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"Teaching
the things concerning the
The
Heavens Declare
Book
One
By J.
Table
of Contents
Chapter
Title
Page
2
The Heavens Declare (cont.)
15
6
Virgo – The Virgin (cont.)
64
7
Virgo – The Virgin (cont.)
76
8
Virgo – The Virgin (cont.)
88
10
Libra – The Scales (cont.)
113
11
Libra – The Scales (cont.)
125
12
Libra – The Scales (cont.)
136
13
Libra – The Scales (cont.)
148
14
Libra – The Scales (cont.)
160
16
Scorpio – The Scorpion (cont.)
184
17
Scorpio – The Scorpion (cont.)
200
18
Scorpio – The Scorpion (cont.)
215
19
Scorpio – The Scorpion (cont.)
229
20
Scorpio – The Scorpion (cont.)
242
21
Sagittarius – The Archer
258
22
Sagittarius – The Archer (cont.)
273
23
Sagittarius – The Archer (cont.)
285
24
Sagittarius
– The Archer (cont.)
301
25
Sagittarius
– The Archer (cont.)
316
26
Sagittarius
– The Archer (cont.)
332
27
Sagittarius
– The Archer (cont.)
348
Chapter
1
The
Heavens Declare
Our Creator is a God of
super-abundant generosity. Look at the universe and the world around you. His generosity
is evident. He has given us more than enough air to breathe. He has given us water to
waste. He has given us an earth with resources vast and unlimited. We have the moon to
stimulate our romantic impulses and to decorate the night sky. In addition to the sun and
moon, God has provided the dazzling planets for our wonder. Then He unselfishly filled the
shimmering heavens with myriad's and multitudes of countless twinkling stars. He could
have given only a few hundred stars, but our super-abundant God MORE than filled the vast
entities of space with them.
From time immemorial, man has
been fascinated by the beautiful and awesome spectacle of the stars of heaven and has
sensed that they tell a tale of might and power far beyond the scope of human reason.
Centuries before the birth of Jesus, the sweet singer of
Long millenniums ago, God
said, "Let there be light!" With that command a universe of raging infernos
called stars came into existence, and have been transferring their energies into limitless
energy-containing systems ever since. Even today, the seeming myriads of stars and nebulae
continue to be a breathtaking and inspiring panoply. When you go out and look up to the
sky on a clear dark night, when the heavens look like dark blue velvet, and the stars like
diamonds, it seems as though there were no end to the number of twinkling points of light.
You would think that it was quite impossible to count the starry hosts, and that it would
be just about as easy to count the grains of sand on the seashore. Really, however, there
are not really so many stars to be seen with the unaided eye as you would imagine. They
have often been counted, and the result is that the number of stars that an ordinary eye
can see at any one time is somewhere about 2,000. If you have very keen eyes, you may be
able to see another 500 or so; but there are not many people who can see 2,500 stars, and
if you can see 2,000 you do fairly well.
By contrast, the Bible states
in Jer. 33:22 that "the host of heaven CANNOT BE NUMBERED." During the thousands
of years before Galileo's invention of the telescope, such a statement was considered to
be either false or at least a gross exaggeration. The stars uncountable? The universe,
they said, was too small to contain that many stars! However, using such giant telescopes
as the "200 inch" on Mount Palomar in
To get some idea of the
vastness of the universe...the star known as "Alpha Hercules" is more than
2,400,000,000 miles across. It is so huge that our own sun, together with the earth (at
its distance of about 93 million miles from the sun) could be placed 25 times IN A ROW
across the middle of this super giant star. To fly through this star from one end to the
other (if it were possible!) at 25,000 miles per hour your rocket would take 11 years!
What distances! What a GOD! Psalm 19 well says, "The heavens declare the glory of
God." The stars shine on in their glory as in the beginning. Millenniums and cycles
have gone by, kingdoms have arisen and slowly passed away. Yet the stars' brightness is
not dimmed, nor their force abated. The dew of youth still seems fresh upon them. No
faltering motion reveals the decrepitude of age. These shine on in undiminished glory
through all the ages of time.
THE HEAVENS SPEAK
During those star-studded
nights above the plains of
The italicized words
"there is" and "where" in verse three are not in the original
manuscripts. While the King James Version says, "There is no speech nor language
where their voice is not heard," the translators added these words supposedly to
improve the meaning of the text. The marginal reference reads, "Without these their
voice is heard." In other words, although there is no audible voice or sound, the
message is so clear that all may recognize it.
What did David know of the
heavens and how they express the glory of God? What does David mean when he says that
every day speaks to him and to us? What does he mean when he declares that every night is
a showing forth of knowledge? To whom does he refer when he says that there is no place on
earth where the language or speech of man is spoken that "their voice is not
heard"? Surely there is something more indicated here than a mere wonder on David's
part evoked by the immensity and grandeur of the star-lit sky. When we read the whole
passage and mark its structure, and note the words employed, we are emphatically told that
the heavens contain a revelation from God; they prophesy, they teach knowledge, they tell
of God's glory, and set forth His purposes and counsels. The heavens do not speak English,
yet they speak to every Englishman and every American. The heavens do not speak French,
but they speak to every Frenchman. They do not speak Spanish, yet they speak to every
Spaniard. They speak in every language to every people. And they speak and reveal the
majesty of God's great plan and purposes to His creation. Upon the blue sapphire of the
firmament is spread a sheet of royal paper written all over with the wisdom and power of
God. This book of creation is not sold in bookstores, but it is to be read by everyone who
lifts his eyes up to heaven.
The Companion Bible tells us
that all the verbs in the second half of Ps. 19 are ASTRONOMICAL in nature. Furthermore,
it points out that "declare" means to "rehearse" and the Hebrew verb
implies repetition, thus indicating to "continually rehearse."
"Uttereth" means to "continually pour forth, to tell forth, or
PROPHESY." "Line" means "rule or direction." "Words" is
from a Hebrew word used most often in the book of Job and means "instruction." A
free translation goes like this: "The heavens continually rehearse the glory of God;
and the firmament showeth His handiwork. Day unto day pours forth, tells forth, and
prophesies, and night unto night shows, imparts and teaches knowledge. There is no speech,
and there are no words- their voice is unheard- yet their rule and direction is gone out
through all of the earth, and their words, their teaching, their instruction to the end of
the world." Yes, precious friend of mine, the starry heavens are constantly telling
and prophesying their message to man. They reveal marvelous knowledge, and their testimony
is universally heard, yet without a spoken word. All this indicates something far beyond
the simple wonder of the stars as dazzling objects twinkling majestically against the inky
blackness of the night sky.
May God almighty grant the
spirit of wisdom and revelation unto all who read these lines. PICTURES speak in every
language, and this significant fact was recognized by the Psalmist as in spirit he stated
that the heavens declare a Divine meaning, in universal language, to all people,
everywhere. Almighty Lord! in whom dwelleth the wisdom and knowledge of the universe, may
our hearts be filled with the holy assurance that the starry hosts shining in the night
skies above us are like a glorious PICTURE BOOK which God has placed wide open above us.
It is full of wonderful things, glorious beyond words, for us to see and learn about
Himself and His great and stupendous plan for us. Truly we are "made in His image and
likeness" (Gen. 1: 27), and are destined to "grow up into Him in all
things" (Eph. 4:15), developing the same qualities of character and the same capacity
of wisdom and know1edge and power as He Himself possesses. The star-studded heavens at
night and the blazing sun shining by day are in fact GOD'S BIBLE IN THE SKY visible from
every land and nation over the world. Over the whole earth and from ships on the far-flung
seas people can peer at this marvelous book and seek to discover the lost meanings now
almost forgotten by mankind. Day by day and night by night they beam down upon us from the
Father of lights- our heavenly Father' s Lesson Book-describing His character and the
unspeakably glorious plan of creation and redemption which from the dawn of history He has
ordained for the world.
THE SIGNS IN THE HEAVENS
Important perspectives are
founded in the starry host of heaven, and, scripturally rooted in Gen. 1:14. Some years
ago our daughter took an aptitude test to discover her career abilities, or what she is
best at. She came across questions that were expressed in this way: "A group of four
things are set before you; three of them have something in common and one of them seems
out of place. Find the one that does not belong." How about a little test right now.
In the first chapter of the Bible we read, "And God made two great lights; the
greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: He made the stars
also" (Gen. 1:16). Again, "And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of
the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons,
and for days, and years” (Gen. 1:14). Of the four things set before us in this verse
did not one of them seem strangely out of place? Some one is asking, "What
four?" Notice again: "...and let them be for SIGNS, and for SEASONS, and for
DAYS, and YEARS." Does one of them seem out of place? It would be obvious to everyone
with even an elementary knowledge of astronomy that the heavenly bodies have a great deal
to say about our YEARS, our DAYS and our SEASONS. But what about the relationship of the
celestial bodies to that word SIGNS? How are they SIGNS? What is a SIGN? Perhaps the best
way to answer our question is by answering another question first. What precisely is the
purpose of a "sign"? Is it not to bear a message? To give information? To tell a
story which is of importance to the one who put up the sign? If so, then let us observe
that this verse is saying that God placed the sun, moon, and stars in the heavens to tell
a story, to declare a word of utmost importance.
The word for
"signs" as found in Gen. 1:14 is OTH in the Hebrew. A sign is a mark to indicate
something greater than the mark itself. Musical notes are symbols, or signs, to the
pianist sitting at his instrument. If the pianist interprets the notes together in proper
sequence, then the audience hears what the creator of the music intended when he wrote the
composition. Likewise, the heavens are signs, as notes on a sheet of music. If we
interpret the signs in the heavens correctly, then we can understand and appreciate the
symphony of God's creation from the beginning to the end. Signs in the heavens can also be
compared to notes of music in another way. As the pianist plays a concerto, the music,
like a constant revelation, is heard in its proper sequence. Similarly, "signs"
in Gen. 1:14 mean that the heavens are the unfurling of God's revelation to man. In other
words, the heavens tell the story of things to come--they PROPHESY!
