The Red Stick
The construction of a building must begin with the laying out of the boundaries so that the dimensions of the building can be conformed to its foundation. This step usually includes some type of measurements of the ground that are initially taken and then symbolic markers are placed into the specific locations to give a visual drawing of the future placement of the building. This symbolic placement can also be applied to our lives as well in the fact that some type of marker had to be placed into the ground in order to begin the process of our restoration to God and this connection began with a red stick which was placed into the ground.
I was looking at a couple of websites the other day that had to deal with United States history. I knew that there was a project on a website that had some of the history of the counties of the states. I was looking up the list of counties in Iowa and was just browsing through the list and since all of the information caught my eye, I printed the list out. As my printer was graciously providing me with more information that the normal person would find boring I began to think of some other states that I could examine. I then thought of a couple more states and quickly glimpsed through the pages and then turned my thoughts towards Louisiana. Yes, Louisiana
As the specific webpage was loading I sat there for a few seconds and wondered what kind of weirdo I was to actually want to spend time looking at the list of counties that are located in the states that are a part of the union. I grinned to myself and then thought “me, that is who would be doing this”. After the page loaded I began to scroll up and down the page looking at whatever information that caught my eye. A couple of counties grabbed my attention for a bit and then I had the idea of finding what county Baton rouge was located. Now everyone who is familiar with Louisiana knows that it has Spanish and more popular French origins and from living close to the area I knew that many of the names of the parishes, cities and towns had French names. The French culture has overgrown itself down in that area and even though Native Americans dominated the area at one time in history the French have gained most of the notoriety of the state. So, naturally the names of the areas would be in French or have French roots.
As I focused my attention on Baton Rouge I obviously knew that the name “Baton Rouge” was French in origin. I did not know however what the literal meaning of the phrase meant until I saw the translation which when I read it I had one of my “duh” moments. Baton Rouge means red stick. I knew what the word rouge meant but it was the baton portion that gave me the “duh” moment. I ran track, very slowly I might add, while I was in high school and was on one of the relay teams for my school. When you are on a relay team you run a certain distance and then you hand off the baton to the next person on your team and they continue the race. Well, I never made the connection with baton being a type of stick even though we sometimes used sticks instead of batons during practice. So, my “duh” moment came to an end after a few moments of thinking about a baton being a stick.
A baton connects all of the participants of that specific race together and everyone involved in that race must at one time hold onto the stick before passing it to the next person. The manner before we receive the stick another portion of our team must be carrying it and then give it to us to carry for our allotted amount of distance. The stick actually defines our team and it serves as the one item that must be in our possession when we cross the finish line. So the symbol of the stick can mean many things and in the case of Baton Rouge it has a very unique and symbolic meaning.
As I was scanning the section that contained Baton Rouge I noticed that Baton Rouge or only a part of the city was in one county which was called East Baton Rouge Parish. So thinking that there would be another part of the city some other place I then scrolled down the page and found out that the remaining portion of the city was located in another parish called West Baton Rouge Parish. Then this is when God decided to take over and show me some things, not about the city itself but the name of the city. My search continued in that section and I came across the meaning of the phrase Baton Rouge which as I stated above means Red Stick.
What struck me unusual and what God pointed out to me was the next part of the meaning that someone had placed into the history notes. The additional notes in this section described that the French ordained this phrase for the area due to the idea that the local Native Americans used a red stick to mark the boundaries of tribal territories. Each tribe knew of its boundaries and knew what would happen when and if these boundaries were crossed by other tribal members. This is the part of the additional notes that God decided to show me a specific meaning.
In short God showed me that there was a connection to this phrase and an event that He sanctioned for all mankind. I have to be honest at this point and say that I immediately had the thought of “yeah right” because my mind was locked into the Native American symbol of the red stick. It was then that my second “duh” thought came from my mind and rushed out of my mouth when God said “the cross”. I actually jumped up from my chair and stood there in front of the computer with my hands on my face in total shock. Once again my carnal mind had jumped the gun and doubted what God was trying to show me and once I had rid my mind of my humanly thoughts, God….
