One of the things that comes out of heaven is the river of glory. It is vitally important for us as believers to understand this river. It is important to understand what it means to have the river of glory flowing, because without the river there is no renewal or refreshing. The Bible talks about the river in Revelation and we will be going into that in this chapter because I want to talk to you about how it has changed my life. So we are going to understand a little bit about the river and what God wanted to do in a day that Adam ruled the earth, what has been happening to it, and how it is going to come upon the earth again.
The Bible talks about a River that flowed through Eden and then into the garden that God put in Eden.
Genesis 2:8 – and the Lord God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden (delight);… now a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became for(River) heads.
It parted into four heads and watered the earth. Do you ever wonder why we have four chambers of the heart? The river is very important for us as believers because:
John 7:38 – out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
Our problem is that not many of us have identified with what the river is all about, so I want to talk about that now.
Baptism is one of the basic key foundations that the Bible talks about. The foundations are found in Hebrews 6
Hebrews 6:1 – therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let’s go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith towards God; of the doctrine of baptisms, the laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of the eternal judgment; and this we will do of God permits.
All these truths are basic foundational truths that every believer needs to know about. Very few churches I have ever been in have actually taught these foundations in a structured process, but we as believers need to get to grips with them and understand what they mean.
If you are a pastor you need to get yourself into the word of God and study those foundational doctrines of Hebrew six. Get some information about them, lay them in your life and lay them in your churches life because the Bible says the church was:
Ephesians 2:20 – built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets.
The foundations of the early church were built on these. Unfortunately, much of this truth has been watered down and we have connected other things to it now. But we can still go and get before God and ask him.
I have identified eight different baptisms that are in the Bible. I know there are more but I want to focus on these because they are the main ones.
1 – baptism in the cloud of glory: the preparation for relationship.
2 – baptism of repentance for the remission of sin: the preparation for restoration.
3 – baptism of water: the preparation for a renewed life.
4 – baptism in the Holy Spirit: the preparation for revival.
5 – baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire: the preparation for renewal and refreshing.
6 – baptism into his death: the preparation for resurrection.
7 – baptism of unity: for the preparation of the release of blessing.
8 – baptism into the father: to identify with the nature and character of the father.
I walked my way through all these baptisms and when I start talking about them I just get caught into the arena of the realm of the kingdom that is available to us as the sons of God – Galatians 3:26. But because we have never been taught these things we miss out on the relationship we can have. There have been times when I have felt God crying because these things are not taught much in the church. The church usually only teaches 2 or 3 of these baptisms but every one of them is vitally important.
1 – baptism into the cloud of glory: the preparation for relationship
1 Corinthians 10:2 – all were baptized into Moses in the cloud. This is baptism into the cloud of glory. It is immersing yourself into that cloud. I want to talk about the baptism into Moses because it is baptism into the marriage celebration, the marriage covenant and the marriage lifestyle with the presence of God. When the glory of God came down onto the mountain, the Bible talks about a cloud that formed over the mountain – Exodus 19:16. In Hebrew the word for cloud or covering is huppah. It was round cloud that came onto that mountain and sat like a bridal huppah.
The Bible says that the mountain shook and that the Israelites were terrified of what they saw – Exodus 19:18/20:18.
It says – all the people saw the thunderings and the lightnings – Exodus 20:18.
Then God told Moses not to even let them come near the mountain because if they touched it they would die. Barriers were put around it so not even animals could go there, because God had come down and was asking them, will you marry me?
Moses went into that huppah (or cloud) and the Israelites were terrified by the lightning and thunder that was coming out of the mountain. The Hebrew interpretation of lightning is – glorified fire; you can see it. You cannot see thunder, but the Bible says all the people saw the thunderings and the lightnings. The Hebrew understanding of thunder is – glorified voices of fire.
So when they came to the edge of this mountain they saw glorified fire and glorified voices of fire. It is important to understand that in Hebrew the voices of fire were saying, will you marry me? We do not teach the church the baptism into the cloud of Moses that declares, you become my bride? Will you marry me? Moses went up the mountain and got the 10 Commandments. These are the 10 agreements that God has made in the marriage covenant. When God says, you will have no other gods before me, he’s saying, do not put anyone else in front of me.
