THE RIVERS – Part 4 – The Good Gold, Bdellium and the Onyx Stone –

THE RIVERS
Part 4

THE GOOD GOLD
BDELLIUM and The ONYX STONE

The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; (Genesis 2:11)
And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.
(Genesis 2:12)

INTRODUCTION

   Part 1 is about the WHY . . . Why we are in this particular section of Scripture. Part 2 is about the WHAT and the WHO is the River. Part 3 is WHO and WHAT is Pison, and WHO and WHAT is Havilah? Part 4 is unknown to me at this point, but I KNOW that the Holy Spirit of God will lead . . . fear NOT little ones, He is faithful and true.
   The only wise advice that I can dispense is to simply write: READ the previous articles. The following is our current study section of Genesis 2:10 – 2:14 and we will be concentrating on, And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone. (Genesis 2:12)

—–♦—–
Our Current STUDY Section

The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; (Genesis 2:11) And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone. (Genesis 2:12)

✂ ———- ❖ ———- ✂
And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. (Genesis 2:10)
The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; (Genesis 2:11)
And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.(Genesis 2:12)
And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. (Genesis 2:13)
And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates. (Genesis 2:14)
✂ ———- ❖ ———- ✂

—–◆—–

THE GOLD IS GOOD
There is BDELLIUM and The ONYX STONE
And the gold of that land is good:
there is bdellium and the onyx stone.
(Genesis 2:12)

   We have finally come to the theme of The Good Gold of the land where there is bdellium and the onyx stone. Pison describes the pure Eternal Everlasting Life Giving River of God that flows from the throne of God and of the Lamb (And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. Revelation 22:1) and describes His divine nature as THE FIRST and His SOVEREIGNTY as the Ancient of Days and as THE HEAD of all goodness that flows into His earth and into all of His creation.
    It is fitting that Genesis 2:11 and 12 closes with the HOLINESS of GOD. Havilah does not represent goodness; it is Pison that represents goodness and the metal known as gold symbolizes the goodness and beauty of holiness. Scripture joins the metal gold to spiritual goodness. God’s throne and the pure river of water of life is SEALED through the purity of Holiness and Righteousness because of the Lamb, the Lamb of sacrifice, the blood of the ONE who sits on the throne of God . . . the blood of God . . . the blood of the Holy thing, the blood of the Holy child . . . the blood of the Holy One . . . Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. (Acts 20:28)
   The word gold is first recorded in our study section in Genesis 2:11, and 12. However, the book of Exodus mentions gold more than any other book of the Bible in 80 verses, for a total of ninety-six (96) mentions. Why the book of Exodus? This second book is saturated with the construction of the Tabernacle in the wilderness and with the articles, materials and design of the clothing and accessories of the priesthood. Gold, therefore, is closely intertwined with practically everything within the Tabernacle. Consequently, gold adds to the theme of the office of priesthood. As Gold, Priesthood, Glory and Holiness and the holy garments of Priesthood belongs ONLY to God’s High Heavenly Priest, Melchisedec, so the gold and the holy garments that were designed and made for Aaron, Israel’s first earthly high priest, were specifically constructed to reveal the things in God’s heavenly sanctuary. Read all of Exodus Chapter 28 and Chapter 39.
   Aaron wore a crown made of pure gold, as a plate, a solid piece of gold engraved with the words HOLINESS TO THE LORD. And thou shalt make a plate [of] pure gold, and grave upon it, [like] the engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO THE LORD. (Exodus 28:36) And they made the plate of the holy crown [of] pure gold, and wrote upon it a writing, [like to] the engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO THE LORD. (Exodus 39:30) This first earthly priest of Israel wore a crown, a crown of a king to display priestly holiness . . . this dual role and position was the role and position that Lucifer drooled over, this dual position and office was at the core of the first WAR in God’s heavenly and holy realm. CLICK HERE for more about the war in heaven. CLICK HERE for even more.   
    This crown brought together the stately crown of sovereignty with the heavenly crown of holiness. Thus, Aaron represented the unification of the ONENESS of the SOVEREIGNTY of God in His glorious PURITY of spiritual perfection. How can any earthly mortal describe the spiritual perfection of our GOD? Yet, in the book designed (Exodus) by our Creator God, through His Spirit, God deemed that man should be exposed to the truth of His ONENESS through a crown. A crown of gold, a crown fit for a KING and worn by a PRIEST. Here is the ultimate and supreme KING, and here is the ultimate and supreme PRIEST and of course, the Holy Spirit of God placed it in the number of perfection, the number seven. It matters not that numbers were added many decades after the Scriptures were written because NOTHING is IMPOSSIBLE with God. God KNOWS all that will transpire in the time frame of man’s history simply (or not so simply) because mankind lives in time, but God moves regardless of time since He controls time for the specific purpose to accomplish His plans for the fullness of time. But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law. (Galatians 4:4) Since there is no such thing as biblical coincidence the seventh Chapter of the book of Hebrews unites the supreme King of peace with the perfection of the King of righteousness where the Perfect King of glory is manifested in the Perfect Priest of glory, Melchisedec.

For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him; (Hebrews 7:1)
To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace; (Hebrews 7:2)
Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually. (Hebrews 7:3)
Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils. (Hebrews 7:4)

   Scripture informs the reader that there is ONLY ONE who is both Priest and King and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Consider this prophecy of a Priest upon the throne of a King in Zechariah Chapter 6, verse 13. And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD: (Zechariah 6:12) Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both. (Zechariah 6:13) Priesthood and Kingship in One Person is revealed in Christ, and Priesthood and Kingship is revealed in Melchisedec. From Genesis 14:18 to Hebrews 7:1 and 2 this role and position of Priest and King is clearly placed IN Christ as BOTH PRIEST AND KING. For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him; (Hebrews 7:1) To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace; (Hebrews 7:2) And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. (Genesis 14:18)
   The HOLINESS and RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD is truly above and beyond ALL understanding. Therefore, the Holy Spirit of God once again turns to Scripture basics in The Law of First Mention, progressive revelation, and symbolism. How will God the Holy Spirit present the Divine Nature of God’s Holiness to bumbling, fumbling babies? What is HOLINESS? Only Scripture through the written word of God can the holiness of God be described, and it is only through the Living word of God is holiness manifested. Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? (Exodus 15:11)
   The thrice Holy LORD of hosts is proclaimed in Isaiah Chapter 6, verse 3, And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. Through the last book of the Bible, the thrice holy God is connected to the worthy Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. Christ is the express image of the holy God seen through the words of eternity . . . which was, and is, and is to come . . . who liveth for ever and ever.

● And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. (Revelation 4:8)
And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, (Revelation 4:9)
The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, (Revelation 4:10)
Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. (Revelation 4:11)
● Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. (Revelation 5:12)

   Holiness is described in Scripture as pure, fine, beautiful, and glorious. Both the Old Testament and the New Testament present the LORD God speaking of His decree that His people, His sons should be holy. This divine command decree’s Be ye holy; for I am holy. It is not in man’s nature to be holy, but Holiness IS the divine nature of God. Through the following verses there is the essence of sanctification, the perfecting of holiness in the fear of God, the understanding of clean and unclean, and being partakers of His holiness, and those with a heart at peace with God and with the spirit of holiness will see the Lord.

● Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. (2nd Corinthians 7:1)
● For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. (1st Thessalonians 4:7)
● For they verily for a few days chastened [us] after their own pleasure; but he for [our] profit, that [we] might be partakers of his holiness. (Hebrews 12:10)
● Follow peace with all [men], and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: (Hebrews 12:14)

—–◆—–
GOD REIGNS
in the Mountain of HOLINESS,
in GOODNESS, and in JUSTICE
Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; (Genesis 2:11) And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone. (Genesis 2:12)

   Havilah and his brothers, and Joktan, his father, and all in anguish as in travail pain continually fight against their Creator God. If you read the previous article, then you understand what I am writing about . . . if not CLICK HERE.  The enemies of God may have a land, a territory, a town, a city, a castle, a nation, or even the entire earth, but there is ONE CONSTANT, the FIRSTNESS, the SOVEREIGNTY, the GOODNESS and the HOLINESS of God REIGNS OVER ALL. That is the message and the lesson within Genesis 2:11 and 12.

● Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice: and let [men] say among the nations, The LORD reigneth. (1st Corinthians 16:31)
● The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; the LORD is clothed with strength, [wherewith] he hath girded himself: the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved. (Psalm 93:1)
● Say among the heathen [that] the LORD reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: he shall judge the people righteously. (Psalm 96:10)
● The LORD reigneth; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad [thereof]. (Psalm 97:1)
● The LORD reigneth; let the people tremble: he sitteth [between] the cherubims; let the earth be moved. (Psalm 99:1)
● God reigneth over the heathen: God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness. (Psalm 47:8)

   Holiness, Goodness and Justice are three aspects of a Righteous God that mankind is not familiar with. How can mankind rule in holiness, goodness, and in justice when mankind cannot live in holiness, goodness and justice. Unrepentant man is unholy, unclean, there is NOTHING GOOD within man, nor does man desire justice. These three elements are contained in the Divine nature of the Almighty God. Mankind does not seek that which is above his own evil malicious nature.
   The Almighty God, the Designer and Creator of the UNSEEN and SEEN universe resides in a celestial realm of Justice at the highest level of Holiness called The Mountain of His Holiness.

