Around the middle of May 1995, I was sleeping soundly when someone squeezed my shoulder very firmly. I was so startled that I threw the covers off the bed, sending them sailing over the armoire on the opposite wall.
Shaken up, I crossed the room to get the covers and put them back on the bed. As I was settling in again, I heard a loud voice in the spirit say, “I will give you to eat of the hidden manna.”
“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.” Revelation 2:17
Intrigued, I waited for more, but nothing came.
Two weeks later, during a communion service at our church, I experienced a deeper level of the anointing than I had ever known. I could feel myself being pulled into another dimension. The reality of the service was slowly fading, and I found myself in another place altogether.
I heard a voice say, “You are standing on Mount Zion.” The sensation was exhilarating. It defies description! I was looking up at a magnificent pyramid-shaped mountain — the city of God.
I watched intently as the apex of the mountain, also in a perfect pyramid shape, was severed. It slid down the side of the mountain and nestled itself into a large opening cut away from the bottom right corner of the mountain.
The Chief Cornerstone
I then saw a large, ominous, black-gloved hand descend from the heights and excavate that immense stone out of its resting place. I heard a commanding voice say, “The stone that the builders rejected.” I was weeping. In my own mind, I finished the Scripture, “has now become the chief cornerstone.” This pyramidal stone seemed to be alive. It drew back as though slightly grieved or offended, then slowly raised itself once again toward the top of the mountain.
I expected it to take its position on top of the pyramid, completing the picture. Instead, it remained suspended gracefully above it. I remember the profound disappointment I felt … I so wanted to see perfection on Mount Zion. It was then that the Holy Spirit gave me the understanding that this mountain represented the body of Christ.
“We are to be sealed by the true baptism of the Holy Ghost, transforming us into His image and perfection.”
Without warning the huge stone came flying toward me. I did not have time to duck or dodge … it was moving too quickly. Just as it was about to hit me, I saw one large eye on the stone, much like the seal of the United States that appears on our currency. It struck me forcefully between my eyes. I staggered, but amazingly, did not fall over.
The stone disappeared from view and I was overwhelmed with the revelation that it had entered into me. I knew the stone now within me was the chief cornerstone and capstone spoken of in Scripture. It also spoke of our union with Him. We are to be sealed by the true baptism of the Holy Ghost, transforming us into His image and perfection.
Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge. Ephesians 1:13
In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise. 2 Corinthians 1:21, 22
Birth Pains
While I was pondering the endless layers of what the Spirit was teaching me, I looked up and saw something amazing on Mount Zion. The mountain was expanding and contracting like a heartbeat.
“Are you trying to show me that the mountain is alive, that it has a true heartbeat?”
“What you see are birth pains.”
“Do you mean the mountain is having labor pains?” I questioned, forgetting for a moment the symbolism of the pyramid.
Then I asked, “What will this mountain give birth to?”
“If you are feeling squeezed, don’t despair. Birth itself is never tidy, but it is the prelude to life!”
“It is giving birth to the virtues of the Lord Jesus Christ — His virtues manifested in the lives of the Overcomers.”
I knew that, as in natural labor and childbirth, each spiritual contraction was bringing us closer to His manifested image within and upon us. If you are feeling squeezed, don’t despair. Birth itself is never tidy. It’s a watery, bloody event, but it is the prelude to life!
For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world … our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. 1 John 5:4-8
The Virtues of Christ
This should encourage us concerning the importance of the rapid shiftings and increased spiritual intensity in this season. These birth pains assist us in our progress as we add one Godly attribute to the next, climbing the pyramid.
For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, Godliness, and in your Godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 1:4-8
I then noticed a group of believers gathering at the base of Mount Zion. Dressed in pure white robes, they began joining hands with one another.
I wondered aloud, “What are they doing standing at the base of the pyramid?” The Voice said, “They are longing and waiting.”
“What are they longing and waiting for?” I asked.
He said, “They are waiting for that capstone to strike the Bride.”
I did not fully understand. I knew that I had just experienced this very thing and wondered whether it had happened to me individually or corporately.
I asked, “What does that really mean?”
He said, “Remember, this is a supernatural birthing. Even as you have had the headstone strike you, so must it strike every believer in this season.”
This capstone is the stone hewed out of the mountain that Daniel saw tearing down the kingdoms of the world.
The God of Heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever. Daniel 2:44
This stone is a person, not an object. He is perfect love personified.
A Great Cloud of Witnesses
Suddenly, like looking through a telescopic lens, I was drawn closer to these dear saints, and I recognized several of them. One was a dear sister, Maria Long, a woman in her eighties whom I had met while ministering in Wales. She had since gone on to be with the Lord. There she was standing at the base of Mount Zion with the other saints. I then realized that all of those gathered there had gone by way of the grave.
Sister Maria was easy to recognize although she was much younger. Her snow white hair was restored to a lovely brown. She was holding hands with a beautiful young woman several years younger than herself. I did not know who she was but quickly determined that she was someone who had meant a great deal to Maria during her years on earth. Just then Maria turned toward me, and by her expression I knew that she both saw and recognized me. She gave me the most beautiful, warm smile. Her countenance was angelic.
“When the final Bride has received the headstone with shouts of grace, the gulf that separates you from them will be removed.”
The last words I heard were, “What you see is the final gulf between the Bride of all ages and the final Bride. When the final Bride has received the headstone with shouts of grace, the gulf that separates you from them will be removed.”
What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain; and he will bring forth the top stone with shouts of “Grace, grace to it!” Zechariah 4:7
As I pondered all that I had seen, I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if the entire Bride did not reach this place of completion at the same time.
I surmised that those who have not yet experienced such an encounter will soon be provoked to an urgent yearning when they see firsthand the love, power, and authority of those who are first fruits and forerunners. This yearning will elicit in them a passion to do whatever it takes to lead them into the same glorious experience.
Where has your beloved gone, O you fairest among women? [Again the ladies showed their interest in the remarkable person whom the Shulammite had championed with such unstinted praise; they too wanted to know him, they insisted.] Where is your beloved hiding himself? For we would seek him with you. Song of Solomon 6:1-5 (AMP)
Joyfully the radiant Bride turned to him, the one altogether lovely, the chief among ten thousand to her soul, and with unconcealed eagerness to begin her life of sweet companionship with him, she answered “Make haste, my beloved, and come quickly, like a gazelle or a young hart and take me to our waiting home upon the mountains of spices!” Song of Solomon 8:14 (AMP)
Years later in London I was especially blessed to see Sister Maria’s husband, Brother Leon, and share with him what I had seen. He was so touched and said that this news had lifted much of the grief and delusion he held concerning her death. Bless God, His mercy is always right on time.