To SPIRITUALLY comprehend the
creative record, we must admit that God intended these orbs of light as expressions of
some special teaching; something different and higher far than what is naturally
deductible from them. Stop there for just a minute. Ask yourself what the inspired
Psalmist means when he says that every day SPEAKS to him and to us. What does he mean when
he declares that every night is a showing forth of KNOWLEDGE? From the dawn of the ages
God almighty, omniscient, and immutable, charted the course of ALL THINGS. The heavens in
their grandeur and majestic purposes were all designed as a fiery script by the moving
finger of God. The increasing light and revelation of each one was planned with infinite
care to display its own part in the spectrum of eternal truth that heaven and earth and
things under the earth might rejoice together in the ENDS OF THE AGES BECAUSE OF THE
EVERLASTING FULLNESS OF HIM who everywhere fills the universe with Himself. Glory to His
name!
THE PICTURES IN THE HEAVENS
It is my deep conviction that
these "signs" were designed as a pictorial presentation of the great plan and
processes of God in creation and redemption--a symbolic portrayal of the grand drama of
history as it unfolds through the dealings of God with mankind throughout the vast ages of
time. Are there indeed "pictures" in the heavens? There exists in the ancient
writings of virtually all nations on earth a description of the major stars or
constellations in the heavens which are known as the "signs of the Zodiac," of
which there are twelve. Historians have delved into the history and origin of the Zodiac
and none has discovered its beginning. Whatever source we go to--whether it be Indian,
Chinese, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Persian, Arabic, Chaldean--the same signs were held
throughout the world--and the farther back we go, they are always there! It predates all
other sciences, all political systems, and all religions. It is older than the Flood, the
Great Wall of China, the Egyptian Pyramids, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Law of Moses, the
temples of
Just what is the Zodiac? It
is a band of stars that appears to encircle the earth. These stars are clustered in groups
called CONSTELLATIONS. The Zodiac consists of 12 divisions--12 constellations or groups of
stars--and each group is perceived in the shape of men, women, animals, monsters, objects,
etc. Each group bears a name and is called a "sign". These constellations change
their positions in the heavens with the change of the seasons. If the stars could be seen
in the daytime the sun would appear to move through a series of constellations, entering a
new one each month. This "highway" through the sky is called the Zodiac. Modern
atlases list them in the following order: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo,
Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces.
Kenneth Fleming has written:
"The word 'zodiac' comes from the Greek 'zodiakos,' meaning
GOD AND THE ZODIAC
Let's turn our attention to a
little cluster of stars in our own galaxy sometimes called the Seven Sisters, or the
Pleiades. If you have a good pair of binoculars, you will see not seven stars, but dozens
and with an average telescope, hundreds of stars. Now, some groupings or constellations of
stars are actually vast distances apart, but appear as a group because they are located in
a common direction of the sky. But there are other star groupings which are actual star
clusters, and the Pleiades form such a cluster. Now notice a very interesting text in the
Bible. It is a remarkable fact that it is in the book of Job, which is the oldest book in
the Bible, going back to approximately 2150 B.C., which is before the Patriarch Abraham
was called; 650 years before Moses and the Law; over 1,100 years before Homer wrote his
Odyssey and Iliad it is in the book of Job that we have reference to this Stellar
Revelation. In chapter 38 God finally breaks in and speaks to Job and his false
comforters. He says to them, "Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or
loose the bands of Orion? Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou
guide Arcturus with his sons? Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the
dominion thereof in the earth?" (Job 38:31.-33).
We see here a reference to
the constellations of Orion, Pleiades, and Arcturus. Also in the book of Job there is
reference to Cetus, the sea monster (Leviathan), and to Draco, the great dragon. And
remember--this is GOD speaking! And the almighty Creator speaks of the "sweet
influences" of Pleiades, the "bands" of Orion, the "seasons" of
Mazzaroth, the "ordinances" of the heavens, and the "dominion" of
these constellations in the earth! Each of these powers and influences of the
constellations over the earth are indicated by God Himself as FACT! I would draw your
attention to Job 38:32 wherein we have one of the most unusual key words in all of
scripture. The word itself is found only in Job 38:32 where Yahweh asks His upright
servant, "Canst thou bring forth MAZZA-ROTH in his season?" Mazzaroth is a
Hebrew word which means THE CONSTELLATIONS OF THE ZODIAC! Blessed be God! the scriptures
are not silent concerning the antiquity and authenticity of the Zodiac and its
constellations. And God did not leave it to others to speak for Him--He authenticated them
Himself. Long before the mysteries of
The Zodiac is the earliest
revelation to mankind from his Creator. Each of the twelve signs pictorially represents a
prophetic event--an aspect of the progressive unfolding of the dealings, plan and purpose
of God in the grand scheme of creation and redemption. Each sign portrays a dimension of
SPIRITUAL REALITY wrought out, first of all, in the life of our blessed Forerunner and
Head, Jesus Christ; secondly, in the life of each individual believer; and finally,
collectively and corporately in the people of God.
For example, the first sign
is Virgo. This group of stars is associated with the picture of a young woman with an ear
of wheat in one hand and a branch in the other hand. In Hebrew she is called BETHULAH,
which means "virgin," just as VIRGO, from Latin, means "the virgin."
The wheat and the branch in her hands denote fruitfulness- offspring. It will not be
difficult for any man to see that this is a picture right out of the Bible--A VIRGIN
BRINGING FORTH A SEED! In that long ago Eden the almighty Father spoke the first promise
of a Redeemer to the erring man and his wife when He gave the blessed assurance, "And
I will put enmity between thee (the serpent) and the woman, and between THY SEED and HER
SEED; IT shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel" (Gen. 3:15). This
"seed of the woman" is the first prophecy of the coming into the world of the
Saviour who would "bruise the head of the serpent." Historically this is Jesus,
born of the Virgin Mary, living, dying, and rising again in triumph over death, hell and
the grave, opening up the wellspring of eternal salvation to all who would believe.
Spiritually it is the Son of God birthed in us, brought forth unto the measure of the
stature of the fullness of Christ out of our own "virgin" relationship with God.
"For I am jealous over
you with a godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present YOU
as a CHASTE VIRGIN to Christ" (II Cor. 11:2). To be a virgin means to be pure,
undefiled and separated unto our Lord. God is creating the desire in a people in this hour
to be truly VIRGIN in their desires toward Him. We have known what it is to be conformed
to the course of THIS WORLD. Then we have known what it is to trust Christ as Saviour
while remaining entangled in all the wretched defilement of a corrupt babylonish church
system. But God is calling forth in these days a glorious body of Christ who, because of
the quickening of the Holy Spirit, is desiring to be VIRGIN--separated only and completely
unto her glorious Lord, unto intimacy of fellowship and vital union with Him. How lightly
we sometimes take the purposes of God in us! It is one thing to be washed in the blood,
freed from all our past sins, and quite another thing to truly be VIRGIN in our desires to
keep ourselves only unto the Lord for union with Him. As we follow on to know Him
separation comes from everything of the flesh, the world, and the devil, and from every
vestige of entanglement with the harlot system of religious
Glorious indeed and full of
wisdom and creative design is the fact that your relationship to Christ as a
"virgin" is ordained to forerun your manifestation to the world as a
"son". As in the natural, so in the spiritual; the virgin relationship bears the
feminine characteristics of modesty, gentleness, tenderness, love, sensitiveness,
dependence and obedience, whereas the sonship relationship bears the characteristics of
the masculine nature, aggressiveness, boldness, strength, valor, authority, power and
dominion are among the traits of the masculine sex. Hence the Lord calls the CHURCH a
virgin, but to the OVERCOMER He says, "He that overcometh shall inherit all things;
and I will be his God, and he shall be My SON. To HIM will I give POWER over the nations:
and he shall RULE them with a rod of iron. To him that OVERCOMETH will I grant to sit with
Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with MY FATHER in His
throne" (Rev. 21:7; 2:26-27; 3:21). The mighty, eternal and indisputable truth is
that THE S-O-N IS ALWAYS BORN OF THE V-I-R-G-I-N! Just as the blessed firstborn Son was
born of a virgin, so is it through the vehicle of a PURE AND UNDEFILED SOUL (virgin) that
the MIGHT AND DOMINION OF THE SPIRIT (son) is manifested, expressed and revealed unto
creation. This is a true principle in God that I hope no earnest saint of God who reads
these lines will miss! I cannot emphasize too forcefully, or too carefully, that the power
and glory of SONSHIP will never come forth from the man or woman of God who has not first
become truly VIRGIN in their soul life.
Now since we have seen that
HISTORICALLY the virgin bringing forth the Son is Jesus born of Mary, the virgin of
Nazareth; and SPIRITUALLY it is the Son of God (spirit) birthed (brought into
manifestation) out of the transformed life through the virgin soul; let us also see that
PROPHETICALLY it points to the manchild of Revelation 12, that glorious company of the
corporate, many-membered Christ, the MANIFESTED SONS OF GOD for whom all creation is in
travail and who shall deliver the creation from the bondage of corruption.
The risen and ascended Lord
descended in a vision of glory on the lonely isle of Patmos, and there meeting His
startled disciple, John, gave him a communication concerning the Church, commanding him to
write it in a scroll and send it to the seven Churches in Asia. With wondering eyes John
stood transfixed as in spirit he saw a great wonder in heaven, "A woman clothed with
the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: and she
being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And she bought
forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was
caught up unto God, and to His throne" (Rev. 12:1-2,5).