● <<A Song [and] Psalm for the sons of Korah.>> Great [is] the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, [in] the mountain of his holiness. (Psalm 48:1)
● Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; As yet they shall use this speech in the land of Judah and in the cities thereof, when I shall bring again their captivity; The LORD bless thee, O habitation of justice, [and] mountain of holiness. (Jeremiah 31:23)

   Ezekiel Chapter 28, verses 14 and 16 describes The Mountain of His Holiness as a place of Justice through the words the stones of fire. You may ask, Why does the celestial holy realm of God require stones of fire? Since God IS HOLY, why is there a need for justice? Simply because since GOD ONLY IS HOLY there is a need for justice. God KNEW this BEFORE the beginning of creation.

● Thou [art] the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee [so]: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. (Ezekiel 28:14)
● By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. (Ezekiel 28:16)

   Not all angels are musically inclined, I mean, not all angelic beings play harps. There are angels who go forth ministering the word of God, and there are angels who go forth wielding the sword of justice. It is because GOD IS HOLY that He requires that His holiness be protected from that which is unholy. Why did God place Cherubims and a flaming sword at the entrance to the tree of life in Eden?

And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: (Genesis 3:22)
Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. (Genesis 3:23)
So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. (Genesis 3:24)

   Why were there two angels there in the tomb with Christ? They were there to protect the Holiness of God from any unclean element either from the unwanted presence of sinful man or the unwanted presence of the sin originator, Lucifer/Satan, while Christ slept the sleep of death, and as He preached to the spirits in prison from the rebellious old world.

For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: (1st Peter 3:18)
By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; (1st Peter 3:19)
Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. (1st Peter 3:20)

    Since the Lord Jesus Christ was/is the express image of THE righteous and holy God on earth, He was also the express image of The Righteous and Holy God in the heavens. Holiness is always a threat to the unclean as those who are unclean are threats to those who are of the holy brethren.
   The Tabernacle in the wilderness exposed holiness as that which can neither be viewed nor touched by sin, except sin approach the holiness of God bearing the BLOOD sacrifice of the burnt offering through fire.
   The stones of fire of Ezekiel 28:14 and 16 existed BEFORE the creation of man. The stones of fire (the Judgment and Justice of a Holy God) existed BEFORE the mountains were brought forth, and BEFORE the earth and the world was formed. (Psalm 90:2) The stones of fire existed BEFORE Lucifer stood beside the Lord Jesus Christ (as Melchisedec in God’s holy mountain) resisting the Son of God as the express image of the invisible God. How do we know this? We know this because in Zechariah Chapter 3, the Holy Spirit provides a glimpse to that scene in the Sanctuary, the Holy Throne room of God.
   In Zechariah Chapter 3, ten verses describe the UNSEEN world through the prism of time of the SEEN world. Joshua, (Jehoshua, Savior, Jesus) is the connection not only to the Lord Jesus Christ, but it also ties the heavenly High Priest of God (Melchisedec) in the dual role of Priest and King, (King of righteousness and King of peace.) The vision of Zechariah deals with the corruptness of Jerusalem, and the defilement of the earthly priesthood through filthy garments. Again, the Spirit of God places a crown (a mitre) of Kingship upon the head of Priesthood.

And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. (Zechariah 3:1)
And the LORD said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke thee, O Satan; even the LORD that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? (Zechariah 3:2)
Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel. (Zechariah 3:3)
And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment. (Zechariah 3:4)
And I said, Let them set a fair mitre upon his head. So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the LORD stood by. (Zechariah 3:5)
And the angel of the LORD protested unto Joshua, saying, (Zechariah 3:6)
Thus saith the LORD of hosts; If thou wilt walk in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt also judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts, and I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by. (Zechariah 3:7)
Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH. (Zechariah 3:8)
For behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua; upon one stone shall be seven eyes: behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. (Zechariah 3:9)
In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, shall ye call every man his neighbour under the vine and under the fig tree. (Zechariah 3:10)

   These ten verses are set in God’s divine order based on the happenings in the spiritual realm BEFORE there was an earthly man called Joshua, and BEFORE Lucifer was given the name of Satan, and BEFORE the man called the BRANCH (Christ Jesus) was sent forth to the earth. Why? This pre-creation scene in Zechariah Chapter 3 is seen through Light and Truth as two parallel events separated by time and timelessness but joined together as one in the Person of the Great Revealer, the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, Why? To reveal to the searcher of truth that BEFORE the foundation of the world, the Savior, (Jesus) was the express image of the invisible God BEFORE the His works of old. Proverbs Chapter 8 presents the wisdom of God in the PERSON of Jesus the Christ BEFORE time, BEFORE the mountains were settled, BEFORE the hills were formed, and even BEFORE time. BEFORE our natural world existed there was a spiritual world and in that spiritual realm CHRIST JESUS, YES, JESUS (SAVIOR) had presence.

● The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. (Proverbs 8:22)
● Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth: (Proverbs 8:25)
● Then I was by him, [as] one brought up [with him]: and I was daily [his] delight, rejoicing always before him; (Proverbs 8:30)

   Chapter 3 of the book of Zechariah presents Joshua, (Jehoshua, Savior, Jesus) as not only BEFORE all things, but He was and is the Creator of all things. He was and is the beginning of the creation of God. And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. (Colossians 1:17) Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. (John 17:24) CLICK HERE for more about the beginning of the creation of God. What has this to do with the stones of fire and the holy mountain of God?

   Being creatures of time and space, it is almost impossible to think outside of the realms of time and space. Being but dust, covered by the skin of death, it is almost impossible to see the LIFE and LIGHT of glory and beauty. Within our bodies of sin and death the uniqueness within our bodies that was created and formed by the Almighty God is unique not only because of our Creator, but it is unique because we are of the world termed ‘natural’ and yet, we are drawn to the spiritual world. At the creation and forming of man, Adam was of both the natural realm and the spiritual realm. Adam became a living soul when God breathed the breath of life into him. That was a tremendous happening: man was given a soul breathed into him by the Almighty God. However, we are now witnesses of man’s hatred for his own soul. The depth of the madness of man cannot not go any lower than the hatred of his own soul, for in hating his own soul man has exposed his rejection of his Creator God.
   Man also received the first commandment by his Creator: obey or die. In the beginning of man’s creation, God had proclaimed THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: (Genesis 2:16) But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (Genesis 2:17) This command was not pulled out of thin air by God for mankind alone. Everything that is of the natural world was FIRST established in the spiritual world. That is an important principle. So, as we, mankind, are under The LAW OF SIN AND DEATH, does that mean the spiritual realm is also under the same law or under a similar law? CLICK HERE for more about The Law of Sin and Death.
   Having lost our approach to a Righteous and Holy God because our father Adam chose to throw away his authority given by his Divine Creator as Federal Head over all the earth. Mankind can never return to that honorable position. Do you see the battle that mankind is engaged with today is based on man’s attempt to regain his position as Federal Head over all the earth outside of God’s authority. Satan and his man of sin called The Beast will never stop their aggression against humanity and against God even after they claim to be God and the Federal Head over all the earth. Mankind can never walk with God again outside of God’s predetermined conditions. Genesis 2:9 reveals two different trees: the tree of life (Christ Jesus), and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The tree that had to be protected from the attacks of sin and corruption was the tree of life. (Consider the tree of life being guarded and protected by the angels at the tomb scene in John 20:12.) Allow me to repeat . . . Why were there two angels there in the tomb with Christ? They were there to protect the Holiness of God from any unclean element either from the unwanted presence of sinful man or the unwanted presence of the sin originator, Lucifer/Satan, while Christ slept the sleep of death. And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. Now, back to the scene in the garden of Eden.

And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: (Genesis 3:22)
Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. (Genesis 3:23)
So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. (Genesis 3:24)

   Adam refused the Tree of Life but instead chose the knowledge of the tree of evil, therefore, mankind lost the blessing and gift of eternal life. And THAT brings us back to the subjects of the stones of fire and the holy mountain of God.
  (Wow, that sure was a long way around the block.) BEFORE man, BEFORE the world was created, BEFORE time and space, GOD established a realm based on HIS HOLINESS, a realm centered around His HOLINESS and RIGHTEOUSNESS and . . . here it is . . . AND around JUDGMENT (JUSTICE).
   Man rejects the judgment of God and because mankind refuses to accept the reality of a JUST GOD man must first reject that there is a GOD. Then the next step in man’s downward denial is to reject that there is a righteous judgment here and now AND yet to come. Part of man’s argument is aided by those who live off the money of others, you know them as ‘Bible scholars’ and ‘higher? critics’ and ‘those of the cloth’ and ‘tinkers of tall tales.’ Man’s weak argument removes Judgment and Justice when hell becomes a non-existent archaic theory because the word hell is not really hell, but ‘in the original manuscript’ hell does not really mean hell. (Where is the original manuscript?) This is classic Debate 101, replace, deny, change the real issue into another similar issue, and you have won the day. Do not allow the other debater to stay on course, change the word, change the definition, change the course, and change the end result. Deception through challenging the words of God began with Lucifer, and continued later on earth by Lucifer in the image of a serpent and in another role as Satan. Deception has one father in many roles. (John 8:44) Remove the reality of hell from mankind and judgment becomes merely a theory, a thought of no consequences. Since in the torn warped mind of rebellious man, the word hell really does not mean hell, then the purpose for hell ceases to exist. This all fits neatly into man’s invalid logic. BUT there is a HELL. There is JUDGMENT. How do I know this? I know this simply because all Scripture is TRUE. Consider the narrative in Luke 16:19-31 falsely called ‘a parable.’ CLICK HERE for more about Luke 16. 

