When the building of the wilderness "Tent of Meeting" had been completed, the cloud of the Presence had come down and visibly and publicly acknowledged the dwelling place which had been built for the divine Presence. So it was with the living "Tent of Meeting." Ever since the conception of Jesus of Nazareth, the divine Anointing within this human being had been building His human character after the order of the divine nature within Him. Every habit in this character had been formed by always following the will of His Father. During this time, Jesus had been increasing in consciousness of His divine mission, the awareness of His divine Anointing. Now, when He was thirty years old, He experienced a distinct change. The Spirit of God came down with increased power to fulfill His divine purpose. This living "Tent of Meeting" had been built after the pattern in the wilderness, and now the Holy Spirit came down upon this "Word made flesh," baptizing Him for His public ministry.
And when Jesus also had been baptized, and while He was still praying, the visible heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came from heaven saying, You are My Son, My Beloved! In You I am well pleased and find delight. Luke 3:21-23 Amplified.
So there are three witnesses in heaven: the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit, and these three are One. 1 John 5:7 Amplified.
At the beginning of the world, "God said, Let Us, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, make mankind in Our image, after Our likeness." Gen. 1:26 Amplified. The baptism of Jesus was a very special event, for the three persons of the Godhead had not been witnessed together on earth since the creation of the world. Yet now, at the first appearing of Messiah on earth, they were being witnessed together again, revealing the indivisible three-fold union of heaven.
This is the first record of Jesus audibly hearing His Father's voice. For the first time, the Father publicly acknowledged Jesus of Nazareth, and He acknowledged Him with two witnesses: His visible Spirit and His audible Word. The Father coming down with His Spirit upon Jesus, the "Word made flesh," sealed their union in a most special way. Jesus' baptism connected His humanity in a special way with the Anointing of Messiah within Him. His baptism didn't baptize God, within the man; it baptized the man into God, Who was within Him. It was like Their marriage ceremony.
Daniel prophesied of this appearing of Messiah the Prince:
Seventy weeks of years, or 490 years are decreed upon your people and upon your holy city, to finish and put an end to transgression, to seal up and make full the measure of sin, to purge away and make expiation and reconciliation for sin, to bring in everlasting righteousness, permanent moral and spiritual rectitude in every area and relation, to seal up vision and prophecy and prophet, and to anoint the Holy of Holies. Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem until the coming of the Anointed One, a Prince, shall be seven weeks of years, and sixty-two weeks of years. Dan. 24,25 Amplified.
At the first coming of Messiah the Prince, He appeared to the people at the time of His baptism, when John the Baptist announced His Presence among them, and His Father gave witness to Him with His audible Word from heaven, and His visible Spirit descending like a dove. At the first coming of Messiah the Prince, the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem went forth by Cyrus in 457 B.C. Jesus' baptism was precisely 69 weeks after this divine decree went forth in history, literally fulfilling in human flesh "the coming of the Anointed One, a Prince," to make the Atonement by Blood upon His cross of crucifixion.
John the Baptist spoke of a special baptism that Messiah brings:
I baptize you with water; but He Who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of Whose sandals I am not fit to unfasten. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing shovel is in His hand to thoroughly clear and cleanse His threshing floor and to gather the wheat and store it in His granary, but the chaff He will burn with fire that cannot be extinguished [until it has consumed everything there is to consume]. Luke 3:15-17 Amplified.
At the return of Messiah the Prince to fulfill this complete consummation by fire, we were once again witnesses of the three persons of the Godhead, at the special baptism of fire and the Holy Spirit, which accompanied the reappearing of the Anointing in human flesh. This time, the Father Himself baptized His Messiah, when He required Michael of Travesser to bring the divine, threefold marriage union of heaven, to earth, literally and physically, consummating the "marriage of the Lamb" in humanity, with the Two Witnesses who had witnessed the marriage of God with His own Lamb. He was baptized with fire to a degree that no other human being will ever comprehend, as He provided our Atonement by Consummation at the sacrifice of Himself. He came forth from His baptism of fire October 31, 2000, exactly, and to the day, 483 years or 69 prophetic weeks after Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses. This was when the decree from heaven went forth "to restore and to rebuild" the city of the "bride of Christ", which had been made desolate through apostasy, since the time that city had been built by Messiah at His first coming. Now again, at the reappearing of Messiah in human flesh, Daniel's prophecy for "the coming of the Anointed One", was literally fulfilled at the baptism of Messiah.
All those who "follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth" know personally this baptism of fire and the Holy Spirit, of which John the Baptist spoke. Just as the "three great Worthies in heaven" were present at Jesus' baptism, so they are very present here on earth now, personally undertaking and very acutely fulfilling this baptism by fire in our own souls, since Messiah reappeared among us in the new land, "where the woman fled into the wilderness - where she had a place prepared of God, that they [Father, Son and Holy Spirit] should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days". Rev. 12:6.