As John beheld and pondered
this divine mystery, soon thereafter he beheld another wonder altogether as startling as
the first. "And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and
talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will show unto thee the judgment of the
great whore that sitteth upon many waters: with whom the kings of the earth have committed
fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her
fornication. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman
sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy...and the woman was arrayed
in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having
a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: and upon
her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND
ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH" (Rev. 17: 1-5).
"Come hither; I will
show unto thee..." These words take on new depth of meaning when we understand that
in the book of Revelation the word "come" always signifies AN INVITATION TO
REVELATION. The whore and the sun-clad woman are two women; the invitation goes forth to
come and see by the spirit what they mean; and I do not hesitate to tell you that it
requires a REVELATION FROM GOD to see either! The
These prophecies present two
broadly contrasted WOMEN, identified with two broadly contrasted CITIES, one reality being
in each case, doubly represented, as a WOMAN, and as a CITY; the harlot and
Three are three companies.
The Scarlet-Clad Woman (harlot), the Sun-Clad Woman (virgin) and the Manchild (sons of
God). Some precious people, because they have separated from some Babylonish denomination
and come out of the church systems SUPPOSE that this was the "mother church"
birthing them into sonship. This, my beloved, is WRONG! The "mother" of the
manchild is NOT THE HARLOT CHURCH SYSTEM but that VIRGIN CHURCH made up exclusively of a
people clothed with the glory of Christ (sun), crowned with the stars of God's
governmental authority, and having the cold, imitative, reflective light (moon) of
ceremony, ritual, tradition and doctrine put under foot. When the Spirit calls, "Come
out of her, My people" this is not His call to sons. This is His call urging a people
to come out of the defilements of Babylon and be CLEANSED--that they might by the washing
of regeneration become a VIRGIN unto Christ. And it is this VIRGIN COMPANY that shall
deliver to this sin-cursed world a MANCHILD, a MALE CHILD, a full redemption company of
saints, overcomers, partakers of the divine nature, grown up into the fullness of Christ,
filled with His pure and holy nature, imbued with His glorious mind, invested with His
omnipotent authority and power, the many-membered "seed" of the many-membered
"woman" which shall "bruise the head of the serpent" as he conquers
death, dethrones Satan, blesses and rules the nations and liberates the whole vast
groaning creation from the bondage of sin, sorrow, corruption and death. And should some
unenlightened reader still entertain the mistaken notion that Jesus Christ alone is the
"seed of the woman" who "bruises the head of the serpent" I would
point you to the wonderful promise of the Lord Jesus Himself through His apostle Paul,
"And the God of peace shall BRUISE SATAN UNDER Y-O-U-R FEET shortly" (Rom.
16:20). Jesus is the Head of that promised seed, even as we are the body.
Aratus, in 270 B.C., in one
of the lines of his poem says, "Beneath Bootes' feet the virgin seek." This is a
reference to the constellation Virgo, and everywhere in every language, it is very clear
that is not merely a woman, but a virgin. On the Zodiac she is bound beneath the feet of
the constellation Bootes. In one hand she holds a branch and in the other hand a sheaf of
wheat. As the spirit of revelation and understanding floods our minds, we are left without
question as to the meaning of all of this. Our Lord Jesus said, "I am the vine, YE
are the BRANCHES: He that abideth in me and I in him, the same BRINGETH FORTH MUCH
FRUIT" (Jn. 15:5). A number of times in the scripture the many-membered body of
Christ is called "the Branch": "Behold the man whose name is The
BRANCH" (Zech. 6:12). So we have a two-fold testimony: the virgin is going to bring
forth the Branch which will be the Seed of the woman; and also, I think, a confirmatory of
this, that the brightest star in Virgo is called Al Zimach, which means in Arabic,
"the branch"--a picture of the coming of Christ and the sons of God!
It is a most blessed thing
that the word "seed" is used of the Redeemer. Why did the Lord tell the ancient
serpent that the SEED of the woman would bruise his head? Why did He use the word seed?
Why did He not say simply that the man who should come from the woman would bruise the
serpent's head? But it was to be "the seed," the seed of the woman. The truth is
that seed is not only the product of some other life before it, but seed is also that
which REPRODUCES ITSELF and its kind many fold from generation to generation. What the
Lord was really saying is this: When men would see Jesus the Saviour come forth into the
world from the body of the virgin Mary, at that time they would see only Jesus the Christ,
but there would be more, MUCH MORE to Christ than what men would see in that day. A
multitude as the sand of the sea and the stars of heaven was to follow in His likeness,
born of the same seed, matured into the same image and stature, who would be the
"sons of God" even as He is a Son of God, and these would not be merely many
sons, but many sons to form ONE CHRIST, each one having the seed of life in himself. Jesus
Himself prophesied of this "many-membered seed" when He said, "Except a
corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth
forth much fruit" (Jn. 12:24).
My hope is that as you go out
and look at the starry skies above, you will be impressed anew and afresh. As we proceed
with this series, you will become amazed at the God who
hath writ on high these things for all the world to see. For surely His voice hath gone
unto the ends of the earth, and the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world
are plainly seen, as God has placed these constellations which He brings forth with His
own hand in its season, pictures of the great creative and redemptive plan of God wrought
out through the ages. Can we not see by the Holy Spirit that God has given from the very
beginning, the story of His salvation from which all ancient mythologies and ancient
traditions have come. They are describing the salvation that would be wrought by Christ
Jesus and ministered through His body of sons, which was given by God to Adam in the
Garden of Eden. The very beginning of the revelation of Jesus Christ to the world is
called the PROTO EVANGELIUM, or the first evangel, the first Gospel, which was that the
Seed of the woman would destroy the seed of the serpent. "For the invisible things of
Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that
are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse" (Rom.
1:20). Yes, the heavens declare the glory of God! Their words, their teaching, their
instruction, their message go into all the world. That message is found in the
star-pictures, the gallery of the heavens which God gave.
Someone says, "But isn't
the Zodiac PAGAN? Isn't it the basis of heathen astrology and associated with the false
gods and goddesses of
It is true that astrology
uses the signs of the Zodiac in a corrupted form and on a lower plane, but it is not true
that astrology invented them or originated them. Most of the error in the religious realms
is merely the high and holy truth of God brought down to a lower level, understood
carnally rather than spiritually. The failures and sins of men do not disannul the truth
of God, neither do their misuses and perversions of His gifts disprove their divine source
or holy intent. The perversion of the Gospel of Jesus Christ into the blinding darkness of
static creeds, dogmas, ritual, ceremony, and tradition comprising the abominations of the
harlot church system does not prove Jesus of Nazareth an imposter nor the testimony of His
holy apostles and prophets undivine or untrue. And if the ancients in like manner have
perverted these primeval records in the stars, and turned their portrayal of God's
beautiful plan of redemption into an instrument of damning superstition, and developed a
bloody paganism out of a primitive revelation, what is it except the depravity of the
carnal mind, but by no means discrediting the wisdom and love and glory of God in the
divine original?
The MAZZAROTH--the signs of
the Zodiac--are bought forth each night by the skillful hand of God. These constellations
were sprinkled by His hand across the sky as He garnished the heavens and created the
figures which we now know as the figures of the Zodiac. They tell a glorious tale of
creation and redemption, a glorious revelation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He has
written this with His own hand; He has created the stars; He has named and numbered and
ordered them. As there are twelve Patriarchs and twelve tribes of
Do you know that one reason
God' s children do not hunger and thirst after righteousness and follow on to be conformed
into the image of the Son, is because they have not taken the steps that went before? With
the things of God, there is a progression just as there is in any school; and if we do not
take the first steps, we shall not take the last steps. Every lesson we skip or neglect,
we shall have to go back and learn before we shall be able to go on; for every advance
step is a foundation for the next advance step. The reason that many of God's children
have never advanced into higher realms in the Spirit is because they have not taken the
steps as they came to them. They have not perfectly endured or appropriated that which God
called them to pass through, in order that they might reach this place of perfection and
glory and power in Him. Some of God' s people try to leap into the full strength and
dominion of Leo; but if they have this experience granted them, it is only when they have
taken the first steps of cleansing, death to self, judgment, obedience, overcoming,
praise, etc. set forth under the signs that go before. Ah, this is the Zodiac- the WAY,
the PATH, the journey into the fullness of God BY STEPS!
We have often chuckled over
the humorous predicament of the captain of a small sailing vessel who made a voyage with
one green hand. Alert and willing, this embryonic sailor was induced to steer the schooner
the first night at sea. Before retiring to his cabin below, the captain pointed to a star
and said to his amateur helper, "Keep that star right in front of your mast and you
will be on the course. If anything happens call me." Some time later he was awakened
by a pounding on the deck and he hastily arose to see what the trouble might be. As he
thrust his head up the companionway, the inexperienced sailor called buoyantly, "I
say, captain, pick me out another star, we passed that one !"
There have perhaps been other
people both before this man and since, who thought that they had gone beyond the signs and
portents that God had set for their guidance, but like this simple fellow, they were
merely off their course. If men do follow the stars, they have guides that never waver.
They mark the highway back to Father's house, back to the throne room from whence we came,
onward and upward into God. Praise His wonderful name!
THE TWELVE SIGNS OF THE ZODIAC DEPICTING GOD'S PLAN
AND PROCESS OF REDEMPTION
1. VIRGO, the Virgin: A young
woman bearing a branch in her right hand and an ear of corn in her left. The
"seed" of the woman is to bring the Saviour. Christ (spirit) birthed out of the
virgin soul. The sons of God brought forth from the sun-clad woman, the virgin bride of
Christ. As Mary brought forth her first-born Son while still a virgin, so the virgin bride
brings forth the manchild company before her ultimate consummation of marriage.
