Be Holy Because I AM Holy

It’s been an agonizing two weeks, because God has just been making me take notes and listen.  And most of the notes have been seemingly random and disorganized, including the piecemeal dreams I’ve been having.  I think maybe the Lord changes things up for us sometimes to keep us looking to Him instead of routine.  He doesn’t want us to get too comfortable with what we think He is going to do based on past experiences.  Our God is infinite!  It’s going to take an eternity to explore Him and know Him.  It seems that now, the Lord is starting to put pieces of the puzzle together that He has been giving me, and this is what I aim to share today.

Exodus 19:15: “And he said to the people, ‘Be ready for the third day; do not go near a woman.’”

Hosea 6:2: “After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him.”

Exodus 19:11: “And be ready for the third day. For on the third day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.”

I recently dreamed I was in some sort of worldly club of prostitution.  I thought it was a dream from the devil, but it suddenly sprang to my memory when a brother in Christ quoted Exodus 19:15, asking for an interpretation of the verse.  We as God’s people are being called to be separate from the flesh, utterly purified and ready for the coming of the Bridegroom.  In my dream, there were two groups of people: normal human beings and dead human beings that were still walking around (I will call them zombies).  I don’t know why in my dream I perceived them as dead, considering they were walking around, but I did.  I remember that they appeared to me as colorless, like a black-and-white movie, while normal, alive human beings were vibrant and full of color.  I perceived that the zombies had come into their condition by indulging in sensual appetites, and if any normal human was touched by a zombie, he would become a zombie.

I understand from Exodus 19:15 and this dream that God is telling His people to be ready for His coming by not involving themselves in prostitution.  That means not indulging in anything that would draw us away from our full commitment to Jesus Christ, thereby prostituting ourselves to the world and breaking our vows to Him.  When we do this, we are in essence “dead in our transgressions and sins” (Ephesians 2:1).  We are zombies in God’s sight, having lost the beauty and vibrancy of what He made us to be.  If the Lord has given us a new birth through the Holy Spirit so that we are “dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11), and we deliberately keep on sinning, then there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins (Hebrews 10:26), for we are essentially acting as the Israelites in their longing to return to Egypt when they grumbled to Moses.  “For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt” (Hebrews 6:4-6).  Remember that those who came out of Egypt by miracles and saw the wonders of God’s provision for them did not enter the Promised Land but were destroyed in the wilderness because of their unbelief.  Likewise, the generation that killed their Messiah was also cut off because of unbelief in order that the grace of God might be extended to the Gentiles.  “But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. Then you will say, ‘Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.’ That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.”

Regarding the third day, this is symbolic of the meeting of God with man.  And since we don’t know the day or the hour of His appearing, we should always assume that tomorrow is the third day.

The Lord used a sister in Christ this week to bring to my attention the Nazarite vow of the Old Testament.  This is very adequate imagery of the set-apart nature of the Christian, for the Nazarite is a type and shadow of the ultimate called-out ones of the New Covenant.  John the Baptist was a Nazarite from birth (Luke 1:15), and Jesus said “I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he” (John 7:28).

Numbers 6:1-8: “And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When either a man or a woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the LORD, he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar made from wine or strong drink and shall not drink any juice of grapes or eat grapes, fresh or dried. All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, not even the seeds or the skins.

‘All the days of his vow of separation, no razor shall touch his head. Until the time is completed for which he separates himself to the LORD, he shall be holy. He shall let the locks of hair of his head grow long.

‘All the days that he separates himself to the LORD he shall not go near a dead body. Not even for his father or for his mother, for brother or sister, if they die, shall he make himself unclean, because his separation to God is on his head. All the days of his separation he is holy to the LORD.’”

There are three aspects to this vow which spiritually apply to the Believer in Christ Jesus: setting oneself apart from grapes and alcohol, never cutting one’s hair, and never coming near a dead body—even if a member of one’s own family should die.

Over the course of some hours, as I was pondering these things and asking the Lord for the spiritual meaning, the pieces started coming together.  Regarding abstinence from wine and grapes, I started hearing this Scripture in my spirit: Mark 14:25: "Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”  I believe the Lord began explaining to me that new wine represents the New Covenant.  Jesus said, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”  As we commemorate the Lord’s Supper, we demonstrate that we commune with and of Jesus in place of the old wine of Mosaic regulations, which cannot save.  The Nazarite partook of the faith that is in Jesus, not in the grapes of Old Covenant regulation.  The Scribes and Pharisees were the models of obedience to Mosaic law and Old Covenant regulation, yet Jesus said of them, “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20).  The Nazarites were essentially proclaiming the faith of their father Abraham: “For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.’”  “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (Galatians 3:29).

