Voice of the Kingfisher speaks out …from a different perspective
by Elinor Montgomery
And He Shall turn them into Majestic Cedars
March 05, 2012
Thus says the Lord God: “I will take also one of the highest branches of the high cedar and set it out. I will crop off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one, and will plant it on a high and prominent mountain. On the mountain height of Israel I will plant it; and it will bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a majestic cedar. Under it will dwell birds of every sort; in the shadow of its branches they will dwell. And all the trees of the field shall know that I, the Lord, have brought down the high tree and exalted the low tree, dried up the green tree and made the dry tree flourish; I, the Lord, have spoken and have done it (Ezekiel 17:22-24).”
Suppose you were on a basketball team chosen by a most extraordinary coach who, instead of choosing a team of tall players with great scoring records, he chose a team of average to small stature, which had no record for scoring at all. Then he said to his team that he would make them a team of champions. Who would deserve the glory, the team or the coach? Who would receive the glory, if not both?
Is this not the story of man and the Lord Jesus whom he rejects? He wants to give to man what he does not deserve and make him part of a team of winners. Did God not send His Son to earth to coach a team of otherwise ordinary men of no stature at all – simple fishermen and a hated tax collector? He called them together to become a team, separated from the day’s highly respected team of prestigious priests of high standing in the eyes of the people and a government, which made the rules of the game. They had already made up their minds and had judged this Coach to be a Man of little importance and a nuisance to the game in which He refused to play by their rules.
Why would this Man not wear the proper robes befitting the role of a Coach? He did not look like any Don Cherry they had ever known, dressed in their rich and showy robes. Was it not the role of a coach/priest to set himself up above the players, deserving of their praise and respect? Should He not be referred to as ‘Reverend’? It made no sense to the exalted priesthood of His day that this Coach would serve His team instead of the team serving Him.
Yet, this was a Coach who had coached His team well, so that they might go forward as a strong team, after He had been sentenced to death by the same ones who had accused Him and mocked Him. He had turned His motley crew into a team of incredible stature, which would eventually go on to win the World Cup. This was the cup of His blood that they would all drink themselves one day as they too would die in the process of serving others. In turn, those served would continue on, ad infinitum, serving others throughout history until the Coach would return to set up His kingdom for His centuries of team players.
It was important that they all had been coached only by those who had received the qualified coaching of the one Coach who wrote the rules of His game in a book called the Bible, a book written by His prophets who, in the same manner as His team played, wrote only under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. No exalted priesthood, which seated itself in the best seats at the table and liked to be seen in fine robes reciting long prayers in the market place, would ever be capable of coaching those destined for a World Cup victory. The potential of tall players meant nothing without the proper coaching by only the perfect Coach sent down to earth by the Father in Heaven who was searching for a heaven-bound team, which could rule with Him on His throne, and share in the victory of His Son.
There were two trees in the Garden, a tree that produced the giants of this world and then there was another tree, which produced the kings of the next world. The team of kings would never face defeat against the giants who were doomed by the lie set on a crumbling foundation, which would return them to dust. From the day Adam chose to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he had chosen to belong to the religious camp, in which there was no Spirit of life, only that of death.
Adam had made the mistake of thinking that he could be like the Most High God, but he proved to not be the god he thought he was. He was little more than a beast of no understanding, when understanding was needed by the Coach who gives life. Satan, the coach of the giants, had no plan for a wall of defense that could stand against the truth.
On the contrary, the tree of life was all about life, in fact, its fruit led to eternal life for it offered the good fruit of truth, the only fruit that could deliver victory for the ultimate Coach, the Father in heaven. His guide book was the book of truth as opposed to all other coaches’ guidebooks, which were mere books of religion.
And so, a tender young branch, plucked from the tall trees of men, would become a majestic cedar in a garden planted with tender branches, strengthened from the roots of the tree of life to become exalted in an undeserving but kingly role. They would stand alongside of their incredible Coach who was the original tree of life to produce the first good fruit of no corruption. The branches, once planted in the line of inheritance, would also produce the good fruit, when their time had come to do so.
For this was a Coach from the line of David, in the house of cedars, and to Him had been given the keys to the kingdom of heaven, which He shared with each and every one of His team members. How great He is that He should save a wretch like me and make it possible for me to become a queen to reign beside Him in the house of majestic cedars. Only He could open such a gate as that closed on the east side of the Garden, which would lead back onto the way to the tree of life.
The gate had been closed to man some 6000 years ago when Adam made his choice to go against the rule book of God and eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, only to have chosen the religious lie, leading to death. The same door, which Adam opened to the broad road, is swinging wide open today for the religious to pass through and enter into the ecumenical plan for the last religious empire of the One World Order, which will lead to the death of countless numbers of people.
Still, a small twig shall be clipped from the tallest cedars and planted, which, like the early apostolic church of team players, shall rise to great heights in this, the end of the age as the revived apostolic church team. And it will also be given the key to the kingdom, which opens the gate for the Lord to take His team through and enter into the city of the King where He and His team of majestic cedars, which were once nothing but small twigs, will be planted to rule for ever and ever and forever more.
It is here, in the much-fought-over city of Jerusalem that the World Cup will come to rest in its new home, remaining there as a reminder of the victory of one amazing Coach and a team, which looked like it had no stature or potential for victory at all. Yet, victory awaited these players on the other side of the open door, to which they had been given the key by their Coach. He knew exactly how to choose His players and turn men of no stature into majestic cedars, as team players destined for victory.