A marriage covenant is two-way, so the bride, the bride’s parents, the groom and the groom’s parents would get together. They would then work out an agreement which was written down. The 10 Commandments are God writing down his side of the agreement. In our day it is our job to write down our side of the agreement in the marriage covenant with the presence of God. When you begin to write down your side of the agreement, this brings you into the baptism of the cloud with Moses.
The issue with the agreement is that when you break any one of those, the other person has a right to divorce you. It gives them the sovereign right to divorce you. It was the only way in Hebrew culture that you could divorce. God says do not commit adultery, but so many of us commit adultery and our hearts with the presence of something else. Yet, god in his love does not divorce us because he wants a bride.
Will you marry me?
This cry has gone on for generation after generation. There was no response from the Israelites on that day when they came out to the mountain where there was cloud, fire, wind and lightning. But something like 1500 years later on exactly the same day, on the day of Pentecost, it says they were in the upper room together when the wind came and they saw on them cloven tongues of fire – acts 2:1 – 4. The tongues of fire where saying, will you marry me? This time, instead of turning away and saying no, out of their belly came a response of the spirit praying in tongues, yes, I will marry you. The baptism in the Holy Spirit seals you into that marriage. This is just one baptism, the baptism into Moses, but they all link into one another like this.
The word baptism means to be immersed into something. The process and spiritual significance of immersing yourself into something is to identify with what you are immersing yourself into. That is why it is virtually important for us to go through some of the foundational studies and relational connections to baptism.
2 – baptism of repentance for the remission of sins: the preparation for restoration.
In Luke we find the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins: and he went into all the country round about the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance (of hearty amending of their ways, with abhorrence of past wrongdoing) unto the forgiveness of sin – Luke 3:3.
There is a specific baptism that comes on the life of a person where they cannot do anything but confess their sin out for God. It is a supernatural thing where you get in tune with the revelation of your unholy state before the presence of God. You become absolutely aware of the majesty, power and dominion of God and when you are like that all you can do is repent. The word remission means to wipe or cleanse away.
3 – the baptism of water: the preparation for a renewed life.
Acts 1:5 in acts 10:47 deal with the baptism of water, which is one of the primary doctrines the church teaches: for John baptized with water, but not many days from now you shall be baptized with (placed in, introduced into) the Holy Spirit – ask 1:5.
Acts 10:47 – can anyone forbid or refuse water for baptizing these people, seeing that they have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?
Baptism does not mean to be sprinkled, baptism means being immersed in something, totally immersed. You cannot identify with a sprinkling but you can identify with an immersion.
4 – baptism in the Holy Spirit: a preparation for revival
acts11: 16 in Luke 3:16 show the baptism in the Holy Spirit: then I recalled the declaration of the Lord, how he said, John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with (be placed in, introduced into) the Holy Spirit – acts 11:16.
This is where you get endued with the gigawatts of heaven to be able to do the job of heaven on this earth. If you are not baptized in Holy Spirit you need to be or you will be a powerless Christian. The baptism in the Holy Spirit is the enduing or the immersing of yourself into the resurrection power of God to do the work of God on the earth. It turns the switch on for the spiritual volts you get when you are plugged in. Glory to God!
5 – the baptism of the Holy Spirit and with fire: preparation for renewal and refreshing.
Luke 3:16 – John answered them all by saying, I baptize you with water; but he was mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not fit to unfasten. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
There is a difference between the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire. Fire burns! The baptism of the Holy Spirit is an enduing of power, and the fire burns and releases the power. There is no power flow if we sin and so the fire burns, purifying us to change our nature. The baptism of fire is supposed to change and immerse you into the nature of God. There is a difference between being endued with the power of God and being immersed in the fire of God that changes your nature.