  Let us balance the judgment of angels in the Old and in the New Testaments, for angels have already been judged and they will once more face a greater judgment. For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; (2nd Peter 2:4) And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. (Jude 1:6)
   Three times in the New Testament, past judgment on the angels who had sinned is mentioned, and their future coming judgment is referenced in Matthew Chapter 8, Mark Chapter 5 and in Luke Chapter 8. Many ask where did demons come from? The answer is simple. Lucifer was given the name of Satan (the great dragon, the old serpent, and the Devil) AFTER his failed coup against God, consequently, the angels who had foolishly believed Lucifer were also given other names: demons and/or devils. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. (Revelation 12:9)

And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way. (Matthew 8:28)
And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time? (Matthew 8:29) BEFORE THE TIME? They knew that they had a specific time set by God and known only by God for their FINAL JUDGMENT. They had faced the judgement of being removed from the presence of God into another realm outside of their natural origin. (Remember, that angels cannot die as man dies, but they can experience judgment.)
And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding. (Matthew 8:30)
So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine. (Matthew 8:31)
And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters. (Matthew 8:32)

   In Chapter 8 of the gospel of Luke, we read the following:

When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not. (Luke 8:28)
(For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For oftentimes it had caught him: and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters; and he brake the bands, and was driven of the devil into the wilderness.) (Luke 8:29)
And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name? And he said, Legion: because many devils were entered into him. (Luke 8:30)
And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep. (Luke 8:31) These devils greatly feared THE DEEP. The last mention of the phrase INTO THE DEEP connects to death (as man understands death). Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) (Romans 10:7) As man faces natural death, he also will face a second death; the angels who rebelled also faced judgment, and they will yet face their final judgment.

   There is a primary principle in Scripture that ALL events in man’s realm FIRST occurs in the spiritual realm. As the angels who rebelled were first removed from the presence of God they shall also face another judgment, a FINAL and LAST judgment, and consider this . . . an EVERLASTING judgment. As man was given the first command of The Law of Sin and Death, so also FIRSTLY, those in the heavenly spiritual realm were also given a commandment: sin and judgment. Now, in case anyone asks where is The Law of Sin and Death as it applies to the evil angels? The Law of Sin and Death in Romans 8:2 applies ONLY to MAN because the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made the believer free from the law of sin and death. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. The Law of Sin and Death for angels can be written as The Law of Sin and Destruction since angels cannot die, they, however, can be destroyed. How do I know? By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. (Ezekiel 28:16)
   God’s words to Lucifer, the covering cherub, also applied to all the rogue angels who rebelled fighting as allies and followers of Lucifer. Here is their Law of Sin and Judgment . . . thou hast sinned . . . and I will destroy thee, from the midst of the stones of fire. The rebel angels were NOT and are NOT under the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus because they rejected Christ Jesus who was the beginning of creation. They rejected the visible image of the invisible God. They rejected the GODHEAD bodily. They rejected Melchisedec, the High Priest of God in His Holy Sanctuary. And having rejected and fought against the GODHEAD bodily who wore the Holy crown of Priesthood and Kingship, they (the evil angels) had no right to the three main functions of Melchisedec in His service: redemption, reconciliation and mediation. However, there is also another function of Melchisedec, but it is not functionary, it is through LOVES, and that is worship. They (the evil angels) had already refused to worship their Creator God, the Lord of Lords, and King of Kings, the Lord Jesus Christ. We often forget that the angels were judged because they had rebelled against God . . . they had ALREADY rejected Christ as the visible image of the invisible God. I know I am repeating, but this is important. It is easy to say that the angels rebelled, but we rarely state what they rebelled against. THEY REBELLED AGAINST GOD AND AGAINST HIS CHRIST AND AGAINST THE KING OF RIGHTEOUSNESS AND THE KING OF PEACE (Melchisedec). Consequently, there is no forgiveness nor redemption applicable for the rebels from the realm of the mountain of God. God judged then and God judges now, and God will continue to judge from the midst of the stones of fire.
   Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly: (Job 4:18) The word folly has changed through time and through man’s hatred for truth into any form or act of foolishness. However, the word folly takes in criminal acts of evil and wickedness. Folly is NEITHER archaic NOR obsolete. Man may lightly treat the word folly, however, NO ANGEL treats folly lightly. Both sides of the conflict in heaven KNOW that the Holy Mountain of God is paved with the stones of fire.
   I will again state that man in the natural world was given The Law of Sin and Death through a decree by God. There is also a similar Law in the spiritual world expressly for Lucifer and the treacherous angels who share his condemnation. It is The Law of Sin and Destruction . . . thou hast sinned . . . and I will destroy thee, from the midst of the stones of fire. However, these laws may be similar but there is a major difference in that mankind has been set free from The Law of Sin and Death through The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. To those who have the Spirit of Christ within, there is NOW NO CONDEMNATION. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (Romans 8:1) For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:2) There is NO avenue for Lucifer or for his agents to be released from their condemnation. Their judgment was permanently set when they rejected and resisted Christ and the Spirit of Christ Jesus. Life or death, obey and live, disobey and receive the wrath of God . . . whether in the spiritual realm or the natural realm this line in the sand of time and timelessness never changes. Whether in the celestial realm or the natural realm, God has never played games with His creation. From His angelic beings to His terrestrial beings His decree has always simply been LIFE or DEATH . . . OBEY or face JUDGMENT . . . OBEY or DIE. The voice of the Spirit of God clearly majestically resounds with His merciful cry . . . therefore choose life . . . choose you this day whom ye will serve.

● See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; (Deuteronomy 30:15)
● I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: (Deuteronomy 30:19).
● And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that [were] on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. (Joshua 24:15) So, also, John 3:36, simply states the verdict from the stones of fire (The Supreme Court of the Universe) He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

   Let us move forward from the GOODNESS, HOLINESS, and RIGHTEOUSNESS of the GOLD of the land that is GOOD which is the Throne Room of the Sanctuary of High to the theme of bdellium and the onyx stone.

—–◆—–
BDELLIUM
And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.(Genesis 2:12)

   Again, the Holy Spirit of God does not abandon the reader, but He leads us to follow the breadcrumbs (little bits of spiritual food) that He placed throughout Scripture for instruction in righteousness. The word bdellium is mentioned only twice in Scripture.

1. And the gold of that land [is] good: there [is] bdellium and the onyx stone. (Genesis 2:12)
2. And the manna [was] as coriander seed, and the colour thereof as the colour of bdellium. (Numbers 11:7)

   Of course, the first mention is in Genesis 2:12 (notice the numbers in this address) . . . 2 – 1 – 2. The witness of God begins the address and the witness of God ends the address. However holding the witness of God together in truth is God Himself through the number 1. The testimony and the evidence of Scripture is secured to the Godhead bodily in grace and truth. What shall we find in the second and last mention of the word bdellium? In the book of Numbers, Chapter 11, verse 7, bdellium is tied to manna, coriander seed, and a color. And the manna [was] as coriander seed, and the colour thereof as the colour of bdellium.
   There are 20 mentions of the word manna within 17 verse references. Everyone knows about the story of the manna in the Old Testament. Notice how the numbers break down into a theme. There are 12 mentions of manna in the Old Testament. How appropriate. There are 5 mentions of manna in the New Testament. Again . . . how appropriate. Twelve represents the nation of Israel through their tribes, and the number five represents Grace . . .  For the law was given by Moses, [but] grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. (John 1:17) As we venture now into another underlying theme, the theme of manna, do not forget our bdellium springboard. It’s OK to take notes to aid you in following the bread crumbs.
    Let us consider each reference of manna. Each mention of manna reveals more about Christ. Seriously consider the words of the Lord Jesus Christ to his followers before His ascension in Luke 24:44, And he said unto them, These [are] the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and [in] the prophets, and [in] the psalms, concerning me. The Old Testament introduces God to man. It lays the foundation to His appearance later in man’s history as Jesus, the Savior, the Redeemer, the Counsellor, The everlasting Father and The Prince of Peace.

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)
Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this. (Isaiah 9:7)

   Manna is just one of many physical and supernatural facets of the promised Messiah to come revealed in the New Testament through the Old Testament. As we move from each mention to the next mention, think along these lines: the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to [give] the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6) The Bible is ONE book because God is ONE, the Old Testament cannot be separated from the New Testament because they are united together as ONE . . . ONE GOD, ONE BOOK, ONE SAVIOR. Ready, Set, Go and Onward to the theme of Manna.

MANNA
The Twelve Mentions in the Old Testament

1. And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground. (Exodus 16:14)
   And when the children of Israel saw [it], they said one to another, It [is] manna: for they wist not what it [was]. And Moses said unto them, This [is] the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat. (Exodus 16:15)
   A totally NEW food, NEVER seen nor eaten by man before provided by God to replace bread. The Hebrew word for manna means ‘a what’? Through these verses we see Christ (the Living Bread) first manifested to the children of Israel as a SMALL thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground. SMALL in size. The Holy Spirit compares it to hoarfrost, crystallized ice particles, at first it is almost invisible to the natural eye until the warm rays from the SON (sun) reveals it presence. Consider that SMALL holy thing placed into Mary’s womb by the power of the Holy Ghost. And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. (Luke 1:35)

2. And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna: and it [was] like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it [was] like wafers [made] with honey. (Exodus 16:31) Like coriander seed, but NOT coriander seed. White, as in purity. A thin cake with honey. (Exodus 16:31) The word like is important. This unknown bread/food was LIKE coriander seed, but it was NOT coriander seed. Why the distinction? All connects to Christ, even the description of Manna connects to Christ. Christ was made in the likeness of men, and Christ was sent by God in the likeness of sinful flesh BUT there was NO sin in or on Christ for He was sinless. Christ was made in the likeness of men BUT He was not man He was not of Adam; He was not of the Adamic curse. He was HOLY, the holy thing, the holy child, the Holy One. CLICK HERE for more about the holy thing, the holy child, the Holy One.

