To Bow Down and Fall
Hi Friends,
I am writing about a vision that was given in three parts initially, and as I have been praying for understanding it has expanded to a six part vision. This vision is about idolatry, sexual immorality, and sin. It is important to be ever so aware of how sin grieves God. This is another serious vision. God wants us to know him and to know his ways. He wants us to get right with him. “My people perish for lack of knowledge.” Hosea 4:6
The Vision:
The vision began with an aerial view of a city. It was from extremely high in the air, so that there was not much detail. The color of the scene overall was a golden light brown, like the color of sand. There was no green visible, it was very arid. It seemed as if the city were from a time long ago because cities of today are marked by large networks of highways and skyscrapers. This seemed like a city primarily built of stone rather than concrete and steel.
Next I saw two men wearing black hats and beards standing next to each other. I saw them in profile from my angle of view. Then, both men standing shoulder to shoulder, bowed deeply from the hips, at a 90 degree angle. While maintaining this rigid L-shaped position, they simply tumbled forward. They fell head first, over a cliff or drop off. Their hats remained fixed to their heads.
After this, I saw a pure white flat bed sheet held up vertically. In the upper left hand corner was a red hand-print. The red color had a touch of deep pink.
After receiving these three visions, I was still in the spirit—I wanted to know more. I thought of the two men, as being Jewish because of the hats and beards they wore. I also wondered about the city, was it Jerusalem? I wondered about the sheet with the red hand print, did this represent death?
So I continued to pray. Then three more visions were given in answer to my questions:
I saw two hands wringing out a washcloth. The hands gripped the cloth twisting it with great force. I saw this action as being done with determination, the knuckles white under the strain. Could this action represent outrage?
Next, I found myself standing on the floor of a high loft, overlooking the inside of a barn. I was at least 30 feet above the ground. Just below me, but still quite high, was a horse’s saddle suspended off the edge of the loft. It was made of dark brown leather with dark buckles, and studs.
Then a minute or two later, I saw someone vacuuming up crumbs from the floor. I saw this as the completion or end of something. When you are done with a task or an event, it is time to clean up and put things back in order.
What I believe the visions mean:
The City
The sandy color, the lack of green, and the lack of highways and tall buildings made me think of a city of long ago in an arid region. I asked the Lord if this city represented Jerusalem or another Middle Eastern city. I asked the Lord to show me something in the Bible to help me understand. I opened to pages 1332 and 1333 in my study Bible.
On page 1332, which I read first, were the closing words of the Book of Jonah: “But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?”
On page 1333, which I also read, was an introduction to the Book of Micah: “He predicted the fall of Israel and its capital, Samaria (1:6-7), as well as that of Judah and its capital, Jerusalem (1:9-16; 3:9-12).”
According to Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineveh
Nineveh, (/ˈnɪnɪvə/; Akkadian: 𒌷𒉌𒉡𒀀 URUNI. NU. A Ninua; Syriac: ܢܝܼܢܘܹܐ) was an ancient Assyrian city of Upper Mesopotamia, located on the outskirts of Mosul in modern-day northern Iraq. It is located on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, and was the capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.
What I believe that the Lord is showing us is the difference between the outcomes of these three cities. Nineveh, according to the article mentioned above, was the largest and greatest of cities in the ancient world until its destruction in 612 BC. Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian empire. They were a wicked people showing no mercy to those whom they conquered.
Jonah a prophet of God, was sent to Nineveh around 760 BC to declare to them God’s demand to repent of their ways, or else they would be destroyed. Nineveh chose to repent and God forgave them. However, about a hundred years later Nahum prophesied that Nineveh would fall, because they returned to their wicked ways. “Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder , never without victims! The crack of whips, the clatter of wheels, galloping horses and jolting chariots! Charging cavalry, flashing swords and glittering spears! Many casualties, piles of dead, bodies without number, people stumbling over the corpses—all because of the wanton lust of a harlot, alluring the mistress of sorceries, who enslaved nations by her prostitution and peoples by her witchcraft.”
