The Champagne Is Nearly “Finnish-ed”
I received this in an email a short while ago. It concerns a hidden treasure of 230-year-old bottles of champagne found in the sea near Finland. It is pregnant with spiritual meaning. Thanks, Martha, for sending it to me. I have one correction to the writer’s otherwise excellent report, and a connection or two to add to it, of which he/she probably would not have been aware. Here’s Martha’s note and the article:
This came to me from a email list I am on that discusses the Restitution message. I found a news article about this at http://en.rian.ru/world/20100718/159852063.html Here is what I received.
Blessings,
Martha
Firstly, many thanks to Art at www.newinewordpress.com (link is no longer valid) for drawing my attention to this story. I am always alert to the sound of the Lord’s voice wherever He may be speaking and when I heard this account, it was immediately clear to me that the Father was painting a powerful prophetic picture.
It was reported that, on July 6th, ‘seven divers, one of whom was named Christian, discovered thirty bottles of premium sparkling wine (actually Champagne: Veuve Clicquot) under the sea off the coast of Finland in super-cold, super-murky sea waters. Dating from between 1782 and 1788, the cache is thought to be one known lost in transit — a gift from King Louis XVI of France to the Russian Imperial Court. The 30 bottles, some 230 years old, were discovered perfectly preserved at a depth of 55 meters and Aaland wine expert Ella Gruessner Cromwell-Morgan, whom Ekstroem asked to taste the find, said it had not lost its fizz and was “absolutely fabulous”. Cromwell-Morgan described the champagne as dark golden in colour with a very intense aroma. “There’s a lot of tobacco, but also grape and white fruits, oak and mead,” she said of the wine’s “nose”. The handmade bottle bore no label but there is an anchor on the cork.’
Here we have thirty bottles of the very best wine which were sent by decree of a one king to the realm of another king and kingdom. Yet they never reached their destination. For centuries, they lay undiscovered and sealed on the sea bottom with boats sailing to and fro high above them. According to the kingdom that was waiting to receive them hundreds of years ago, they were lost without trace. Yet, at God’s appointed time, a man called Christian and six other divers ( seven representing completion and perfection) found these bottles perfectly preserved and ready to drink! Beloved, is this not a picture of what God is doing with His sons?! Your purpose and destiny were decreed by the King of Kings many many years ago. He appointed you to be a vessel dispensing the very best wine in the dispensation of the fullness of times. Yet, along the journey to your appointed destination, a storm struck and you have since been lying hidden deep in the sea of the nations, with no man being aware of your existence and business as usual carrying on above your head! It seems that the wine you carry within you will never be tasted by others because you are sealed and buried where no eye can detect your worth. However, take courage, Beloved, at this marvelous prophetic sign that the time of the revealing of the sons is at hand! God is going to lift the veils off those jewels of His hidden in plain sight.
There were thirty bottles found by the divers. At age 30 an Israelite had reached the age of accountability and could take over his father’s business and act in his father’s authority!! He was considered trustworthy and dependable! Thirty signifies the point of beginning of mature ministry; the point at which you can be trusted with the Father’s business, kingdom business!
Many have quoted the verse in Isaiah 45 concerning the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, but when read in context one discovers that God is addressing Cyrus, a heathen king. What God was saying was He intended to bring forth the treasures of darkness and the hidden riches of secret places in order to bless the heathen! Beloved, those bottles of the very best wine are the hidden riches of secret places – you, brought forth in God’s perfect timing to bless the nations of the world. You are the gift from the King of Kings sent to another kingdom, the kingdoms of this world – which very soon will become the kingdoms of our God. Remember that in Cana of Galilee, on the third day of the wedding feast when all the other wine had run out, Jesus brought forth the best wine, reserved until last. Beloved, we are living in the Third Day; the third thousand year period since the coming of Christ, and the wine has definitely run out. It is time for God to draw into the light of day those which He has been hiding until this time.
Some 230 years after their commissioning those bottles were revealed and their contents tasted for the first time. There are a number of words in Hebrew whose letters have a numerical value adding up to 230, among them ‘chosen’, ‘firstborn’ and ‘Spirit’.
Isa 42:1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold; My elect, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles (the heathen)
What does this tell us? Simply that God is now bringing forth a servant company, in the pattern of the Firstborn from Among the Dead and they shall be vessels full of the Spirit of God.. They were chosen before the foundation of the world to be carriers of His glory. It is significant that these bottles discovered contained the best CHAMPAGNE because the bubbles indicate the presence of the Zoe life of God. The divers fully expected the contents to be flat and spoiled but upon opening them, found they had not lost their fizz and tasted ‘absolutely fabulous’. Beloved, do not fret that the length of your hidden period will have caused the treasure and revelation you carry to have lost its’ ‘fizz’. It may have only been circulating deep within your own spirit year after year but when you are uncorked and that matured aged wine is poured forth for others to taste, they will stand amazed at the superior quality of what you share and release. You see, when something is permeated by the Zoe life of God, time has no effect on its quality. Death and decay cannot begin to deteriorate those sealed contents! Just as Jesus came forth from the uncorked tomb full of resurrection power, so too will that which you impart carry the fizz of resurrection power and Zoe Life!
