The Shape of Things to Come

by Bill Somers

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:10)
That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: (Ephesians 1:10)
Let me spell it out right at the beginning. The shape of things to come is triangular.
OK, what things are we talking about? Really only one thing, but one depicted and described in many ways; the church. I have long seen that several of the metaphors used in scripture for the church have a triangle shape. The most obvious one is 'the mountain of the lord'. Others are less clear.

Lately the Lord has been showing me that practically all of the ways he uses to describe the church have a triangular aspect of some sort, depending on your point of view. In this article we will briefly touch on most of them. First, we will cite some pertinent verses. Then we'll see how they are triangular in shape. Then lastly we will look at their relation to the kingdom.
 
 

The Mountain

. . . Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; . . . . (Isaiah 2:3)
Now this one should be pretty obvious, mountain has a peak in the center and sloping sides all around. From the side it is clearly a triangle.
 
The Holy Hill Mount Zion

 
Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. (Psalms 2:6)
Thus saith the LORD; I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the LORD of hosts the holy mountain. (Zechariah 8:3)
And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads. (Revelation 14:1)
A Song of degrees of David. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!
It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments;
As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore. (Psalms 133:1-3)
Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it. (Zechariah 4:7)
These are key scriptures relating the Mountain of the Lord and the Holy Hill, Mount Zion

 

The Body of the High Priest

It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; (Psalms 133:2)
Here we see the High Priest described as having skirted garments. These correspond to the sloping mountain sides. Psalm 133 compares the image of the mountain with the image of the High Priest. Both are triangular images.

The Body of Christ

So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. (Romans 12:5)
For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. (Ephesians 5:30)
Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; (Hebrews 3:1)
In this case, we see that the image of the body of Christ takes on a triangular shape, since Christ Jesus is spoken of as our High Priest. [In Psalm 133, Aaron acts as a type of Christ.]

 

The Stone becoming a Great Mountain

Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. (Daniel 2:35)
Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this. Isa 9:7
Here the stone is the Lord. He breaks the nations and scatters the pieces. Then they are replaced by his ever expanding mountain.

 

The Bride

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.
This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. (Ephesians 5:31-32)
Here we ask you to visualize a bride dressed in her long flowing gown and compare the picture to that of the High Priest in his skirted robes.

 

The Ship

And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. (Matthew 8:20)
And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him


And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep. (Matthew 8:23-24)

The ship is the church, his place of rest. The place he can lay his head. Here we can see that a ship has a high mast in the center with sails and ropes sloping down from the top. Another triangle.

 

A place to lay the head, a resting place.
 

For the LORD hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation


This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it. (Psalms 132:13-14)

Here the resting place is the triangular Mount Zion.

 

The Army of God

Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. (2 Timothy 2:3)
No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. (2 Timothy 2:4)
Now how does an army resemble a triangle? Not in any physical view that I can think of. However in the abstract it does because the chain of command and the table of organization depict a flow of authority starting at the top with the commander in chief and down thru the general staff, the generals, colonels and so on to the rank and file foot soldiers.

The Flock of Sheep

I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. (John 10:14)
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: (John 10:27)
For this image we ask you to take a short helicopter ride and observe a shepherd leading his flock out into the pasture. As we look down on the we see that He is at the head, followed by the lead sheep and the rest of them fan out behind him, like the wake behind a ship at sea. Triangular once more.

 

The Family of God

According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love
Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. (Ephesians 1:4-6)
Guess what shape you find in a diagram of a family tree?

The Eagles Wings

As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: (Deuteronomy 32:11)

He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. (Psalms 91:4)

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Here the image is of the Lord protecting his people as an eagle shelters her young. The wings spread out to either side give this a triangular shape.

 

The Fig Tree, The Olive Tree etc.
 