2. LIBRA, the Scales: the
figure of a pair of balances, with one side up and the other down, as in the act of
weighing. All creation is deficient, lowered, subjected to vanity, lacking a little from
Elohim. The ministry of reconciliation restores all things into balance (harmony, oneness)
in Christ.
3. SCORPIO, the Scorpion: the
figure of a gigantic, poisonous, and deadly insect, with its tail and sting uplifted in
anger, as if striking. The sting of sin and death via the carnal mind that infects every
man.
4. SAGITTARIUS, the Archer:
the figure of a horse with the head of a man with a drawn bow and arrow pointed at the
Scorpion. Christ coming into the life as Warrior, conquering and to conquer. The
commencement of the process of overcoming.
5. CAPRICORNUS, the Goat: the
figure of a goat sinking down in death, with the hinder part of its body terminating in
the vigorous tail of a fish. Redemption through death and resurrection. Life out of death.
The fellowship of His suffering leading to the power of His resurrection.
6. AQUARIUS, the
Water-bearer: the figure of a man with a large urn, the contents of which he is in the act
of pouring out in a great stream from the sky. The Sent One who would pour out waters of
blessing, the life of the Spirit on the earth in the former and latter rain. Rivers of
Living Water from the innermost part of our being. The outflow of His life.
7- PISCES, the Fishes: the
figures of two large fish in the act of swimming. Christ, Head and body, the two fish that
would be multiplied, a symbol of God' s grace going out to all the world.
8. ARIES, the Ram or Lamb:
the figure of a strong sheep, with powerful curved horns, lying down in easy composure,
and looking out in conscious strength over the field around it. The Lamb in the midst of
the throne; the nature of the Lamb perfected in the enChristed, overcoming all things.
9. TAURUS, the Bull: the
figure of a powerful bull, in the attitude of rushing and pushing forward with great
energy. Christ coming in judgment, as a refiner's fire. The righteous judgments of God committed to the saints of the Most High.
10. GEMINI, the Twins: two
human figures closely united. The Son and the sons. The King of kings and Lord of lords.
The lords of the Lord and the kings of the King. Christ reigning in and through His body.
11. CANCER, the Crab: the
figure of a crab, in the act of taking and holding on with its strong pincer claws. The
power of the
12. LEO, the Lion: the figure
of a great rampant lion, leaping forth to rend, with his feet over the writhing body of
Hydra, the Serpent, which is in the act of fleeing. The Lion of the tribe of
Chapter
2
THE
HEAVENS DECLARE
(
continued )
During those star-studded
nights above the plains of Judea, David looked into the heavens and there beheld the vast
glittering band of stars making up our Milky Way. He was awed and knew there had to be
boundless power, intelligence, and purpose behind it all. He was transfixed. He so
identified with that purpose that it became his passion. Everywhere he looked he could see
the stamp of the divine Creator. He exclaimed in words of inspiration that sprang up from
within his spirit: "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth
His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There
is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through
all the earth, and their words to the end of the world" (Ps. 19:1-4).
What did David know of the
heavens and how they express the glory of God? What does David mean when he says that
every day speaks to him and to us? What does he mean when he declares that every night is
a showing forth of knowledge? To whom does he refer when he says that there is no place on
earth where the language or speech of man is spoken that "their voice is not
heard"? Surely there is something more indicated here than a mere wonder on David' s
part evoked by the immensity and grandeur of the star-lit sky! They speak in every
language to every people. And they speak and reveal the majesty of God's great plan and
purposes to His creation. Upon the blue sapphire of the firmament is spread a sheet of
royal paper written all over with the wisdom and power of God. This book of creation is
not sold in bookstores, but it is to be read by everyone who lifts his eyes up to heaven.
The names of the
constellations with their stars reveal the divine truth that was later written in the
Bible. The written scriptures began with Job some forty-one centuries ago, but the truth
of God was recorded in the starry heavens from the distant dawn of creation, untold ages
before Abram journeyed from Ur of the Chaldees or Moses trod the burning sands of the
Sinai. This is the great truth of Psalm 19. The first six verses speak of the truth
recorded in the heavens, while the next five concern the truth written in the scriptures.
The star-studded heavens at night and the blazing sun shining by day are in fact GOD'S
BIBLE IN THE SKY visible from every land and nation over the world. Over the whole earth
and from ships on the far-flung seas people can peer at this marvelous book and seek to
discover the lost meanings now almost forgotten by mankind. Day by day and night by night
they beam down upon us from the Father of lights --our heavenly Father' s Lesson Book-
describing His character and the unspeakably glorious plan of creation and redemption
which from the dawn of history He has ordained for the world.
Paul illustrated this
wonderful truth of God revealed in the heavens when he wrote, "The invisible things
of God, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things
that are made" (Rom. 1:20). Here we are told that the invisible truths of God have
been before us and visible for us since the foundation of the world, because they are
seen, or illustrated, in the things that are made. Invisible truths are pictured in
visible things. Or invisible, spiritual truths or laws of God are set before us in the
image of the natural and visible laws. When God created the heavens and the earth, He made
everything that is visible a symbol of spiritual truth. Everything that is natural, a type
of that which is spiritual. This is why the Bible uses seed, for instance, as a symbol of
the Word of God, water as a symbol of the Holy Spirit, serpent as a symbol of the devil,
sowing as a symbol of the preaching of the Word of the Kingdom, and the stars as symbols
of the rule of the heavens accomplishing God's great plan of creation and redemption. Not
just because the Holy Spirit decided at some point in time that these would make good
symbols, but because the omniscient mind of God created them from the beginning as the
object lesson about the truths of God and His Kingdom.
Tell me! did you ever get
quiet enough to sit alone for an hour with God on a clear starlight night, and look up
into the stars? Did the silence of those mighty orbs that are rolling in space at an
inconceivable rate of speed, a rapidity that is breathless, ever get into your soul? Did
you ever look at them and see how your earth was rolling around, and star after star, and
constellation after constellation, was appearing and disappearing? Tell me, have you ever
been alone with God and the stars? Have you any knowledge of the wonderful planets that
revolve around this central sun? Do you know that these other stars are suns and have
planets which are invisible revolving around them? Did you ever get the calm silence of
God into your heart? The great majority of men cannot bear to sit down for an hour of
Divine inspection, and be still, and let the light of God shine into their hearts, and
listen to what God says.
The prophet Amos pointed to
the constellations and beyond to the God who ordained them and designed their revelation
when he said, "Seek Him that maketh the seven stars and Orion" (Amos 5:8). The
book of Job is the oldest book in the Bible, older even than Abraham or Moses. It is in
this book of Job that we first have reference to this Stellar Revelation. In chapter 38
God finally breaks in and speaks to Job and his false comforters. He says to them,
"Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? Canst
thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?
Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the
earth?" (Job 38:31-33).
The power and rule of the
Pleiades, Orion, and all the stars and planets of the heavens extend far beyond a mere
announcement of the seasons. The awesome influence of these heavenly constellations is set
forth in scripture in connection with the rushing serpent, the fugitive snake, or
Leviathan the sea monster (Isa. 27:1; Job 41:1; Job 26:13; Ps. 104:25-26); Venus (Isa.
14:12); Saturn (Amos 5:26); the Pleiades (Job 9:9; 38:31; Amos 5:8); Orion (Job 38:31;
Amos 5:8); Arcturus (Job 9:9; 38:32); and the twelve signs of the Zodiac (Job 38:32-33;
Isa. 13:10; Judges 5:20).
There was a day in the times
of the Judges when Deborah the judge, filled with the spirit of wisdom and courage from
the Lord, and Barak the general took the army of Israel to war against the leader of the
Canaanite armies, Sisera, and his mighty forces. The inspired record of that extraordinary
battle states, "And they showed Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam was gone up to
mount Tabor. And Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of
iron, and all the people that were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles unto the river
of Kishon. And Deborah said unto Barak, Up; for this is the day in which the Lord hath
delivered Sisera into thine hand: is not the Lord gone out before thee? So Barak went down
from mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him. And the Lord discomfited Sisera, and all
his chariots, and all his host, with the edge of the sword before Barak; so that Sisera
lighted down off his chariot, and fled away on his feet. But Barak pursued after the
chariots, and after the host, unto Harosheth of the Gentiles: and all the host of Sisera
fell upon the edge of the sword; and there was not a man left" (Judges 4:12-16).
God fought on the side of
Israel, and gave them the victory. Josephus relates that, just as the battle began, a
violent tempest came on with a great downfall of rain, and a hailstorm, which, driving
full in the faces of the Canaanites, so blinded and benumbed them with cold, that they
could neither use their bows with effect nor even hold their swords. As soon as the battle
was concluded victoriously, the Spirit of the Lord came upon Deborah and Barak and they
began to sing the song of the Lord, that majestic Ode recorded in chapter five of the book
of Judges. A portion of it describes the triumph of Barak's army over Sisera and his
forces in these words:
"Because the elders took
the lead in Israel,
Because the people offered
themselves willingly,
Bless ye the Lord.
Hear, O ye kings; give ear, O
ye princes;
I, even I, will sing unto the
Lord;
I will sing praise to the
Lord, the God of Israel.
The kings came and fought.
Then fought the kings of
Canaan,
In Taanach by the waters of
Megiddo. Gain of booty they did not take.
FROM THE HEAVENS THE STARS
FOUGHT,
FROM THEIR COURSES THEY
FOUGHT AGAINST SISERA.
The river Kishon swept them
away,
That ancient river, the river
Kishon.
0 my soul, march on with
strength.
