The work of the house of Joseph, part 12

The fourth bowl of wine was poured out against the sun, prophesying the judgment and overthrow of earthly leaders who rule not as stewards of Christ but as gods who make their own laws. Daniel pictures them as beasts that eat grass—“all flesh is grass”—treating humanity as if they are called only to sustain the leaders. Such selfish leaders want men to die for them, whereas Christ came to die for the world.

Psalm 94:16-18

On the fourth day of Tabernacles, Psalm 94:16-18 was read as a prophecy of the fourth bowl.

¹⁶ Who will stand up for me against evildoers? Who will take his stand for me against those who do wickedness? ¹⁷ If the Lord had not been my help, my soul would soon have dwelt in the abode of silence. ¹⁸ If I should say, “My foot has slipped,” Your lovingkindness, O Lord, will hold me up.

The “evildoers” and “those who do wickedness” in this case speak of those who live by their own laws and rule others accordingly. Hence, this prophesies of the day when such men will be overthrown and replaced by the overcomers who are truly called to be “priests of God and of Christ” (Revelation 20:6) as stewards and trustees of Christ’s Kingdom.

This was foreshadowed long ago in Joseph’s life. Joseph was a type of Christ, and his elevation to power under Pharaoh pictured Christ’s elevation to rule the world in His second coming. More than that, Joseph was the body of Christ that suffered in an Egyptian prison after being falsely accused. If God had not intervened, Joseph might have remained in prison until his death and been buried in a forgotten grave.

So verse 17 says, “If the Lord had not been my help, my soul would soon have dwelt in the abode of silence,” i.e., Sheol, the grave.

The Fourth Sign in John

The fourth miracle-sign in John’s Gospel also overlays upon the fourth bowl of wine, except that it focuses upon the glory of God revealed through Christ. In other words, what Christ did is to be contrasted with that which carnally-minded men were doing to enhance their own glory.

A ruler with the heart of a beast (such as Nebuchadnezzar during his time of insanity in Daniel 4:16 KJV) eats grass and considers that grass to be his daily portion of food. Grass is defined by Isaiah in Isaiah 40:6-8, where he writes,

⁶ A voice says, “Call out.” Then he answered, “What shall I call out?” All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. ⁷ The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass. ⁸ The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.

This is explained further in 1 Peter 1:23-25, where the apostle tells us that grass is mortal flesh that has been begotten by mortal seed from our natural, biological parents. It springs up for a season and the flowers are beautiful for a short time, but in the end, “the grass withers and the flower falls off” (1 Peter 1:24). By contrast, the spiritual seed of the word that begets the sons of God “endures forever” (1 Peter 1:25).

This spiritual seed is what begat Jesus in the Virgin Mary, establishing the pattern for those who would come after Him. Though we are begotten first with mortal seed, we are begotten a second time through our ears when we hear and obey the word of the Lord that endures forever. This, then, brings the glory of God to the world through us as well as through Christ Himself.

The signs in John’s Gospel are applied to Christ, of course, but these things were written to show us the path to do the works that Christ did, so that God might be glorified in us. Isaiah 40:5 says,

⁵ Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all flesh will see it together; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

This is pictured in the fourth bowl of water that was poured out with the bowl of wine. The wine overthrows the carnally-minded men who think of themselves in terms of the sun with its glory. The water speaks of the Spirit being poured out in order to bring forth the sons of God with the true glory of the sun being manifested in them.

The fourth sign in John is found in John 6:1-14, where Jesus fed the 5,000 as they sat upon the grass. John 6:10 says,

¹⁰ Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.

By seating them in the grass, the people were identified with the grass, even as Isaiah said: “all flesh is grass,” and as for “the glory of the Lord,” verse 5 says, “all flesh will see it together.” The grass-people then saw the glory of the Lord when the five loaves and two fish were multiplied, all were filled, and they gathered up more leftovers than they had started with.

We see, then, how true leadership is to treat the people. Whereas beasts eat grass-people, Christ feeds the grass-people. Beasts have no concern for grass and use it for food, but Christ values the grass and feeds such people with His own flesh, which is the gospel (basar).

John’s commentary on this event is found in the last half of John 6, where Jesus is said to be “the true bread out of heaven” (John 6:32), the “bread of life” (John 6:35), “the manna in the wilderness” (John 6:49), and “the flesh of the Son of Man” (John 6:53).

Feeding the 5,000 manifested the glory of the Sun. If we have the mind of Christ, we will do the same. Though we may not multiply literal bread, we are called to dispense the word of the Lord that endures forever. If we are faithful in this, we are qualified to reign with Christ as the overcomers. So also, the fifth speech of Moses in the book of Deuteronomy sets forth the qualifications of Kingdom Government.

