I was in Jerusalem, as I said just a moment ago, on the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur.
And even though I had a house full of guests, I told them that night before I went to bed, “You won’t see me until the sun goes down tomorrow evening. I’m not coming out. I’m just going to spend this time with the Lord.
So I closed the door and I went to sleep and slept a good night’s sleep. And I woke up the next morning and I came into a place in worship. So I had an amazing morning. The Presence of God was so real. And someone knocked on my door. And I jumped up to open the door. And as I go to open the door I said, “No. I’m not going to open the door.” I waited to hear if they’d call my name. Nobody called my name, so I just went back, sat up in the bed and just continued worshiping the Lord.
The atmosphere in the room shifted all of a sudden. And I felt a drawing of the Spirit of God coming from the right side of the room. And the only way I know to explain this is, when that other dimension opens up, the Spirit dimension…
Well I want you to know that realm is very real. And I don’t know what you think about the cloud of witnesses, but that realm is very, very real. There are times that the veil between this dimension and that dimension gets so thin, that by the grace of God we have an opportunity sometimes to lean over into that realm and see what’s going on in the Spirit realm.
I was sitting in my bed. The atmosphere of the bedroom shifted. I looked over to the right and I realized that a portal … You can call it the thinning of the veil. You can call it an open door. You can call it an open window. You can call it anything you want to call it. But I recognized that a breaking, something had opened up in the room. And I was sensing the atmosphere of that other realm.
And all of a sudden…. (Not I’m not asleep. I’m not sleeping. I’m not dreaming.) And this is realer than a vision. That’s the only way how to explain it.
But I look, and I see the right leg of a man stepping into the room like this. And as soon as the right leg had come in, the rest of his body followed. He was standing there, very very real.
I did not touch him, but I know how real he was. I wasn’t asleep. I wasn’t merely in vision. He had stepped in from that dimension, from that realm into my realm.
I immediately felt unworthy. I didn’t know who he was. But I had this feeling of unworthiness, that this was happening.
He was dressed in the robes of a high priest, but not in the ephod and the breastplate. He was dressed in pure white linen which, if you understand the book of Leviticus, you’ll understand that was his garment that he wore when he went into the Holy of Holies.
He didn’t go in with his royal robes, with the Urim and Thumim and the breastplate. He went in in a very simple tunic and breeches of fine linen.
There was a white turban on his head. And there was no golden crown. In Exodus and Leviticus it talks about the headdress of the high priest being different from the headdress of the Levitical priesthood, in that the high priest wore both a turban, (in King James it says mitre. In the New American Standard and also in Hebrew it’s a turban.)
It’s 8 yards of pure white shiny linen. Not raw linen, white shiny smooth linen. 8 yards wrapped meticulously around the head. And at times the high priest would have a gold crown attached to his turban by a blue cord.
By this I recognized that it was a high priest. I recognized his garments, even though they were not his royal garments. But I noticed that he only had on a white turban, but the crown was not given to him.
He walked over to the foot of my bed and he reached into the folds of tunic, and he took out a scroll. It was only about this high. And he laid it on the foot of my bed, and he rolled it out across the bed.
In Jerusalem my wife and I, you can’t hardly find a king size bed in Israel, and I’m a king size person. So what we do in Israel is, we buy two twin frames and we tie them together, tie the legs together to make a king size bed.
He rolls the scroll out. And it didn’t quite go all the way across the foot of the king size bed. And he steps back up against the wardrobe. And I’m thinking, “What am I supposed to do?”
You know it’s hard to describe what it feels like. And you don’t need all that description. But it seems quite common to talk about it this way also.
But I leaned up into the bed. In fact, I think I got on my knees and leaned up over to see the scroll. I looked at him. He was pleased. I knew that’s what I was supposed to do.
And what I saw on the scroll in English was the entire ten verses of Zechariah 3.
I looked back up at him and smiled because, I of course recognized these verses. It’s one of my favorite books of the Bible. And I smiled.
And he said, “Read it aloud.” And so before this high priest I read aloud in my bedroom the ten verses of Zechariah 3. And when I had finished reading them, I was overcome with nosiness. I mean there’s lots of anointings. I have the nosey anointing.
And I said, very trembly voice, “Are you Zechariah?”
He said, “I am Joshua, priest of the Most High God, the one you’ve been reading about.”
