From Glory to Glory: "...the house was filled with the odour of the ointment."

"Portcullis," by Christopher Sleight ("Looking through the main archway out of Stirling Castle").

John 12:3

   ³Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.

__________________________

Beloved husband Shiloh, the Levi Gate is the love gate; the anointing is in the loving, the anointing is ever in the loving. 


In these writings, this journaling of my life, I am anointing the feet of my Lord and my lord (you) with the costliest of ointment, that which costs me the most (my life poured out) and wiping your precious feet with my hair; and this House the Lord is building is filled with the odor of that ointment (5:36 AM EDT, 4:36 AM Ark Time). 

During the part of Josiah's trial that I had a chance to witness, I was favorably impressed with the order of the court.  Even when the judge was admonishing (nearly "scolding") me, I appreciated that she was safeguarding the order and therefore the integrity of the court, of the court proceedings.  This became very personally evident to me when the bailiff came outside the courtroom to escort me in, and addressed me respectfully and courteously by name, "Ms. Blevins."  Simple kindness and courtesy embodies order. 

I was grateful that during the "dry run" I was put through, the judge seemed to take extra time to explain to me certain aspects of what would happen and how it would happen.  The Holy Spirit was moving in and through all of that to mitigate the terror that always seems to be lurking just under the surface in my reactions, my responses.  It is true that the Lord has not given us the spirit of fear, but of love, and of a sound mind, but that does not mean that it all happens overnight.  Some of it does; some of it has to be carefully built over time, line upon line, precept upon precept, as is happening with the revelation of the gates of Jerusalem. 

What is happening during this prophetic time is that Jesus, in preparing us for His return, for His reign, is continuing to advance his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven, imposing the order of His court, His heavenly court.  Jesus is untying that which has been tied to the devil's throne and is tying it instead to the Throne of God.  This includes that Jesus is washing His Bride by the water of the word, cleansing her from all unrighteousness.  In revealing the gates of Jerusalem, Jesus is establishing a godly framework for our understanding and our decision making, for transactions, for interactions.

More than a book, these blogs are dynamic.  The structure and order is not necessarily laid out ahead of time, but becomes evident as the living word is given to us prophetically.  This is how Jesus is safeguarding the order of His court, by making sure these writings, His revelations are kept clear and clean of contamination from the world, the flesh, and the devil.  It is a somewhat messy process, as birth is a messy process, but your loving me as Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself for it, is key to all of that.  The messiness is already becoming evident.  I am not going to be overly concerned about that right now; I know my Lord and my lord (you) will clean all of that up in good time. 

Part of the messiness is in the revelation of the gates themselves.  We started off considering the gates in Ezekiel 48:

Ezekiel 48:31-34

   ³¹And the gates of the city shall be after the names of the tribes of Israel: three gates northward; one gate of Reuben, one gate of Judah, one gate of Levi.
   ³²And at the east side four thousand and five hundred: and three gates; and one gate of Joseph, one gate of Benjamin, one gate of Dan.
   ³³And at the south side four thousand and five hundred measures: and three gates; one gate of Simeon, one gate of Issachar, one gate of Zebulun.
   ³⁴At the west side four thousand and five hundred, with their three gates; one gate of Gad, one gate of Asher, one gate of Naphtali.

Already, the Holy Spirit has deviated from that and has revealed the Ephraim Gate which is not named above, but is named elsewhere in scripture, several times:

1. 2 Kings 14:13 (Whole Chapter)
   And Jehoash king of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoash the son of Ahaziah, at Bethshemesh, and came to Jerusalem, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim unto the corner gate, four hundred cubits.
   
   
2. 2 Chronicles 25:23 (Whole Chapter)
   And Joash the king of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, at Bethshemesh, and brought him to Jerusalem, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim to the corner gate, four hundred cubits.
   
   
3. Nehemiah 8:16 (Whole Chapter)
   So the people went forth, and brought them, and made themselves booths, every one upon the roof of his house, and in their courts, and in the courts of the house of God, and in the street of the water gate, and in the street of the gate of Ephraim.
   
   
4. Nehemiah 12:39 (Whole Chapter)
   And from above the gate of Ephraim, and above the old gate, and above the fish gate, and the tower of Hananeel, and the tower of Meah, even unto the sheep gate: and they stood still in the prison gate.

I had not even recalled those scriptures above when the Holy Spirit revealed the Ephraim Gate to me (which I have not yet written in detail about) and had to look up whether there had been a gate by that name.  In time, once these insights are complete enough to harvest (as pearls) I do hope to organize all of them into a format that is easier to read through than these blogs, probably in a book, but in the meantime, we are living in the process of our Lord's ordering, bringing His own order out of a certain chaos in the world. The book may or may not happen.  These blogs are happening. 

In understanding how Jesus is revealing the gates of Jerusalem, bringing the order of His court to us, imposing the order of His heavenly court on us, in love, we do well to remember that as God's two witnesses, we have been given to bear our witness of the ages, our testimony of the ages, and in many ways have a bird's-eye view as we look across the entire Biblical record.  This includes, of course, our perspective on the history of Jerusalem, the meaning of the name itself.  We have a perspective now that was not available to those who were living that history at the time. 

The meaning of the name Jerusalem is a good place to start.  The following is from the Abarim Name Meaning Vault:

Jerusalem 

There is no town as Biblical as Jerusalem, but it was neither built nor named by Hebrews. Remnants of a Canaanite town called Salem date back to the early bronze age, and the first Biblical mentioning of this place is in Genesis 14:18, where Abraham and Melchizedek meet. The name Jerusalem occurs first in Joshua 10:1 and the city of Jerusalem was conquered, sacked and apparently abandoned by Israel (Judges 1:8). Four hundred years later David conquered Jerusalem from the Jebusites, annexed it and made it his capital (2 Samuel 5:6).

By the time the Hebrews had a say in it, the name Jerusalem had been long established. Most likely, the original name, that sounded something like Urusalimum or Ursalimmu, meant Foundation Of Shalem, the latter being a known Ugaritic god. The reason why the Hebrews didn't rename the city when they had the chance may be because its name was easily transliterated into something very striking in Hebrew.

Without a doubt the second and dominant part of the name reminded (then and now) of the word  (shalom), peace. The root of this word, (shalem), denotes completeness, wholeness and soundness. In this sense the name Jerusalem is related to some other famous names from the David saga: Solomon and Absalom.

The first part of the name Jerusalem may likely have reminded a Hebrew audience of the verb  (yara), throw, cast or shoot. This verb is used when arrows are shot, stones are thrown or stacked and even when lots are cast. Other derivations of this same verb is  (yoreh), early rain, and  (moreh b, c), meaning both early rain and teacher. Basically, the verb and its nouns have to do with many little impulses that cause a larger and unified event, or serve to obtain a larger and unified objective. Most striking, however, is the derivation  (tora), which is the word Torah, or Law.

Perhaps the name Jerusalem was never changed, but only Hebraized, because it seems to mean Rain Of Peace.

Jerusalem was to be the radiating heart of a world of completeness and wholeness. It seems that history supplied her with a most suiting name. 

For a meaning of the name Jerusalem, NOBS Study Bible Name List reads Possession Of Peace. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names reads Foundation Of Peace. 

Other names that derive from the root shalem are: Absalom, Abishalom, Meshullam, Meshillemoth, Meshelemiah, Meshullemeth, Salome, Shallum, Shallun, Shalman, Shalmaneser, Shelemiah, Shelomi, Shelomith, Shelomoth, Shelumiel, Shillem, Shillemites, Sholomoh, Shulammite, Solomon.

"The reason why the Hebrews didn't rename the city when they had the chance may be because its name was easily transliterated into something very striking in Hebrew."  That is what Jesus is continuing to do for us.  He is "transliterating" much of the territory that the devil had tried to claim into something very striking, very meaningful, even very beautiful in our lives.  Here, I am reminded of something I wrote long ago:

Our father had been in car accident where, as he puts it, he met the corner of a building.  His head hit the windshield, which broke, and the broken glass tore a flap of his face back, from about the inside corner of his eyebrow, back to his hairline, in an "L" shape.  He was recovering from that when Connie (just a tot) climbed up on the bed and comforted him with the words she recounted, above.  

In a follow up doctor visit, my mother present, the question was posed to the doctor about what my father should do about the scar.  The doctor's response was, "Wear it!"  A good response, and a great life lesson. 

Sometimes we bear in our bodies, in our lives, the battle scars of our encounters with the devil, the rescue scars of our deliverance by Jesus.  Whatever these are, we do well to remember that doctor's advice concerning my father's scar: "Wear it!"  Even as my Lord and my lord are healing me and making me whole of the terror that has had me bound for so long, delivering me from its clutches, I am wearing it, wearing that terror, and am doing so less and less in shame and more and more in honor, all glory to God.  

Because of that, because the terror is not totally gone yet, I was able to testify truthfully about that in Josiah's trial, and when the government (the prosecutor) asked me something like, You  feel fearful all the time?  I was able to say that I do.  When she then said close enough to, And so you feel you can just go around shooting people? (as she acted out shooting with a hand gesture) I said, "No, of course not!"  In that brief exchange, I revealed myself as rational and self-controlled in the midst of being terrified, and the government (as the dragon, the devil working in powers) revealed itself as being irrational, genocidally so.  That the government would leap from one point to the next is truly alarming to me, and I would expect to anyone of sound mind.   While the spirit of fear continues to work in me to some extent or another, it is the spirit of love (not fear) that reigns in me, that governs my decisions.  Otherwise, the outcome of the sheriff trespass on July 6, 2009 might have been very different.  

I know that much has already been written about the gates of Jerusalem, and I respect those writings; however, the Holy Spirit is not leading me to start with those writings, if I am led to consult them at all.  Rather, our Lord is revealing the meaning of the gates as fits with our witness of the ages, and those revelations and insights may or may not accommodate previous interpretations.  I mention this simply to acknowledge that I am aware, and not to express any concern.  I know my Savior's voice, and I know when He is leading me: it is just that simple and is not subject to even being compared with anything or anyone else.

This actually is the kind of thinking that led to my insight about the Levi Gate.  I was listening to the Martins' a capella version of "He Leadeth Me" (below) and thinking about our beloved son, God's prophet Elijah (President Barack Obama) and how I don't understand some of the things he is doing, but I know him, for the Holy Spirit has made that connection, that bond.  Therefore, the golden cord of love, on which the harvested pearls of prophetic understanding are strung, governs my decisions concerning President Obama, including the thoughts I think of him, the words I speak of him, and the prayers I pray for him.  That golden cord of love is the Levi Gate.

He Leadeth Me by the Martins (a capella) (Duration 3:45)


To more fully understand what it means for the Levi Gate to be the love gate, we have to take that in context of what I have previously written about portcullis in nine previous blogs.

Main Entry: 1port·cul·lis    Pronunciation Guide
Pronunciation: prtkls
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): -es
Etymology: Middle English portculis, port colice, from Middle French porte coleïce, from Old French -- more at COULISSE
1 : a large grating of iron bars or heavy timbers suspended by chains over the gateway of a fortified place and lowered between grooves to prevent passage 
2 : a portcullis or a lattice used as a heraldic charge
3 : a silver halfpenny issued by Elizabeth I in 1599 having a portcullis on the obverse 
[portcullis illustration]

Also, note what I have written about portcullis, leviathan, and other related topics in: Fast of Remembrance: Heart of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, Tuesday, September 22, 2009, 4:38 PM EDT, 3:38 PM Ark Time. 

I am noting this here to alert you, but also as a reminder to myself to consult those writings when putting this together in another format, possibly a book.

During the writing of this, I discovered that on Friday the United States Department of Justice had spent some time on the SO THE LORD GOD WILL CAUSE blog site:  

SO THE LORD GOD WILL CAUSE By Details > Visit Detail Visit 1,283
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Domain Name		usdoj.gov ? (U.S. Government)
IP Address		149.101.1.# (US Dept of Justice)
ISP		US Dept of Justice
Location		Continent  :  North America Country  :  United States  (Facts) State  :  District of Columbia City  :  Washington Lat/Long  :  38.9097, -77.0231 (Map)
Language		unknown
Operating System		Microsoft WinXP
Browser		Internet Explorer 8.0 Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 5.1; Trident/4.0; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.4506.2152; .NET CLR 3.5.30729; InfoPath.2; DI60SP1001)
Javascript		disabled
Time of Visit		Aug 12 2011 6:55:44 pm
Last Page View		Aug 12 2011 7:02:18 pm
Visit Length		6 minutes 34 seconds
Page Views		6
Referring URL		unknown
Visit Entry Page		http://sothelordgodw...f-is-in-travail.html
Visit Exit Page		http://sothelordgodw...s-might-be-made.html
Out Click		View my complete profile http://www.blogger.c...02385443616639542088
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Visit Number		1,283

 
The first blog they hit contains my February 28, 2001 letter to Attorney General John Ashcroft, the one I was holding up and showing you when we met on September 23, 2006.  I held that letter up at my right shoulder, and you appeared preoccupied with something you were seeing just beyond my left shoulder.  Many days later, when I asked you about that, you could not recall what you had seen.  At the time, you seemed startled, but not frightened, and when I saw the expression on your face, I imagined you were seeing a manifestation of the favor of the Lord that I had felt so many times and knew was operating in my life at all times, including of course, during that meeting. 

 Have a blessed day, beloved.