Upon coming up out of the water, Jesus bowed in prayer on the river bank. A new and important era was opening before Him. He was now, upon a wider stage, entering on the conflict of His life. Though He was the Prince of Peace, His coming must be as the unsheathing of a sword. The kingdom He had come to establish was the opposite of that which the Jews desired. He who was the foundation of the ritual and economy of Israel would be looked upon as its enemy and destroyer. He who had proclaimed the law upon Sinai would be condemned as a transgressor. He who had come to break the power of Satan would be denounced as Beelzebub. No one upon earth had understood Him, and during His ministry He must still walk alone. Throughout His life His mother and His brothers did not comprehend His mission. Even His disciples did not understand Him...
As one with us, He must bear the burden of our guilt and woe. The Sinless One must feel the shame of sin. The peace lover must dwell with strife, the truth must abide with falsehood, purity with vileness. Every sin, every discord, every defiling lust that transgression had brought, was torture to His spirit.
[Just so with the Anointing Who is within our souls. The Sinless One within us feels the shame of our sin. This lover of peace within us, comes to dwell with the strife of our conflicting thoughts and feelings. The Truth personified in us, must abide with the falsehood with which it finds itself confronted in us. The character the Anointing is forming grows and gains consciousness of the surroundings into which it has been born. Everything the Anointed One in Jesus of Nazareth felt, coming from the world around Him, the only begotten Anointing within us feels, coming from our inner world.]
Upon His arm depended the salvation of the fallen race, and He reached out His hand to grasp the hand of Omnipotent Love. [Upon this innocent Anointing within us depends our personal salvation, and He reaches out to grasp the hand of His Father.] The Saviour's glance seems to penetrate heaven as He pours out His soul in prayer. Well He knows how sin has hardened the hearts of men, and how difficult it will be for them to discern His mission, and accept the gift of salvation. [How the Anointing yearns and groans within us, as He feels the weight of responsibility for the soul into which He has been born. "He does our praying in and for us...He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God." Rom. 8:26 Message Bible.] He pleads with the Father for power to overcome their unbelief, to break the fetters with which Satan has enthralled them, and in their behalf to conquer the destroyer. He asks for the witness that God accepts humanity in the person of His Son...
The Father Himself will answer the petition of His Son [within us]. Direct from the throne issue the beams of His glory. The heavens are opened, and upon the Saviour's head descends a dovelike form of purest light,--fit emblem of Him, the meek and lowly One.
Of the vast throng at the Jordan, few except John discerned the heavenly vision. Yet the solemnity of the divine Presence rested upon the assembly. The people stood silently gazing upon Christ. His form was bathed in the light that ever surrounds the throne of God. His upturned face was glorified as they had never before seen the face of man. From the open heavens a voice was heard saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." [Just so, the little Anointing within us, draws the response of His Father.] These words of confirmation were given to inspire faith in those who witnessed the scene, and to strengthen the Saviour for His mission. Notwithstanding that the sins of a guilty world were laid upon Christ, notwithstanding the humiliation of taking upon Himself our fallen nature, the voice from heaven declared Him to be the Son of the Eternal. DA 111,112.
[Notwithstanding that the sins of our guilty soul are laid upon the Anointing within us, notwithstanding the humiliation of taking upon Himself our fallen condition, "God's spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children." Rom. 8:16 Message Bible].
In Jesus of Nazareth, Christ (the Anointing) was the next unfolding of Light as to how God REALLY desired to come and dwell among men. The Word of God Himself, filled a "tent of flesh." This Word of God came to BE the living "Tent of Meeting with God" in a human being, and to reveal within a human life, everything that the wilderness "Tent of Meeting" had contained and foreshadowed. It was the Word of God Himself, Who continually anointed Jesus of Nazareth, and Who immediately began fulfilling and revealing the whole realm of invisible realities which had been encrypted in the wilderness sanctuary. It was the Word of God Who was the Anointed One, the Messiah, Who came in the Son of Man.
His divine greatness had long been the subject of prophecy. His work had long been foretold. He must identify Himself as the subject of prophecy. If He displaced types and shadows, it was only because type had met antitype in Himself. He must occupy the place which the types had prefigured. ST 7-07-98.
If the Father could have spoken to the people of Jesus' day, in the language with which He now is speaking to us "in whose days the ages have reached their climax, their consummation and concluding period," He would have said, "Through the symbolic images of the sanctuary and its services, which you saw with your physical eyes, I was preparing you to perceive the invisible, but true, spiritual realities that I AM now going to reveal to you through the earthly life of My Anointed Son. Because you can't lay eyes on the Anointing Who is living in a human being, and since you can't watch with your physical eyes, the invisible realities occurring within that Anointing, I gave you the visual aid of the sanctuary, so you may perceive how I respond to My Anointing, and how My Anointing in human flesh responds to Me, through the symbols of the sanctuary which I revealed to you beforehand."