After I quit thinking normal thoughts and shut my mouth I sat back down and began to read the remaining notes on the origin of the name of the county. The notes stated that the Native Americans would of course drive a portion of the stick into the ground to serve as the marker to tribal boundaries. This marker would stand up out of the ground high enough for everyone that was close by to know that the stick was there and that there was a reason for is placement, in other words there was no question about it that a man or group of Native Americans put the stick in that spot. When hunting parties, scouts, or even kids playing in the immediate vicinity would come close to the area they would automatically understand that they had reached their limits and should turn back. You know that when the kids were playing in that area they had to at least one time step a toe or foot across that imaginary line, just to see what would happen, I know I would have J
Similar pegs represent modern day private land boundaries which sometime can prove to be interesting to locate. “State lines” mark the boundaries of each state. Have anyone of us actually seen a State Line? We have seen the sign of the state that we are entering or a sign saying goodbye to us as we leave its territory. There even is a spot in the United States where four states come together at one point on the earth and a person can actually place all four limbs in a state. But as you stand back up and look around the area there is no definitive line that a person can see to follow each state line. But the boundary line for each state is there, runs its course and each one serves as a recognition point to the local and state authorities of the sovereignty of each boundary, just as the Native American red stick represented many decades ago.
Native American tribes still argue over territorial boundaries to this day and sometimes they even boil over into physical confrontation. At this moment there is a portion of the Lakota Nation that is beginning the process of succession procedures to reclaim their land that the United States Government took from them. Boundaries serve as a reminder that a piece of land was ironed out with blood, sweat and tears at some point in human history. The same goes for the symbolism and the reality of the cross, and it is the cross that has a great meaning to the spirit world and its boundaries. Sadly, the majority of modern day church groups has completely forgotten the spiritual warfare concepts and has allowed themselves to become spiritually neutered in correlation with these spiritual issues. In other words, we have ignored the spiritual boundaries that Christ established with His death and we are beginning to see the realities of this disastrous choice that we have made.
As the red stick of Native American boundary markers were planted into the ground so was symbolism of the cross that Christ died upon. Yes, the red stick that the Native American used was totally symbolic and could have been easily moved at any time and placed into any other position within the area. The majority of the people involved would have never noticed or would have ignored the change yet the act would have been committed and not much could be said afterwards. The red stick separated people and the territories that they claimed to be their own. The cross did the exact same thing even to the point of the human act of placing the cross into the ground.
The red stick that represents the cross actually begins the process of building the bridge that allows humanity to reach God face to face or in other words have direct access to God through the blood of His son. The cross is the foundation that was forged into the ground and stands upright for everyone to see. It is highly ironic that man had to complete this action but on the other hand it makes sense since Jesus was a human and knew the ways of man. However, the Romans loved to make issue of the fact that whatever they completed they did it to the utmost and set the act on high for all to see. This process I will deal with in depth when I get to the next portion of this set when I talk about the bridge that connects us to God but know now that the foundation has been set by the works of man but sealed with the Holy blood of God that ran into the cursed ground. This event and its timing was perfect. No wonder the earth shook when this event occurred.
Many tribal wars and arguments have occurred throughout the centuries over boundaries so it is natural for the same to occur in the spiritual world. Most of us do not know or do not believe that this “tribal” war is occurring as you read this message. It is occurring to everyone that is present on this earth and it will affect each one of us if we do not recognize the reality of what we are allowing to flow through our lives. Look through history and read it from a spiritual concept and notice how humanity has shaped itself at the expense of others, and when you recognize this fact, place it into the concept of two spiritual kingdoms fighting over the eternal soul of our lives. There is a reason that the red stick was used in Christ’s death and it was to mark you as a territory of love and for it to also to remind our enemy that each one of us is set apart from all other creations which proves to all creatures that God loves us so much more than we can ever know.
DLB
No comments:
Post a Comment