A LESSON
FROM INTERCESSION
CONT., page 5
Now that we know what and who Tamar represents, when we consider the meaning of her name, what we are seeing is made all the more significant and compelling. The Hebrew word “tamar” is otherwise translated “palm tree.” The reason for this is the root meaning of the word, which is – “post or to be erect”!
You can see why a palm tree gets its name. It is an erect post with a head of foliage on it, and you are undoubtedly already seeing without it being said that the palm tree is a prophetic erection of a man. A palm tree is a long erect shaft with a glorious head, and from its head comes the milk of the coconut or the fruit of the date (that becomes the wife). This is what Tamar represents. As we just said, she is the second golden rod that is extended to man.
The palm tree with its flat leaves gets its name from the flat part, the palm, of a man’s hand. Prophetically, a man’s hand, or palm, represents his works – “And do confirm for us the work of our hands; yes, confirm the work of our hands” (Psalm 90:17). It is most significant that “tamar” is the palm tree, and that it is the works of an earthly man’s hands that are in fact the Tamar that brings the second outpouring of the Spirit.
As we have noted, not only does this work produce the latter rain, but it prepares the way for Yahshua’s return. This specific second work is clearly evidenced insomuch that Yahshua’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem, His prophetic second coming, was prepared by laying specifically palm branches before Him (John 12:13). Now we see precisely why this was done. It was a revelatory, prophetic, even intercessoral testimony of the Tamar golden rod work that prepares the way for Yahshua’s return as King of kings. This is the work that is equally represented in the 144,000 in Revelation 7. These are the second Remnant, evidenced by the multitude who likewise carry palm branches in their hands, and as the Elijah company are equally heralding with a loud voice – “Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb” (vss. 9-10).
What is it that makes an erection? It is blood, life. When a man is aroused, his rod fills with life, and at the height of his excitement the head gets all the more evident and becomes a palm tree, a tamar. Such is the spiritual testimony that Yahweh provides to us. Again, Yahweh established the natural so as to reveal the spiritual.
The rods that are extended before the former and the latter rains, are testimonies that Yahweh is aroused by life, and that His head, His truth, is filled with life! This was the very thing which Esther and her people needed. This is the very thing we need after 2,000 years of death and the prospect that if things continue as they are, it will be – “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”! This is the very thing we see testified in the tamar, the palm tree. It is a rod with a head that is abundantly filled with life. Such are the teachings that you are reading right now. Why? Because they will lead us to the place in which we ascend alive where we will experience life abundantly! Prophetically and intercessorally, an erection is the promise of abundant life that comes from the Father. This is the promise that has been presented to us through Yahweh’s golden rod, His Son. But this is not all. This is the promise that is presented to us through His second golden rod as well – His Tamar, or by the very meaning of her name – His “erection.” These are the two promises of life, abundant life!
And in further testimony and conclusive evidence, revealing once more this seamless inner garment of truth the Bride possesses, in Isaiah 9:14 and 19:15 we find this specific identification of the palm tree, the tamar, with the head.
So Yahweh cuts off head and tail from Israel,
Both palm branch and bulrush in a single day.
And there will be no work for Egypt
Which its head or tail, its palm branch or bulrush, may do.
This Tamar, this palm tree, this “erection,” is presenting Yahweh’s head. (The tail will be addressed later.)
Revealing another similar testimony per the rod, my name is Gary, which means “sharp spear,” which is nothing less than a rod with a sharp head on it. As Tamar, I have the legal right to enter into the sleeping body of Christ and bring forth the water and the blood, the Bride. As you might expect, this is not the normal function of a rod, but it is necessary. (Read Whose Coming Is Through Water and Blood.) Tamar possessed authority and a legal right, and Judah knew it full well. “She is more righteous than I,” he said. By intercession designed by Yahweh, this man has equally been given authority that is made available through the Son.
In Passover of 2002 and 2003, we gathered here in my home with the anticipation that Yahshua would make a personal appearance. These events are covered in the writings at those times (The Latter Rain and 2002, His-story of the Remnant, and All’s Well That Ends Well) and were never removed, despite our disappointments. We were very disappointed that He did not come. In 2002, my associate, Kyle Nixon, was so disappointed and convinced that we had failed, that he violently pulled away from me and entered into such despair that at one point he was going to hang himself. Intercessorally, he was in the place of Judas and felt, and almost literally paid, that price. But he is back after his own two parts, two years, of separation. (More on this in the section, “Higher Dimensions.”)