I was overcome with emotion. In times past when we try to describe these kinds of experiences in conferences or whatever, we would say something like, “a heavenly visitor, or a messenger of heaven.” And perhaps that would be the smartest thing for me to do. But I’m coming to a place in my ministry where, when I’m listening to someone speak who has a prophetic anointing or unction on their life, and I can tell they’re veiling things, it bothers me. And I just want to scream sometimes, “Would you just spit it out?” You see people are… You’re either going to believe that I have had a divine encounter with one of those, or you’re going to believe that I’m a liar. And I doubt there’s anything I could do either way. Not even a sign or a wonder or a miracle would convince you that I was genuine if you’ve already formed an opinion that I’m a liar.
But I’ll tell you this. The Body of Christ is crying out for the reality of the supernatural world. We’ve had our belly full of this earth. We are ready to encounter that other dimension and that other realm. We’re dealing with cases now that we’re not going to be able to overcome with just mere concepts of theology. We’re going to have to have some God-experiences and some God encounters, and some personal revelations.
He said, “I’ve come to teach you Zechariah 3.”
The reason why that is so important is because I’ve been begging the Lord to teach me. “Lord, teach me. Reveal Your Word to me. Show me Your Word. Show me Your Truth. You teach me. If I can’t be taught in Bible School, You teach me.” I’d even said to the Lord, “If You have to send an angel, if You have to send somebody from the other side, I don’t care. Four Living Creatures, whoever You can spare. If You’ve got an extra Cherubim running around, send him my way.” I’m hungry for God and His Word.
And so verse by verse he began to go through this. And I’d like to have the opportunity to go through some of it with you. But I don’t know how much I’ll be able to get to tonight.
But I want to tell you something. I was shocked when he started talking about the next season.
I was so surprised when this high priest, Joshua, began to speak to me about the season that we were coming into, specifically the next year. Now I know God, seasons and cycles are based on the Jewish calendar.
But the year 2010 is a significant year, because God spoke to me about that year many years ago. And I’ve waited for that year to come, believing that God was going to do some things.
Just remember that God’s years are not 12 months, His days are not 24 hours. “You understand that, don’t you?” It’s about cycles and seasons.
But I heard the Lord specifically speaking to me through this visitation about some things that we were going to begin to see coming in in this new year that we’re coming into, 2010. And He specifically spoke about the next few months, assuming the last few months of this year, that there were going to be some heavy preparation going on in our lives.
One of the things that was so significant for me, he (Joshua) started talking to me about the changing of the garments.
You see, the Bible said here specifically in Zechariah 3, that Joshua the high priest, was standing before the Angel of the Lord, but his garments were filthy.
There is some debate in theology about this Joshua. I don’t know if you know that or not. In fact, there’s some commentaries that say he never existed. But I wouldn’t have been the one, I wouldn’t have wanted to be the one to try to tell him that in my apartment in Jerusalem.
But you can find out that he really was a literal priest. In fact, he was the grandson of the last high priest. He was the grandson of the last high priest before Israel was carried into Babylonian captivity by Nebuchadnezzar. His father was actually snatched away into captivity. And he was actually born in captivity, this Joshua. And because of that, seventy years later he was among the first exiles who came from Babylon when the decree was made, that the city would be rebuilt and the temple be restored, it was Joshua, as we say in English, who was one of the first to come.
And history tells us that he was the first high priest of the restored temple, that was restored there in Jerusalem. Remember the one we read about in Ezra and Nehemiah. He was the first high priest.
So he’s standing there with dirty garments. And when we think about dirty garments, we think about sin. But he explained to me that his garments were spotted because of being in Babylonian exile. Not necessarily stained by his own sin, but stained by the influence of his environment. And his environment was Babylon. And the atmosphere of Babylon was confusion.
This high priest said to me, “There’s going to be a garment change.” Just like you read here in Zechariah 3.
When a decree was made, “Take off his filthy garments, he can’t minister before the Lord with garments that have been stained by the influence of Babylonian captivity.”
I don’t know if you understand what I’m trying to say or not, but I’m telling you that God… I prophesy to you that God is getting ready to transform you and I. We’re going to lose these filthy garments that have been stained by the influence of Babylonian confusion.
There’s about to be a transformation in the Bride of Christ. We’re going to get rid of the influence of Babylon, and He’s going to dress you and I in robes of righteousness and purity and clarity, so that we can minister before the Lord as prophets, priests, and kings.
And these robes that we have worn that are spotted by the influences of Babylon, this wicked world and its religious society, are going to be ripped, snatched.
The very word that was spoken to me in the experience was “snatched.” And I wondered why snatched. And I realized, and it was explained to me that it’s hard for some of us to realize the influence. And we’re protected by this covering that we wear, and we even sometimes feel we’re all right, and that everything is all right.
And when God starts pointing out to us that everything is not all right, we resist sometimes. “Don’t we?” Yes, we do. “Amen, preacher.” We resist sometimes.