● For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: (Romans 8:3)
● But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: (Philippians 2:7)
And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. (Philippians 2:8)

   This unknown bread/food was LIKE the taste of wafers with honey, but it was NOT wafers with honey.

● O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. (Psalm 34:8)
● For [it is] impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, (Hebrews 6:4)
And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, (Hebrews 6:5)
● If so be ye have tasted that the Lord [is] gracious. (1st Peter 2:3)

   After having tasted the goodness of God and once enlightened by the good word of God the partaker can never again enjoy nor be enriched by anything other than that which flows from the spirit, heart and mind of God through Christ. Here in the second mention of Manna, Christ is seen as the PURITY and the GOODNESS of God and as THE HEAVENLY GIFT of GOD. God used the visual and the sensory system of taste to enable the children of Israel to appreciate God’s gracious gift to them.

3. And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a pot, and put an omer full of manna therein, and lay it up before the LORD, to be kept for your generations. (Exodus 16:33) As the LORD commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept. (Exodus 16:34)
   Manna was placed and preserved in a pot as a memorial for the generations that followed. Placed in a container FULL of manna to be KEPT AND PRESERVED for the generations of Jesus Christ. As God the Father was and is the SOURCE of all goodness and blessings, so the Lord Jesus Christ is the well, the container, the vessel, the conduit and the pot that is FULL of the GODHEAD. Manna was not only placed in a pot but notice another first mention: the Testimony. Aaron per instructions from Moses and Moses per instructions from the Lord placed it IN the Ark of the Covenant. As the LORD commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept. Notice the capitalization of the word Testimony. What or who was this Testimony? In the Old Testament the phrase the testimony is recorded 32 times throughout 31 verses. In the New Testament this phrase is recorded 12 times throughout 11 verses. As Manna symbolized Christ, so also the Testimony also symbolized Christ as the Voice, the Evidence, and the Proof of the UNSEEN God. As Manna reflected God’s natural and supernatural provision for His own, thus manna reflected the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ AND manna also reflected the witness and the testimony of God through the words of His Son, Jesus Christ. Through the THIRD Chapter of the gospel of John in verses 10, 11, and 12 we see the testimony of Christ Jesus to Nicodemus vividly unveiling His Deity, His Oneness, and His Person as the Godhead bodily. Notice the words WE speak, WE do know, WE have seen, and OUR witness.

Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? (John 3:10)
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. (John 3:11)
If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? (John 3:12)

   As the manna was laid up in a pot and placed into the Ark as a witness, a TESTIMONY to the children of Israel (although it was unseen by all except the high priest Aaron) the manna nevertheless existed in a container and this container pot became ONE with the Ark: unseen, hidden from the eyes of man WITHIN the very heart of the Ark. Does this not speak of this New Testament revelation of the ONENESS of the Deity of the LORD Jesus Christ. This fantastic description by the Holy Spirit of God of the GODHEAD bodily through the word manna in Exodus 16:32, 33 has no equal. He (the Holy Spirit being part of the unification of the Godhead) is the Grand Master of spiritual organic wordspeak. John Chapter 10, verse 30 is the Manna in a pot IN the Ark of the Covenant. I and [my] Father are one.

● And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we [are]. (John 17:11)
● That they all may be one; as thou, Father, [art] in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. (John 17:21)

   In the New Testament, the witness of the Manna, the bread of life, is the True Testimony of God. Christ testified of the GOODNESS of God (the GOLD), He testified of the RIVER of God from the throne of God. He was The Testimony of God and for God. I speak . . . I speak . . . I speak . . . I speak . . . I speak. (The words I speak occur nine (9) (John 6:63; 7:17; 8:26, 28, 38; 12:50; 13:18; 14:10; 17:13) times in the gospels and ONLY once in the gospel of John, the gospel of the Spirit, and since nine is the number of finality it then relates to the last time that God would speak to the world through His Testimony, the Lord Jesus Christ during His earthly manifestation on earth.)

● I have many things to say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him. (John 8:26)
● Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am [he], and [that] I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. (John 8:28)
● I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father. (John 8:38)
● And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak. (John 12:50)

   Now back to the Old Testament and the ark of the testimony. As the Ark of the Covenant was also called The Ark of the Testimony, it solidifies the ONENESS of the Godhead bodily in the New Testament in the book of Colossians 2:9.

● And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee. (Exodus 25:16)
● And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. (Exodus 25:21)
● And he took and put the testimony into the ark, and set the staves on the ark, and put the mercy seat above upon the ark: (Exodus 40:20)
And he brought the ark into the tabernacle, and set up the vail of the covering, and covered the ark of the testimony; as the LORD commanded Moses. (Exodus 40:21)

   The phrase ark of the testimony is only recorded in the Old Testament. However, in the New Testament this phrase is not used because the Lord Jesus Christ is disclosed as being The Ark, and The Testimony in physical form. Also, I remind you that Christ referred to Himself as also being The Temple of God.

• But I say unto you, That in this place is [one] greater than the temple. (Matthew 12:6)
• Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. (John 2:19)
Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? (John 2:20)
But he spake of the temple of his body. (John 2:21)

   Symbolism and typology are amazing examples within Hebrews 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets. God the Holy Spirit perfects the use of in divers manners through symbolism: manna, small thing, like coriander seed, pot, and the Testimony. Christians should not be afraid to seek the face of Christ and the testimony of Jesus in the word of His power. We do err not knowing the Scripture nor the power of God to learn about the ONE with ALL power. Since Christ spoke of Himself in symbolic terms why do we run from spiritual symbolism? Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Since Christ spoke of HIMSELF in the Old Testament, then why do many run from reading the Old Testament? And he said unto them, These [are] the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and [in] the prophets, and [in] the psalms, concerning me. (Luke 24:44) Since Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, then why do many listen to other voices concerning prophecy? And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See [thou do it] not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. (Revelation 19:10)
   There is much more that can be written about the manna in the pot and the Testimony. Why don’t you write what I have left unwritten. Now onward to the fourth mention of manna.

4. And the children of Israel did eat manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan. (Exodus 16:35) Manna was supplied by God for forty years UNTIL the children of Israel arrived at the border of the land of Canaan. A food source so pure without any contaminates mixed into its properties that man thrived. Here we see the Great Provider, the Great Care Giver, and the Great Sustainer over the children of Israel. Notice that manna was supplied for forty years, forty is the number of trial. Their journey was an ordeal and a challenge where they failed many times to remain faithful to God. During those forty years ALL who came out of Egypt died except for two men: Joshua and Caleb. Those who saw the land of Canaan were of another generation. A generation without an actual Egyptian slavery experience. They never felt the whip on their backs, nor the hatred of their masters. However, during their wilderness experience they wore the evidence of God’s divine sustenance and care . . . they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not. There was not one shopping mall spotted in all of their travels. There was not one grocery store, or even a garage sale sighted. Here was a people being prepared for nationalism without a visible economy, however, they did have military in training, and a godly military leader in Joshua. What held this group of wanderers together was not economics, nor a military, nor even a so-called elected form of representation, but the center and the glue that drove them into the unknown was GOD. Forty years God had kept the children of Israel ISOLATED and SEPARATED from the ungodly and deadly corrupted people on the other side of every mountain. Behind every corner lurked men like Balaam and Balak who conspired to destroy and annihilate these former slaves of Egypt attempting to RETURN to their homeland. (What’s new?) Today there are many more men and women lurking behind podcasts, news organizations, financial board rooms, and in political dungeons of doom plotting and planning as Balaam and Balak conspired together to annihilate EVERY Jew on this planet under the guise of moral and righteous cleansing.

● Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not. (Nehemiah 9:21)
● For the LORD thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: he knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the LORD thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing. (Deuteronomy 2:7)
● Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years. (Deuteronomy 8:4)
● And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot. (Deuteronomy 29:5)
Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink: that ye might know that I am the LORD your God. (Deuteronomy 29:6)

   God wanted the children of Israel to remember that it was GOD ALONE who kept them and protected them from the unseen threats hiding on the mountain tops and sustained them from the ceaseless, endless wasteland of swirling sand. Through it all THEY LACKED NOTHING while on the trail of trial.
   And the children of Israel did eat manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan. (Exodus 16:35) Now how does this relate to our Lord Jesus Christ? This is history and prophecy melded together. Now read and observe how the Holy Spirit of God draws history together through three simple words . . . did eat manna. Four verses contain five mentions of did eat manna.

● Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. (John 6:31)
● Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. (John 6:49)
● This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever. (John 6:58) Why five mentions? GRACE! The number five is the number of grace.

   Not only does the fourth mention of manna in Scripture meld history to history but it melds history to prophecy. As Christ symbolically used the temple, He also symbolically used manna to spiritually express His POWER and GRACE to create life and to sustain life as the SUPREME BREAD OF GOD. The LORD Jesus Christ is the literal, factual, BREAD OF GOD, and in this He also takes on the symbolic imagery as the BREAD OF GOD; thus, He joins both the UNSEEN and SEEN worlds together in Himself. ALL is united together in Him . . . ALL IN ALL. And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, (Ephesians 1:22) Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. (Ephesians 1:23)

   Since there is much more yet to come through the mention of manna in the gospel of John in the New Testament, we will break off here at this point in this article. Let us move on to the fifth mention of manna in the Old Testament in Numbers 11:6..

