THE ROD


CONT., page 5


THREE TREES


When the first section was completed and Kyle read the draft, he sent me an e-mail pointing out the three kinds of trees that were used by Jacob in his striping process.  I knew at the time that those trees had to be significant, but could not take the time to look at them.  The truth presented in the first section was unfolding, and it alone was amazing, as well, of course, as the truth concerning the movie, about which you just read.  But if Yahweh would specifically list the kinds of trees that Jacob used in this most prophetic account, clearly this too would have specific meaning, and it does.  Since Yahweh listed three specific trees, they will each have specific prophetic meaning and purpose.  We will now examine this.  It holds, as well, information that relates specifically to what we have been learning.  Let us see. 


In Genesis 30:37 we read – “Then Jacob took rods of green poplar and almond and plane trees, and peeled white (laban) stripes in them, exposing the white (laban) which was in the rods.”  First, the three specific trees listed here are:


We will now look more carefully at each of these three trees.


It is most interesting that the word “white” is in fact used, not twice but, three times in this verse.  It happens that the word here translated “poplar,” is the Hebrew word “libneh,” which comes from the identical root word “laben.”  Therefore, the first of these three trees has in fact “laben” in its identity by virtue of its very name – libneh. 


Another interesting thing about this tree is that it is said that the rods were from “green” poplars.  The Hebrew word here is “lach,” and it means “moist, fresh, or new.”


The second tree mentioned is the almond.  The Hebrew word used here for “almond” is the word “luz.”  Similar to “luz” is the word “lauz,” which is the modern Arabic name for "almond."  More on this interesting word shortly.


The third and final tree was the plane.  This does not mean that it was just any plain (ordinary) tree, as one might confuse, but this actually refers to a specific tree, Platanus orientalis, a relative of the common sycamore.  The Hebrew word used here is “armon,” and The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
says this regarding this tree – “Armon is supposed to be derived from the root aram, meaning ‘to be bare’ or ‘naked’; this is considered a suitable term for the plane, which sheds its bark annually.  The chestnut of the King James Version is not an indigenous tree, but the plane (Platanus orientalis) is one of the finest trees in Palestine, flourishing especially by water courses (compare Ecclesiasticus 24:14).”  Two other sources have this to say – “The tree will flourish on the edges of streams or rivers.  Used for its shade along the Mediterranean, it would have been quite common in ancient days.  Walker writes that Socrates held audiences under them.  Planes were planted in Athens and other parts of urbanized Greece.  The Hebrew word for the tree means ‘naked’ as in peeling off.  Its bark will peel each year.  Pliny wrote about the tree's tremendous size.  Some have been estimated at about two thousand years of age.”  Armon in Hebrew.  The Septuagint translates it as platanes, the plane tree.  It is called armon because its bark peels off the trunk, leaving it naked (arum).”


Now you know a little about each of these three trees; but what we need to know most is their prophetic meaning.  As has been said before, everything prophesies, if we had the eyes to see.  And when Yahweh provides the amazing testimony of Yahshua, the rod, striped with “laban” stripes and placed in the first Remnant troughs, or gutters, one can be most certain that His identification of the specific trees from which these rods came, and not just one tree but three, delivers a most important and revealing prophetic message.  What is that message?  Let us see.


When Kyle e-mailed me about this and talked with me afterward, He was under the impression that the three rods were the same picture as Zechariah’s vision in Zechariah 4 (the two olive trees separated by the lampstand), or even more specifically the identical pattern seen on the mount of transfiguration with Yahshua and Moses and Elijah.  In other words, he saw the first tree, the green poplar, as a testimony of the first Remnant, the second tree, the almond, as Christianity or Yahshua, and the third tree, the plane, as the second Remnant.


When examining this more thoroughly, Kyle was indeed right in part.  What I discovered though was that the testimonies of each tree did not and should not include a specific representation of Christianity, but the Remnant only.  But this also offered a most puzzling matter – How could the Remnant fit a three-part pattern?  The Remnant is never evidenced as a three-part work, which is in fact the period of the church-whole, and more particularly Christianity.  Furthermore, and most compelling, we have already noted that these rods in the gutters were the work specifically related to the Remnant. 