Looking at those experiences and knowing what we do now, we realize that Yahshua did indeed come, but even as it is written – we did not recognize Him. He came as the crucified Savior in an ordinary man. He came in a veiled Tamar.
In the remainder of this section, we will consider some of what it has meant for this man to become the crucified Savior. In Zechariah 13:7 we read a most remarkable passage.
“Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd,
And against the man, My associate,”
Declares Yahweh of hosts.
This passage will have many fulfillments, for it reveals a pattern, a requirement for anyone who stands with Yahshua. The first fulfillment was the first Remnant, who were all struck with the sword. The second fulfillment has been the body of Christ, the one that has corporately had to fulfill His role as the crucified Savior. Even as Yahshua was afflicted, so the body of Christ has been afflicted and has died. This is born out in the verses that follow which address the sheep of the Shepherd, how they are scattered, and the outcome of the three parts, or 3,000 years, they receive.
And since this man is called to stand in the Shepherd’s place personally, to become His associate on a personal level, even to become an intercessoral body of Christ, the sword had to be awakened against him, just as it was awakened against Yahshua. We will now consider in part what that sword has meant for this man.
You cannot begin to know how deeply painful the days of the 2002 and 2003 Passover events were for this man. On both occasions, they were unbearable beyond description. One evening in 2003 before I went to bed, the pain had been so extreme and continuous that I gravely wondered if the day would ever come again when I would not go to bed and mournfully dread that another day would rise. I hated every day because of the pain, and could not bear the thought of another. Yahshua was there, but in His suffering and sorrow; and as an intercessor, I had to bear that pain as the second golden rod.
On Pentecost, 2003, just to be able to bear the pain and make it through the day, I spent all day long on the living room floor on my face prostrate. In the time just prior to when the Remnant Bride began in 2000, the pain had been so intensely, intensely great within me and had endured for so long, that I told Yahweh that a few hours on a cross looked pretty attractive (not to diminish Yahshua’s work). I had to become the suffering Savior and pay a price.
I cannot go into the many times I have had to bear this pain since 1994 when Yahweh first revealed to me the Remnant truth. At one point, I even apologized to my wife that I married her. The little book that He gave to me in ’94 that was and has been so very sweet to my mouth, has become so very bitter to my stomach! I have laid on the ground like a dead man, numbed by pain and agony, and told Yahweh – “You have taken me low; and if you want to take me lower still, then do so,” and He did!
On March 31, 2003, Yahweh told me – “You’re going through a difficult place; you’re going through a difficult place.” It was hard at the time, but I did not know how hard it would become, or how long it would endure – another entire year! In that year I lost my family, it looked like the Remnant Bride had failed, I temporarily lost my home and the hopes of having one, three times I was nearly paralyzed with fear and thought that I would have a nervous breakdown. There were times when I impassionately said with Solomon – “I hate life!” (Ecclesiastes 2:17). I went through the immense struggles of the court action when my wife legally separated from me. My life looked like it was at an end and I was resolved to lose everything. I did not see how anyone could say that they could go through the valley of deep darkness and fear no evil; and all I had was a little hope, the many promises He had given to me, two who showed their love to me, and a resignation that though He slay me, yet would I trust Him (Job 13:15); and He saw me through.
Yahshua went into His own wilderness to be tempted of Satan, and I have had mine. I have refused to turn the stones into bread, and will not take the wrathful end time and eternal hell fire teachings of judgment that have been taught by the church, and serve them as though it is bread from heaven. Nor will I serve the bread of judgment toward those who have hurt me. Though I was very angry with my wife for her actions, and resented her Christian friends who urged her separation from me, and wanted her to do even more to me, and though I even wanted to divorce her, even so I did not turn the stones into my bread.
I have fearfully stood on a high place and had Satan to tempt me to throw my daughter and myself to the rocks below, and have denied him. I have turned away from the riches and pleasures and positions that this world has to offer, and preferred to worship Yahweh God and serve Him only. My security is not in this world. I have denied Satan his ways in my life, and I yield myself to Yahweh to be His servant.
Judah did not recognize Tamar, for her true identity was concealed. In like regard, we did not recognize Yahshua when He came in a man at the last two Passovers, the time when Yahshua was crucified. This matter of not being recognized is a common factor between Yahshua and John the Baptist. Yahshua said concerning John that he was not recognized (Matthew 17:12), and John said concerning Yahshua that he did not recognize Him (John 1:29-34). The latter is an incredible statement, given that John had just declared who Yahshua was – “Behold the Lamb.” Could it be then that what John said, more particularly applies to the second golden rod, the son of man? Clearly so, for the second golden rod is both the Elijah and the son of man, both of whom it is said that he was not recognized.