So let all thine enemies
perish, O Lord;
But let them that love Him be
as the sun,
When he goeth forth in his
might."
It is time to stop, look, and
listen. Hear it! ye sons of the Most high. "They fought from heaven; the stars in
their courses fought against Sisera" (Judges 4:20). Can any read these significant
words uttered in the spirit of prophecy and wisdom of the Holy Ghost, and still doubt that
the constellations of the heavens RULE in the affairs of men and nations? Would it not
seem to be divine sense, human sense, and common sense that Sisera's fate that day in the
long ago was "written in the stars" and there was no hope for him when the
natural forces allied themselves with Israel under the guiding hand of the Almighty to
assure his defeat? Someone may respond that the stars in this case are symbolic, and I
doubt not that they are on some plane, however I am constrained to point out that not one
other thing in Deborah's song is used figuratively- the battle was a very real battle, the
horses were actual horses, the chariots were real chariots of iron, the plain is to this
day an existing geographical location, Mount Tabor is a literal mountain just east of
Nazareth, and the river Kishon was an actual river winding its way through the plain.
Deborah and Barak and Sisera were real people. With all emphasis I must conclude that it
was the LITERAL STARS AND CONSTELLATIONS OF THE HEAVENS IN THEIR COURSES which were
arrayed against Sisera and significantly contributed by their cosmic influence and decree
to his overwhelming defeat. The triumph of Israel was by the design of the Lord God of
Israel of whom are all things, by whom are all things. and unto whom are all things,
blessed be His wonderful name.
ASTROLOGY AND HOROSCOPES
Are you "Capricorn"
or "Scorpio"? Should you make a trip today? Should you marry Richard, or Joe, or
Sam? Is this a bad day to start a new job? Should you hold an important meeting in the
morning or afternoon? What do the stars and planets indicate? Millions of people daily
check their horoscopes to find out. Contracts are signed, employees hired, business
ventures started, life-styles changed, occupations chosen, friendships altered, diets
formulated, bets made, trips planned, babies named--yes, as we now know, sometimes, even
government policies and political decisions arrived at--all based on various astrological
readings. Even if you yourself do not believe in astrology, you may still be directly or
indirectly affected because of the decisions others in all walks of life make under the
influence of Zodiac charts. What is astrology? Briefly put, adherents claim astrology is a
method of anticipating or foretelling events by calculating the effect the sun, moon,
stars and planets have on human activities. Supposedly, the relative positions of the
heavenly bodies at the moment of a child's birth influence the child's character and
personality. Plotting the movements of those heavenly bodies, it is thought, reveals an
individual's destiny.
Astrology is the study of the
relative positions of the planets and stars in order to predict the future. The Greek word
HOROSKOPOS literally means observer of the hour of one's birth. Thus a horoscope is a
chart correlating the time of a person's birth with the position of the planets. This
practice supposedly reveals the future and is used as a way to make decisions. Many people
who do not seriously believe in astrology, nevertheless, read their daily horoscope and
think it is harmless fun. "It is the stars, the stars above us, govern our
conditions," are the words Shakespeare puts in the mouth of Kent in KING LEAR. In
ancient times no king in his right mind would think of venturing out into battle without
first consulting his court astrologer. No maiden would set the date of her marriage until
she had discovered which date would be the most auspicious for that happy event. Mortals
dared not make decisions without the help of these guardian gods of the heavens.
Joseph Goodavage wrote,
"Science has now begun to demonstrate direct linkages between celestial movements and
the behavior of animals and men. Biologist Dr. Frank Brown of Northwestern University
showed that oysters sense the position of the moon and regulate their activities by it.
Ordinarily, oysters open and close their shells in phase with ocean tides. Dr. Brown
wanted to see what oysters would do if there were NO tides. He hauled some out of the sea
off New Haven, Connecticut, shipped them to Evanston, Illinois, and put them indoors in a
tank of sea water at even temperature under a steady, dim light. For two weeks they
continued to open and close their shells in phase with the tides at their old ocean home.
Then abruptly they changed their rhythm. Their shell-opening cycle slipped into phase with
the tides that would have existed if there had been an ocean covering Illinois! Dr.
Brown's oysters were obviously responding to the location of the moon which triggered some
mysterious reaction inside their 'biological clocks'. Here was an entirely new mystery for
scientists. No one knows what the connecting link is between stars and planets and the
earthly events with which they so often correlate. Men and women aren't oysters, but
celestial forces have definitely been shown to affect human behavior. The American
Institute of Medical Climatology in Philadelphia, working with the police and fire
departments, major hospitals and the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, conducted
a three-year study of human reactions to the phases of the moon. Conclusions: cases of
murder, rape, aggravated assault and arson are, most common during Full Moon periods. Much
of human life, if not most of it, seems to be governed...influenced by these forces
science is now beginning to detect, the forces on which astrologers base their
predictions" --end quote. In addition to these remarks it is also interesting to note
that modern physiologists now realize that man is a completely responsive element in the
cosmos, that he interacts with his environment, both terrestrial and celestial. Astrology
is the study and application of the effect on man of the forces reaching earth from
surrounding space--his celestial environment.
Many years ago a friend who
was deep into astrology made a "professional" horoscope for me based on the
exact hour of my birth. It was incredible (uncanny! to be exact) how accurately
descriptive it was of my nature, personality traits, abilities, ambitions, life-style,
etc. Some characteristics revealed existed only in the form of inward thoughts, desires,
propensities, intents, motives, purposes, etc. not fully discerned even by those closest
to me. In all honesty I must admit that even the prophets of God in most cases have not
prophesied my character more precisely than did this horoscope! In understanding the
influence of the stars and celestial bodies upon our physical being, influencing our
moods, emotions, actions, etc. --which also are being dealt with by the Lord for our
OVERCOMING--it is clear that the children of the world are in this area wiser than the
children of light, for they see, while the children of light grope about without
understanding of these things, often ignorantly hostile to the very idea that the heavenly
constellations have any influence over the earth and earthly things at all. But the sure
word of prophecy asked the penetrating question: "Canst thou bind the sweet
influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth (the
twelve signs of the Zodiac) in his season? KNOWEST THOU THE ORDINANCES OF THE
HEAVEN...?" (Job 38:31-33). DO we know? Can we see the truth in these things? Can we
acknowledge that GOD is the almighty Ordainer of all cosmic powers and laws, and that His
own Word authenticates their reality? Or do we naively relegate it all to ancient
superstitions and pagan mythology, summarily dismissing such things from our enlightened
consideration?
The highest truth of God is
gloriously recorded in the blazing constellations of the heavens; yet on a lower plane,
these same constellations exert a mundane influence over every created thing on earth in
the same way that the scriptures marvelously reveal the glory of God, the majesty of His
Christ, the wisdom of His purposes and His wondrous gift of life, while on a lower level
the very same scriptures, in the form of the letter of the law, minister condemnation and
death; just as the scriptures on one level are anointed to "make us wise unto
salvation" (II Tim. 3:15), while on the lower plane they judge, condemn, and minister
death; SO the signs of the Zodiac proclaim on a higher dimension the wisdom of God's
creative and redemptive plan of the ages, while on the lower level of natural cosmic
energy they influence the carnal man in his earthly and temporal sphere of life.
BEYOND THE STARS
If there be indeed a truth in
the rule of the natural heavens (and there must be, else the physical heavens could not in
scripture serve as the TYPE of the rule of the spiritual heavens), the question follows:
What is really wrong, then, with casting horoscopes or consulting astrologers? Let us now
acquaint ourselves with the truth as it is in Jesus, for when we learn the truth I now
affirm, many things which heretofore have been an inscrutable mystery will begin to come
clear to our understanding. Let us then stand assured of this marvelous fact: THERE IS A
POWER B-E-Y-O-N-D THE STARS! I must here emphasize the great truth that above everything
that exists and behind it all standeth GOD, omniscient, omnipotent, immutable. The great
God made and controls everything on earth and throughout the unbounded heavens and His
omnipotent hand stretches forth high above and far beyond the vaunted powers of the
heavens, for He is the great Cause, while they are the effect; He is the almighty Creator,
whereas they are but the creation, the work of His hands.
I do not hesitate to tell you
that the vast majority of astrologers and those who adhere to astrology have changed the
truth of God into a lie and worship and serve the CREATION more than the CREATOR, who is
blessed forever. Amen. (Rom. 1:25). The carnal mind is the great deceiver who has deceived
people into trusting in the SIGN rather than the thing God has signified by the sign--the
revelation of Jesus Christ. In the same way God created the Church to proclaim the gospel.
However, millions of people trust in the Church for their salvation! They want to find the
"right" Church, one which will save them. But the simple truth is that NO Church
will save anyone! The Church points to Jesus Christ who is the only Saviour of man.
Likewise, God from the beginning of the creation displayed the gospel in the stars.
Instead of trusting in the Christ to which they point so gloriously, these people trust in
the stars themselves.
Furthermore, there is no
doubt whatever that astrology can inform you of the cosmic influences and instruct you
concerning the earthly conditions marked out by the stars. But it can never in a million
years EMPOWER you to OVERCOME those influences, or teach you how to be TRANSFORMED.
Astrology is a rigidly fatalistic science, pointing you to the problem, revealing the
circumstances, but possessing absolutely no power to CHANGE the situation nor one iota of
authority to ENABLE you to rise above it. That, my beloved, is just the difference between
astrology and Christ--Christ delivers, changes, empowers, quickens, transforms and
perfects! Truly the glorious Christ of God has ALL POWER in heaven and in earth, whereas
astrology has SOME POWER, and only on earth, and not redeeming power at that.