Thus, what we would have now is a double testimony of the Remnant – the rods not only being placed in the gutters that are the Remnant, but are equally taken out of the trees that represent the Remnant.  This testimony reveals once again the inextricable relationship between Yahshua and the Bride.  Much like what Paul related in 1 Corinthians 11:11-12 regarding the man and the woman, Yahshua was placed in the first Remnant “gutters,” but He also comes out of the second Remnant “trees” – the Elijah work that, like Mary, prepares His way, giving “birth” to Him.  Both testimonies thus reveal the two Remnant.


Obviously then, having a rod coming from a tree that represented Christianity absolutely would not do!  The testimony was the relationship of Yahshua with the Remnant work, not Christianity, which was in fact the outcome or product of Him in the first Remnant.


But then, why were there three kinds of trees?  The answer to this is quite remarkable, confirming in a very conclusive way that Yahweh was indeed the designer of the specific message we are seeing here, and that what we are seeing once again is in fact another testimony of this seamless garment of truth, this inner “mantle,” that the second Remnant has obtained. 


Again, what we find is that all three of these trees testify specifically of the Remnant.  The first tree reveals the Remnant’s initiation of the kingdom of God, as well as its own corruption.  The second tree reveals the sowing of the Remnant into Christianity, thus in a backhanded way providing the very testimony that Kyle anticipated, as well as the “coming out” of the second Remnant.  The third tree, as might be expected, reveals the work and outcome of the second Remnant.  Each of these trees provide testimonies that are unique to this prophetic account, insomuch that this is the purpose of prophetic messages.  No one prophetic testimony tells the whole story, but adds elements that, when taken into account with other testimonies, provide all the intricate facets necessary in order to better understand the whole.  Let us begin this consideration by looking again at the poplar tree.


First, as the testimony of the first Remnant, we see that this tree is a “green,” or new, even fresh poplar.  Of course the first Remnant is the new work that began the church, thus noted by the identification of this first tree as being “green” or new.  Also, other than this one case where “luz” is translated “almond,” the Hebrew word for “almond” is “shaqad” or “shaqed,” meaning “watchful,” and implies being early, as the almond blossoms early.  Thus we see attested once again this early work of the first Remnant.


It is also revealing that the word “poplar” speaks once again of this matter of “laban.”  Where did Christianity get its “laban”?  It received it from the first Remnant.  Remember, it was the Eve first Remnant Bride that first ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and then gave the forbidden fruit to the Adam body of Christ, Christianity.  Thus we see two unique points regarding the first Remnant in this first tree.


The second tree, the almond, speaks of both the first Remnant, as we have seen already, as well as the second Remnant, and affords a most confirming testimony related to them.  We turn to the first chapter of Judges to see this; and remember, the Hebrew word for the almond tree that Jacob used to obtain the rods is “luz.”  In Judges 1:22-26 we read:

Likewise the house of Joseph went up against Bethel, and Yahweh was with them.  And the house of Joseph spied out Bethel (now the name of the city was formerly Luz).  And the spies saw a man coming out of the city, and they said to him,  “Please show us the entrance to the city and we will treat you kindly.”  So he showed them the entrance to the city, and they struck the city with the edge of the sword, but they let the man and all his family go free.  And the man went into the land of the Hittites and built a city and named it Luz, which is its name to this day.


Do you see the clear pattern here?  There was a city named Luz, that became another city – Bethel.  Later, Yahweh sent the house of Joseph to tear down Bethel, and this was accomplished by them meeting a man who was “coming out of the city,” who led them to its entrance.  With Bethel torn down and the man having been delivered from its destruction, he then went and built another city by the same original name – Luz.  Thus, there was Luz, which became Bethel, and Bethel was torn down and Luz was rebuilt at another location by a man who had come out.  And, we are told that city remains “to this day.”  Now do you see the clear testimony?  The church was first the work of the Luz first Remnant, known as “the way;” but with the stoning of Stephen and the arrival of Paul, the first Remnant soon gave way to Bethel Christianity. 


Since the Remnant truth was first delivered to me in 1994, I have known that Bethel was prophetic of Christianity.  Bethel means “house of God,” which is the church.  But, Bethel is a testimony of the corrupted house of God – “you have made it a robber’s den,” Yahshua said (Mark 11:17). 