5. But now our soul [is] dried away: [there is] nothing at all, beside this manna, [before] our eyes. (Numbers 11:6) This rebellious people did not recognize the significance that their survival depended on God’s daily provision. The children of Israel complained about the manna; they despised the Lord for giving them manna. The fifth (Grace) mention of manna discloses man (the number six) as rebellious, conflicted, and rejecting the grace of God. (Through this fifth number we have the negative number of five. CLICK HERE for more about negative numbers.) Man has always been a discontented creature. The nature of man is inherently AGAINST His Creator God.
   As God was rejected by Israel during their wanderings after Egypt, AND also during their national preeminence throughout the age of the kings, and during their return to Jerusalem, so also Christ was rejected at His birth, during His ministry on earth and during His four court room appearances. Christ is rejected now even as He sits on the throne in the heavens. He will be rejected as King over the earth when He descends to sit on His throne in Jerusalem, consider this battle in Revelation Chapter 19. After His thousand-year reign, He will again face physical rejection by the nations of the world. Although the nations will lack nothing under  the LORD’s righteous  reign, man and nations cannot stand to have their Creator God rule in righteousness over them. Consider the first rejection of God by Adam and Eve in the garden of plenty when they lacked nothing.

   Through the symbolism of manna when the children of God despised the manna remember that there was a mixed multitude of people intermingled among the children of God who in their hearts and minds never left Egypt behind. And the mixt multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? (Numbers 11:4) We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick: (Numbers 11:5) But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes. (Numbers 11:6) Mankind cannot be content with the goodness of God. As Lucifer was not content to be placed in the highest honored position as the covering cherub, man also has been instilled with the spirit of Satan, the spirit of discontent.
   This fifth mention in Numbers 11:6 shows that both the mixed multitude and the children of Israel rejected God’s grace and goodness. This ties Christ Jesus with the despised manna. Isaiah Chapter 53:3 and sets man’s dried soul before the world for all to see: He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were [our] faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

● Thus saith the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the LORD that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee. (Isaiah 49:7)
● He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. (John 1:10)
He came unto his own, and his own received him not. (John 1:11)

   This 11th Chapter of the book of Numbers discloses disorder, joylessness, and disgruntled people moaning over their loss of fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely (the only reason that is was FREE was because they caught the fish themselves) they forgot that they had been slaves and so they moaned over . . . cucumbers . . . melons . . . leeks . . . onions . . . and garlick.

(Mini Side Note: number eleven is associated with imperfection, and/or chaos, disorder, inner conflict, anarchy, discontent, and some form of disorganization. Genesis 36:40-43; Jeremiah 34:2; Judges 16:5; Judges 17:2. ◆ End of Mini Side Note). 

   I suggest that you read ALL of Chapter 11 of the book of Numbers, the fourth (4th) book of the Bible. (I repeat . . . four is the number of man, earth dwellers), Although the 11th Chapter of Numbers is rich with spiritual themes and lessons, nevertheless, let us continue on to the sixth mention of manna.

6. And the manna [was] as coriander seed, and the colour thereof as the colour of bdellium. (Numbers 11:7) This is our study verse, the last mention of bdellium in Scripture. This new and unknown food source was compared to an herbal seed, and the color of bdellium. Through this seventh verse in Chapter 11 we have another picture or view of the Lord Jesus Christ. This earthly manna from heaven disclosed the spiritual heavenly Manna that was sent to earth in the manifested form of the sinless Jesus Christ. In this sixth verse following the theme of manna, it is first described as a seed, and so Christ was a seed . . . He was THE SEED . . . the promised seed to Abraham . . . the SEED to come . . . . Before we go on, notice the numbers: the sixth mention of manna, in the 11th Chapter and in the 7th verse. Six (the number of man), eleventh Chapter (state of discontentedness, chaos, inner conflict, anarchy), and seven, the number of God’s Divine Perfection, thus, tying together that in man’s state of discontentedness, God revealed His Divine Perfection through His goodness by providing manna, the bread of life. You can’t make this stuff up!! All scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: (2nd Timothy 3:16) ALL within the written word of God (numbers and words) IS GIVEN BY INSPIRATION OF GOD.

● As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever. (Luke 1:55)
● Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was? (John 7:42)
● Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. (Galatians 3:16)
●Wherefore then [serveth] the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; [and it was] ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. (Galatians 3:19)

   After the word seed, the next description is in the colour of bdellium. This is the color of mystery. Some say it is gold, others say it is brownish, some say it ranges from red to brown. Through this unknown and mystery color we see the Lord Jesus Christ. Consider the many colors in the coat of Joseph, and the many colors associated with Christ in the robes of the earthly high priest Aaron in the Tabernacle in the wilderness, and the various robes of color placed on Christ during His court room appearances.       The mystery colors of light, energy and power in the colors of amber, burnished brass, beryl, and terrible crystal is seen in the UNSEEN and in the SEEN divine nature of the Godhead through the divine power of God. The aurora borealis or northern lights is just one example of light, energy and the power of God that surrounds our planet revealing the many forces of energy that exist outside our natural domain. Yes, the stars sing, and the planets echo power, and our galaxy constantly moves and expands with the spirit of life. From the witness of the bow of God in our skies to the northern lights ALL are witnesses of the glory of God.

● And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness [was] about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire. (Ezekiel 1:4)
● And their feet [were] straight feet; and the sole of their feet [was] like the sole of a calf’s foot: and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass. (Ezekiel 1:7)
● The appearance of the wheels and their work [was] like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work [was] as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel. (Ezekiel 1:16)
● And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature [was] as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above. (Ezekiel 1:22)

   Through the many divine colors of Ezekiel Chapter 1 we have the many divine colors within the perfection of God. The book of Job is saturated with the excellent power of God in judgment and in justice.[Touching] the Almighty, we cannot find him out: [he is] excellent in power, and in judgment, and in plenty of justice: he will not afflict. (Job 37:23) The Almighty God is beyond all understanding . . . we cannot find him out. Since Christ is the power and the wisdom of God and the visible image of the invisible God, He (Christ) is the complete fulfillment of the ultimate and supreme power of God. It is thus fitting that the earthly manna describes the heavenly Manna, the True BREAD of God as the colour of bdellium.  But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.  (1st Corinthians 1:24)

7. And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it. (Numbers 11:9) First the dew fell and then the manna fell upon the dew. First, the Spirit of God prepared and softened the ground (the earth, the heart) and then the bread from God found a place to enrich and to feed a people with life, the Bread of life.
   First, at the point of darkness, the dew (the Spirit of God) moved upon the face of the darkened waters and God sent Light, the harbinger of life . . . The Bread of life.

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. (Genesis 1:2)
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. (Genesis 1:3)

   God has never been without a plan . . . the foreknowledge of God is without limits that is why God’s foresight is Divine Omniscience. Through God’s determinate counsel within Himself ALL of His majestic glories were and are and yet will be SEEN through His written word and His Living WORD. How truly blessed we are as the seekers of truth through the written words and Living Word of God.

  This 9th verse in Numbers 11 (And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it), is more than biblical history of the trials of the children of Israel in the wilderness. It is prophecy, it is foreknowledge, it is the UNSEEN world melded into the SEEN world. It is the camp of mankind in the darkness of sin. It is the Spirit of God with the truth of the gospel of Christ falling onto a world in darkness. It is the Spirit of God preparing a dark world for The Bread of Life.
   It is Christ as The Bread of Life descending from His throne on high to feed the camp that then was in the wilderness called the wilderness of Sin.

● And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which [is] between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt. (Exodus 16:1)
● And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the LORD, and pitched in Rephidim: and [there was] no water for the people to drink. (Exodus 17:1)
● And they removed from the Red sea, and encamped in the wilderness of Sin. (Numbers 33:11)
And they took their journey out of the wilderness of Sin, and encamped in Dophkah. (Numbers 33:12)

   It is Christ as The Bread of Life descending from His throne on high in His earthly ministry to feed the camp that then was in the wilderness of Sin in the nation of Israel.

● And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full. (Matthew 14:20)
● And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the fishes. (Mark 6:43)
● And they did eat, and were all filled: and there was taken up of fragments that remained to them twelve baskets. (Luke 9:17)
● Therefore they gathered [them] together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten. (John 6:13)

  It is Christ as The Bread of life sending His Spirit of Comfort into the world to feed His Church with The Bread of Life.

● Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. (Acts 20:28)
● Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight [thereof], not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; (1st Peter 5:2)

   This earthly manna in the wilderness of Sin was a prelude, an introduction and a revelation of the heavenly Manna that would in time descend to feed Israel the truth of Himself as their Savior. And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it. (Numbers 11:9) There is yet more about the dew falling upon the camp and the manna that followed. We move from the camp in the wilderness to outside the camp where there is another camp, a camp of the New Testament faithful.