6 – The baptism into his death: the preparation for resurrection
Romans 6:3 – are you ignorant of the fact that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
This is called the baptism into his death. I do not mean the practice done in some churches where they baptized the dead; that is senseless religious practice. What he is talking about is the baptism into a crucified life. It is being immersed into the reality of the cross in your life and being baptized into the association with his death, so you can come into the preparation for the fullness of the resurrection – Philippians 3:10 – 11.
7 – baptism of unity: the preparation of the release of blessing
Psalm 133:1; 3. – behold, how good and how pleasant it is; for brethren to dwell together in unity!… For there the Lord commanded the blessing – life forever more.
1st Corinthians 12:13 – for by (means of the personal agency of) one (holy) Spirit we are all, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, baptized (and by baptism united together) into one body, and all made to drink of one (holy) Spirit.
This is called the baptism of unity. It is not a unity of doctrine, but a unity of spirit. This is why I love the scenario where we have different creeds, different races, different churches and different backgrounds, everyone coming together with one desire to be unified in the love of Jesus Christ. Each of these baptisms has a special significance because each of them is a preparation point for our spiritual life and our encounter and connection with God. Each of them is very significant for us as believers and we need to walk our way through them. If you do not understand them, get your concordance out, get your Bible, get on your face and fast and ask God to show you. That is only way to do it with some of these things because the church has lost a lot of it.
Each of these baptisms immerses us into the nature and the character of the one who is represented by that baptism. The reason I’m teaching you about these baptisms is to help you understand the importance of identification, the process of baptism and what it means to be immersed in something, that when you are immersed in something you identify with the nature of the one you are being immersed in. You identify with the character, the majesty, the power, the dominion and the might of the one that you are being immersed into.
Experiencing the river.
There is a river the Bible talks about in Revelation 22. I got stuck on this Scripture and I cannot get away from it.
And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal… (that is important, crystal, that is why we are finding gems) proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street… So the river runs like a street, which means you can walk on water there. Hallelujah Jesus! We can go and practice! And on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore 12 fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse, but throne of God and the Lamb shall be in it – Revelation 22:1 – 3.
Where is the throne of God and the Lamb? In the river! You need to see this – throne of God and the Lamb will be in it – in the river; in the healing of the nations, in the scrolls that have come from the leaves of the trees giving life that are beside the water of the river of life. We have access to the river!
And his servants shall serve him – Revelation 22:3
Who? The Lamb of God, in the river, that is where you are going to serve God. Is that not amazing!?
They shall see his face and his name shall be on their foreheads – Revelation 22:4; which is a renewed mind .
Revelation 22:5 – there shall be no night there: they need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. They shall reign for ever and ever.
Who shall reign forever and ever? Those that are in the river. It does not just mean the soaking River and that experience of the soaking place. It means an active participation in the identification of the river. I did not know a lot of this when I was having these experiences. I was speaking at a church in America and I blew their sound system up – $22,000 of sound system – talking about these things!
I had an experience in the spirit with Enoch, who I love. He is one of the most amazing men to talk to. I was talking with him about a lot of things and he took me to the river. I had been really fascinated with the river because of my experience in Eden and the garden that is in Eden. I had been in the river, which was a vital key ingredient to the encounter with God that I had in those places. It was the beginning point of everything that happened with me in that realm.
The river is amazing because you can go upstream. Have you ever wondered why people always want to find the source of the river? It is because there is a spiritual significance in it.
1 Corinthians 15:46 – the spiritual is not 1st, but the natural, and afterwards the spiritual.
There is a spiritual significance in why we want to find where the spring comes from. I wanted to understand where the spring came from. i Have been in the river and I know what it is like and how it falls; what it does and how you can move in it; what is like to be in it and float in it, see in it, be one with it and have it flow through you. There is no resistance in the river because it is full of life and it goes through you because you are not as you are here. You can breathe in it., ah It is wonderful!
The river flows out from where the veil sits, at the edge of the throne. Because of who and what God is, he continues to create all the time. The mountain is forever growing because of who he is. He is forever creating, so it just grows! Shaking and earthquakes often happen, and so diamonds fall off the mountain. So there is a cascade of diamonds coming off the mountain in the oil the presence of God flowing off the mountain, so you get diamonds and oil mixed together. The Bible talks about the river being as clear as crystal. It is as clear as crystal because there is crystals in it. But you cannot see the crystals until you jump in! There are jewels in the river. You can pick them up and put them in your belly!