Like the church, Bethel was a city with a good beginning.  Abraham camped there (Genesis 12:8), Jacob saw the vision of the ladder there (Genesis 28:10-19), and later there his name was changed to Israel (Genesis 35:1-15).  However, just like the church, Bethel became a center of noted idolatry and the place where one of Jeroboam’s golden calves was built (1 Kings 12:28-33), the youths that came out to mock Elisha were from there (2 Kings 2:23-24), it was the place where good King Josiah destroyed all the items of idolatry (2 Kings 23:4 and 15-20), and was denounced by both Jeremiah and Hosea (Jeremiah 48:13, Hosea 10:15).  All of this was (and is) occurring in the “house of God.”


Clearly then, Bethel is Christianity that began as first Remnant Luz, the almond tree, but became corrupt and has to be torn down, or put to sleep.  But what about Luz that was rebuilt?  Let us see.


Quite significantly, what is the message, the cry, that goes out to the Bride?  From Revelation 18:4 it is – “Come out of her, my people, that you may not participate in her sins and that you may not receive of her plagues.”  And what did the man do who was delivered from Bethel’s destruction?  He came out!  Personally, like this man, this writer has as well come out of the body of Christ and exposed its entrance, which is a broad way which “leads to destruction” (Matthew 7:13, read Upon What Foundation Will You Build?, page 3); and, my hope is to rebuild a second Luz, a second Remnant.  Corporately, others equally coming out of the Bethel body of Christ will be preserved alive in a second Remnant, second Luz.  The second Remnant Luz work is performed by those who come out of the Bethel work, who reveal its broad way and will thereby be preserved alive; and most importantly, this second Luz will likewise remain!  How much clearer testimony could one ask for?


This completes two of these tree testimonies relating specifically to the Remnant.  The first tree testifies not only to its newness, but to its own “laban” as well.  The second tree is an exceptionally clear testimony to its breach, separated by a work of corruption that must be torn down.  Let us now examine the prophetic testimony of the third and final tree – the plane. 


While the testimonies of the first two trees help lay out evidence as to the validity and reliability of this prophetic account in revealing the Remnant, it is the third tree that reveals the most per this matter of the rod as we saw evidenced in the previous two sections.  This is one of the most exciting parts of this entire study, and relates specifically to our hope and great need today.  As one would expect in this third and final tree, we will see the culmination of the Remnant, that is the second Remnant, and its outcome.


The most outstanding quality and even testimony of this plane tree is that which is revealed in its Hebrew name.  As we read earlier, the Hebrew word for this tree, “armon,” comes from the word “aram,” which means “to be bare” or “naked.”  It gets this name from the fact that it sheds its bark each year.


The outstanding quality of the second Remnant is that, unique to the first Remnant which is the Moses work that has to die, and certainly unique to Christianity and its 2,000 years of death (the 2,000 swine), in fulfilling contrast it is the Elijah work that does not die but ascends alive.  Why does it ascend alive?  Death must be conquered, and ascending alive for the first time per the flow of mankind defeats death.


But more specifically, what happens to those who are a part of this “first resurrection”?  They become the first to fulfill at the highest level the promise of the sign of the covenant that was given to Abraham and his descendants – they are circumcised of their flesh!  This is precisely what we see testified with this third tree – the putting off of their outer covering, the circumcision of their flesh.  Because of its critical importance and the marvelous testimony regarding this much needed circumcision, added consideration will be given to this point.


In the writing, The Covering Bride, page 4, we address this matter of the fulfillment of the sign of the covenant.  Truly, the highest fulfillment of this sign is when a company of people will ascend alive and there have their earthly fleshly bodies circumcised, removed, and receive incorruptible immortal bodies in their stead.  They will become circumcised of their flesh.  Even as Yahshua was the fulfillment that Yahweh had in mind when He spoke of the sacrifice lamb, this is the fulfillment Yahweh had in mind when He told Abraham that this would be His “sign of the covenant” – a people circumcised of their flesh.


We address in the writing, Coverings, Chapter 3, that our earthly body is a covering of our spirit and soul.  Such is the foreskin of a man; it too is the flesh covering of his ability to bring forth offspring.  And the testimony of circumcision is that no longer is the foreskin the man’s covering, or while in a time of arousal is the woman the substitutionary covering, but the foreskin is removed, the sign “in the flesh,” and Yahweh becomes the covering!  And this is precisely that which must take place – our earthly flesh must be circumcised and Yahweh give us an incorruptible body born from above, and He becomes our covering.  Again, that is the highest message of circumcision.  It is the removal of the inadequate fig leaf flesh that covers us, and its replacement with the garment of skin that Yahweh Himself provides. 