“‘I am against you, declares the Lord Almighty. I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show the nations your nakedness and the kingdoms your shame, I will pelt you with filth, I will treat you with contempt and make you a spectacle….’”
I want to share with you the notes from my study Bible:
The Full Life Study Bible, New International Version 1992 Life Publishers Donald C Stamps, Editor.
3:1 The City of Blood. Nineveh is called “the city of blood” because she had cruelly massacred large number of conquered peoples.
3:4 Prostitution...Witchcraft. Sin never exists in isolation. Not only were the Assyrians brutally cruel, but they were also extremely immoral. (1) Externally Nineveh appeared attractive, but internally she was full of cult prostitution, degrading immorality and sensual activity. The city was also given over to witchcraft, black magic and spiritism; demons and evil spirits controlled the people’s lives. (2) The relationship between these two elements is clear. Those who give themselves over to sin and immorality are opening up their lives to being controlled by demonic spirits.
3:5 I Am Against You. Because of Nineveh’s great sin, God himself would personally expose the depravity of its residents and destroy them. No power on earth can protect a nation that God has determined to oppose. When sin reaches a certain level in any society, God will expose the people to shame by bringing down all their means of security; such a society will collapse.
3:8 Are You Better Than Thebes. If Nineveh thought it was invincible, it should remember how God had brought down other great cities, such as the city of Thebes in Egypt, conquered by the Assyrians in 663 BC.
3:19 Nothing Can Heal Your Wound. Nineveh would be destroyed and never again be rebuilt. After the city fell in 612 BC, it became a desolate area for animals and birds (see Zephaniah 2:13-15).
The Two Men
The two men in the vision were standing upright. Then they both bowed from the hips. Then, as they remained in this position, they fell forward, head first over a cliff or drop-off. The two men were wearing black hats and beards reminding me of Jewish men. I believe that they represent the two kingdoms of Israel, the Northern Kingdom, Israel, whose capital is Samaria and the Southern Kingdom, Judah, whose capital is Jerusalem. Both of these kingdoms tested God’s patience and aroused his anger because of their unfaithfulness to God. They both bowed down to the false gods of Baal and Ashtoreth. The worship of idols and false gods became their downfall. Both of these kingdoms were taken captive: Israel was taken first to Assyria, and around 200 hundred years later, Judah was taken to Babylon.
Jeremiah writes about Israel and Judah as unfaithful, committing adultery with stone and wood. This is the sin of idolatry. Worshiping idols that are made with human hands with stone and wood. “Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every spreading tree and has committed adultery there. I thought that after she had done all this she would return to me but she did not, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it. I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear, she also went out and committed adultery. Because Israel’s immorality mattered so little to her, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood. In spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only in pretense, declares the Lord.”
“The Lord said to me, ‘Faithless Israel is more righteous than unfaithful Judah. Go proclaim this message toward the north:
‘Return, faithless, Israel,’ declares the Lord, ‘I will frown on you no longer, for I am merciful, declares the Lord, ‘I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt-- you have rebelled against the Lord your God, you have scattered your favors to foreign gods under every spreading tree, and have not obeyed me,’ declares the Lord.” Jeremiah 3:6-13
What is important in these two visions is to see that the Lord offers second chances, and opportunities to repent. After mercy was shown to Nineveh, they went back to their sinful ways, so that the city was completely destroyed and never rebuilt. Israel and Judah were warned many times, over many years, by several different prophets. When the Lord saw that they did not repent, but became blatantly defiant and refused to listen to the prophets, he sent armies against them, and took them captive.
The Lord is loving and merciful, so after their punishment of 70 years, he brought them back to their land and blessed them.
God is still merciful, even in our day. He wants none to be lost. These visions are warnings to us. He wants us to repent of our wicked ways, and of our unfaithfulness, putting our jobs, our pastimes, our homes and material possessions, even our children and our loved ones ahead of him.
“Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” Matthew 10:37-38
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters--yes even their own life--such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:36-37
The Lord is first. That is it. What was Jesus’ response to this question? “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
“Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22 36-40
The Lord our God is worth everything. Give it all to him. “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” Matthew 6:33
The Hand-print on the Sheet
The hand-print on the sheet is red, which I believe represents blood. There are two different traditions that came to mind with the red hand-print and the sheet.