But you know what? God is bigger than our resistance. So I just want to tell you tonight, ready or not, God’s not going to force you, and you’re not a robot. But ready or not, God is about to cleanse His people. And I for one, I’m stepping in line. I want God to snatch off of my life every garment that is stained with the influence of Babylon.
I want to wear the robes of the Kingdom of heaven. I want my fragrance to not be of this world. I want my fragrance to be that heavenly fragrance. The Rose of Sharon, the Lily of the valley. I want to spent enough time in the shut in secret chambers of the Lord, that when I come out, I’m a man from another world, one that’s been transformed by the power of God. I had better read now.
We are … (This is his words to me. I’m transcribing.) We are distracted at the least, and many nearly deceived. When we have fully surrendered to the Lord in this manner, the new robes of the Lord will be upon us. And we will function fully before Him as prophets, priests and kings.
“And in this hour,” he said, “There will not only be a garment change, but an attitude change. And the attitude of this season will be great joy and celebration.”
In Zechariah 3 in the New American Standard, when it talks about the garments that are given, it calls them “vestal robes.” It means “robes of celebration, robes of great joy.”
Here is Joshua standing here in filthy garments. “And guess who else shows up? Satan.”
“Haha. Look at the high priest. He’s hardly fit. Look at his clothes. Look at his garments.” Look at how the accuser always shows up when the situation is about to change, when somebody is about to recognize their destiny and step into it. Look who always shows up. The accuser to accuse you.
He answered, and the Lord spoke. The Angel of the Lord said, “Take away those filthy garments from him.”
And unto him he said, 4. … Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment. 5. …Let there be a fair miter on his head. 6. That was the turban that I saw. When all of his talking was finished, when everything that he said was finished, there was a Glory that came over him. And the Glory came over the priest standing there like a mist. And his face got kind of covered with this fog. I could hardly see his face. And when the mist began to lift off of his head, that gold crown had been placed over his head. It doesn’t mention it here in Zechariah 3. But the gold crown was now in front of the turban, and the gold crown in Hebrew said, “Holiness unto the Lord.”
I knew that God was speaking to me about something that He wanted to do. And it takes place here. It takes place in our head. It takes place in our thinking.
Now listen. Listen to this. He said, “That the Lord will then send forth His firebrands, those that have been snatched, (listen) snatched from the Holy Fires of preparations. They will still be burning with the fiery hot passion of the Lord. They will be like torches that light the way for others to see the path. They will also be instruments to stir the barely glowing embers of revival, and cause a raging fire to explode in the places that God has chosen to place His Name.”
Now verse 7 in closing here. 7. 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.
You’ve got to look at the characters. You’ve got the the Lord, the Angel of the Lord, you’ve got these other men that are used as examples that we don’t understand. There are three verses, three verses there in Zechariah 3, three different verses that indicate a company.
Verse 4 says, “And spake unto those that stood before him….” Verse 7, “Walk among these that stand by.
Verse 8. “Thy fellows that sit before thee, they are men wondered at, or signs, or symbols.”
I believe all three of those verses are referring to the cloud of witnesses. I believe that. You don’t have to believe it. But I believe it. And I believe that that’s part of what’s promised here, “This free access.”
And the Lord taught me this day that it’s a 3-fold blessing. When He says, “Judge or govern My house,” it’s talking about the governing authority that the Lord wants to place on the shoulders of those that He’s called in this overcomers’ company.
In fact I was told… Let me read this to you in the Complete Jewish Bible. 7. Adonai-Tzva’ot says this: If you will walk in My ways, obey My commission, judge My house and guard My courtyards, then I will give you free access among those who are standing here. 8. And the Lord taught me this day that it’s a 3-fold blessing. When He says, “Judge or govern My house,” it’s talking about the governing authority that the Lord wants to place on the shoulders of those that He’s called in this overcomers’ company.
I can’t say more, but I will sometimes eventually, another time. Then he said, “Have charge and guard My courts.” It’s talking about administrative privileges that are going to be given to those who walk in this anointing. And then, “Places to walk among those who are standing by, I’ll grant you free access.” And this is to serve priestly, prophetically, and kingly before the Lord.
And it means, “An opening of that realm.” An opening of that realm in a way that I don’t think is precedented.
But what I feel like God is saying through this revelation, (although I’m not giving all the details) I feel like what God is saying is, “I’m getting ready to invite a company. I’m getting ready to invite a company of people, the overcomers, the Bride of Christ.”
I personally believe that I was told that the remainder of this year is going to be both preparation and transition for what’s going to break forth in 2010. He said, “There will be a company that will emerge, begin to emerge in 2010, who will possess and enjoy free access.” That’s been promised in this portion of Scripture.