Why is it that the “rod” of a man is circumcised, and why is it that the rods of these three trees were striped, and why is it that there was a serpent on a rod?  To answer these related questions, we will ask another question – What is it that really gets man into trouble on this earth?  Clearly, without dispute, it is man’s flesh that gets him in trouble, his earthly body! 


When the serpent sperm is cast down to an earth egg, the outcome is the creation of a flesh body that is cursed/striped by the presence of Satan.  Our flesh is as much Satan as is Satan himself.  It is wretched, “the body of this death” (Romans 7:24) that is at enmity with the Spirit (Galatians 5:17).  Our flesh, which is the covering of our spirit and soul, is in fact the very serpent on the pole, or the “laban” stripes on the rod, or even the foreskin on the man’s “rod.”  And what must happen?  That serpent, those stripes, the foreskin, our cursed earthly flesh, must be circumcised, put off!  And the ONLY way for that to truly take place (though from day to day we can experience some victory by dying to our flesh – Colossians 2:11-12) is to ascend alive and receive an incorruptible body.
 


Yahweh alone can deliver us, and that deliverance in its fullest truth can only be met by a heavenly experience, not a tower of Babel earth-based experience that we now have.  HE must take us to heaven and accomplish that which He alone can perform – to be born from above, to circumcise our flesh!  Anything less, though a necessary and needed effort, is a sad shortfall.  As Yahshua conclusively said to an otherwise successful and seeking Nicodemus – we must be born from above!


We find then that death to self foreplays that which must take place more completely, that which is to come.  Though death to self while in the flesh is critical, in truth it is inadequate.  The circumcision which Paul wrote about in Colossians 2:11-12, though essential for flesh man, is in fact like that which is spoken of in Hebrews 10:3 – “But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year.”  As long as you have to keep dying to self, keep dying to self, and keep dying to self, even daily as Paul said, it too is a like constant reminder of the sinful state in which we exist.  It does not eradicate the flesh.  What is needed is the complete work, or we could say the completed work, not the daily reminder of our corrupt self, our corrupt flesh, our sins.  What is needed is the complete putting off of this flesh, its circumcision.  But up until now, the focus of the church has been on the former of constantly dying to it, and not the latter of ascending alive and circumcising it.  Today we need, and there now is, a more timely message concerning circumcision.  It is the hope-filled message of total and complete transformation, metamorphosis.

When Yahweh told Abraham that he, along with his offspring, were to be circumcised, what He was saying was that HE would take responsibility for bringing forth offspring from him.  HE would become Abraham’s covering, and not his flesh efforts.  This was clearly the testimony when, in his old age, Abraham was told that Sarah would bring forth a child.  Was Sarah able to do so?  No.  Thus, was Abraham able to do so?  No.  Yahweh was to take that responsibility, testified by circumcision.  This prophetic message speaks to us if we will hear.


Abraham had already brought forth offspring from himself – Ishmael, a wild ass of a man (Genesis 16:12).  This was the son who was brought forth from the Egyptian before Abraham was circumcised – a mix, part son of promise and part son of Egypt.  This was the son who was brought forth from Abraham’s own flesh ability, his own flesh covering, from his own strength.  And this is all any flesh man can bring forth – Ishmaels!  But Yahweh would bring forth from Abraham the promised offspring that would become many nations and be a blessing to the earth, and He would not do this until he was circumcised.


Apart from being circumcised, Abraham was shackled to bring forth offspring out of his own flesh efforts, but that was not sufficient.  Yahweh had to become the legal covering for him and take that responsibility for him.  Therefore, He took that responsibility when, immediately after Ishmael was born, He told Abraham to be circumcised.  Yahweh Himself became the covering, and Isaac’s subsequent birth was this very testimony.  Thus we see the telling truth:

Abraham brought forth an Ishmael out of his own strength, then he was circumcised, and then he brought forth an Isaac, the son of promise.


