another way to understand her symbolizing: like ether or smoke which no longer knows what it is smoking, or has chosen to burn something deadly
i had a dream in which jesus was teaching me about gates, something which i am still learning but it is useful in teaching about nations… he said, ‘in my father’s house there are many rooms,’ meaning there are many truths of his kingdom and each has a distinct door. jesus is the door to his father’s house. there are gates to the spiritual city of jerusalem. gateways are passages into truth. john the baptist was a spiritual gate to jesus–he came not to point to himself but as a voice of the gate to jesus. jesus himself as the High Priest served as the gate (“I am the way”) to the Father and the Father’s kingdom. priests served as gates to heavenly reality. so now there are “priests” of all kinds: we are priests as the living temple. the church is a collective priest. nations have a priesthood of sorts and so serve as a gate. there are priests into darkness, too. Eastern philosophy and religion has grasped the idea of spiritual gates and portals and has made its way into western New Age thought, but these gateways often are either worshiped unto themselves or open portals into spiritual death. You may know the gates by the reality of their fruits. (See galations 5:18-25 for fruits of the spirit versus fruits of the flesh.) We must be led by the spirit wherever we enter!
each nation has a unique spiritual identity–formed by God and for his purposes. scripture is clear on this, that nations have identities and Jesus is gathering them unto Himself. some nations–scriptural and historical–are no longer among us, but there are parts of God once expressed in a particular nation that may be reformed on earth in a new nation or were used as judgement on other nations and then itself returned to His armoury! One way of understanding nationhood is by seeing each one as a collective priest–or gate which is supposed to offer a window into a part of Yahweh. nationhood is a collective mind and heart expressing itself and so becomes a distinct gate into spiritual places. Some nations have consciously allied with darkness, and so its people either flow in and out of its dark gates or must fight against it (China is example of nation where the Body of CHrist is in fierce war with the enemy’s gates).
France is a unique gate in that she teaches, by experience, about passages and gates. Most of her commercial art is about transcendance and the power of imagery. Life is about stroll, the way to walk somewhere, the experience of finding a destination–but not the actual destination. The danger in her collective gate is that she is often stuck at her own “gateness” … she does not realize the power she has to draw people into transcendence and spiritual reality–and has even worshiped her own keys. So art is preeminant, or art-makers, and not the rooms or realities to which they point. THis is very dangerous!
The beauty of the tree of life
leaves will heal the nations
each brings her gift–her way
to the way