He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. (Luke 13:6)
Is the seed yet in the barn? yea, as yet the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree, hath not brought forth: from this day will I bless you. (Haggai 2:19)

For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? (Romans 11:24)

To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified. (Isaiah 61:3)

Quite often, the Lord speaks of his people in terms of trees. [I see men as trees, walking.] The figure of the fig tree and to a lesser extent the olive tree are very important. We can see some triangularity in the shape of a tree as well.

Metaphor of the vineyard

Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:
And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, . . . . (Isaiah 5:1-2)
This description of a vineyard resembles that of a city. There is a high point, the tower in the center, and walls, fences and hedges on either side. It could resemble a triangle seen from a short ways away.

 

Metaphor of the land of Israel

Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem. (Ezra 1:3)
Whenever you go to Jerusalem, according to biblical prose, you go up to Jerusalem. From there you can go east and down to Jordan, or west and go down to the sea [Joppa]. So here we find another triangular image.

 

The City

Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. (Genesis 22:4)
 

For he [Abraham] looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Heb 11:10

Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. (Psalms 48:2)
When you view a city from a distance you notice the tallest buildings in the center and shorter and shorter ones trailing off to either side. This forms a triangle.

 

New Jerusalem

And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (Revelation 21:2)
And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife.


And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, (Revelation 21:9-10)

In this passage the bride is seen as synonymous with the Holy City.

The Tabernacle

A Psalm of David. LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill? (Psalms 15:1)

For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock. (Psalms 27:5)

In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling place in Zion. (Psalms 76:2)

We will go into his tabernacles: we will worship at his footstool. (Psalms 132:7)

Andin mercy shall the throne be established: and he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness. (Isaiah 16:5)

And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. (Revelation 21:3)

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So what is a tabernacle? It's a tent. And tents have tent poles sticking up in the middle and shorter poles on the sides and ropes going down to the earth tied to tent pegs driven into the ground. Once again we see a triangular shape.

 

The Dwelling Place, House or Temple

Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God
And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone
In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord
In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:19-22)
Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.


Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. (1 Peter 2:5-6)

Houses and temples commonly have pointed roofs giving them a triangular aspect. The only way you can get a chief cornerstone is by having one corner at the top. Hence you have a pyramid, which is also triangular in shape.

The Pyramid

And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:18)
As the church is a spiritual building, it is built from the top down instead of from the bottom up. At the top we find the Cap Stone, Head Stone or Chief Corner Stone, Jesus. The church must be built on the Lordship of Jesus.

The Action

We see the triangle shape in all these examples of the Church. In certain ones we see some action too. We see an image of something being placed at the top of the triangle.
In Psalm 2 we see the King set upon the Holy Hill


In Zechariah 4, we see the headstone brought forth on the Mountain
In Revelation 14 we see the Lamb standing on the Mountain
In Psalm 133 we see the anointing ointment on the head and the dew on the mountain, both flowing downwards.
In Matthew 8 we see mention of a place to lay the head; and the Lord sleeping in the ship.

All of these instances speak of the same thing. Laying the headstone on the temple is laying the head on the body. The temple is the resting place of the Lord; and the body is the place of rest for the Head. The Lord is the head!
 

In Psalm 132, David speaking [as a type of Christ] says he will have no rest till he builds a dwelling place for God.

Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed
I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids
Until I find out a place for the LORD, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob. (Psalms 132:3-5)
And then the Lord responds to his servant identifying the resting place as Mount Zion [a type of the Church].
For the LORD hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation
This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it. (Psalms 132:13-14)
We often speak of the church as the body of Christ or as the House of God. According to these examples the construction of the House [temple] doesn't begin till the foundation is laid. Likewise, the assembly and following growth of the body doesn't begin till the head comes to its resting place. Ephesians 2:21 speaks of the building fitly framed together growing into a holy temple
David never actually built the temple. All he could do is gather the materials. The actual construction didn't begin till after his death, that is after he [a type of Messiah] went to his resting place.

