Part One of the Christmas Feeding Trough
Written by Elinor Montgomery – emontgomery@cogeco.ca
December 07, 2008
One of the most important revelations, which I have ever received, brought with it the strongest rejection from others. It was the revelation that God sees us as little beasts. The rejection came from a group of believers at a conference, gathered together to pray for Canada. You would expect that a group such as this would know their Bibles, but evidently, they did not.
Ecclesiastes 3:18 – I said in my heart, “Concerning the estate of the sons of men, God tests them, that they may see that they themselves are like beasts.”
To the Pharisees, Jesus said, “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do (John 8:44).” The devil, of course, is also known as the beast, which can only father little beasts.
“I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own (John 10:14).” What are sheep, if not little beasts? Jesus is the Shepherd Who comes for the lost sheep (lost beasts) of Israel so that they may enter back through the door into the house of Israel – He, being the door.
And where does all of this take us, if not to the nativity scene? So, let’s get started by coming to the understanding of why the Baby Jesus was born in a cave, or stable of sorts, and placed in a feeding trough for the animals, which we call a manger. There was no place for Mary and Joseph at the inn among those traveling the roads of Israel. This speaks of the rejection of Jesus, first, by His own people (the nation Israel), and secondly, by the strangers in the land (spiritual Israel).
The names of His parents-to-be are significant in themselves. Mary is the Greek term for Miriam, which means ‘a woman in rebellion’. Joseph, the son of Jacob, was Jacob’s chosen son to receive his inheritance. He was a type of both Moses and of Jesus. Moses’ sister Miriam was a type of Mary, who both served her brother (as the first mother of the brethren) and, yet, at the same time, was rebellious (as a daughter of the beast by birth). In relationship to Jesus, Mary fills the three roles prophetically of mother, sister, and spouse (see Song of Solomon 5:1 and 8:2), but only in so far as she is virginal (having not known a man), birthing of the Spirit, instead of birthing by the seed of man.
She became pregnant with the only begotten Son of God. All men and women who are born again of the Spirit are as women in the line of the first spiritual mother, Mary, birthing adopted sons and daughters for God by being both sister and spouse to Jesus at the same time, as was the first bride of Israel, Sarah, to her husband Abraham. They all have the same Father God by spiritual birth. Jesus is the first-born, begotten of the Spirit, but those who call upon the name of Immanuel, meaning ‘God with us’, for salvation and then willingly receive the Spirit in their lives, are the ones to whom Jesus referred as being the born-again inheritors of the kingdom.
This is where the spiritual house of Israel begins. Jesus’ right to the Davidic throne comes through adoption by His earthly father, Joseph, the name meaning ‘may God add’. It is a legal right of Jesus through Joseph, which does not come from the seed of man or from any bloodline of any nation. Mary’s lineage goes back through the seed of man to the bloodline of all men, David and Abraham included, which is that of Adam, making Jesus a Son of man, sharing in the blood of Adam. By being born also of the Spirit, He became a truly begotten Son of God.
Son of God and Son of man are the names He chose for Himself, as opposed to claiming the title of the Messiah of Israel. In so doing, He by-passed His role as King of all kings at the time of His first coming in order to assume the role of the Savior of all mankind.
Prophecy from the Old Testament prophets kicks in immediately as Matthew quotes Isaiah, who wrote some 700 years previously that a virgin would be with child and bear a Son Whose name would be called Immanuel. At approximately the same time the prophet Micah, who is also quoted by Matthew, prophesied regarding Jesus. He pinpointed the location of the birth as being the little town of Bethlehem, not to be the least among the rulers of Judah, for out of her would come a Ruler Who would shepherd His people, Israel.
Now, one must stop right here and look carefully at the term, His People Israel. There was no time in which the nation, Israel, with its religious leaders, accepted Jesus as their Shepherd. We have established that the religious, Hebrew Pharisees, the holy men of Israel, were a line of beasts of the same nature as their father, the devil. So, this statement shows that, in Jesus, the nature of Israel changes from the time of His birth, death and resurrection to become a spiritual kingdom of inheritance of those born again believers, born like Jesus of the water and the Spirit. The apostle Paul makes it very clear to us that the believers, and not the nation, are the true Jews, and inheritors of the house of Israel.
He was Caesar Augustus, himself, whom God used to issue a decree stating that all the people of the known world, under the ruler-ship of Rome, were to be registered, which is prophetic of the registry of God’s Book of Life, beginning and ending with Jesus. It forced His family to travel from Nazareth, outside of Judah, to a place near Jerusalem called Bethlehem, which means ‘house of bread’. This is the real house that belongs to the Man called Jesus, Who is the Bread of life and the Word made flesh. He commanded His people to eat His flesh.