● For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp. (Hebrews 13:11)
● Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. (Hebrews 13:13)

  Notice through the number thirteen we see that Christ was rejected and outside of the camp. He was crucified outside of Jerusalem, on the hill of the skull. And as Christ was rejected, we, Christians, are also rejected and bear His reproach outside the camp.
   That manna that fell on the dew then was a harbinger of the True Bread that would come from heaven over a thousand years later in the express visible form of the invisible God. After God first prepared the way with the dew from heaven, then the manna from heaven fell on the dew from heaven. Compare the dew and the manna along these lines. What was first sent to earth before the conception of Christ? The dew was first sent to prepare the way for the Manna. The Holy Spirit (the Spiritual dew) sent John the Baptist (the earthly dew) to prepare the way for the True Bread, the True Manna in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

● There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. (John 1:6)  The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. (John 1:7) He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. (John 1:8) That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. (John 1:9)
● And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; (Luke 1:76) To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, (Luke 1:77)
● For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. (Matthew 11:10)

   There was and is another night of darkness in the New Testament when the dew fell upon the camp in the night. Consider the dew symbolic of the Spirit of God falling (coming down to the earth) to bring tidings of the coming Manna, the Bread of Life. The UNSEEN dew was symbolic of the UNSEEN Holy Spirit, while the visible dew was symbolic of John the Baptist preparing the way for the True Bread of Life IN the Lord Jesus Christ.

● And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, (Luke 1:67) Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, (Luke 1:68)
● And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; (Luke 1:76)
To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, (Luke 1:77)
Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, (Luke 1:78)
To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. (Luke 1:79)
And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel. (Luke 1:80)

   During the period of great darkness, a world that had rejected the knowledge of God and without the visible image of the invisible God, they did not have the way to approach God. The night of the New Testament was preceded by the night of the Old Testament. Although the manna of the Old Testament had sustained the returning pilgrims from Egypt, as the manna was placed in a pot for their remembrance, the UNSEEN manna slipped away from their memories and from their history, and from their understanding and became an imaginary relic of forgotten time.
   When the Manna appeared in the night of the New Testament it was still to them an unknown thing as it had first been seen in Exodus 16:15. The Hebrew word for manna means ‘a what’? And when the children of Israel saw [it], they said one to another, It [is] manna: for they wist not what it [was]. And Moses said unto them, This [is] the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat.
   As Christ proclaimed that He was the Bread of life, and the bread from heaven in the 6th Chapter of John, the Jews and the people could not connect His bodily presence with the manna in the wilderness with Moses. (John 6:35, 41, 48, 51)

● And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? (John 1:19)
● Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? (John 1:22)
● Then said they unto him, Who art thou? And Jesus saith unto them, Even [the same] that I said unto you from the beginning. (John 8:25)
● And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? (Matthew 21:10)
● And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone? (Luke 5:21)
● And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also? (Luke 7:49)
● And Herod said, John have I beheaded: but who is this, of whom I hear such things? And he desired to see him. (Luke 9:9)
● The people answered him, We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth for ever: and how sayest thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? who is this Son of man? (John 12:34)

   Throughout the Lord’s ministry while on earth, He constantly and consistently spoke of Himself as being from above, of not being of the earth, and as the voice of God, the testimony of God, the witness of God, the power of God, the wisdom of God, and the most magnificent statement: Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. (John 8:58) (CLICK HERE for more about I AM.) If anyone refuses to see the GREAT I AM, the self-existent ETERNAL GOD in that profound proclamation of Christ then they are without hope in this world, and in the world to come. Through the study of manna in the Old Testament, the True Manna is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.  

8. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every [word] that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live. (Deuteronomy 8:3) This is the KEY to the purpose of God’s supplying the Israelites as they wandered in a barren wilderness. Twice in the New Testament this principle is mentioned in Matthew 4:4 and in Luke 4:4. (It is not by accident that this principle is for ALL the world, and for ALL of mankind through the number four.)
    But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:4)  And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. (Luke 4:4) The principle of LIFE comes from the source of ALL life and that is from the mouth of God and by every word of God.

9. Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end; (Deuteronomy 8:16). Did you notice the repetition of Deuteronomy 8:3? As man wanders in the wilderness of life and feeds on the bread of life (Jesus Christ) man is humbled and proven. God’s purpose has always been to show His goodness to His creatures, and to provide a source of refuge and a place of rest at the end of time. However, God provided for His children Israel throughout their wilderness experience to PROVE THEM and for their GOOD . . . . at thy latter end. As much as the Jews and the nation of Israel at our current time REJECT Christ as their Sustainer, they are still wandering in a wilderness of their own making. Do not miss the key phrase in our current study verse of Deuteronomy 8:16 . . . at thy latter end. The children of Israel will finally arrive at their prophetic destination realizing the GOODNESS of GOD at thy latter end.

● And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. (Zechariah 12:9)
And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. (Zechariah 12:10)
In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. (Zechariah 12:11)
And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; (Zechariah 12:12)
The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; (Zechariah 12:13)
All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart. (Zechariah 12:14)
● In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. (Zechariah 13:1)
● And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God. (Zechariah 13:9)
● In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD; and the pots in the LORD’S house shall be like the bowls before the altar. (Zechariah 14:20)
Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the LORD of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts. (Zechariah 14:21)

10. And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year. (Joshua 5:12) This was much more than an historical fact. This was a promise to the children of Israel that the land of Canaan would bear fruit for their existence and for their inheritance. Through the dual mention of the manna ceasing and the children of Israel had neither manna any more we see a twice removal of manna: the first ceased symbolically as the promise of the coming of the Messiah, and the second ceased symbolically at the rejection as the Messiah. But, there is a BUT . . . but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.
   This tenth mention of manna in Joshua Chapter 5, verse 12 is part of a monumental period of time in the history of Israel. Again, notice the number structure: 10th mention (ten, of course, is the number of man’s responsibility and also symbolizes God’s perfect order), 5 (five, the number of grace), and lastly, the number 12, the twelve tribes of Israel. It all melds together as the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal in the plains of Jericho AFTER the Passover, and AFTER they ate the old corn and AFTER they had crossed the Jordan River. Then Joshua (Jehoshua, Jehoshuah, Joshua, Jesus, Jehovah) came face to face with the Captain of the LORD’S host (Jehoshua, Jehoshuah, Joshua, Jesus, Jehovah) in the face of Joshua, Jesus, Jehovah. The Holy Spirit of God, the Great Wordsmith, culminates the Passover, the Manna, and the coming of the Captain of the LORD’S host to Joshua in preparation of the battle of Jericho that followed in Joshua Chapter 6.

And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the month at even in the plains of Jericho. (Joshua 5:10)
And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover, unleavened cakes, and parched corn in the selfsame day.(Joshua 5:11)
And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year. (Joshua 5:12)
And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? (Joshua 5:13)
And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant? (Joshua 5:14)
And the captain of the LORD’S host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so. (Joshua 5:15)

   In this 10th mention of manna, God’s perfect order of The Bread of Life, it becomes a scene of HOLINESS. This Old Testament historical record touches the New Testament prophecy of the coming of Captain of the LORD’s host in the greatest battle scene in the universe. (Revelation 19) Here in this 10th mention of manna, Joshua meets Joshua. The earthly military leader of Israel meets the heavenly military Leader of Israel. The Bread of Life is seen as the Commander over all the earth. The Bread of Life controls the breath of all life as the Captain of the LORD’S host. For it became him, for whom [are] all things, and by whom [are] all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. (Hebrews 2:10)

11. Thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst. (Nehemiah 9:20) God GAVE His GOOD Spirit to instruct, and God GAVE His heavenly food for their survival, and God GAVE water for their physical and spiritual thirst. God GAVE. Everything that mankind has is because of God’s manifold mercies. God GIVES. Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to shew them light, and the way wherein they should go. (Nehemiah 9:19)
   Through this eleventh mention of manna there are many books that are waiting to be written. Notice the three things that God GAVE to Israel: His good spirit to instruct them; the bread of life for their physical and spiritual existence, and the water of life. Spiritually Israel was blessed with God and with His Christ and with His Spirit.

12. And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven. (Psalm 78:24) Manna, this unknown food source, and never before seen and never again seen element of heavenly life was called corn of heaven, and angels’ food. God took that which was of the heavenly realm, the spiritual, the supernatural, the celestial and transformed it into a physical reality. Man did eat angels’ food: he sent them meat to the full. (Psalm 78:25) This manna represented Christ Jesus as the visible bread of life. The Christian, the new born again one, is the recipient of the manifold mercies and gifts rained down from the supernatural realm endowing the Christian with the GOOD Spirit of God wherein the Christian is given both the bread of life and living water from the river of God flowing from the throne of God. Only through the Living WORD of God can the Christian obtain both the bread and water of eternal life. Only through the written word of God can the Christian be clothed and empowered with the REALITIES within both spheres of understanding: the natural and the supernatural. This is more than mind can process or heart can unveil. Only the ONE from the mountain of God who is Holiness and Righteousness can freely move into the realm of the natural and maintain all purity.
   How did the Holy Spirit of God process revelation based on The Bread of Life in the face of Jesus Christ through the twelve mentions of manna in the Old Testament? The following is simply a teaching tool by the Holy Spirit through progressive revelation.
➤ One: the Lord Jesus Christ, The Bread of Life, was introduced into the world as ‘a small round thing,’ a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground, and as the holy thing. And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. (Luke 1:35) The Holy One who fills the universe with His presence became a small round thing, the smallest form of life in the realm of man.
➤Two: this small round thing, this holy thing, was made in the likeness of men. But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: (Philippians 2:7) Made in the likeness of men BUT for one exception . . . within Him was NO sin, the holy thing became the holy child who was sent by the Holy One. Trice holy. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2nd Corinthians 5:21)
➤Three: this small holy thing, in the likeness of men without sin was The Testimony of God to reflect the glory of God. Only Deity can truly proclaim Deity. The Testimony of God is THE WORD of God.