So what is the sign that he is the second rod, the Tamar. As John said – “And I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit’” (John 1:33). The true testimony that this one is the son of man as declared in Yahweh’s word, is when the Spirit descends upon him and remains. This is the testimony seen when the dove was sent out by Noah the third time and she equally remained. You will notice the dove is a “she,” providing testimony that this is specifically relative to the Bride work, the work that marks the completion of the law work of wrath, the flood. Did she remain on the first Remnant? No, they died. Did she remain on the body of Christ? No, but at least she took out of it an olive leaf, which is the same as the rib being taken out of Adam. But she will remain on the second Remnant, the Bride that is formed from the leaf, the rib.
And parenthetically here regarding the flood, something needs to be briefly said regarding the issue of law and grace, wrath and mercy, even male and the female. There are two elements that revealingly represent this contrast. These are water and fire. The water is the masculine, the fire is the feminine. The water is wrath, the fire is mercy. The water is the curse, the fire is the blessing (Deuteronomy 11:26-32, chapters 27 and 28, and Joshua 8:30-35). The water is the flood that we see here that came upon the earth and destroyed all but eight. The fire is that which Yahshua said He longed to kindle upon the earth – the baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire that is kindled just before His return, or the “she” dove. The fire is Yahshua, the burning bush that Moses stood before as he was instructed to go and deliver Yahweh’s people. This water and fire, wrath and mercy aspect will be seen and referred to in this writing.
Looking back now with the eyes of understanding opened by the Spirit, it is clearer yet how this man had to be identified with the Savior and equally become this suffering crucified savior. In the last few years, I have often personally identified with and cited Isaiah 53:3 – “He was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” In the last several years, I too have been crucified. Let us look at Isaiah 53:1-6.
Who has believed our message?
And to whom has the arm of Yahweh been revealed?
Over and over and over I have presented the marvelous truths regarding the two-part Remnant, and time after time, to my own astonishment and wonder, this message has been rejected. These truths are so very obvious and certain and wholly confirmed, that I marvel that people do not see them. After a brief spark of glimpsing these truths, inevitably they have rejected them.
For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,
And like a root out of parched ground;
He has no stately form or majesty
That we should look upon Him.
Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.
Many times I have told Yahweh that He could have found someone else who was far, far more capable of presenting these marvelous truths than this common Joe. I have even suggested to Him other people. I am a nothing, a nobody. In fact, I have been quite aware that my commonness has often been a factor that has seemed to work against me, and has even undoubtedly made these marvelous truths unrecognizable.
But one thing is for certain, and that is that for 2,000 years the church has been parched ground when it comes to having truth. As has been written before, since the first Remnant, an angel with a flaming drought (“sword” and “drought” are from the same Hebrew word) has been stationed in the church so that it cannot eat from the tree of life. As foreshadowed by Elijah’s three-year drought (the 3,000 year period of the church), there has been a drought on Yahweh’s word ever since the first Remnant witnesses “shut up the sky” (Revelation 11:6). But, He has raised this man up as a tender shoot, even a “tender one” plucked from the lofty top of the cedar of Christianity, and He will plant him “on a high and lofty mountain” (Ezekiel 17:22). This is the mountain from which already this man is gaining essential truth.
He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face.
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
This is the part with which I have often identified – “a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.” All my friends and family (other than my son) have despised what I have believed and rejected what I am seeing. Most certainly, I am not esteemed.
Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
Several years ago one night under a street light outside where I lived, Yahweh asked me – “Are you willing to pay the price for others, so that they do not have to pay it, and yet receive the reward?” I had to think about that. I knew the great value of suffering; in fact the first thing I ever wrote was titled Scriptural Answers Concerning Suffering. I thought that someone would not fully appreciate the reward unless they paid the price. But, I knelt down under that light and told Him that I was willing to pay the price. And quite sincerely, now I would not want anyone to go through what I have gone through, and I will greatly rejoice with full delight when anyone receives the promise without experiencing what I have had to experience.
There have undoubtedly been many, especially of late when my family left me, who have looked at my life and esteemed me as smitten of God, suffering for being wrong. Some have told me, including my wife, that I am deceived by Satan.