8 – the baptism into the father: to identify with the nature and character of the father
There is one more baptism I would like to talk to you about; the baptism into the father.
I was talking with Enoch on the side of this river. He is amazing! He does not waste words or mince about with what he says, because he has walked with God for so many years.
He said to me, don’t we have a triune God? And I said, yes, hallelujah! We have a triune God. What do you say when somebody makes a statement like that?
He said, we have a triune God, great! Tell me who you have identified with? About now I started to feel like there was a shark chasing me! I said, well, I have been baptized in water and I have identified with Christ; and I’ve been baptized in Holy Spirit and I have identified with Holy Spirit.
He said, and? I said, well, I have been baptized in the cloud.
He said, no, no I’m not talking about the experiences. I’m talking about the relationships with the people you have been baptized into, because when you get baptized into a person you get baptized into his nature and his character. Then he made this statement to me, you have identified with Holy Spirit and you have identified with Jesus in the waters of baptism and in the natural world on the earth. What have you done to identify with the father?
I came back to the religious, there is no doctrine about doing anything like that. You show me that in the Bible. He said to me, don’t you think there is a river in heaven for a purpose?
You get the slaps (in the spirit) when you try and justify yourself! It is the flesh, even in heaven you still try and justify yourself!
I said, yeah, I’ve been in the river down there in Eden. He said, no, I’m talking about the river here, which flows pure as crystal. He said to me, you need to immerse yourself in the river, because the river comes straight from him. The only way you can identify yourself with him is to immerse yourself in what comes from him.
I had experience of the river that runs through Eden and by then it is watered down a bit and there are many tributaries of the presence of God that run into it that bring other things into that River, which make it what it is. In the river in Eden all the diamonds are on the bottom and the water runs clear as crystal. The runs clear like water, although it is like oil and like water. My expectation was that it would be the same.
So, I said, let me at it! I have been in the river of life down in Eden. Bible says it is as pure as crystal when it flows out of the throne. It is pure water when it gets into Eden, but when it comes out of the throne it is crystal. I did not know that and I jumped into it, doing what I call a bomb dive. As I jumped into the river I sank into this honey. I went down into this honey, into this quicksand substance that is flowing out from under the veil of the curtain, where the throne of God is, thinking, I am going to die, but I can breathe in water. Another thing I was trying to justify myself with. But I had to make the choice to give myself in surrender to God. Baptism of any kind is about absolute surrender.
As I sank in I was breathing pure diamonds and oil into my nose, my mouth and my body. I stayed there for about half an hour thinking, Lord, I am identifying with you, I am identifying with who you are, in the baptism of the river of glory. I stayed there because I wanted to know what it is to be one with the father, as Jesus talked about in John 17.
The amazing thing about the river is that it goes straight through you. It does not push you like the water we have here. There is no resistance in heaven, because everything is alive there. You are alive and because you are one with it, the river just goes through you. I was sinking, even as it was moving, crashing loudly out of the throne. I was thinking, hallelujah! This is thrilling! I do not know what is going to happen! I was trying to get into all my past experiences, thinking, I am in the river of Ezekiel (chapter 47) and, father, this is going to be okay. I did not really know what was going on. Nobody had ever taught me about this, but I did not really care, because suddenly I was finding that I was changing on the inside without having to do anything. I was beginning to immerse myself in the very nature of the one who made me. I’ve taught about the skin of God. The reason there are diamonds and oil that flow as part of the river is because God is who he is. What sheds off him is a residue and the residue makes a river. It cannot be controlled, just flows out under the curtain and then it becomes a raging torrent of his glory to the earth.
When I came out of the river, just like honey sticks to your arm, my skin was covered with oil and diamonds and my skin look like the skin of God. I was covered with oil little diamonds all over my body!