Astrology can analyze your
case, but is impotent to save or deliver you. The world today is filled with confusion and
trouble. Any system which claims to look into the future gathers adherents by the
millions. Astrology numbers its followers by multitudes and its financial income in the
billions of dollars and more. People are investing heavily in tomorrow. They are eager to
pierce the veil of the future and gaze into the strange land where mysterious science
reigns. Someone may say: "But they told me many things which came true." This is
doubtless true. But listen to some startling words from God's prophet, Jeremiah.
"Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the
SIGNS OF THE HEAVEN; for the heathen are dismayed at them" (Jer. 10:2). For "the
signs of heaven," the margin read, "signs of the Zodiac." In other words,
do not be dismayed, disturbed, concerned about the omens portended by your horoscope! The
prophet Isaiah proclaimed the sure word of the Lord to the ancient kingdom of Babylon
which was ruled by astrology: "Persist then with your enchantments and the multitude
of your sorceries in which you have labored from your youth, and see if perhaps you will
be able to profit, if you may prevail and strike terror! You are wearied with your many
counsels and plans. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators,
stand up, and make known to you and save you from the things that shall come upon you.
Behold, they are like stubble, the fire consumes them; they cannot even deliver themselves
from the power of the flame. This is no coal for warming, or fire before which to
sit!" (Isa. 47:12-14, Amplified). Take heed astrologers and monthly prognosticators!
Take heed Jeanne Dixon, and all the rest! The word of the Lord makes it very clear that
these shall not be able to deliver even themselves in the day of calamity, much less those
who harken to their words.
It may come as a shock to
some who read these lines, but the Holy Spirit declares with divine certainty that YOUR
fortune and future are NOT astrologically determined. I mean by this that even though most
people's fortunes can be traced to astrological influences, YOURS CANNOT. You belong to a
special category of people to whom NONE of the known laws of the universe apply. The laws
that govern other people do not apply to you. You are in a class all by yourself. One of
the greatest truths ever kept hidden from the eyes of the natural man is this: "If
any man be in Christ, he is a NEW CREATION" (I Cor. 5:17). It should be plain to
anyone having eyes to see that the physical and psychical influences exerted by the
constellations of the Zodiac are part and parcel of the OLD CREATION. The destiny of most
people, of all natural and fallen men, is linked to the stars; try as they will they
cannot escape it. If the star under which they were born says they should be poor, they
will be poor. If it says they should be rich, they will be rich. If it says they are
high-strung and naive, they will be nervous and unsuspecting. If it says they are
charming, confident, and successful, they will be just that.
This is the case for most
human beings, all human beings, in fact, who live and have their being in the OLD CREATION
MAN. But, blessed be God! AN EXCEPTION TO THIS RULE EXISTS. The Master Architect of the
universe saw fit to create a special category of people who are of an entirely NEW
CREATION. New creation people are blessed with the ability to live their lives without
having to pass through the stars or planets. Bypassing all physical barriers they receive
directly from the Source. There exists a higher power than the stars- and it is that
higher power that has touched the life of every re-generated man and woman on the face of
the earth. Indeed, dear elect saints of God, it is this higher power that has been guiding
your footsteps all along. No longer do you need to look to the stars for an answer. You
have found the answer that will unlock all the mysteries of Being--or the answer has found
you--right here--right now!
So many people are taken up
with astrology today and the question is often asked, "What sign were you born
under?" One person, when asked what sign he was born under said, "I was born
under the sign of the cross." Now, that is a good sign to be born under. But an
answer that would be much closer to the truth and which might elicit a more interesting
conversation is this, "I have a slight problem when you ask me what sign I was born
under --because I was born twice!" Ah, my beloved, all who have been BORN OF GOD have
been born again under the star-sign of the MORNING STAR! Those born of the Spirit are, one
and all, born under the star-sign of the DAY STAR which now arises in their hearts! You
will never understand the power and glory of the new birth until you thoroughly understand
that it is indeed a birth from ABOVE.
Let all who read these lines
clearly understand that God's heaven is not the inexhaustible universe of stars and suns
and planets- swirling nebulae. Heaven has nothing whatever to do with the time-space
continuum or matter in any form. The true heaven is beyond it all, above it all, before it
all. Heaven is that high and holy and invisible realm of SPIRIT, the pure and divine and
eternal and incorruptible realm of GOD HIMSELF, which existed before ever a star or a
planet appeared. Heaven, therefore, can only be entered BY THAT WHICH IS SPIRIT. Let every
man know for a certainty that heaven is not a geographical or astral location with their
limitations, but a dimension, a sphere of existence, a state of being- that spiritual
existence, being and habitation in which God eternally lives. Natural eyes cannot pierce
the invisible realm of spirit. Natural minds know nothing of that realm, for we perceive
only those physical things recognizable by the senses. Natural ears are unable to hear
that which is spoken in the realm of spirit, for spirit vibrates on a frequency higher
than and superior to the low vibrations of earth. Heaven is all around us but we must be
raised out of our natural consciousness in order to touch it. But the dimension of heaven
is ten thousand times MORE REAL than this gross material realm to which our mortal form
has been subjected.
The highest realm known to
man is called HEAVEN, and all who have been born again from above by the Spirit of God
have had opened to them a realm higher far than the heavens perceived by astronomers and
astrologers. These know nothing of heaven at all! Paul tells us that we are to "seek
those things which are ABOVE, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your
affection on things ABOVE, not on things on the earth" (Col. 3: 1-2). The man or
woman who is born from that bright glory world above becomes an entirely new creation in
Christ Jesus. And from that time forward, He lives for God. His chief delight is in
spiritual things. His affections are set above and not on things below. His citizenship is
in heaven. Before his eyes there is opened up a kingdom which is beyond his full
articulation or expression. He has only glimpsed some of the ineffable glories that God
has, is, and will reveal to him. He is now part of a kingdom so vast in scope and so
enduring in quality that the things of this world seem tawdry, mean, narrow, and
insignificant by comparison.
Have you ever thought of the
meaning of the name ascribed to God, the MOST HIGH?
Why the Most High? Does this
not indicate that there are other high authorities in existence, and that He is the Most
High: the highest of them all? We often talk about Jesus, his death on the cross, His
resurrection, and His ascension. We say that after He was raised from the dead He ascended
up to heaven. What do we think of when we make such a statement? Do we visualize Him going
somewhere away beyond the stars, millions of miles out into space, to a place we call
Heaven? The scriptures say that when He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and
gave gifts unto men. He ascended up ON HIGH. What does this mean? High above what?
I want to draw your attention
to a few scriptures that will make the truth crystal clear. In Heb. 7:26 we read these
words concerning Jesus: "For such an High Priest became us, who is holy, harmless,
undefiled, separate from sinners, and made HIGHER THAN THE HEAVENS." This doesn't say
that He merely ascended up to heaven, but that He was made HIGHER than the HEAVENS. Here
we have the word heavens in the plural. What does it mean, "made higher than the
heavens"? Let us look at some other passages along this line. "He that descended
is the same also that ascended up FAR ABOVE ALL HEAVENS" (Eph. 4:10). Now this
language is somewhat different than saying that He ascended up to heaven. He is made
higher than the heavens, and ascended up far above all heavens. We can be certain that
such terminology indicates that there is not just one heaven as many think, but there are
many heavens, and Jesus was raised and made higher than them all. Wonderful statements
like this are also found in the Psalms. "Be thou exalted 0 God, ABOVE THE HEAVENS;
let Thy glory be above all the earth" (Ps. 57:5,11). "Let God be exalted ABOVE
THE HEAVENS" (Ps. 108:5). Not just in heaven, but exalted ABOVE ALL HEAVENS.
Paul tells us something about
this high and exalted realm. "I...cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of
you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give
unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: the eyes of your
understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and
what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding
greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty
power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His
own right hand in the HEAVENLY PLACES, F-A-R A-B-O-V-E ALL PRINCIPALITY, AND POWER, AND
MIGHT, AND DOMINION, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in
that which is to come" (Eph. 1:16-21).
In verse 20 of this beautiful
passage we have the Greek phrase "en eois epouran-iois," translated into English
as "in heavenly places." "...He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at
His own right hand IN THE HEAVENLY PLACES." The word for heaven in the Greek New
Testament is OURANOUS, only in this passage we have something added to it. And the
compound word thus formed is of such great import to us that we must consider it very,
very carefully. We have the Greek word EPI, which means SUPERIMPOSITION, or in plain
speech, ABOVE, HIGHER THAN, OVER. And when joined to OURANOUS, it becomes EPOURANIOIS.
These two words joined together mean ABOVE HEAVEN or THE HIGHEST HEAVEN or HIGHER THAN ALL
HEAVENS--SUPERIMPOSITION! This word is found twenty times in the New Testament.
Our Lord and Saviour when on
earth, even though He had humbled Himself and had descended to the depths of the realm of
death and had borne our sins, was still the exalted One. He was still in heaven (Jn.
3:13). But then He arose the conquering Christ! And not only that, but He ASCENDED victor
over all the powers of darkness, having brought in eternal redemption for a lost world and
redeemed all things unto God. "Wherefore God hath HIGHLY EXALTED HIM, and given Him a
name which is ABOVE EVERY NAME." Or as Paul tells us in Eph. 4:10,
"He...ascended up FAR ABOVE ALL HEAVENS." Or, let us note carefully, God has set
Him "at His own right hand IN THE HEAVENLY PLACES." And the word which is
mistranslated here as "heavenly places" is EPOURANIOIS, meaning HIGHER THAN
HEAVENLY. It is ABOVE HEAVEN, HIGHER THAN HEAVEN, FAR ABOVE A-L-L HEAVENS! Thus we read,
"He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand IN EPOURANIOIS--FAR
ABOVE ALL PRINCIPALITY~ AND POWER, AND MIGHT, AND DOMINION, AND EVERY NAME THAT IS
NAMED...and has put ALL THINGS under His feet" (Eph. 1:20-22).
