SPIRITUAL CLOTHES

Part Four

Apostle Jacquelyn Fedor

RESTORATION

Another beautiful account that so clearly foreshadows both our salvation and our royal clothes being placed back on us is found in Ezekiel. Number one, this is taking place at the time that God brings judgment against Israel. He is not judging the world or gentiles (heathen), but His people, Israel! We see this in chapter seven. In chapter eight God says His eye will not spare nor will He have pity on those that have been a part of His temple but defiled it. He especially warns the defectors that were chosen and appointed as counselors and prophets in chapters nine, eleven and thirteen. He says He will punish idolatry and unfaithfulness in fourteen, and in chapter fifteen God says He will completely cast out the unfaithful vine. He promises to turn His face from them and declares fire will devour them. But look at the mercy and grace that is extended over and over again to God's people that are innocently ignorant because of not being warned as we continue in Ezekiel chapter sixteen.

Ezek 16:1-14
1 Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
2 "Son of man, cause Jerusalem (God's Bride) to know her abominations,
3 "and say, 'Thus says the Lord GOD to Jerusalem: "Your birth and your nativity are from the land of Canaan (heathen world); your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite (people of the land).
4 "As for your nativity, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut (she was still a part of Adam), nor were you washed in water to cleanse you (the water of separation); you were not rubbed with salt (preserved) nor swathed in swaddling cloths (she was spiritually naked).
5 "No eye pitied you (they were Adamic eyes), to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on you (born into the old church); but you were thrown out into the open field (world), when you yourself were loathed on the day you were born (cursed race of mankind).
6 "And when I passed by you and saw you struggling in your own blood (Adam's blood), I said to you in your blood (Leviticus 17: 11 tells us life is in our blood), 'Live!' Yes, I said to you in your blood, 'Live!' (He offered salvation to her)
7 "I made you thrive like a plant in the field (marked and planted as Abraham's seed); and you grew, matured, and became very beautiful. Your breasts were formed (old enough to nourish and teach others), your hair grew (should have been covered), but you were naked and bare (physically she was mature for this soul realm, but spiritually she was left naked in God's Kingdom as there was no one to cover her).
8 "When I passed by you again and looked upon you, indeed your time was the time of love (ready for ministry); so I spread My wing over you and covered your nakedness (He covered her with Himself: Gal. 3:27-29). Yes, I swore an oath to you and entered into a covenant with you, and you became Mine," says the Lord GOD.
9 "Then I washed you in water (the truth on separation); yes, I thoroughly washed off your blood (no longer Adam), and I anointed you with oil (she wore His glory).
10 "I clothed you in embroidered cloth (coat of many colors) and gave you sandals of badger skin (tough skin to cover her offices); I clothed you with fine linen (righteous acts) and covered you with silk (pulled her out of her cocoon).
11 "I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your wrists, and a chain on your neck.
12 "And I put a jewel in your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head (these are all symbols of ownership and being bound to the one that gives them).
13 "Thus you were adorned with gold and silver (covered by good leadership tested in the fire), and your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. You ate pastry of fine flour, honey, and oil (prophetic truth brought forth to feed her from the revelatory end time church). You were exceedingly beautiful, and succeeded to royalty (she became a part of the Church Triumphant, The Warrior Queen).
14 "Your fame went out among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through My splendor which I had bestowed on you," says the Lord GOD.

THE BRIDE OF SATAN

The above was the glorious story of God's Bride, His Beloved, His chosen, but now let us read a few verses concerning those who were called to be a part of the above, but who chose to give up their inheritance as did Eve, Esau, and those today who have returned to the tree of good and evil after being born again. You will recognize their fruit. They prefer to eat the things of the world and strive to obtain them. They are self-exalting ones that work for their own success rather than God's Kingdom, and have traded their inheritance of royal clothes for the world's fashions and jewelry that binds them to a master much different than Jesus.