The taste of the champagne included tobacco, oak and mead. Tobacco was one of the first crops of the ‘new world’ brought back to Europe by Christopher Columbus. It signifies the contents of these bottles possessing a taste of the Promised Land, the kingdom to which they have traveled and walked upon its soil and now bring back a taste of what is to come. Oak is a reference to the Spirit being poured out upon us in Isaiah61 that we might be oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that He may be glorified. Mead is an alcoholic drink made from honey and honey is symbolic of revelation. These vessels brought forth from hiddeness contain revelation which has been fermenting and maturing until it tastes like a heavenly drink, the wine of the Spirit!
Note also that the corks had anchors on them. This leads us to the following verses:
Hebrews 6:17AMPLIFIED Accordingly God also, in His desire to show more convincingly and beyond doubt to those who were to inherit the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose and plan, intervened (mediated) with an oath. 18This was so that, by two unchangeable things [His promise and His oath] in which it is impossible for God ever to prove false or deceive us, we who have fled [to Him] for refuge might have mighty indwelling strength and strong encouragement to grasp and hold fast the hope appointed for us and set before [us]. 19[Now] we have this [hope] as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul [it cannot slip and it cannot break down under whoever steps out upon it–a hope] that reaches farther and enters into [the very certainty of the Presence] within the veil, 20Where Jesus has entered in for us [in advance], a Forerunner having become a High Priest forever after the order (with the rank) of Melchizedek.
Did you get that? God’s purpose and plan is unchangeable and it is impossible for Him to deceive us – we have a hope appointed for us which acts as an ANCHOR. What is that hope? That just as Jesus acted as a forerunner for the order of melchizedek, so we too will be released as part of the rest of that Melchizedek Priesthood in the earth, being those who have entered into the Presence within the veil! Beloved, what God promised, He is going to bring forth in your life. Doesn’t matter how long you have been hidden and sealed. In fact, the extended period of hiddeness has only served to improve and mature the taste of the contents you carry!
The bottles were discovered at a depth of 55 meters. 5 is the number of grace. The place from which the bottles are brought forth is that of ‘grace grace’. Zechariah had a vision of two lampstands receiving a continual supply of the oil of the Spirit and the angel explained to him what it represented:
Zec 4:6 Then he answered and spoke to me, saying, This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the LORD of hosts. Zec 4:7 Who are you, O great mountain of human obstacles? before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain: and
he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace to it.
Further on Zechariah received understanding that this represented a kingly and priestly ministry in the earth, the Melchizedek priesthood operating in a ceaseless flow of the oil of the seven Spirits of God!
Beloved, the timing of this discovery is no accident. It is a shofar blast by the King of Kings that the feast on Mount Zion is about to begin. The champagne bottles have been brought out of Cellar number 55 where they have been under guard until this appointed time and the corks are about to be popped!
Isaiah 25:6And on this Mount [Zion] shall the Lord of hosts make for all peoples a feast of rich things [symbolic of His coronation festival inaugurating the reign of the Lord on earth, in the wake of a background of gloom, judgment, and terror], a feast of wines on the lees–of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. 7And He will destroy on this mountain the covering of the face that is cast over the heads of all peoples [in mourning], and the veil [of profound wretchedness] that is woven and spread over all nations. 8He will swallow up death [in victory; He will abolish death forever]. And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces; and the reproach of His people He will take away from off all the earth; for the Lord has spoken it.
The days of your release and pouring out are at hand! Begin to rejoice for you carry a treasure of the very best wine in your earthen vessel!
Selah [END OF QUOTATION]
James’ comments: One small correction: the writer stated that 30 is the age of accountability. Actually, 20 is the age of accountability. Those below that age were not accountable in the Wilderness wanderings of Israel. Consequently, they were the generation who were allowed to go in to the Promised Land while those above 20 years were not (save Joshua and Caleb). The age of 30 is the age of commencement of service in the priesthood of Israel.
Numbers 4:3 From thirty years old and upward even until fifty years old, all that enter into the host, to do the work in the tabernacle of the congregation.
Most curious to me is that this find of the champagne is almost exactly 10 years after the Lord prevented us from holding a Feast of Tabernacles Conference in Quincy, Illinois—watchdog groups falsely accusing us of racism and the usual epithets—and thus our Father led us to gather exactly where He wanted us, which was in Champagne(-Urbana), Illinois.
There a fine brother and sister opened their home and adjoining gymnasium and hosted the conference. It was there that a brother and sister requested they be joined in holy matrimony (weddings are often associated with champagne). It was there that Dr. Stephen Jones was led to pour out the first of seven bowls of water and wine over the period of the next seven years.
That first wine-bowl of judgment was poured out on the world financial-economic system. It was done as a witness of what our Father is doing in the earth. Would we see any visible signs of judgment before the second bowl was poured out at the Feast of Tabernacles the following year? Well, on September 11, 2001—a short time before the pouring out of the second bowl judgment—the towers fell (cf. Isaiah 30:25). The towers of the World Trade Center! Could it have been any more obvious that this symbolized judgment on the world economic-financial system? Have we not seen continuing judgment on this system in the years following?
Indeed, this is all preparing the way for the manifestation of the Father’s champagne-new wine-overcomer company-manifested sons, etc. And now we have this marvelous sign coming up from “the sea.” …The sea is the sea of humanity from whence the hidden ones will arise in incorruption and immortality—hallelujah!