So the heavens He has been
raised far above are the Principalities and Powers, and Might and Dominion, that inhabit
and dwell in all the heavens. God has given Jesus an exalted position, far above all other
Principality and Power, good and bad, and given Him a name (nature) that is above every
name that is named throughout the vastnesses of infinity. He has put all other Power and
Authority everywhere under His feet, and made them all His footstool, that before His
glorious name, that wonderful name of Jesus, every knee should bow, yes, every knee, of
the inhabitants of the heavens as well as those on the earth and things under the earth;
and every tongue shall confess, the tongues of those in the heavens, of those on the
earth, and those in the underworld; every one of them shall proclaim Him Lord, to the
glory of God the Father. It should be plain to even the simplest mind that this authority
and power over all the powers of the heavens certainly includes the "sweet
influences" of Pleiades, the "bands" of Orion, the "ordinances"
of the heavens and their "dominion" in the earth (Job 38:31-33). It is a realm
far above and beyond the beggarly influences of the stars and planets- of Capricorn and
Scorpio and Jupiter and Mars! And let demons rage. Let fools and unbelievers hang their
heads in shame. We quote once more from the incomparable Word of God. "BUT GOD...HATH
raised US up together, AND MADE US SIT TOGETHER IN HEAVENLY PLACES IN CHRIST JESUS"
(Eph. 2:4-677. And this "heavenly places" where WE NOW SIT with the firstborn
Son is this same super-heaven, or epour-aniois, the same position which He holds "far
above all heavens"! Ah, we who have come the way of the cross, we whose spirits have
been quickened by His Spirit, we in whom the mighty power is working which God wrought in
Christ when He raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand far above all
heavens- are enthroned with Him in this super-eminence N-O-W. Christ is enthroned in the
higher-than-all-heavens and WE HAVE BEEN QUICKENED AND RAISED UP AND GIVEN JOINT-SEATING
WITH HIM IN THE UNION OF HIS DIVINE LIFE! And yet Christians in ignorance sing, "When
we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be!" Heaven for those who
have been born from above is not a future hope. It is a PRESENT REALITY. It is the realm
far above all other forms of natural and spiritual life that inhabit God's vast universe
and far above all power and might and dominion of any order; not above them
geographically, but above them in RANK, in QUALITY OF LIFE, in EMINENCE and POWER and
AUTHORITY and NATURE and GLORY! All the elect sons of God must find their existence and
experience enthroned with Christ in the higher than all heavens. They must find all their
source and reality of being IN SPIRIT. Oh! sons of God--let us arise and live the heavenly
life! Let our ministry be one that will lift people out of an earthly consciousness into a
heavenly (spiritual) consciousness. Truly all creation has been lowered into the bondage
of corruption, the consciousness of the earthly and temporal, but not without a hope of
restoration into a full God-consciousness and state of being again. This is what salvation
is about. This is why God's purpose in this hour is to perfect, to raise us and bring us
into the consciousness of God which is the full awareness of the realm of the SPIRIT--the
power and substance of life within OUR SPIRIT!
The new creation people are
those who fulfill the injunction of the prophet Amos, "Seek HIM that maketh the seven
stars and Orion" (Amos 5:8). Because you are seated in Christ in the
higher-than-all-heavens, you draw energy from a realm much farther up than the natural
man. While others are meted out the tiniest morsels from the stars, you supersede that
level and receive directly from HIM that MADE the constellations! If you have touched the
wisdom that is higher than the heavens, you don't need to be wasting precious time making
star charts. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hid in Christ, and your life is
hid with Christ in God far above all heavens. Astrology might be interesting, there may be
truth in cold, hard facts about the influence of the stars upon the earth realm and the
men who dwell therein, but there is nothing so refreshing as to step into the breathless
stillness of the night and lift up our spirit in rapturous communion with the One who
formed it all. There the heavenly architect in accents rare begins to reveal to the inner
heart that it was from those realms of glory that we came, and our coming to this world
was by reason of God's great intention, that we should be prepared to reign in Christ's
image over all the marvelous works of His hands from galaxy to galaxy unto the uttermost
reaches of the vastnesses of infinity. Why settle for less than the best? Astrology, even
in the time of Babylon, couldn't hold a candle to the wisdom of God by the Spirit. It
still can't. As sons of the Most High you have direct access to knowledge and power which
transcends the stars. There is nothing in the starry skies that holds anything for us
anymore. The following words of truth are taken from a prophecy which came to my desk some
time ago, and which I believe to be inspired by the Spirit of God. "Know thou, that
regardless of what comes upon the earth, THOU ART NOT OF THE EARTH, nor of the night. For
thou art of the Spirit, and of the day. Fear thou not what comes upon the earth, and upon
the earth man, but look thou unto the Lord thy God. For in Him is thy safety, and in Him
is thy joy. And thy joy, even the joy of the Lord, shall be thy strength."
Except a man be born from
above, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. He who dwelleth in the secret place of the Most
High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Sonship comes about by dwelling and
abiding in the overshadowing presence of the Holy Spirit, walking, living, and breathing
IN HIM. Astrology, on the other hand, is concerned only with EARTHLY THINGS. One
astrologer said, "I discovered that all the 'in-depth' psychological studies, all the
psychiatric know-how and all the aptitude testing ever devised can't compare with the
answers a good astrologer can obtain from an exact horoscope. I learned about people with
wasted talents (some of them potential millionaires) who lead a humdrum 9-to-5 life
because they have never investigated their true 'birthright'. I saw people who considered
themselves failures at lower echelon jobs but who could have been magnificently successful
at the head of an important enterprise. I've written articles about people who have used
the advice of astrologers in timing their key moves--people who became rich by working in
harmony with cosmic tides!" (Joseph A. Goodavage in ASTROLOGY: THE SPACE AGE
SCIENCE).
Is it not incredible that
there is no spiritual life --but everything is viewed, like the preacher in Ecclesiastes,
as man sees it "under the sun," and not as God sees it from ABOVE THE HEAVENS.
The influences of the stars are upon the earthly things, but those who have been raised up
and made to sit with Christ in the higher-than-all-heavens do not set their affection on
things on the earth, nor do they gaze up into the stars.
THEY LOOK DOWN UPON THE
STARS. Practically we have to learn what the frigate bird does. When a storm comes on it
gets above the region of storms, above the clouds, where there is none, and there it stays
even for days until the storm is over. I am placed beyond the reach of storms; I am a
frigate bird, for I am with Christ in a scene where there is no storm and no clouds. I am
united to an ascended Christ. The Lord says, "The glory which Thou hast given Me I
have given them." A person might say, I cannot attain this now. I answer, I belong to
the glory now; I possess His life now in glory, and I am changed into the same image by
the Spirit. I belong to the glory.
Sundar Singh, the Indian
prophet, told of an occasion when he was traveling in the Himalayas, and there was a
storm, with violent thunder and lightning. He got frightened that the lightning might fall
upon him and he would be killed. So he moved higher and higher upon the peaks of the
mountain until the lightning was down below where it could not jump up to reach him. Thank
God! there is a realm HIGH ABOVE THE STARS where none of their influences reach, where all
is peace, joy, and righteousness in the Holy Ghost and power and victory and stability.
Hannah Hurnard relates the
transformation that came to her life at the discovery of this higher reality. "Little
by little everything in my circumstances altered. It was as though I had really moved into
another country--a heavenly one, where I was surrounded by things that I found more
delightful than anything that I had experienced in the past. Even more wonderful than
that, I actually began to feel as though there were angels and heavenly beings coming and
going all the time, and, for a very matter-of-fact and practical person like myself, this
was a most wonderful and awesome experience. All sorts of spiritual influences and
inspirations were given to me which seemed to 'open the eyes of my understanding', so that
I seemed to have been born into a new world and universe altogether, or to have escaped
from the prison-house world of what my physical senses alone could perceive, into a vast
and glorious world perceivable only through newly developing spiritual senses. Not through
psychic senses, which enable people to see what is going on elsewhere in the world, or
what is going to happen in the future, but through spiritual understanding of truths which
had been hidden from me up till then--and which now began to reveal a world of REALITIES
and experiences and contact with higher powers, such as I had never before envisaged"
--end quote.
I am constrained to share a
couple more quotations with you from precious saints to whom God has granted wisdom and
understanding. Norene Nicholls wrote, "The moon plays such a significant part in our
lives. We know it regulates the tides of the oceans by its gravitational pull, but science
is now finding out that its gravitational pull affects the liquids of our bodies even as
it affects the oceans. This means that the fluids, such as, blood, lymph, bile, urine,
etc., are pulled upon by the phases of the moon. This is particularly so at full moon and
new moon, and more so when these particular phases coincide with the equinoxes and the
solstices, which are the turning points of the year and the beginning of the seasons. Full
moon and new moon exert such a gravitational pull upon the fluids of the body, that
irritableness. nervousness, physical disabilities and even mental problems show up at this
time. The term LUNACY even comes from the word LUNA meaning MOON, so those in olden days
recognized such possibilities of the moon's power. Ten years ago when I was going through
some very strange experiences, the scripture kept coming to me, "The sun shall not
smite thee by day, nor the MOON by night." ] pondered it often, wondering what was
involved in this, and then began to realize that the phases of the moon were affecting me
drastically. Then it was that I began to withstand its power by the truth of the Word that
it could not SMITE me, and the word SMITE even means to KILL. Every force is trying to
kill us, but we believe that it cannot, for we are called to an everlasting
priesthood" --end quote.