The Messiah, or the "Anointing," within Jesus of Nazareth was the actual, living atonement with God, personified in human flesh. It was this Anointing, Who was the divine Spirit flowing as truly through the human life of Jesus of Nazareth, as life blood flows in a human body. It was this Anointing in human flesh, Who was the divinely supplied Light, the nourishing and sustaining Bread, the Lamb of the continual "offering by fire." It was this Anointing Who was the High Priest of this true temple not built by hands, and everything else that the temple built by hands, had depicted. It was this Anointing in Jesus of Nazareth Who was the unfolding of the sanctuary's true realities, which up until His appearing, had been invisible to the human eye.
Christ [the Anointed Word] emptied Himself and took the form of a servant [in the son of man, Jesus of Nazareth], and offered sacrifice, Himself the priest, Himself the victim [the Lamb]. 18 MR 362.
Through the symbology of the earthly sanctuary, the Father gave the Anointing Who inhabited Jesus of Nazareth, to know intuitively:
You ARE My heavenly sanctuary,
My Anointed temple
within the human body
I prepared for YouYou contain within You everything that the wilderness sanctuary and its services prefigured. You are revealing within a human being, the true place of meeting Me, the place where the human soul You are in, is drawn out to know Me intimately.
My continual light (candlestick), My continual nourishment (Showbread), and Your perpetually ascending desire for, and yielding up to Me (altar of perpetual incense), which I supply and keep alive in You, are revealed within Your Holy Place. You are demonstrating fully in Your tabernacle of flesh, My power to sustain the Anointed life in a human being.
Within Your Most Holy Place, My intimate bond of covenant with You and Your covenant with Me (ark of the covenant), and My immediate Presence (cloud of Shekinah light), of which You are continually conscious, are also being revealed.
You ARE My Substitute Lamb
You are My divinely provided Lamb, prepared to offer Your own Life willingly on the altar of the earthly life of the human being in which You dwell. You are My Anointed Lamb - the divine nature and life Who I AM giving to be a substitute for the natural, human life and nature in the soul.
John saw Jesus coming to him and said,
Look! There is the Lamb of God
Who takes away the sin of the world.
John 1:29 Amplified.You ARE High Priest
of My heavenly sanctuary
within an earthly bodyYou are not only My Lamb, You are the High Priest, as well. You are My divine Presence within the soul sanctuary. You are the One Who takes care of all of the details of the invisible dealings between heaven and earth, within the soul.
You ARE My Ark of the Testimony
that I put within You
in the Most Holy Place of the mindYou contain the place of our agreement. Your conscience is the place where My covenant with You and Yours with Me is kept safe, and where Our Oneness is consciously known. I AM the One Who puts Your testimony in You.
And in the ark you shall put
the Testimony that I will give you.
Ex. 25:21 Amplified.I say exactly what My Father has taught Me.
And He Who sent Me is ever with Me:
My Father has not left Me alone,
for I always do what pleases Him.
John 8:26-29 Amplified.I AM now the living "Place of Meeting God" in the earth.
I AM the invisible, heavenly sanctuary,
within My "tent of flesh" - Jesus of Nazareth -
the one My Father prepared for Me to live in.
My Father comes down on Me and embraces Me,
and I AM filled with Him,
just as the cloud of light descended upon the ancient sanctuary,
and made it a place set-apart,
because of the divine Presence on it and in it.You ARE My continual Light
in the Holy Place of the AnointingBring...pure oil from beaten olives for the light of the golden lampstand to cause a lamp to burn continually, outside the veil of the Testimony between the Holy and the Most Holy Places in the Tent of Meeting. Aaron (the high priest) shall keep the lamps in order upon the lampstand of pure gold before the Lord continually. Lev. 24:1-4 Amplified.
Once more Jesus addressed the crowd.
I AM the Light of the world.
He who follows Me will not be walking in the dark,
but will have the Light which is Life.
John 8:12 Amplified.In Him was Life,
and the Life was the Light of men...
There it was - the true Light
was then coming into the world,
the genuine, perfect steadfast [continual] Light
that illumines every person.
He came into the world,
and...fixed His tent of flesh among us.
John 1:4,9,14 Amplified.You ARE My continual Bread
in the Holy Place of the heartYou shall set the showbread, the bread of the Presence, on the table before Me always...the continual bread...It is on behalf of the Israelites, an everlasting covenant. Ex. 25:30; Num. 4:7; Lev. 24:8 Amplified.
It is My Father Who gives you the true heavenly Bread.
For the Bread of God is He Who comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world...
I AM the Bread of Life.
He who comes to Me will never be hungry...
I AM the Bread of Life that gives life - the Living Bread.I Myself AM this Living Bread that came down from heaven, The Bread that I shall give for the life of the world is My flesh, [My human] body. John 6:32,33,35,48,51 Amplified.
You ARE My "Offerings by fire,"
My perpetual incense
and My continual burnt offeringBurn unto the LORD every morning [slowly consuming all day long] and every evening [slowly consuming all night long] burnt sacrifices and sweet incense. 2 Chron. 13:11 Amplified.
Chapter 10, page: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