This remarkable clear testimony points out the problem that flesh man has always had – apart from being circumcised of his flesh, this earthly body, he himself is responsible to bring forth godly offspring, the tower of Babel effort, and all he can do is bring forth an Ishmael, a wild ass, a mix.  This is precisely what flesh man has brought forth in the church for 2,000 years – a wild ass Pentecost Ishmael, Christianity, part son of promise and part son of bondage.  Apart from the circumcision of our flesh, we cannot and will never bring forth the Isaac!  Did you hear that?  Apart from the circumcision of our flesh, we cannot and will never bring forth the Isaac!  


And we add here parenthetically, equally showing the corruption of this rod when possessed by flesh man, that the rod of an earthly flesh man when erected, in truth is no more than a tower of Babel, built of “laban” bricks, and can only bring forth like flesh offspring from the earth who cannot please Yahweh and are totally, totally inadequate in themselves.  Even his seed is a serpent (from which Yahshua was NOT created).  All of this flesh life we now know and experience is natural, earthy, demonic, perishable, and must be replaced by the supernatural, heavenly, Spirit, and imperishable – the incorruptible replacing the corruptible, that which is above replacing that which is below.  As it is written, this earth will pass away.  Would someone please point out to me where the tower of Babel is today.  It is no more!  Having noted this, we will return to our discussion.


This message is very clear.  Man in his flesh brings forth Ishmaels until Yahweh circumcises him of his flesh, and only then can he bring forth the promised offspring.  We MUST be circumcised of this corrupt flesh in order to bring forth the Isaac!  Our flesh is our limiting factor, it is our affliction, our serpent stripes, our foreskin (our before skin; the skin we have before we are born from above).  And this is why it is critical to come out of Christianity, to come under another government, the government of the Bride and not the body, and ascend alive.


This is why it is so very critical that Yahweh take a people to heaven while still in their mortal bodies and circumcise them of their flesh.  These cannot be dead men “going to heaven,” as Christians falsely think.  Those who died before us for the last 2,000 years –

Have all been “cut off” from the kingdom (Zechariah 13:8),

They are the 2,000 swine who have all gone to the sea of death (Christianity Mark 5:13),

They are silent (Psalm 115:17),

They are asleep (1 Corinthians 11:30, 15:51), and

They will come back as earthly men (Isaiah 26:19)!


But a people, the second Remnant, must be taken to heaven while in their earthly bodies so that those bodies can be circumcised away.  When Yahweh does this, He Himself will become their covering and He will take full responsibility for bringing forth the promised Isaac.  This is the timely message that needs to be heard.


Today, the church, even Jerusalem above (Galatians 4:26-31), is like Sarah; it is old, 2,000 years old!  It is barren!  But, in its old age, Yahweh will bring forth the chosen offspring; and He must do so by providing the sign of His covenant and take a people to heaven and circumcise them of their flesh.


And looking even further “down the road” concerning this issue, it will be 3,000 years before the flesh of Christians will be circumcised.  Therefore, even as we address in The Covering Bride, page 5, the body of Christ will need and will have a substitutionary covering – the glorified Bride.


In closing this section on the three trees, let us briefly add some final testimonies per this third plane tree.  First, you will recall that some of these trees today are 2,000 years old, sprouting at the very time when the first Remnant was here.  Yes, these second Remnant plane trees are living witness that the promise and the hope of the second Remnant endures to this day. 


Also, you will recall that these trees “flourish on the edges of streams or rivers.”  Is this not the precise picture of the Remnant trees that line the river of life, the ones in which their leaves are for the healing of the nations (Revelation 22:1-2)?


And, the only other place in the Scriptures where the plane tree is mentioned is in Ezekiel 31:8, where it is contrasted with none other than the proud and haughty cedars of Lebanon, or Christianity.  Here we read – “And the plane trees could not match its (the Lebanon cedar’s) branches.”  No, when it comes to worldly beauty and splendor, the little second Remnant that, like Philadelphia, has only “a little power” (Revelation 3:8), cannot compare with vast and wealthy and polished Christianity.  In all regards, as this third tree testifies, the Remnant is indeed plain.


Thus we see that these three specific trees bear some most revealing testimonies and truth regarding the Remnant, the works from which Yahshua, the Rod, finds His abiding presence.  Come quickly Lord Yahshua!  Even as the rods came forth from the Remnant trees, so come forth from the ascended Remnant clouds as the reigning King (Revelation 1:7).



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