THE REBELLIOUS

Ezek 16:15-23
15 "But you trusted in your own beauty, played the harlot because of your fame, and poured out your harlotry on everyone passing by who would have it.
16 "You took some of your garments (the spiritual clothes given when you were walking well) and adorned multicolored high places for yourself (the place reserved for idols, on evil pedestals), and played the harlot on them. Such things should not happen, nor be.
17 "You have also taken your beautiful jewelry from My gold and My silver (God's leadership), which I had given you, and made for yourself male images and played the harlot with them (she chose her own leadership: Laodicea).
18 "You took your embroidered garments (clothes made or many colors) and covered them (like they were deserving of the King's children's clothes), and you set My oil and My incense before them (merchandized God's anointing).
19 "Also My food which I gave you-- the pastry of fine flour, oil, and honey which I fed you-- you set it before them as sweet incense; and so it was," says the Lord GOD. (She taught truth to undeserving evil ones that would only mock and scoff it or even abuse truth, [Jesus is truth] by not changing).
20 "Moreover you took your sons and your daughters, whom you bore to Me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured (didn't make them walk pure and holy or correct them from straying from God's set path). Were your acts of harlotry a small matter, (she became like the world again and didn't think or couldn't see she was wrong)
21 "that you have slain My children (these untaught ones will die) and offered them up to them (the world's people) by causing them to pass through the fire? (of judgment)
22 "And in all your abominations and acts of harlotry you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, struggling in your blood. (When God saved you - changed you - dressed you for His Kingdom).
23 "Then it was so, after all your wickedness--' Woe, woe to you!' says the Lord GOD--

TWO BRIDES - TWO HARVESTS

This is the end time. We must be spiritually marked and dressed correctly so that we are not mistaken for those assigned to experience God's wrath. We definitely want to be a part of the first harvest seen at Revelation 14: 14-16

Rev 14:14-16
14 Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and on the cloud sat One like the Son of Man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle.
15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, "Thrust in Your sickle and reap, for the time has come (the grain is ripe) for You to reap (send Your angels), for the harvest of the earth is ripe."
16 So He who sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.

Jesus taught about this harvest in Mark 4: 26.

Mark 4:26-29
26 And He said, "The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground,
27 "and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how.
28 "For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head.
29 "But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come."

Only the Father, who knows every hair on our heads, is aware of the first grain ripening. He will know the time for the harvest. No way do we want to experience Revelation 14: 17-20!

Rev 14:17-20
17 Then another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.
18 And another angel came out from the altar, who had power over fire, and he cried with a loud cry to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, "Thrust in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe."
19 So the angel thrust his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth, and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trampled outside the city, and blood came out of the winepress, up to the horses' bridles, for one thousand six hundred furlongs.

In Matthew it says it this way:

Matt 13:37-43
37 He answered and said to them: "He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.
38 "The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one.
39 "The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels.
40 "Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age.
41 "The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness,
42 "and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
43 "Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

Again, in Matt 25:32-34
32 "All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.
33 "And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.
34 "Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

Remember the Lord's feasts, Shimini Atzeret and Simchat Torah are just around the bend. We don't want to let these final feasts catch us naked and unaware. Pay special attention to what I'm saying here. If we are not careful, instead of being invited to the feast, we may become the feast. Let us look at Revelation 19 to understand.

Rev 19:15-18
15 Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
16 And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
17 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, "Come and gather together for the supper of the great God,
18 "that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both small and great."

Ezekiel prophesied of this meal long before Christ in chapter 39:17.

Ezek 39:17
17 "And as for you, son of man, thus says the Lord GOD, 'Speak to every sort of bird and to every beast of the field: "Assemble yourselves and come; gather together from all sides to My sacrificial meal which I am sacrificing for you, a great sacrificial meal on the mountains of Israel, that you may eat flesh and drink blood.

All creation has been made to pay for what Adam and Eve did. Notice what God said to the animals: "I am sacrificing for you." For so many years innocent animals were sacrificed for us, now the wicked will be sacrificed for them, and all creation will be restored.

ALL CREATION AWAITS RESTORATION

Rom 8:19
19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.

All creation waits eagerly for those on the Father's right hand, the manifested children of God, so it too can be restored. It did nothing wrong of itself.

Rom 8:20
20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope;

What does it mean, in hope? In hope that humanity would feel sorry for creation and return to righteousness rather than see it harmed. Creation did not offend God. Agreeably it has been used by man in an offensive way, but never did the earth, or the animals on it, set out on purpose to be in opposition to their creator. Only man and angels have dared to do this.

