Aaron's Breastplate -- A Vision of Unity

One Saturday morning I was watching a royal wedding service on the TV. The prince was Dutch Reformed and his bride was Roman Catholic. The service was performed by a Dutch Reformed Minister and a Catholic Priest. It was what they call an oecumenical service.

It was a beautiful service and the couple was very much in love with each other. Everybody was blessed. Then it happened... It was time to seal this covenant of love with a coming together around the Table of the Lord. The priest told the people present that Jesus Himself was the Host at this table and everybody was welcome to partake. And so they did and it appeared as though everybody was blessed again.

Everybody? ..No, not everybody. Somebody was watching the ceremony and took offense. They did not like the way the service was conducted and the fact that some Protestant people were seen partaking of the bread and wine, together with the Catholics. There were many newspaper articles full of comments, letters and arguments about what was meant to be a real show of Biblical unity... Or was it??

One thing I do know: And that is, because of what they had seen and heard, many people have found a new reason for why they should not attend church or believe in a "Higher Being" called God.

I started to think and pray about this. The Lord took me back to something that happened to me, once long ago. It was June 1976 and I was sitting in my lounge with my Bible on my lap and I was reading Psalm 133:

"Behold how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down on the beard, The beard of Aaron. Running down on the edge of his garments..."

Suddenly, in a vision I was transported away in the Spirit and I saw Aaron the Highpriest. He was standing by the table of Showbread and he was wearing the Breastplate and my attention was drawn to it. I saw that this Breastplate was in a state of neglect. It was covered with a thick layer of dust and one stone had fallen from it. The stone was laying on the table of showbread.

Then I saw a hand coming from heaven, holding a jug of oil. The oil was poured over Aaron's head and ran down his beard and then it streamed on the Breastplate and down to the hem of his garments. As the oil poured onto the Breastplate, it washed away some of the dust and underneath one could see the faint sparkle of some of the precious stones that were there.

Suddenly, from my left side came eleven men and they walked up to Aaron and started to work on the Breastplate. They took it down and removed the stones and the gold settings that held them. The stones were cleansed and polished and the settings were thrown into the fire. "No new wine into old winebags!", I heard a voice say. I heard this voice speaking to me and explaining the vision. Those old settings could no longer hold the stones in their rightful place. They had to be melted. Then, after all the impurities had been removed, new settings could be made from the same gold. Afterwards, the settings were placed back onto the Breastplate and the stones were put back in their right place. Here I was told to take note of the fact that each stone was put back into its own place. It was in perfect order as the Lord had ordained it.

I looked at the Breastplate again. It was made clear to me that this Breastplate was made out of gold, blue, purple and scarlet thread and fine woven linen. The different materials used represented the life, death, resurrection and eternal reign of our Lord and King, Jesus Christ. On the Breastplate were fastened twelve precious stones in the golden settings. These stones represented the 12 sons of Jacob. (Exodus 28).

The stones represented 12 sons, all of one father and 4 different mothers. I then saw how those eleven men were engraving names on each stone and I was brought closer to see what was written there. To my surprise I saw the names of different Christian churches I knew. For instance, I saw "Catholic", Methodist, Dutch Reformed, Pentecostal, Baptist..."

And then....the vision changed! And I saw our Eternal Highpriest, our Lord Jesus Christ, Who was making intercession for us, His Body on earth. He was dressed in the garments of the High Priest and He was bearing our names on the Breastplate of Judgment over His heart, before the Lord. And I heard Him pray: "Father I pray that they may be one, even as You and I are one...! And the vision ended.

While meditating on what I had seen, the Lord told me that the dust represented human tradition which had made the word of God of no effect. (Mark 7:13). The oil was the oil of the Holy Spirit. And the eleven men represented the workers of the eleventh hour as mentioned in Matt 20:9.

It is interesting to know that the Christian movements of today, as we know them, seem to have all stemmed from 4 main streams as it were. I read an article from a Dutch Theologian , who confirms this. I was also thinking about the fact that those twelve sons of those four mothers each had their own unique way in which to worship God. They had they learned these ways from their mothers, but they had one father.

Here was a picture of true unity, the Biblical way, "Unity with Diversity". All together IN Christ and yet each one was unique and different from the others.

I believe it was significant that I had this vision shortly before the first Renewal conference in Port Elizabeth, South Africa in 1976. The theme of the conference was: Bridging the Gap. One of the main speakers was David Duplessis, who was also called "Mr Pentecost". We attended this conference and I recall that we were singing on the second night of the conference:"This is My commandment, that you love one another".

The conference had started off with much joy, but now there was something wrong.. The Spirit was grieved! Most of us didn't know that an argument had started that day between people of different churches on doctrinal issues. My husband told me to share the vision of the Breastplate with the leadership of the conference and I did.

What the Lord wanted to show us very clearly was, that our unity is IN Christ and has nothing to do with doctrines etc. When this vision was shared with the people, it brought peace and understanding.

And now here we go again with the arguments surrounding this recent wedding. I had this feeling inside of me that God was trying to say something to His People, through what happened here.

He had reminded me of the vision of Aaron's Breastplate, but as I asked Him more about it He also took me to the book of Numbers. There, we find a picture of true unity in the Body of Christ. Let's have a look there:

< Numbers 2:1-2 And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: Everyone of the children of Israel shall camp by his own standard...

Numbers 1:52 The children of Israel shall pitch their tents, everyone by his own camp, everyone by his own standard, according to their armies.

It seems that God puts much emphasis on the fact that each tribe had its assigned place in the camp and they also had their own standards or banners. Did you know that those 12 tribes were divided in 4 groups of 3 tribes each? Also, each of their banners had the same faces as the creatures in the book of Ezekiel: The face of an Ox, an Eagle, a Man and a Lion.

When will we learn that we must stop denouncing the other fellow who does not function or pray the way we do. Our unity is IN Christ, not in our doctrines. Could we come so far that we start accepting each other and respecting each other as individuals, each loving Jesus, but expressing that love in a unique way?

True unity is not what so many well-meaning oecumenical people are trying to do. All together in one holy heap, unified by a uniform doctrine. No, true Biblical unity is walking side by side in God's perfect order, respecting and loving one another.

Don't we see the beautiful example given to us by Jesus, in His relationship with His Father?

"That they may be one, even as You and I are one", He prays.

We have much to learn still!!

Froukje, June 1998.
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