that only one thing is the nourishment of the believer, and that is eating and drinking of Christ our only life.

How than can a place void of life be filled with life?

That’s easy. We step through the cross, all former life GONE, into all the life of Christ.

The Cross is not a tree of death, but a tree of life. And those who eat of its fruit become only the life of Jesus as all that they are, as all that they find themselves to be right now.

As He is, so are we in this world (1 John 4).

A “desolate place,” then, is a place that has no connection to the “life” of this present age, or to the “life” provided by the beast to those who submit to it.

And this is the very heart of our travail.

No earthly life will be coming to God’s people who have been cut off from all support systems in this world. All provision she must have, both food and water and all the knowledge of Christ, must come to her out from those who “nourish her there.”

This is not a “weight” upon our shoulders, for Jesus alone carries the yoke, Jesus alone carries all responsibility for all. Yet the portion Jesus shares with us is His Heart.

The weight of the Kingdom rests upon the very capable shoulders of our Savior, but the life of that Kingdom He has given to us, that it might flow out from our hearts.

“Lord Jesus, we together place ourselves as utterly together with You in this Your hour and the revelation of Your glory. You fill our hearts with all of Your Passion. Just as You love us and continuously set forth Your Soul for us, for our sakes, so we also set forth our souls for Your people, our brothers and sisters all across this earth.

“Lord Jesus, we rest quietly in the absolute confidence that no responsibility for Your people rests upon our shoulders, for You carry the Kingdom and You do all things well. Yet we give You thanks that Your love for them does reside in our hearts and that it is from our hearts, shared with Father, that Your life flows to protect, to heal, and to set free.

“Lord Jesus, with one wing, Your Blood and with the other wing, Your Cross, we fly with Your people filling our hearts. And in utter confidence in You, in shear and brazen boldness of speech, we speak Christ, we call You forth as the LIFE of all who belong to you, that no darkness can stand, that the knowledge of You, Lord Jesus, Sent into each one, will disperse all darkness and ignorance in a moment.

“And Lord Jesus, we know that it is to Your Church that we are carrying Your people inside our hearts, that they might run with all joy into the Feast of Tabernacles, God among us, loving one another with a pure heart fervently. Lord Jesus, You, together with us, are that Christian Community, that New Jerusalem prepared for Your people with all the provision of heaven.

“Thank You, Lord Jesus, that You have given to us this privilege of knowing You in this way and at this time, for the sake of Your people, our precious brethren. We thank You that You have given to us to share You with Father as our very heart.”

~~~

Now, in the last letter I made this statement: “Bad things happen when the theories, the patterns of organization, the blueprints, are wrong.” This principle holds true more certainly in the misuse of the book of Revelation out from horrifically wrong theories, patterns of thinking that are not God’s.

But when we approach the Revelation of Jesus Christ through the patterns of God’s words, with all our knowing ruled by the ten most important verses in the Bible, we see wonders becoming so clear and things not made known otherwise.