● In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)
● And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. (John 17:5

➤Four: this small holy thing without sin was The Testimony of God in POWER and in GRACE providing and supplying His children with the Bread of Life through their time of trial.
➤Five: His presence in the wilderness of Sin revealed man’s discontentedness and man’s corrupted nature; thus holiness was rejected.
➤Six: this holy thing, this holy child, this Holy One although rejected disclosed that He was the promised SEED, the heavenly man sent from heaven
➤Seven: within this Bread of Life was the Spirit of God and together through their determinate counsel a Comforter was sent into the field of sorrow to provide and to protect those in need of a Redeemer. Here was the work of the united Perfection of God in the number seven.
➤Eight: man’s spiritual and physical condition required The Bread of Life in order to exist. The Bread of Life created life, breathed life into life after life, maintained life, and provided life with everlasting life. The number eight typifies resurrection, a new beginning and new life.
➤Nine: this Bread of Life was everlasting life through the goodness of God. The end of time for mankind became a channel of life everlasting in timelessness where the conflict within man in the latter end was judged. Nine is the number of the end of conflict in judgment. 
➤Ten: The Bread of Life became known as the Captain of the LORD’S host through God’s perfect order. Ten  . . . God’s Perfect Order in the perfect Man. 
➤Eleven: God GAVE Himself as The Bread of Life. Here in the context of the number eleven, the number of confusion and chaos, God disclosed to the world of chaos that The Bread of Life was the Godhead bodily.
➤AND finally, through the twelfth mention of manna speaks not only to Israel but to the Church as well in that the corn of heaven, and angels’ food would be supernaturally and spiritually enjoyed in the realm of eternity. Twelve is the number of God’s Perfect Governmental Order.

● After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter. (Revelation 4:1) And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. (Revelation 4:2)
● The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, (Revelation 4:10) Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. (Revelation 4:11)

    AND that my little featherless chickadees is how the Holy Spirit of God processed revelation based on The Bread of Life (The Manna) in the face of Jesus Christ through the twelve mentions of manna in the Old Testament. It has always been ALL about the Lord Jesus Christ. Although the themes of sin and death, and the themes of redeemed man and unrepentant man, and the themes of prophecy flows within the majestic pages written by the Spirit of God, nevertheless, it has always been ALL about the Lord Jesus Christ in ALL of HIS great glory, and in ALL of HIS mighty eternal power.

Thine, O LORD, [is] the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all [that is] in the heaven and in the earth [is thine]; thine [is] the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all. (1st Chronicles 29:11)
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to [give] the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2nd Corinthians 4:6)

MANNA
The Five Mentions in the New Testament

   As manna in the Old Testament through progressive revelation describes the purpose and consequence of manna, and the rebellious and lustful thoughts and desires of those who enjoyed the benefits of the corn of heaven, the New Testament adds more to the Old Testament narrative. Notice the following: in the gospels the word manna is only found in the 6th Chapter of the gospel of John. (The gospel of John is considered the gospel of the Spirit). Then the fourth mention of manna is mentioned in the book of Hebrews, and the fifth and last mention is in the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ in Chapter 2, verse 17.

1. Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. (John 6:31)
2. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. (John 6:49)
3. This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever. (John 6:58)

  The Holy Spirit of God in Chapter 6 of John draws manna through three timelines. The first timeline was in those who actually ate the evidence and gift from heaven, the corn of heaven, and angels’ food as they endeavored to survive in a hostile territory: during the age of the wanderings of Israel in the wilderness of Sin. Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. (John 6:31)
  The second timeline is in Chapter 6 during the period when the Lord Jesus lived and moved throughout another hostile territory in the age of Roman oppression of the Jewish nation.

● After these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias. (John 6:1)
● And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. (John 6:10)
● Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten. (John 6:13)

   The third timeline discloses Christ as the Divine Provider, and as the Living Bread sealed by God the Father, and as the Bread of Life. Through this sixth Chapter, Christ spoke of His preexistence in God’s heavenly realm, as the manna sent by God, and that He was sent by God; as manna sustained Israel for forty years, He also sustains life, but the life that He sustains is everlasting, it is eternal, it is life never ending. As Israel rejected and abhorred not only the very bread that gave them life, they also despised the source of that bread of life. Through the 6th Chapter of the gospel of John, man’s heart is revealed. Through the 6th Chapter of the book of Genesis, man’s heart united with other evil hearts was first revealed. Through the 6th Chapter of the last book of the Bible, at the unsealing of the sixth seal, the wrath of God against united ungodly men seals their destiny. Now, READ the following . . .

Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed. (John 6:27)
Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? (John 6:28)
Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. (John 6:29)
They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work? (John 6:30)
Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. (John 6:31)
Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. (John 6:32)
For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. (John 6:33)
Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. (John 6:34)
And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. (John 6:35)
But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not. (John 6:36)
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. (John 6:37)
For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. (John 6:38)
And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. (John 6:39)
And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6:40)
The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven. (John 6:41)
And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven? (John 6:42)
Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves. (John 6:43)
No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6:44)
Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father. (John 6:46)
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. (John 6:47)
I am that bread of life. (John 6:48)
Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. (John 6:49)
This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. (John 6:50)
I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. (John 6:51)
The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? (John 6:52)
Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. (John 6:53) CLICK HERE for the Verily, verily in the gospel of John. 

   Chapter 6 relates the natural man’s desire to be provided for, as in a socialistic welfare state. Many followed Christ because of what He supplied to them, not because of who He was or what He came to do, but what they could gain from His miracles. Man has not changed through the centuries. Man still cares only for that which is financial or physically beneficial. Spiritual well being has never been man’s primary objective. The men and women of John Chapter 6 desired to use Christ only because He fed them actual bread. This is the Chapter of the revelation of False Followers. CLICK HERE for more, and CLICK HERE for much more.
  God provided much more than manna to the children of Israel while in the wilderness. He provided LIFE. He provided a living literal form of LIFE through a SEEN, EXPERIENCED, DIGESTED and ABSORBED life form called manna, the BREAD of GOD.
   In the New Testament we have words by the Holy Spirit of God that discloses the spiritual absorption of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus, such as so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me . . . . He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. However, those without the Spirit of Christ, cannot recognize nor accept the Spirit’s teaching of the new birth. Manna, the True Bread of God is Christ, it is the Spirit of Christ working to give those who absorb His Spirit life eternal.
   The natural man only relates to the natural world and consequently they use spiritual words, spiritual themes, spiritual lessons, and spiritual symbolism and force God’s words, themes, lessons, and symbolism into a philosophical and even into a cannibalistic ritualism and call it a holy and divine ceremony. Religion must have ceremony, regardless of its origin or its spiritual purpose in organic form.

   What is known as the breaking of bread is REMEMBRANCE, the remembrance of the accepted blood sacrifice from its first introduction into the world of Adam and Eve, and then through the more excellent sacrifice given to Abel . . . all looking forward to the promised accomplished sacrifice in the Lord Jesus Christ.

1. And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake [it], and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. (Luke 22:19)
2. And when he had given thanks, he brake [it], and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. (1st Corinthians 11:24)
3. After the same manner also [he took] the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink [it], in remembrance of me. (1st Corinthians 11:25)

   Yes, a remembrance of a Body given, a remembrance of a Body broken, and a remembrance of a Body drained of the blood of God and placed on the mercy seat in the heavenly Sanctuary. Through the three times that the phrase in remembrance of me is written it is neither an accident nor a coincidence because the GODHEAD was ONE in unity in ALL that was accomplished in creation, in sacrifice, and in redemption. It was the blood of Christ through the eternal Spirit that flowed from the heart of God. How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Hebrews 9:14) Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied. (1st Peter 1:2) There is another noted act of remembrance that is often overlooked and that was the act of Abraham and his son Isaac on one of the mounts of Moriah as a prophetic window of the more excellent sacrifice yet to come in the future on Golgotha, Calvary, when both the Father and the Son of His love went TOGETHER to fulfill the greatest act of love ever to be accomplished in the universe of two worlds: the natural and the spiritual supernatural.

● And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid [it] upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together. (Genesis 22:6)
● And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. (Genesis 22:8)

   Back to The Bread of Life . . . many disciples could not continue to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. The followers of Christ became divided over Christ’s claim of Deity in verse 62 of John Chapter 6. (The same division occurred in the early days of Christianity when the Nicolaitans usurped the office of the Spirit of God and stole the purple from the Lord Jesus Christ.) Those (the Jews) who were neither followers nor disciples in verse 41 could only see the physical, they were blind to the things of the Spirit of God. Darkness of heart and spirit would not allow the Light to penetrate into the truth of the manna that fell from heaven into the camp of the ancients of Israel. Now on to the fourth mention of the word manna in the New Testament.

4. Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein [was] the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant; (Hebrews 9:4) Three objects were placed within the ark of the covenant: the golden pot that had manna; Aaron’s rod that budded; and the tables of the covenant. Here inside the ark of the covenant were three items that was to be preserved and REMEMBERED.
➤ The tables of the covenant . .. The LAW and the commandments, (Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. (Matthew 5:17) For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. Romans 10:4) In fulfilling the Law, the Lord Jesus Christ satisfied God’s righteous judgments against sinful rebellious man, and thus, the holy soul and heart of God was satisfied and pleased.