But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.
As the second golden rod, as Yahshua, as an intercessor, I have had to identify with His suffering in every way. All of these things had to happen for the purpose of identification and intercession. And one of the hardest and costliest parts of this identification was – I had to be “pierced through”! My side had to be opened and out come the water and blood!
Remember, intercession is identification. I could not be placed upon a literal cross, but in type I went through all that He went through. As Paul so well said – “filling up that which is lacking in Christ’s afflictions” (Colossians 1:24). As the second golden rod, I had to identify fully with Him, becoming Him in every way, filling up that which He could not do.
By identifying with Yahshua in His suffering, equally I have thus identified with the crucified body of Christ. And upon seeing the place of intercession where He has placed me as both, and knowing this man’s place in bringing out the Bride, and the vital necessity of intercession, it caused me to wonder greatly how, intercessorally, my side could have been pierced and a bride could have come out. And then He showed me the answer.
When Yahshua’s side was pierced, it was by means of a legal order from Pilate. When they pierced His side, of course out came water and blood, which is the Bride that comes out of the side of the sleeping Adam, the body of the last Adam. In like regard, my wife, my own bride, came out of my side – she left me – and this has equally become a legal order by the courts, despite my efforts to stop it. Intercessorally, my side was legally pierced, and out came my bride.
I have paid the price and identified with Yahshua and His body, affording me intercessoral authority. Yahshua had to pay the price in intercession in order to gain the right for a bride to come out of His body, the body of Christ. Likewise, this man had to equally pay that price in order to have the same authority – my wife and five children. By this, I have gained the legal authority to take the Bride from the body of Christ.
All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But Yahweh has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him.
All my family have left me; each one has turned to their own way. I am left alone. As my grandfather said in a state of semi unconsciousness just before he died – “I had five children, and I lost them all!” Such has been my plight with my five children as well. Grandpa also lost his wife, my grandmother. She divorced him. He lost them all to alcohol. Thus we see the living testimony that Yahweh has caused the iniquity to fall on me.
But in all of this, in all that you are reading here and in much more, I too had a blindfold over my eyes so that I could not see what Yahweh was doing. This man was taken through all of this just like any man goes through sorrows and suffering, often fearing the outcome, saying with the anxious father whose son was possessed by a demon – “I do believe; help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24), often having to entrust my soul “to a faithful Creator in doing what is right” (1 Peter 4:19).
We will end this section with an important concluding observation. In this continuing seamless garment of truth that we have discovered, we find yet another important correlation between Esther and Tamar. In Esther 3:10 we read that when Ham-man received the right from the king to kill all the children of God, that right was made law by the king giving him his signet ring. When his evil plot was revealed, the king took the ring away from him and gave it to Mordecai, Esther’s confidant and cousin who raised her as his own daughter (as a legal part of the first Remnant, the second Remnant is my cousin whom I raise as my own).
Significantly, this signet ring, or seal, arises regarding Tamar as well. Tamar asked for three things from Judah in order to secure the agreement that she would receive the promised kid – his seal, his cord, and his rod. We have already noted that the cord is a promise to bring forth the corners-representing Remnant. Of course the cords come from the corners. This is a right that this man has obtained by virtue of calling and intercession. (It is quite revealing that for twelve years I had a daily radio program called “The Corners of Your Field.”) We likewise see that Tamar received the legal right to the rod. Legally, this man has a right to the rod by virtue of Yahshua having a right to the rod, or even as the body of Christ has/had a right to the rod. I stand in His place, in their place. This explains why a woman in both of these testimonies of Jerusalem above could bear the rod – though having the spiritual necessity of being female testimonies, they are in fact fulfilled by two men who do have a right to bear the rod.
And finally concerning the seal, as we also see in Esther, I have the legal right to deliver men from death. The seal that has been in the hands of Satan, is being taken from him and given to this man, even this Mordecai who is responsible for the Bride. My example in the flesh, Rees Howells, interceded for this when he took the position that everyone who came into his camp in Africa, would not die from an influenza epidemic that was killing many, but would live. They all lived. Death was defeated!
The Remnant Bride will not die, but will ascend alive and defeat death. Ham-man’s plot will come to an unexpected and sudden end. And even as foretold by Ham-man’s discerning wise men and wife (Esther 6:13) – to a few, the certainty of Satan’s fall is evident, a knowledge even marking its fulfillment as imminent!