Enoch looked at me and he said, now you can relate and identify with the father because you have been in his nature and his character, because his nature and his character are in the river. I did not know what else to do, I just shouted, Yahoo – hallelujah! This feels so good – in fact I do not want to go home! (But I have a job to do, so I had to come home).
In Water baptism we get ourselves immersed in the natural environment in water. When you get yourself immersed in water baptism you are immersed in the new nature of Jesus Christ, the new resurrection power and all the doctrinal things. The Same is true with the Holy Spirit because you get yourself immersed into nature and character of the Holy Spirit. So, suddenly I found that inside of me it was so easy to talk with God as a friend and as a father. I could talk with Jesus from my past experience with him. Previously, however, it was kind hard to relate to God as my father because I did not have that immersion process accomplished in my life where i had chosen willfully to go down and be baptized into the river of the glory of God.
The leaves of the trees
The Bible says there is more there than just a river. I had identified with God and had this experience of being connected and immersed into the nature of the presence and the person of God. There are other things in that Scripture regarding the river flowing out. One of them is the trees and how they cast off their leaves and the leaves are for the healing of the nations. I was busy looking at Enoch and looking at these leaves. If these leaves are for the healing of the nations – Revelation 22:2 – then I wanted some! I was looking at him and sometimes you do not have to say anything, they know the intents of your heart because it shows on the outside when you are in the spirit.
He said, go and get some. So I went to get some of these leaves. I picked about eight or nine. They were leaves but they were kind of scrolls and they are alive. They have marks on them. I cannot explain them. All I know is that they are alive, they are like scrolls but they are living, they have power and every word on them makes a doorway for a nation to experience the glory. The revelation just goes on and on. I came out of the river so happy because – I got me some leaves! Now my problem was I did not know what to do with them! I’m looking at Enoch and he is looking at me. You need to understand, these guys are funny – they have a sense of humor! The Bible says about God that he sits in heaven and laughs! – Psalm 2:4. When I was looking at Enoch and he was looking at me, God must have been rolling with laughter in the throne room behind the curtain!
I said to him, what do I do with them? He said, put them in your belly.
He got me thinking about the guy in the TV advertisement who has got that foot-long sandwich. He sits down with his mate across the table and you hear this growling stomach. His mate asks, would you like a bite of the sandwich? The guy says, yes please. He takes the sandwich and his mouth expands as the entire sandwich disappears into his mouth, leaving a tiny piece of the end of the sandwich for the other guy! My mind went to this picture, trying to take one of the scrolls into my belly!
I said to him, what do I do with them to get them into my belly? He said, you just put them in your belly!
I said, what do you mean? He said, just like you did in the river with the gems that you carried inside of you, you put them in your belly.
I said, you mean it is that easy? I just… And is a tried it they just went into my belly.
Some of what I am teaching you now is on those scrolls. They have been unlocked because of the glory. That is why look so good, hallelujah! I do not care about being barrel- shaped if I can carry those scrolls! But I could not get the leaves until I had been immersed in the character nature of the father who gives the leaves. You cannot bring him into a nation unless you have been immersed in the nature and character of the one who wants to bring healing to the nations.
I began to realize that for the last 6000 years that River has been flowing and those leaves have gone somewhere, because the Bible says every month they cast forth their leaves. I began to realize that they must be somewhere.
Then Enoch said, come with me. I found myself standing in what some religions call Nirvana. They think it is heaven, but it is not. It is the most wonderful, beautiful place in the spirit that you could ever imagine. But it is absolutely barren and there is nobody there. The river is stored up like a damn right next to it. The banks of that River are strewn with the leaves for the healing of the nations that have been caught up in there.
Being in that place is amazing because the devil cannot destroy life, although he tries to pervert it and hide it. Being in that place I realized why members of other religions get so sold to the demon spirits that take them there – because of the authority of the place and because there is power in the life of God. The life of God is still in the spiritual realms, the problem is what surrounds it: the demonic enclaving and enslaving of that vicinity. You see, when Jesus was taken up to the exceedingly high mountain on the edge of the atmosphere and shown the kingdoms of this world – Luke 4:5, which world was he shown the kingdoms of? Jesus knew, whoever rules from the spiritual realms has dominion on the earth. Where do you think Adam originally had his dominion from?