In fact, all creation craves to be restored as much as we do.

Rom 8:21
21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

Anyone who has ever seen an animal in pain, or watched an animal die, should understand that they have feelings just as we do. They were made subject to the enemy, "death", just as we are, only mankind deserves it. We were the ones that rebelled against God, not creation.

As an example, the word says the land mourns because man has not been obedient to the spiritual laws concerning planting.

Isa 24:4-5
4 The earth mourns and fades away, the world languishes and fades away; the haughty people of the earth languish.
5 The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.

For instance, it was to be rested so the nutrient content of the soil could replenish itself. Because of man's abuse of God's laws, and the substitute of chemicals etc. to replace God's natural process, the land is producing useless herbs and fruits. It is made to be out of harmony with the plan of God for this planet and it therefore is in the same sinful condition as mankind. The spiritual law that is over all that is unfruitful and touched by the unclean Adamic race is operating against creation. It is condemned to die.

If the land feels abused and cries out to its Creator, what about the animal world? As mentioned before, they have been slaughtered and sacrificed literally by the millions just to cover our sin. Even though God created them for our friends, did it make mankind feel bad enough to stop sinning to prevent their death? No! Remember, this is the same race of man that will get mad at their wife or kids, and in their frustration, kick the innocent dog or cat that is sitting loyally at their feet. Fallen man also shoots game just for the sport of killing, loves to watch the blood and violence of two roosters fighting, and even enjoys the agony of the weaker dog as two pit bulls fight for their lives. Many times animals are used in what man terms as sports, way beyond their endurance, just to entertain a crowd and make the owner wealthy. There are countless scenarios of man's abuse of animals.

MADE TO BE ACCOMPLICES

Even worse, fallen man has used the animal world in their ruthless quest for power and wealth. Man has not only abused the animals, but he has made the animals help him conquer, kill and abuse man. Early Christians were thrown into pits with hungry lions that man had starved, as punishment for believing in Christ. The lions were made to be killers. People have been stabbed with spears and swords, shot with guns and arrows from the backs of horses, making horses a part of their crimes. Slaves were hunted down by savage dogs trained by man to kill, and on and on, yet animals continue to loyally befriend man. In doing so however, they unknowingly offend their Creator and break His spiritual laws. But what can they do about it? Unfortunately, unrighteous man makes all he touches as unclean as himself. That too is a spiritual law. But wait! There is an answer. God gave us and all creation a way out.

THE WAY OUT

He came as the Lion of Judah to teach and warn us of our sin. He died as the sacrificial Lamb for all creation to obtain salvation, and as a man, He took on His own body all the evil, sickness and decay that has resulted from Adam's fall. He did this for "all creation", not just man. He paid the death penalty for sin and then resurrected to life and victory for us all. He gave man a new and better way. We can be forgiven for all our Adamic sin through the gift of repentance, and we can be totally separate and very different from the fallen race by being born over again through God. We call this baptism. Now we are free to grow and mature into the nature of our Father that created all things and said it was good. All creation that Father gives us stewardship over will benefit as He meant for us to love and protect creation. As His children, His family, we will do our best to carry out our Father's wishes.

But what about those that do not want to change? What will happen to those that turn their backs on following truth? What will happen to those found naked on the Lord's Day, or dressed in robes of shame? I pray they read and understand Zephaniah 1: 6-8.

Zeph 1:6-8
6 Those who have turned back from following the LORD, and have not sought the LORD, nor inquired of Him."
7 Be silent in the presence of the Lord GOD; for the day of the LORD is at hand, for the LORD has prepared a sacrifice; he has invited His guests.
8 "And it shall be, in the day of the LORD'S sacrifice, that I will punish the princes and the king's children, and all such as are clothed with foreign apparel.

In closing, the trumpets are blowing, they are sounding loud and clear the warning found in Revelation 16: 15 to both the world and the church. Please listen to what the Spirit is saying in Rev 16:15.

Revelation 16:15
15 "Behold, I am coming as a thief (only the Father knows when the crop is white for the harvest). Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame."