Hi Mike,

Thanx very much for your response to my last e-mail I sent. It really helped.

I was listening to the audio on the Spiritual significance of the Levites, Priests and tabernacle series. Very interesting and spiritually opening, but I was not clear on something. Why would God say that the Levites are a GIFT to the Priests to work with them and carry out responsibilities of the temple? What is the Spiritual significance of that in our daily lives? Why are they a gift and yet they are not to touch the sacred place of the temple? How are they to serve us? Does it mean maybe that God says He uses certain people in our lives through events to correct our Spiritual make-up and theirs at the same time, since He also says that if they do touch the sacred place they also (Levites) shall die?
The other question is: is it possible that the events or happenings in our lives are/have a spiritual significance or are a shadow of something happening in the Spirit? This question is crucial to me, Mike, because my experience has been that when I ask God something about a certain event in my life or a happening or I just need a direction from Him, He will give me a passage in the bible that addresses my question directly, and I will take that as an answer from God.

Now do I have to take it literally or spiritually? For an example Mike, this book of Numbers 18 verse 1-7 was, what I believe, an answer from God when last year I prayed asking God if my relationship with a certain person was supposed to be intimate or work related only, and after praying I opened my bible straight to this passage, and to me it was clear that it’s supposed to be work related only. There are other events where God operated the same way.

The last question Mike is, when you pray for a specific direction from God about something in your life or decision you have to take, how does God respond to you, how do you know that this is what God is saying?

The last, last question! Tell me about the desires of our hearts; how does that work? God says that He will give us our heart’s desires, does this mean everything that we desire God will give us? or He gives us a certain desire for something because He wants to create an interest in us to take a certain direction, maybe the desire is my next blessing, but God wants to direct me to it, but first He wants to create a desire in us?

Thanx Mike. I know it’s a lot of questions. I’ve grown a lot with your web site.

May God keep you until this light is seen by all, and see the fruits of your works and dedication to the things of God.
N____

Mike wrote:

Hi N____,

Thank you for your questions. They are all very perceptive, and the answers to your questions will be instructuive to many others.

Let’s just take them in order. Your first question is:

Why would God say that the Levites are a GIFT to the Priests to work with them, and carry out responsibilities of the temple? What is the Spiritual significance of that in our daily lives? Why are they a gift and yet they are not to touch the sacred place of the temple? How are they to serve us? Does it mean maybe that God says He uses certain people in our lives through events to correct our Spiritual make-up and theirs at the same time, since He also says that if they do touch the sacred place they also (Levites) shall die?

If you are following the series on The Camp and The Tabernacle, then you are aware that the Camp of Israel typifies the “sea” of mankind; the whole unconverted world. The Levites typify the “many called,” and the priests typify the “few chosen.” As Joseph’s ten brothers and Korah and Ishmael and Esau and King Saul and the nation of Israel today all demonstrate:

Gen 25:23 And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger

While the whole “historical orthodox Christian” world is looking outwardly at the physical nation of Israel and its struggles, those with spiritual “eyes to see” know that this is an inward spiritual statement. The elder is really “the natural man,” and the younger is “afterward that which is spiritual.”

1Co 15:44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
1Co 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
1Co 15:47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
1Co 15:48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
1Co 15:49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

Abraham was called out of Ur of the Chaldees, but Isaac was chosen out of “Abraham’s seed.” Isaac was chosen over his brother Ishmael. Joseph supplanted Israel’s firstborn son Reuben and all of his ten brothers. The same was true of Jacob over Esau, King David over King Saul and “the Israel of God” over “Israel according to the flesh.” (Gal 5:16).

What so few realize is that the family of Aaron was also chosen over the family of his first cousin, Korah, and the rest of the tribe of Levi.

None of this is simply an lesson in history. If it is, then we have missed the point. Levi typifies what is in us all. Levi typifies Babylon. We must all come out of all the doctrines of Babylon, and the call to do so is an ‘is, was, and will be’ call.

Levi has no right to eat at our table because Levi, like Korah, has not been given the right to eat our food. Our food demands that we forsake all the doctrines of Babylon. Levites who are not of the family of Aaron, refuse to do so. Such people are withstanding God and not just Moses:

Exo 4:15 And thou [Moses “instead of God”] shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do.
Exo 4:16 And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God.

You ask:

Why are they a gift and yet they are not to touch the sacred place of the temple? How are they to serve us?