I began to realize the tranquility, peace and glory that was there. But on the outside of it, for about a mile and a half up, was this canopy of the most putrid darkness you could ever imagine. The Bible says the whole of creation is groaning – Romans 8:19 – 23 – and that place is groaning for us to come home.
I then went into the river and it took me down to an everlasting door. The Everlasting door was in the atmosphere that is close to the atmosphere of the earth. That everlasting door was now groaning because it has been laid down and cannot be open. It is now controlled by demonic spirits on this side of the atmosphere. There is comming a day when those everlasting doors Psalm 24:7 are going to stand up again. When those doors open there is going to come a rending in the heaven’s and all that which has been stored up is going to be poured out as rain upon your earth. It is been stored up for the last five or 6000 years for you and me today. This is what the Bible talks about, and in our day God is going to give us the rivers and the rain from the heavens (Ezekiel 34:26/Joel 2:23/Zechariah 10:1).
The rain is going to come out of the evidence, it is going to hit the earth is going to change the nature of the earth again. The first papal it is going to change our meeting you. They are thought what it would be like walking around with diamond skin? There are thought what people would say? People look at you and say, who is this guy that I seen you? Have you ever wondered what is going to happen with your face? No wonder they will try to kill us. These are things that need to captivate your heart.
It Is all about the river of glory. God is calling each one of us to immerse ourselves by faith in the river and the stream of life, to identify ourselves with him as our father. Most of us have gone through water baptism and most of us have gone through the baptism of the Holy Spirit. What God is looking for now is the identification with him as the father, so then we have the father, the son and the Holy Spirit, three and one.
Activation
I’m going to jump in the river now and you can come and join me. It is done by faith. I do not care if you do not feel anything; that is immaterial to God. It shows that you are responding to the word of God which requires you to be identified with him as your father. To be identified in his nature, his character, his power, his dominion, his might and his kingdom. I want to look like him.
It might help you to stand to your feet and thanked Holy Spirit for his presence. When you are ready just close your eyes and start praying in tongues. Do not try to see anything yet. We do not want to look for signs; we want the pursuit of the person of God.
Father, thank you that you were disconfirmed with signs and wonders. Thank you, Lord, that your kingdom is confirmed because of who you are. Lord, I know what is happened in my life after I went into that secret place by the river which flows from under the veil by your throne. I know what happened, Lord, when I immersed myself in that River which is like honey and oil and diamonds all mixed together. Lord, as we come up to you today and reach out in faith, I ask in the name of Jesus that together we would jump into the river life and be baptized in Jesus name into our identity with her father. Lord, right now in the name of Jesus ask you to release that River. Become by faith and we jump into that River!
Father, I immersed myself into your character. I immersed myself and your nature. Lord, I immersed myself into your life, getting lost in your power in the dominion of our father. Lord, today I belong to you. Father, with their glory flowing through me, sinking into the river like warm honey, knowing that you are standing on the other side of the veil watching us as your children. Father, today I baptize myself into the river of glory, willfully by choice and by faith. In Jesus name let the fire of the glory of God come over your house and me. Lord, let the rippling of the thunder and the majesty and the glory that is in that River be imparted to your people today. Lord, let the Firefall, let the wind blow, let your thunder roar, let your glory come!
Father, thank you for the beauty of this place. Thank you for the thunder and lightning that is behind the veil. Father, thank you that you have always senior decrees being released because of who you are. Father, I stand in the river and all your beauty, and wonder, and adoration. Father, I drink of the stream of life. I drink of the river of pure water as clear as crystal.
Lord, I come back out of the river and feel the covering of your presence. Holy Spirit, I know that you are hovering and you are brooding over us, so we can feel your fire, to feel the rejoicing of your heart, to know the embrace of the wings of your presence. Father, thank you that I can come back and keep coming back here. Thank you, father. Where going to come back soon to be with you in the river again. Hallelujah!