The Sati
Years ago, I read about the Hindu practice of sati, (sutee) which is the practice of burning the living wife of a deceased man, on a funeral pyre. When I saw the red hand print in the vision, it immediately reminded me of this custom. These women on their way to the funeral pyre, would dip their hands in a red dye and leave their hand prints on the wall as a memorial to remember their lives and their sacrificial deaths in honor of their husbands.
In Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India, several women committed sati. There is a stone memorial of hand-prints on the wall, replacing the red hand-prints that once were there. This barbaric ritual was outlawed in 1829, by the British when India was still under British rule. Though today, in some regions of India, it is still practiced. (http://www.deathreference.com/Vi-Z/Widow-Burning.html )
The Virginity Test
The sheet with the hand-print reminded me of another tradition: the virginity test. In the Mosaic Law (Old Testament), in order to prove a woman’s virginity, the bed sheet that was used by the newly wed couple, consummating their marriage, was saved by the parents of the girl. In the event that her virginity was brought into question by the newly wed man, the contesting husband and the girl’s father would appear before the elders at the city gate. The father of the girl would provide the proof that the girl was a virgin, by showing the blood stain on the sheet from when her hymen broke during intercourse.
“If, however, the charge is true and no proof of the girl’s virginity can be found, she shall be brought to the door of her father’s house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death. She has done a disgraceful thing in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her father’s house. You must purge the evil from among you.” Deuteronomy 22:13-21
Thank the Lord that by his sacrifice on the cross, the requirements of the Old Covenant with its laws have been fulfilled in Jesus. Hallelujah! “For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” Romans 8:3-4
Hallelujah! The Lord is good! “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree’. He redeemed us in order that the blessing promised to Abraham would come to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.” Galatians 3:13-14
So what does the red hand-print on the sheet represent? I see that the Lord is pointing to faithfulness and unfaithfulness. The hand-print of the women who have chosen to accept death as a means of serving their husbands in the afterlife, represent faithfulness. This is of course not something that the Lord asks of us for it is really an abomination to him. “And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger.” 2 Kings 17:17
“And you shall not let any of your children pass through the fire to Molech, neither shall you profane the name of Your God: I am the Lord.” Leviticus 18:21
“And you took your sons and daughters whom you bore to me and sacrificed them as food to the idols. Was your prostitution not enough? You slaughtered my children and sacrificed them to the idols.” Ezekiel 16:20-21
The white sheet, represents a bridal/marriage sheet as the proof of virginity. Because the center of the sheet was white, there was no “proof” of virginity. This is a sign of unfaithfulness. So the red hand-print represents faithfulness and the sheet without proof of virginity shows unfaithfulness.
What does God expect from us? Aren’t we to be “living sacrifices”? Everyday we are to choose to live for the Lord, not submitting our children or our bodies to the flames, but in humble submission to his ways. This is what it means to “take up our cross daily and follow him”. We are to submit to the Lord in all his ways. We are to sacrifice our lives for him, not by dying, but by living for him.
The Wringing of a Cloth
The action of wringing out a wash cloth or towel, is a violent, twisting action. I believe that it depicts anger or outrage. The hands in the vision I believe are the Lord’s. He is showing his true feelings about sin. He wants us to honor him, with our devotion and our obedience to his word. But what honor does he receive from us?from his creation?
So many people are oblivious to him. So many give their loyalty and devotion to “other gods,” “Jesus declared, ‘Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship in the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.’” John 4:21-24
Some Christians see the Lord as having only one facet—He is gentle, loving and sweet. Some pray to the Lord as if he were our servant: “God, do this and God do that, and God I need…” Some treat the Lord as a vending machine—put in a quarter, pull the handle and get your prayer answered. If we do not get what we want, then we kick the machine and walk away. We do not honor God when we have a very vague and dis-genuine picture of who he is.
God has many facets. He is The Great I AM. He is The Alpha and Omega. He is the Beginning and the End.