When one eats the Word, which is a process of purifying oneself, one actually can come into the house of Israel to receive the inheritance by simply believing on Jesus and obeying His Word. And so, He was placed in a feeding trough to signify He had come to feed the beasts and save them from their captivity to death as sons of the beast. Where else would He have been laid other than in a feeding trough for the beasts, known as a manger?
Now, the wise men were the magi, or the magicians of kings who were advisors given ruler-ship powers alongside of the kings of the East. In a sense they were like kings in the same way Daniel held this position as third ruler over the land. They were men who studied the stars and depended on the movements of the stars to determine prophecy. They stood in opposition to Daniel in so far as Daniel received his prophecy directly from God. In the same manner Joseph, the son of Jacob, received the signet ring of power from Pharaoh to make him second ruler in the land. He, too, received his power of understanding and interpretation of dreams from God.
God had opened the eyes of these three wise men of eastern cultic practices, which we call religion, to a star of light burning brightly in the night. They came to know truth with the understanding that a very special King had been born Who would be the King of the Jews. Like the kings of all nations, prophetically they followed the star of light, which led them to Bethlehem where they would bow before the King of kings to leave their offering of gifts for this royal Child, to Whom all kings of the world would bow, one day. They traveled from East to West, from religious captivity to liberty, from the east side of the Garden onto the way that leads westward to the tree of life and the kingdom.
Yet, the time for all kings to bow was not at the time of the birth of Jesus; so the three wise men would return to the East whence they came. The Baby was to become the suffering Servant, lying in a feeding trough, Who had come to earth this first time to save mankind. He will come again as King of kings in judgment, taking ruler-ship from the kings of this world, in order to set up the kingdom of God on earth.
Now, Matthew speaks of the father and mother with child coming to a house, which was an inn, where they were rejected. The question is, to which house is this referring? It is the house of Israel and spiritual Israel called to be as a bride, or virginal woman birthing a man child for God, who, one day, would be snatched up to the throne of God. It is a house of failure, which, by having rejected the threesome, refused to allow Jesus in, forcing them to look elsewhere among the animals for a place where He would be received. The pregnant woman was in labor and ready to bring forth the begotten Son of God, and both Israel and spiritual Israel, had forced the aborting of the labor pains.
The adopted sons to be raptured like Jesus are spoken of in Revelation, chapter 12, where the woman is wearing the crown of the apostolic church, the crown of 12 stars (the angels of the churches, and not of the nation, are as stars in the right hand of Jesus). They are those who are birthing true sons/daughters for God’s kingdom house of Israel, who will witness to His truth. The bride of Christ has stepped into the aborted positions of the nation to go into labor and bring forth the child.
She is clothed in the light of the Son, and walks on the moon as His reflected light. She, along with Jesus, are as Jacob and his bride, the sun and the moon, a woman clothed in the light of her husband as seen by their son Joseph in a dream. Yet, Jacob gives way to Joseph to whom all of Israel will bow like these three wise men bowed before the Bread of life (the sheaves of grain), laid in a feeding trough for the animals.
It is here in this feeding trough that the redemption of mankind begins. By means of the feeding of the Word, man can be restored to life again after having believed the lies of the beast, which led him away from the truth and into darkness, religion and death. Christmas surely is a time for gifts. The greatest gift from God, which man can ever receive, was that of the gift of life lying in a manger, where there had previously been only death among the beasts and sons of man.
Part 2 of the Christmas Feeding Trough
Written by Elinor Montgomery – emontgomery@cogeco.ca
December 09, 2008
Mary was born as a little beast in the line of the harlot, Eve, mother of all living. But she was called out as a virginal woman, not having known a man, yet still every bit a harlot in God’s eyes, a woman in rebellion to her spiritual Husband, the Lord God.
God called Mary blessed among women, for she had been found acceptable by Him to be the first of a new line of woman, who will birth sons of God by the infilling of the Holy Spirit. In a sense, she is the mother-in-law of the church, the betrothed of her Son Jesus. This includes all men and women who desire to be reborn or born again in the Spirit of life, which will take them out of the captivity of death caused by sin.
It was the curse upon Adam and Eve for their sin, which caused all mankind to be born into harlotry to their Creator. The first line of woman in harlotry through Eve, the mother of all living, could only be broken spiritually by a rebirth in the spirit, with Mary being the first of a new line of men and women who would have the breath of life breathed into them. It was God’s choice to breathe life into man, but it will become man’s choice to ask God for the Spirit of life to be returned to him. Mary was blessed among women, but the true church, the bride of Christ, shall also be as a woman blessed among all living beings, in the line of Mary.
The good news declared that starry night over 2,000 years ago was that this Baby in the feeding trough would give salvation to anyone in the world who wanted it. Satan no longer had power over life and death. This Baby, called Jesus, would take back the keys of Hades and death. Blessed indeed is this woman, the bride, who will become the witness and the voice for her Lord, as was the angel the voice to the glory of God on that special night.