Hair is symbolic of a spiritual covering.  1 Corinthians 11:15: “…but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering.”  This is why Sampson found strength when he had long hair, for it symbolized the spiritual covering of God’s power and Spirit.  “If anyone despises the spiritual covering of my Spirit and grieves my Spirit, says the LORD, I will surely despise them and remove from them my covering until they have come back to me in repentance.  I will discipline them, and this takes process, as surely as the growing back of shaven hair.”

Dead bodies represent the corruption of the flesh and those who are dead in their trespasses and sins.  This resonates with the dream recorded earlier.  The Nazarite was to separate himself from anything resembling the old nature of death.  “And Jesus said to him, ‘Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God’” (Luke 9:60).  It is those who have died to the sinful nature that will be spared the discipline of judgment.  “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first” (1 Thessalonians 4:16).  “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24).  “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Romans 6:1-4).

To those who have set themselves apart in Christ Jesus, the LORD says, “My love is flowing through you because my Spirit is in you. Therefore you love me even as fully as I love myself, for we are one in spirit and soon-to-be one in body, for it is written, ‘The two shall become one flesh.’ Indeed for you, this is a great mystery, but do not doubt that my love is infused into you and your love for me is because of me. All that you are is mine. I know the fullness of your love because my love is complete in you through my Spirit. You yourself do not feel the fullness of that love now, because you are hindered by the flesh of your body and the veil that remains while you are on this Earth. But my Spirit is surely in you even as I AM.”

There was given to a sister in Christ a vision of her leaving her body three times.  The LORD gave to me the interpretation of this vision, which flows with the message of this entire word to the Bride:  “When you left your body, you were entering the realm that is outside of this Earth. You were leaving the physical and entering the spiritual. Yet you saw that you were still in the physical while you were in the spiritual. You see that they are parallel realms. This is why my angels can be at your side and yet you do not see them. It is like the glass that you look through when you are at the police station to point out the criminal. The criminal cannot see you, but you can see him. You are assuredly there in front of him even though he cannot see you.  My daughter, you are about to enter into the spirit realm. You will be physically present with many people. You will come in and out of visibility. I will enable you to stand before many who are in need.  Lord, is this what happened to Philip when he was taken after he had preached to the eunuch?  Yes, my daughter. I am about to do for you and all of my chosen harvest workers what I have done for Philip and the Apostles. Indeed, you will do even greater works than these. You will be also in the same spirit realm that my son Jesus walked in after He had risen from the dead. You see from my record in the Gospels how He went from place to place appearing and disappearing.  My dear children, I want you to know that your time of transformation is at hand. Do not grow weary, and do not lose heart, for your enemy is striving with great effort to destroy your faith and make you doubt my purposes for you.  Lord, what do you mean by our transformation?  You will enter the spirit realm, and you will be given glorified bodies, even as Jesus had when he walked the Earth after his resurrection.  This is the transformation of which I speak.”

I believe the Lord is giving information concerning this transformation in a dream I had:

I went out on the porch at a time I expected Jesus, but I didn't know the exact time.

I heard thunder.

A moment later it was pitch dark.

A moment later, my dream showed me all these meters that revealed everything in our life was going to zero. For example: zero pounds overweight. Zero days old (as in dying). I felt light as a feather.

A moment later, a brother in Christ texted us and said, "We have 30 mins and 30 secs."

I had a knowing he was referring to multiple A-bombs going off in different places.

We were still in our earthly dwellings (I was actually in the top bunk of a bunk bed. It was on earth but not my home.)

I woke up.

I believe the dream is self-explanatory except for the last part, which I have sensed in my spirit for some time as metaphorical.  “We were still in our earthly dwellings” spoke of our being in our bodies, yet in transformed bodies—not the home we recognize now.  These bodies will be at a higher level; hence, my being in the top bunk.

Brothers and sisters of the Bride, I implore you to stand firm in the faith and in the proclamation of the Kingdom, with all holiness.  “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8).