Babylon serves us in a way we need to appreciate. Without Babylon we would have nothing to “come out” of. Without “Ur of the Chaldees” Abraham would have no place from which to “come out.” Without Ishmael, Isaac would have no one to succeed. Without Esau, Jacob would have no one to supplant, without his ten brothers Joseph would have no one to hate him and sell him into Egypt. So it is with King David when he replaces King Saul. If Christ and the apostles are not “replacement theologians” then there is no message at all and no truth at all in any of these stories which are a common thread throughout the Old Testament. They are one and all testifying to a New Testament spiritual Truth: “Not that which is spiritual is first but that which is natural, and afterward that which is spiritual.”

How do the Levites serve us? They serve us every time we struggle to free ourselves from the lies of Babylon. Why cannot they eat at our table? Why can they not minister to the people with the vessels of the tabernacle?

Num 3:5 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Num 3:6 Bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister unto him.
Num 3:7 And they shall keep his charge, and the charge of the whole congregation before the tabernacle of the congregation, to do the service of the tabernacle.
Num 3:8 And they shall keep all the instruments of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the charge of the children of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle.
Num 3:9 And thou shalt give the Levites unto Aaron and to his sons: they [are] wholly given unto him out of the children of Israel.
Num 3:10 And thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall wait on their priest’s office: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death.

They cannot minister to the people because they have nothing to offer but lies and falsehoods which are the direct result of the fact that they are resentful of the fact that God’s elect have replaced them as God’s chosen few. For this God’s elect, His priests, need to be extremely grateful. It is on the backs of the Levites, because of their unbelief, that God’s priesthood is chosen out of Levi; out of Babylon.

Rom 11:30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
Rom 11:32 For God hath concluded them all [the called Levites and the rest of the uncalled Israelites] in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

Your surmisings suggest that you are beginning to see all of this. You suggest:

Does it mean maybe that God says, He uses certain people in our lives through events to correct our Spiritual make-up and theirs at the same time, since He also says that if they do touch the sacred place they also (Levites) shall die?

Yes, God uses people. However, the “they also” you reference are the priests and not the Levites. It does not read ‘they also’, it reads ‘ye also’, meaning the priests also will die if they do not keep the holy place, the tabernacle within, unpolluted:

Num 18:2 And thy brethren also of the tribe of Levi, the tribe of thy father, bring thou with thee, that they may be joined unto thee, and minister unto thee: but thou and thy sons with thee shall minister before the tabernacle of witness.
Num 18:3 And they [the Levites who are not priests] shall keep thy charge, and the charge of all the tabernacle: only they [the Levites] shall not come nigh the vessels of the sanctuary and the altar, that neither they [the Levites], nor ye [the priests] also, die.

God speaks to His elect and to the world of Babylon through His people, through you and through me. Aaron was Moses’ mouthpiece. Moses was to Aaron “instead of God.” God’s elect speak His words to His elect to build them up, and as God’s elect are building up others of His elect, they are, at the same time, speaking those same words to those who refuse to come out of Babylon. To the one, God’s Word builds up, to the other God’s Truth comes as a tormenting and death dealing witness against them:

Rev 11:3 And I will give [power] unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days [The time of witness. This just happens to be the length of Christ’s ministry, which built up His disciples and at the same time, condemned the ungodly], clothed in sackcloth. (Read Who are the Two Witnesses?)
Rev 11:4 These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.
Rev 11:5 And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth , and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.

The whole admonition is to the priests. God’s priests are admonished against allowing the leaven of the Pharisees to enter into the unleavened shew bread, which only God’s priests can lawfully eat.

Mat 12:3 But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him;
Mat 12:4 How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?

David had already been anointed by Samuel to replace King Saul. The fact that David was already anointed and could do something which would have cost others their lives, shows us who King David typifies. He typifies our Great Reformer who is in this very story also “breaking the sabbath and is yet guiltless.” None of this changes the Truth that the admonition to keep the Levites from polluting the holy place is an admonition to God’s elect against allowing the doctrines of Babylon to ever pollute the Truth of “the true bread from heaven,” the Truth of the Words and “doctrine of Christ.”

1Ti 4:16 Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.

1Jn 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

2Jn 1:10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your [spiritual] house, neither bid him God speed
2Jn 1:11 For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.

Tit 3:10 A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject ;
Tit 3:11 Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.

A heretic subverts the Word of God and changes the doctrine of Christ. One of the hardest things priests are required to do is to maintain the separation between being a priest and being a Levite. One of the hardest things a priest is called to do is to keep heresy out of the holy place, out of his heart and mind. It is a full-time job.

Your next question is:

The other question is, is it possible that the events or happenings in our lives are/have a Spiritual significance or are a shadow of something happening in the Spirit?.”

Here is a verse which ought to answer that conclusively:

Eph 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high [places].

God dwells in heaven. Leave off the world ‘places.” It is not in the Greek. What is in the Greek is this:

Heb 9:23 It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens [the physical tabernacle and the vessels of the tabernacle] should be purified with these [the blood of calves and lambs]; but the heavenly things themselves [the hearts and minds of God’s elect] with better sacrifices than these.

1Co 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

The most common form of adultery and fornication in God’s church and in His temple is that of spiritual fornication. Spiritual fornication is believing the lies of Babylon. It is spiritual fornication and spiritual adultery to believe in any of the false doctrines of Babylon. The true priests of God are aware of their commission to keep the Levites from polluting the holy things of the tabernacle. “Bid them not into your house neither bid them God speed” refers to all the pollution that is in the sanctuary of God with all of the false doctrines of the Levites who have been called to minister to the priests, but not to God or the people.

Heb 13:9 Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.
Heb 13:10 We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.

The apostles knew that the greatest threat to the body of Christ was from within, “of your own selves.”

Act 20:28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
Act 20:29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
Act 20:30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
Act 20:31 Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.

The “perverse things” Paul is warning against are all the doctrines of Babylon on which the “historical orthodox Christian church” is based.

So to answer your question directly, yes, indeed, God’s Word has the answer to every situation in which we find ourselves. Unless we are familiar with that Word, we will not know the “voice of a stranger” when we hear it. Know your Bible. Knowing your Bible is to know Christ. Knowing Christ is knowing the voice of the true shepherd.

Let me add that you ought not expect to simply pick up God’s Word and have it fall open to the very scripture that answers your needs at the moment. If we could all do that, then there would be no need to “study to show yourself approved:”

2Ti 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth .

Make time for Christ and His Word as you would for the one you love. It is actually a matter of life and death:

Mat 10:37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter [or husband or wife] more than me is not worthy of me.
Mat 10:38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
Mat 10:39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

Be in your Bible! There is no substitute for knowing the Word of God:

Joh 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

Your next question is:

When you pray for a specific direction from God about something in your life, or a decision you have to take, how does God respond to you, how do you know that this is what God is saying?

Again, there is no substitute for the Word of God. There is not one situation into which we are brought which is not directed by the word of God. The only problem we have is accepting what God tells us in His Word.

A good example of this is God telling us that we must not be “unequally yoked together with an unbeliever.”

2Co 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
2Co 6:15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
2Co 6:16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in [them]; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
2Co 6:17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
2Co 6:18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

While the context of these verses is that of keeping ourselves completely separated from false doctrines and “idols of the heart” (Ezekiel 14), it would appear to any rational person to be every bit as applicable to a marriage relationship. This is especially true in light of the fact that the marriage relationship typifies the relationship of the church to Christ:

Eph 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
Eph 5:26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
Eph 5:27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
Eph 5:28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
Eph 5:29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:
Eph 5:30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
Eph 5:31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
Eph 5:32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

Marriage is really all “concerning Christ and the church.” So when we read that we are not to be unequally yoked together with an unbeliever, this is especially true of the very institution which typifies our yoke with Christ.

Knowing this and doing it are two different things. There are very few young people who can receive this vital Truth. No God fearing child of God would ever marry a person of another doctrine. No priest would ever be permitted to marry a polluted Levite. God’s elect would never be unequally yoked to a perverse Babylonian Levite. Let him that can, receive it.

Mat 19:11 But he said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given.

The answer to every question you will ever have is in God’s Word. I heard an internationally known televangelist say that the Bible says nothing about many of today’s social dilemmas. One example he used to make his point was that of abortion. The Truth, of course, is that nothing could be further from the Truth. Not only do scriptures deal specifically with the subject of abortion, but the Ten commandments themselves deal with that subject in the fifth commandment which prohibits murder.

Exo 20:13 Thou shalt not kill.

This would be expected of a secular speaker in today’s Godless society, and it is quickly getting to the point that it is not at all unexpected from well-known theologians as they strive to please the people as Aaron did when he helped the people produce a golden calf to worship.

Nevertheless, the answer to every imaginable question is right there in God’s Word.

How does God respond to you, how do you know that this is what God is saying?

You can know what is His will only by His Word. Those who go “above what is written” do so at their own peril. Those are truly polluted Levites:

(ASV) Now these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes; that in us ye might learn not to go beyond the things which are written; that no one of you be puffed up for the one against the other.

All who “go beyond what is written” are adrift in a very dark sea without light or a rudder and with no means of “trying the spirits to see whether they are of God.” They claim they are “listening to the spirit.” And many of these very people are aware that “the words I speak unto you are spirit” (Joh 6:63)

I hope that answers that question about how to know what is God’s will on any given subject. If we know God’s Word we will know His mind on any and every subject.

Your last question is:

Tell me about the desires of our hearts. How does that work? God says that He will give us our heart’s desires. Does this mean everything that we desire God will give us? or He gives us a certain desire for something because He wants to create an interest in us to take a certain direction, maybe the desire is my next blessing, but God wants to direct me to it, but first He wants to create a desire in us.

First of all, let me assure you that we do not “command God concerning the works of His hands” as some ‘name it and claim it’ ministers assert. These poor blinded souls actually believe that a question posed by the Lord to demonstrate just how presumptuous such a thing would be, is a command to do just such a presumptuous act. Here is the verse in question. It is verse 11, but we will read verse 11 along with the verses before and after it:

Isa 45:5 I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:
Isa 45:6 That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.
Isa 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.
Isa 45:8 Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the LORD have created it.
Isa 45:9 Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd [ strive] with the potsherds of the earth.
Isa 45:10 Woe unto him that saith unto his father, What begettest thou? or to the woman, What hast thou brought forth?
Isa 45:11 Thus saith the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me.
Isa 45:12 I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, [even] my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.

Now look at this. Here is what we have:

I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:

Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker!
Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?

Woe unto him that saith unto his father, What begettest thou?

Those are the verses immediately preceding verse 11:

Isa 45:11 Thus saith the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me.

Now what God worth His salt will tell anyone who “hast not known me” to “concerning the work of my hands command ye me.” No, of course He would not! This is but one more “doctrine of demons” being passed off as a spiritual revelation with no scriptural basis. What is verse 11 really saying? Here are a few much better translations:

(CEV) I am the LORD, the Creator, the holy God of Israel. Do you dare question me about my own nation or about what I have done?
(GNB) The LORD, the holy God of Israel, the one who shapes the future, says: ” You have no right to question me about my children or to tell me what I ought to do!
(GW) The LORD is the Holy One and the maker of Israel. This is what the LORD says: Ask me about what is going to happen to my children! Are you going to give me orders concerning my handiwork?
(LITV) So says Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, and the One who formed him, Do you ask Me of the things to come? Do you give command to Me about My sons, and about the work of My hands?
(MKJV) So says Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, and the One who formed him, Do you ask Me of things to come? Do you give command to Me about My sons, and about the work of My hands?

“Are you [who “hast not known me”] going to give me orders concerning my handiwork?” is a much better translation of this verse than what the KJV and some others have to offer. God does not give us “the desires of our heart” simply because we command Him to do so.

If ever we learn that Truth is known only in “the sum of God’s Word,” then and only then will we be able to begin to know the mind of God concerning what He means when He say that he will give us “the desires of our heart.” Look closely at the verse in question:

Psa 37:4 Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

“Delight thyself also in the Lord…” precedes “He shall give thee the desire of thine heart.” That is a very significant fact which qualifies this promise to give us the desires of our hearts.

Now let’s do a little scriptural and spiritual addition. Let’s add another verse to Psa 37:4:

1Jn 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:

Oh well, there goes the control of the universe! God just will not allow that ‘name it, and claim it’ crowd take control of the work of His hands. It would seem that our requests must first be “according to His will.” Here is one more verse on this subject:

Psa 10:17 LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear:

God does “prepare the hearts” of His elect to be “according to His will.” When we disregard His will and insist upon satisfying our flesh, we do so only because God himself has “mingled an evil spirit in Egypt:”

Isa 19:14 The LORD hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken [man] staggereth in his vomit.

Just as He “prepares the heart… of the humble,” so does He “cause Egypt to err in every work thereof.”

I must tell you that “the desires of your heart” must first be of the “not my will, but thine be done” variety before God will give you the desires of your heart. That is “the sum of thy word” on this subject:

Psa 119:160 The sum of Your word is truth, And every one of Your righteous ordinances is everlasting.

Peter adds to this profound Truth by informing us that no prophecy of scripture is its own interpretation but must be understood in the light of all other scripture given by the Holy Spirit:

(CLV) knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture at all is becoming its own explanation.”
(MKJV) knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture came into being of its own private interpretation.

I hope that answers your question about whether God gives us the desires of our heart. God gives us the desires of our heart when we “delight thyself also in the LORD,” and “ask according to his will.” What a terrible disappointment for the carnal mind, but what a blessing for those who “delight themselves in the Lord.”

In closing, it occurs to me that every question you have asked has had the same answer. That answer is the Bible. Knowing God’s Word is the answer to every question any of us will ever have. This is but another way of saying that Christ is the answer to every question. Coming to know Him and His world is what life is all about. Be patient and seek to know Him, and He will reveal Himself to you:

Luk 21:19 In your patience possess ye your souls.

Joh 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

Your brother in Christ,
Mike