God placed the Bread of life in that feeding trough, as imperishable food much greater than any manna of the wilderness, which perished. Those who ate the manna perished as well. But this Bread was given for the eating in any amount man wanted. The more he could eat, the healthier he would become. In fact, this food would take away the sickness, which had caused man to become like the beast. This was the Bread that has the power to redeem and restore man once again as a living being with the breath of life one breathes eternally.
It is important to understand that, with the birth of Jesus, the spiritual line of the house of Israel would henceforth all come from the seed of the woman. The nation, Israel, and the Levitical high priesthood of the nation by bloodline gave way to the High Priest, Immanuel, God with man, the Creator of this world. He was infinitely more than the Messiah of a nation. All nations before Him are as nothing, and they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless (Isaiah 40:17). Jesus did not need the nation Israel, which was in bondage to the Babylonian system. The nation needed Him. The entire world needs Him for all peoples are in bondage to the same system.
Henceforth, life could come only by circumventing the seed of the man, which produces fleshly men doomed to die. Just as in circumcision, the flesh must be cut away to make way for the Spirit. The house of Israel, the inheritance of God, must become as a woman birthing herself anew, through the Spirit of Jesus, which is the Spirit of life breathed by God.
The classic picture of this process is shown in the book of Ruth, who is redeemed by Boaz to produce a child in the line of Naomi, her mother-in-law, with Boaz being as Jesus, and Naomi as Mary. The bride will produce children in the line of Mary with the Spirit of Jesus fathering the child for God the Father. Both bride and Jesus have the same Father, as was the case with Abraham and Sarah, the first to birth the children of inheritance for the house of Israel and for God.
The entire world can only come into the family of God by way of the marriage bed of Jesus Christ. There is no other Bridegroom of love Who can produce the good fruit for God with a woman who desperately wants Jesus for her Husband. The Song of Solomon is an allegory and love song, which depicts this intimate loving relationship, between bride and Bridegroom, between Jesus and His church.
Esther is a true story, which gives specifics about the bride who, one day, will be queen and ruler with her Beloved King. The message of the book of Esther is one that tells us the bride will be born at the time of the second feast (with the first feast lying in a manger), when it will be revealed that a woman who was gentile by birth, becomes a true Jewess by rebirth in the spirit. It will be at the second appearing of Jesus coming as King of kings, when her voice will be raised up to save the brethren of the nation. She will challenge the Haman of her day, the antichrist spirit, to see the day of his destruction, along with all his beastly sons and a Jezebel type of woman who was up to no good.
The birth of this Baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and placed in a feeding trough for animals would bring shepherds (the priesthood) and wise men (the kings of the world) to their knees before this King of kings and Lord of lords. There was no question as to whether or not the true manna from heaven, which does not perish, had come down to be with man. He would prove to men once and for all that God is not subject to death, and that His Word is truth and that He means what He says, no matter what the serpent told Adam and Eve and continues to tell sinful mankind.
Christmas, as we believers know it to be, draws the hatred of the non-believers who cannot bear to utter the name of Jesus, let alone celebrate His birthday. For underneath the holiday trappings is the message of the manger and of Jesus Christ, Himself, Who is the Word made flesh. When He calls men to obedience, it is a life and death matter, whereby either truth or the lies of religion and liberalism will rule over one’s life and one’s nation. Man cannot have it both ways.
As Moses spoke prophetically to the children of Israel, the Word is not far away in heaven that one might say, “Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it (Deuteronomy 30:12)?” God sent His only begotten Son that we might have life abundantly. Moses went on to warn the nation as well as the individual; in that manger was set before mankind the choice for life and good, death and evil (see Deuteronomy 30:15).
It was this same choice of the Garden, which was set before Adam and Eve. To remain in the Garden, or Paradise prepared for man, would depend upon the choices he made. To remain in a nation under God, which we can turn over to our descendants, will depend on what we do or allow to be done to that Baby in the manger Whom the world so hates.
Moses, always the spokesperson for God, concluded with these words: “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live (Deuteronomy 30:19).”
The warning to the nation was clear that, if the people turned their hearts away and did not hear the Word, but, instead, worshipped other gods and served them, then the announcement from heaven declared that these same people would perish and not prolong their days in the land to which they had crossed over.
America, you are teetering on the brink of destruction. Do you really want the ‘multi-cults’ of the world to join you with their pagan gods, or do you want only the God-Child of the manger? He chose you; now it is time for you to choose Him and shout the good news to all the world that Immanuel was born, died, buried and rose again. “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men (Luke 2:14)!”
A special Christ-filled Christmas to one and all!