 

The Timing

So when does all this take place? In the End times at the beginning of the third day.
Psalm 2 indicates it will be a time when all the world turns against God's people.


Revelation 14 shows it taking place during events foretold in the book of Revelation, especially when his followers will go wherever he leads.
Zechariah 4 speaks of the mountain becoming a plain [humbled], making a place for the headstone to rest.
Psalm 133 shows it's when brothers come to dwell together in unity.
Matthew 8 tells us it's when The Lord enters his place of rest, his disciples follow him and great storms arise outside.
 

. . . and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:18)

Summary

How can we claim that the church is not yet built or the body not assembled? Well clearly the members or parts are not yet in their proper place doing their intended functions. Now this is seen just by observing the state of the church. All we have today is a collection of building materials or body parts waiting to be put in place.
But some may say that we are not to trust in what we see but in what the bible says about the church. This is a common place approach. Many preach and teach things that are seen in the Word but not seen in practice. To the outsider this will look like foolishness, hypocrisy or just plain stupidity.
In general we have lots of scripture that describe how we in the church are supposed to be, yet [except once in a while] we are not that way. This body of scripture is usually present in tense, but only occasionally present in our experience.

 

For example: If the Holy Spirit is supposed to lead us into all truth, how is it that all these people who claim to have the Holy Ghost can never agree among themselves? Because the scripture is not yet fulfilled.

So when will it be fulfilled? When all the rest of this happens.

 
Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the LORD shall bring again Zion. (Isaiah 52:8)
But what I'm suggesting is our problem lies in the literal approach to biblical interpretation. We think we're supposed to have it all, when all we really have is the down payment. The steak is on the grill but all we have so far is a whiff of the aroma.
What we really have is a body of scripture that is prophetic. It is present tense but really points to the future. It is describing how the church is supposed to be and how Christians are supposed to act.

But that's not how we are, it's how we will become when all this takes place; when we are revived or redeemed. It is unfulfilled prophetic scripture, but we normally don't realize that. It has been sealed till the time of the end.

Here is an example of one of those scriptures that are present tense but are actually unfulfilled prophecy.
 

But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels
To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. (Hebrews 12:22-24)

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And another example:
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:    (1 Peter 2:9)

The Kingdom of God

Here's a very brief definition: The Kingdom of God is wherever God is King.
Guess what shape you will find in a diagram of the Kingdom? The triangle. The Kingdom of God is just another name for the Church!
The building of the church is the beginning of the kingdom of God, on earth. And the growth of the church is the spread of the kingdom. [As in the Stone becoming a Great Mountain.]

 
And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:


Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. (Luke 17:21)

If the body is not assembled till the head comes to its resting place, and if the temple construction doesn't start till the foundation is laid, when do you think the kingdom comes? When the King is set in place on the Holy Hill [Psalm 2]

And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: . . . . (Revelation 12:10)

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So now how would you define the Kingdom of God?
Righteousness, Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost, that's another triangle.

 
Arise, O LORD, into thy rest; thou, and the ark of thy strength.
Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness; and let thy saints shout for joy. (Psalms 132:8-9)
For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. (Romans 14:17)
As I write this, in the summer of 2000, we are in the beginning of the third day. We read reports and prophecies that the manchild has come forth and the apostles are being gathered and that judgment is imminent. Get ready to look up for our redemption is coming. God has started to fulfill this word and confirm his covenant.
The Kingdom comes when the King comes The Kingdom comes where the King comes. That is when the King comes to his resting place in the midst of his people.

 
In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack.


The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.
I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly, who are of thee, to whom the reproach of it was a burden.
Behold, at that time I will undo all that afflict thee: and I will save her that halteth, and gather her that was driven out; and I will get them praise and fame in every land where they have been put to shame.
At that time will I bring you again, even in the time that I gather you: for I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the LORD. (Zephaniah 3:16-20)

Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.


That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. (John 3:5-8)

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