● And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. (Matthew 3:17)
● Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles. (Matthew 12:18)
● While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him. (Matthew 17:5)
● And there came a voice from heaven, [saying], Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. (Mark 1:11)
● And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased. (Luke 3:22)
● For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. (2nd Peter 1:7)

➤ And Aaron’s rod that budded, . . . from death came life . . . through the RIGHTEOUSNESS of the KINGLY sceptre of the PRIEST came RESURRECTION. (But unto the Son [he saith], Thy throne, O God, [is] for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness [is] the sceptre of thy kingdom. Hebrews 1:8). Scripturally, a rod was used as a weapon to strike, as in judgment. It was also used symbolically of authority. A rod was fashioned from that which was once alive but now dead, but Aaron’s rod blossomed into life, thus through the weapon of judgment and authority and death came life, RESURRECTION. Life blossomed in resurrection. Aaron’s rod blossomed with a vigorous energy by the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. The promise of renewed life was given to Israel: He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit. (Isaiah 27:6). The promise of eternal life was spoken by David in Psalm 17:15, As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness. (Psalm 17:15) Job wrote of resurrection in 19:25, 26, 27, and in 14:14. For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me. Job 14:14, If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.

● Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. (1st John 3:1)
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. (1st John 3:2)
● For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. (Romans 8:29)
Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. (Romans 8:30)

   Evidence of resurrection is recorded in both the Old and New Testaments: 1 Kings 17; 2nd Kings 4; Matthew 27, 28; Luke 7; John 11; Acts 9, 20; and Revelation 11:11. The fourth mention of manna in the book of Hebrews, Chapter 9, reveals Christ as THE RESURRECTION . . . and IN Him is the promise of eternal inheritance. And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. (Hebrews 9:15)

Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: (John 11:25)
And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? (John 11:26)

➤ The golden pot that had manna . . . LIFE from the Bread of Life. (I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. John 6:51) The fourth and fifth mention of manna in the New Testament reveals more than life, it is GRACE in the number five, it also discloses that Christ was given to Israel in a visible form of bread supporting life in a vast wilderness of Sin before His visible manifestation as The Bread of Life to Israel in another vast wilderness of sin. However, at this mention of manna His HOLINESS is added to Hebrews 9:4 in the word golden.

● And thou shalt make a plate [of] pure gold, and grave upon it, [like] the engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO THE LORD. (Exodus 28:36)
● And they made the plate of the holy crown [of] pure gold, and wrote upon it a writing, [like to] the engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO THE LORD. (Exodus 39:30)

   Never forget that He was called that holy thing before birth, the hold child after birth, and the Holy One before and after His resurrection. Again, there are THREE characteristics of the GODHEAD Bodily that were united TOGETHER and kept in the golden pot . . . THE GODHEAD BODILY. The Testimony within The Testimony. For it pleased [the Father] that in him should all fulness dwell; (Colossians 1:19) For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. (Colossians 2:9)

5. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth [it]. (Revelation 2:17) The last mention of the word manna is the hidden manna. As the twelve mentions of manna in the Old Testament unveiled the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, so also the five mentions of manna in the New Testament discloses the grace and deity of God in the Person of Jesus Christ: the first three mentions connect the manna of the Old with the manna of the New . . . I am that bread of life. (John 6:48) Three times in John Chapter 6 Christ proclaims that He IS THE BREAD OF LIFE and one time the Jews, who heard him, repeated His claim.
   Then in the fourth mention The Bread of Life is seen as DEITY, THE GODHEAD BODILY. In the fifth and last mention of manna the Holy Spirit of God unveils another connection to grace in the hidden manna. The last mention is beyond all understanding . . . God with us . . . God for us . . . and God IN us. When God formed mankind from the dust of the earth, He breathed the breath of life into man, and man became a living soul. That was a GREAT thing! Greater yet, the Spirit of God dwells within the sons of God (those of faith). Greater yet, eternal life, life forever, immortality belongs to ALL the children of God through our Lord Jesus Christ, who is The Bread of Life . . . MANNA!!

So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. (1st Corinthians 15:54)
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? (1st Corinthians 15:55)
The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. (1st Corinthians 15:56)
But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1st Corinthians 15:57)

—–◆—–
AND THE ONYX STONE
And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.(Genesis 2:12)

   The onyx stone has an element of mystery attached to it, and so it should be! Its physical and geological characteristics also bear out the thought of the unknown, although gemologists would probably not agree with what I have written. Nevertheless, let us proceed, first, I AM NOT a gemologist nor a mineralogist. What little I know about the onyx stone comes from reading about onyx from minor gem studies. “It is cryptocrystalline, meaning its crystals are too small to be seen without a microscope, and it forms in parallel bands of contrasting colors.” (That’s the total of my knowledge of the onyx.) Oh, I almost forgot, ‘black and white, though brown, red, and green variations exist.’ What can be spiritually drawn from the world of gems? I know that onyx has a hardness to its structure that is resistant to scratch damage. Also, although onyx has similar structures as other stones, it stands alone by its parallel banding. I find that extremely interesting spiritually in the selection of stones by God in the use of the onyx stone as one of the stones in the ephod and in the breastplate of the garments of the high priest of the nation of Israel. Therefore, the onyx stone is a direct link to PRIESTHOOD.
   This article has developed into an extremely L O N G article beyond my control. So . . . therefore, let us go back just a little to jog our memories about our current study section.

—–♦—–
Our Current STUDY Section

The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; (Genesis 2:11) And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone. (Genesis 2:12)

—–◆—–

   The first name (Pison) is about God, the GOLD is about God, the Land is about God, the bdellium is about God, and the onyx stone is about God. So, there you have the summary of our study section . . . its about GOD! Now, Onward HO, as John Wayne would shout! (That’s an American thing!) I don’t know about you, but I am going to take a warm ovaltine drink break . . .
   Scripture speaks of the onyx (singular), and the onyx stones (plural). On each shoulder of the earthly priest of Israel was a stone of onyx engraved with six tribal names of the children of Israel. On the breastplate, in the fourth row, the onyx stone was between the beryl and the jasper stone. Interesting that the Holy Spirit of God never discloses which name is engraved on a particular stone. Twelve names, twelve stones and in the order of three stones per row with four rows . . . that is the sum of disclosure. What is meant for the seekers of truth is to be assured that the earthly high priest of Israel went before God bearing Israel with him. Interceding for all of the tribes of Israel, bearing their cries, their failures, their hopes and their judgments and their promises before a righteous and holy God. As Christ is the merciful and faithful high priest of our profession, and the Minister of the Sanctuary, He intercedes and mediates for the sons of God. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. (Hebrews 2:17)

Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; (Hebrews 8:1)
A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. (Hebrews 8:2)
Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. (Hebrews 4:14)

   There are eleven verses that mention the onyx, however, SEVEN are directly connected to the breastplate or the ephod. One mention is the first mention of onyx in our study verse of Genesis 1:12. One mention in 1st Chronicles 9:2 when David is speaking of the plans for the house of God. One mention of onyx is in Job 28:16 comparing the value of precious stones with the preciousness of wisdom. However, the last mention of onyx, the eleventh mention, is directly connected to Lucifer in his leading role as the anointed cherub wearing the garment of the priesthood bearing TEN precious stones in the joy and praise of worship under the authority of the High Priest of God Melchisedec. It has to be the number eleven, since this number denotes chaos, and discontent. Since Lucifer could not accept God’s Divine Order (the number 10), nor God’s Perfect Divine Governmental Order, (the number 12), the number eleven is always associated with rebellious discontent. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone [was] thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. (Ezekiel 28:13)
   Seven mentions of onyx are also spiritually fitting in that this is the number of total Perfection of God in all of His glory. The onyx is not only connected to the breastplate and ephod on the high priest of Israel, but it reveals holy attributes of the High Priest of God in the Person of Jesus Christ in His role as Melchisedec. (Exodus 25:7; 28:9, 20; 35:9, 27; 39:6, 13)
   There are earthly organic minerals and gems, and there are many gemstones formed with a crystalline structure from minerals. Think of spiritual connections with physical descriptions, for example, let us return to the manna and the dew in Exodus 16:4, And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness [there lay] a small round thing, [as] small as the hoar frost on the ground. Dew is hoar frost and it is a form of crystal. Consider this: that there seven systems of crystal. Through the mention of manna, the Holy Spirit is seen as the dew and as the seven Spirits of God. (Revelation 1:4, 3:1, 4:5, 5:6) There is NO END to the beauty within the word of God, whether in the natural world, or the spiritual world, there is no equal to the wondrous majesty of our Supernatural God. As you discover more about the Lord Jesus Christ as the fullness of the GODHEAD Bodily, ever page you turn reveals another element of beauty within the written word and the Living word of God. There is no end to this stuff!
   Remember in the introduction of this section of the parallel banding of the onyx stone, consider the parallel banding of the attributes of God, and the parallel banding of the GODHEAD Bodily: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God has seven horns, seven eyes which are the seven Spirits of God. Now that could be considered spiritual supernatural parallel banding of the GODHEAD Bodily.

And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. (Revelation 5:6)

   From the first mention of Pison in Scripture in Genesis 2:11 to the last phrase of the onyx stone in Genesis 2:12 it is ALL about the GODHEAD Bodily, the fullness of the Lord Jesus Christ. The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; (Genesis 2:11) And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone. (Genesis 2:12)
   The GREATEST BOOK in the world has no end. It is a river as endless and as eternal as its Author carried by an unseen deep channel cut by the Omnipotent Mighty voice of the Lord God, the Lord of hosts, the Lord of Lord and King of Kings, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. (Revelation 19:5)
And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. (Revelation 19:6)

---

Copyright 2026, Mary Haigh
Posted on May 18, 2026 @ 12:37 pm (EST)
This article may be used, but not for gain.
Freely ye have received, freely give. (Matthew 10:8e)
All Scripture references are from the King James Bible. (KJV

---

---