Therefore, when the angel poured out his bowl upon the sun, judgment was decreed against false or carnal leadership. The sign of this was a huge flurry of sunspot activity, which was something that no man could have done by his own power. On earth, we bore witness of this in Chandler, Arizona, which alarmed the authorities of men who objected that we were disrupting the established order. But in the end, they could not stop the plan of God. They allowed us to pour out the water and wine, not understanding its significance, and thinking that no harm could be done in just fifteen seconds of harmless and even foolish activity.

So Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1:27-30,

²⁷ But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, ²⁸ and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, ²⁹ so that no man may boast before God.

Bearing witness on earth to what God does in heaven is our prime directive, for it is the reason we were created. This is what brings heaven to earth, as Jesus prayed (Matthew 6:10). When earth comes into agreement with heaven, the Kingdom of God is established. Unfortunately, only a few seem to hear His voice and know the will of God, and even fewer agree with God. Most have been taught to impose their own will upon God, and that if their faith is just strong enough, God will finally relent and agree with them.

True Kingdom leadership manifests the glory of the sun and does not expect the sun to manifest the glory of the earth.

David’s Throne Revelation

While we were in Chandler, Arizona for the Tabernacles conference, the Lord showed us that part of the reason we were meeting in “the valley of the sun” was because it was connected to Psalm 89:34-36:

³⁴ My covenant I will not violate, nor will I alter the utterance of My lips. ³⁵ Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David. ³⁶ His descendants shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before Me.

If you read the entire psalm, you will see that it is about God establishing the throne of David and his seed forever. It is about the Covenant that God made with King David. God said that if the seed of David is disobedient, He will bring judgment to correct them but not destroy them utterly (89:30-34). His throne will be established “as the sun,” in other words, perpetually.

The primary manifestation of this promise is to Jesus Christ, who was born in Bethlehem of the seed of David. He is the full recipient of this promise. Nonetheless, there are other fulfillments of this promise as well. First of all, Zedekiah was the last king of Judah before the Babylonian captivity ended his rule in 586 B.C. For the next 618 years (to 33 A.D.) there was no Davidic king in Judah. At the end of 618 years, in 33 A.D., Jesus presented Himself to the people in Jerusalem in His “triumphal entry” on the day later known as “Palm Sunday.” But though many of the people themselves would have accepted Him, He was rejected by the religious leaders and crucified.

Seven weeks after His resurrection, on the day of Pentecost (Feast of Weeks), the Spirit was given to the Church (Acts 2). This, in effect, was a coronation of the Body of Christ. Yet as we have shown in many studies, this was not really a crowning of “David” but of “Saul.” The Age of Pentecost had begun for the next 40 Jubilees (until 1993). Only then did we begin to see the signs of the coronation of David—that is, the Body of Christ that came out of Saul’s court and identified with David. These are the people who aspire to the experience of the Jubilee and the Feast of Tabernacles, going beyond Passover and Pentecost.

Meanwhile, as history shows, earthly monarchs have never manifested the character of Jesus Christ. Many of them were nominal Christians who acted like King Saul. So they will also suffer his fate and be cut off in the proper time.

Meanwhile, God has been preparing a people throughout the past ages by putting His Spirit within them and bringing them into maturity. Though many of these have died in past centuries, they will be raised again in order to form that Body of Christ (David) that will bring the Feast of Tabernacles fully into the earth. The will of God will be done in earth as it is in heaven. The glory of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. Heaven will come to earth, and mankind will finally regain the “land” inheritance that he lost when Adam sinned. That “land” is the body made of dust but filled with the glory of the Lord.

This is what God is doing today, and this is the present revelation that He is showing us. Psalm 89 is about to be fulfilled. It is the other end of an age that began with the rejection of Christ and brought us into a leavened Pentecostal Age. We are now coming out of that Age and into the new administration where the Davidic company reigns in the earth.

This does not mean that they will wear crowns on their heads and rule from thrones in certain cities of the world. But their decrees, bearing witness on earth as it is in heaven, will be fulfilled as they speak the Word into this cosmos. Their decrees will bring peace and righteousness, as the Holy Spirit is poured out in a greater way than was seen in the book of Acts. Greater works will be done, and we will see millions of people repent and turn to the living God.

At the second coming of Christ, the throne of David will give way to the throne of Joseph, which is a greater manifestation of Christ’s Kingdom. Whereas David ruled Israel, Joseph ruled Egypt, which is a type of the world as a whole. The lesser must give way to the greater. The throne of David is not destroyed but remains to work in agreement with the throne of Joseph. Other thrones are abolished simply because they disagree and oppose the rule of Christ.

The work of the house of Joseph (2000-2006) has laid a groundwork of prophetic understanding and has confirmed that the Kingdom of Christ is soon to come.