"But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.” Psalm 86:16
Many people deny that God will get angry with us. They tell me, “But you are quoting the Old Testament. We are living under grace. God doesn’t show his anger towards us. He does not bring judgment upon us. We are forgiven!”
But let the truth of God’s word speak. There are several stories of God bringing judgment upon believers in the New Testament:
Ananias and Sapphira, lied to the apostles, pretending that they had given to the Church all the proceeds from the sale of their property, and that they were trusting God to supply fall their needs. They wanted the honor of doing a noble thing as others had done, but they withheld some of the money for themselves. For this lie that both Ananias and Sapphira told the apostles, they fell dead on the spot and were carried out and buried. (Acts 5:1-11)
Herod accepted the praise from men who declared that he was a “god. But because he did not speak out to the contrary, he was immediately struck down and eaten by worms (Acts 12:23)
Another example of God’s judgment in the New Testament is found in the Book of Romans. Paul writes: “Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.” Romans 1:27 (Venereal diseases)
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Psalm 111:10
So in the vision, when I saw the wringing of hands, I believe it represents God’s anger, or outrage over the sins that we have already covered in the first three visions: cruelty, Idolatry, and sexual immorality. Jesus paid for our sins on the cross. But, the Lord expects us to repent—to feel great sorrow over our sins, and to choose to sin no more.
The Saddle in the Loft
In the vision, I was inside the barn, high up in the loft. Looking down, I saw a leather saddle that was suspended just beyond the loft. It was a leather saddle, for riding a horse. The vision suggests the ideas of humility and submission. A horse has to submit to the saddle and to the rider. A high spirited horse must be broken. He first must accept the saddle, before he will submit to the rider and the saddle. We are the same. The saddle I believe represents the word of God and the ways of God. We must accept these as truth. We have to submit to the will of God as revealed in his word and through the leading of the Holy Spirit. Unless we submit to the saddle, we cannot be ridden. The Lord wants to use us for his purposes, but we cannot be useful to him unless we first submit to his ways and to his word. Otherwise we are nothing more than hypocrites. “These people come near to me with their mouths and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.” Isaiah 29:13
We must be willing to be broken. How does this happen? I believe it is the Holy Spirit who brings a conviction to our hearts. First, he shows us what is sin, and what we have done that has grieved him. As the Lord draws us to himself and fills us with his Spirit, we have a desire to read his word. Then as we read the Bible, we see the things that please him and those things that grieve him. Our hearts are filled with love for him, and it brings godly sorrow when we become aware of our selfish ways, and the things that we do which are contrary to his will. “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23
But praise the Lord,! As we cry out to him for mercy, and forgiveness, he lifts our heads, and restores us to himself. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9 Hallelujah!
The Vacuum
The vacuum was the last vision. I believe that this represents cleaning up, and putting in order. It is the last vision in this group of six visions. It represents the final act that Jesus performed on this earth before his death and resurrection. It was the act of dying on the cross. “Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows……But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him and by his wounds we are healed….and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.…..For the transgression of my people he was stricken……yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering,….by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities….because he poured out his life unto death …for he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” Isaiah 53 with portions of verses 4- 12
This is how the Lord cleans up our mess! We are sinners saved by his death on the cross. He takes away our sin and picks up what remains. He puts us in right standing with the Father! Hallelujah!
Not only does this vision represent the act of cleaning up and putting in order after an event. It can also represent the act of preparing for something yet to take place. Very often, we clean and vacuum before we are expecting company. Jesus told his disciples, that he was going to prepare a place for us. “My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” John 14:2-3
So this part of the vision reminds us that our life here on earth is brief. Each of us will someday die. But we take hope, because there is a new life waiting for us in heaven. Heaven is our eternal home, and Jesus has prepared it for us. “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9
We do not know the day or hour that the Lord will call us home, but I am ready, how about you? Are you waiting with great expectation for his return? We may leave one by one as it has been through the ages. But there is also a chance that we will not die. “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
I am excited! Come Lord Jesus! Maranatha!
I hope you feel as I do, excited at the prospect of his return for his bride! Please share this and my other posts with your friends and those who you know. Be Blessed! And Happy New Year!!