And finally, from the ready pen of Dora Van Assen, "'Who gave Himself for our sins, ~ that He might extricate (rescue) us out of this present wicked (evil) eon (world order) according to the will of God' (Gal. 1:4). Notice this word EVIL spells LIVE backwards. The whole course of this evil world is running in reverse, thus bringing death and decay instead of life. Peter calls it an 'untoward generation' (Acts 2:40). That is, a generation turned away from (untoward) God. And Paul declares we are to shine as lights in this 'crooked and perverse (turned around) nation' (Phil. 2:15). We cannot resist these negative influences (of the heavens) in our own strength. Even if we could keep the whole law of God, it would not give IMMORTAL LIFE. We would still grow old and die We need the LIFE OF CHRIST WITHIN to overcome the law of sin and death operating in our body which brings age, decay and final dissolution to this natural man. Only the Christ within can destroy and reverse this natural. That is why we must be born again! in our complete man, spirit, soul and body! O wonderful plan of God! Jesus Christ has come to deliver us out of this evil world order, both within and without, our total being set free. He told His disciples, 'Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world (cosmos' (In. 16:33). Since He has overcome, we shall also overcome. Because He lives free from all the negative influences of this universe, we now can live in this glorious realm also. All we do is believe and apply His deliverance in our lives!" --end quote.
Dearly beloved saints of God,
the future of God's elect will not be decided by prognostications of our horoscope. It
will be determined by the faith of God in our heart imparted by the sovereign and infinite
purpose of OUR FATHER. Never mind about Aires or Taurus or Gemini. Fret not about Cancer
or Leo or Virgo. Forget about Libra and Scorpio and Saggitarius. For neither these nor
Capricorn nor Aquarius nor Pisces nor any other principality or power or dominion
influence one whet the destiny of the man or woman or child whose life is hid with Christ
in God. Look upward...yes...but not to the stars. Look BEYOND THE STARS. By the light that
the Spirit brings look into the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ and you will find
yourself being wondrously changed into the same image from glory to glory. And there the
stars have no control. And what about the future? Must I listen to Jeanne Dixon or some
dark psychic interpret the pale flicker of distant stars? Is this the light I want? Who
needs horoscopes? THOSE WHO HAVE NOT BEEN QUICKENED BY THE POWER OF THE LIVING CHRIST OF
GOD, for He, and He alone is the true light, that lighteth every man that cometh into the
world (Jn. 1:9).
The regenerated spirit
becomes a component factor in the sweet harmony of God's spiritual Kingdom. And what a
Kingdom! And what a harmony! In duration it is from everlasting to everlasting. The
granite hills shall melt away; the earth shall leave its orbit and fall into the chaos of
crashing worlds; Orion, Arcturus, and Pleiades shall ,cease to travel the holy aisles of
heaven; the sun shall be turned into darkness; the heavens shall be rolled back as a
scroll, and as a vesture they shall be folded up; but beneath the scepter of the King
eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, our Father, the Kingdom of Heaven shall
still remain and move on in sweetest harmony with His holy will. For in this high and holy
Kingdom no forces ever clash, no laws ever fail, no truth ever goes astray, no beauty ever
fades, no light ever loses its luster, no good ever grows less, no life ever gets old. no
love ever becomes cold, no joy ever ceases, no harmony ever has a discord. From the time
when the morning stars sang together and the sons of God first shouted for joy rhythm and
rapture have rolled upward and onward through all the boundless and eternal spiritual
universe as the sweet expression of the mind and will of almighty God. This universe, this
higher-than-the-heavens universe, this Kingdom of Heaven, is the home and heritage of
every son of God. He belongs to it, and it belongs to him. He is in it, and it is in him.
He holds himself in harmony with it, and it fills his soul with its songs. He apprehends
its truth, enjoys its beauties, and partakes of its holiness. There is no place in it
where he may not feel at home--no place where he has not a right to be; for it has been
the Father' s good pleasure to give him the Kingdom. His life is not measured by years,
but by its possibilities and expansiveness. Divinity and eternity are born within him. Now
he is a child of God, but it doth not yet appear what he shall be.
Chapter
3
The
Heavens Rule
In the first chapter of the
Bible we read, "And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and
the lesser light to rule the night: He made the stars also" (Gen. 1:16). Again,
"And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day
from the night; and let them be for SIGNS, and for SEASONS, and for DAYS, and for
YEARS" (Gen. 1:14). It should be obvious to everyone with even an elementary
knowledge of astronomy that the heavenly bodies have a great deal to say about our YEARS,
our DAYS and our SEASONS. But what about the relationship of the celestial bodies to that
word SIGNS? How are they SIGNS? What is a SIGN? Perhaps the best way to answer our
question is by answering another question first. What precisely is the purpose of a
"sign"? Is it not to bear a message? To give information? To tell a story which
is of importance to the one who put up the sign? If so, then let us observe that this
verse is saying that God placed the sun, moon, and stars in the heavens to tell a story,
to declare a word of utmost importance. The heavens are the unfurling of God's revelation
to man, the heavens tell the story of things to come--they PROPHESY!
It is in the book of Job that
we first have reference to this Stellar Revelation. In chapter 38 God speaks to Job and
his false comforters. He says to them, "Canst thou bind the sweet influences of
Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth (the twelve signs
of the Zodiac) in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons? Knowest thou the
ordinances of the heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?" (Job
38:31-33). The MAZZAROTH--the signs of the Zodiac--are brought forth each night by the
skillful hand of God. These constellations were sprinkled by His hand across the sky as He
garnished the heavens and created the figures which we now know as the figures of the
Zodiac. He has written this with His own hand; He has created the stars; He has named and
numbered and arranged and ordered them. Remember--this is GOD speaking! And the almighty
Creator speaks of the "sweet influences" of Pleiades, the "bands" of
Orion, the "seasons" of Mazzaroth, the "ordinances" of the heavens,
and the "dominion" of these constellations in the earth! Each of these powers
and influences of the constellations over the earth is indicated by God Himself as FACT!
THE HEAVENS RULE
Throughout history, there
have been those anointed of God who have seen some connection between stars and angels-
the messengers of God. This connection can easily be made because both the stars (Deut.
4:19; II Kings 21:3; Isa. 34:4; Jer. 8:2; 33:22; Zeph. 1:5) and the ministering spirits (I
Kings 22:19-22; Lk. 2:13) are called "the host of heaven" in the Bible. There
are several beautiful passages which provide the indisputable link between the two, of
which I will cite only one. "Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord from the HEAVENS:
praise ye Him in the heights. Praise ye Him, all His ANGELS: praise ye Him, all His HOSTS.
Praise ye Him, SUN and MOON: praise ye Him, all ye STARS OF LIGHT. Praise Him, all ye
HEAVENS OF HEAVENS" (Ps. 148: 1-4).
A person who speaks only the
English language can take a book, written in French, and while he may not be able to read
it, except with much hesitation and mispronunciation, still he can struggle through it,
after a fashion. Occasionally he will come to a word which closely resembles the English,
with which he is familiar. But, because he knows nothing of the meaning of French words,
no matter how well he can read the text, it means nothing to him until he learns what each
individual French word means. Even so, Christians who read Bible prophecy, or study God's
Bible in the sky--the signs of the Zodiac, if they do not understand prophetical language,
are confronted with a similar problem. Prophecy is invariably written in spiritual and
prophetical terms, and unless one understands the meaning of each individual term, though
he may be able to read the text fluently, yet he has no understanding of what he reads.
So, before one can understand prophecy, he first must receive a revelation of the
prophetic language. Fortunately, the Word furnishes us with the KEYS to prophetical terms
by which we may, through consistent study. and the illumination of the blessed Spirit of
Truth, become proficient in the prophetic language.
in Matt. 24:29 we read,
"Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the
moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the
heavens shall be shaken." In this significant passage Jesus sets forth several
prophetical terms. Some of the prophetical terms are: SUN, MOON, STARS, HEAVEN. Let us
take a look at these!
The natural sun, is the
brightest luminary in the natural heavens. And to help us in correctly interpreting the
meaning of the prophetical sun, Gen. 1:16 informs us that God made "the greater light
to RULE the day, and the lesser light to RULE the night." Here we first have the idea
expressed of both the sun and the moon being RULERS. Then we find that God, the supreme
Ruler, is called in the Word a "Sun." "For the Lord thy God is a SUN and a
shield" (Ps. 84: 11). Also, our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of kings, is in Mal. 4:2
called "the Sun of Righteousness." He rules. Furthermore, we find, in reference
to men, that II Sam. 23:3-4 reads: "He that RULETH over men...shall be as the light
of the morning, when the SUN ariseth." And in II Sam. 21:17 we find David the king
called "the LIGHT of
Then we find in Dan. 4:26,
"the HEAVENS DO RULE." God's heaven is His throne. "Heaven I-S M-Y
T-H-R-O-N-E" (Isa. 66: 1). Heaven in the spiritual terminology of prophecy is the
seat where the SUN, the mighty God sits and RULES. And as God's heaven is His throne, so
the prophetical heavens include all the governmental realm THROUGH WHICH GOD RULES, and He
is LORD OF ALL. That the prophetic "heaven" is the governmental realm, including
the thrones of men through which God rules over men, is demonstrated quite clearly in Dan.
4:22, where Daniel tells Nebuchadnezzar, "thy greatness is grown, and REACHED UNTO
HEAVEN." He had just become the most exalted monarch of earth: the sun. And in Isa.
5:30, describing the casting down of earthly kings from their thrones, the prophet says,
"THE LIGHT IS DARKENED IN THE HEAVENS THEREOF." This statement is most
meaningful when compared with all the foregoing scriptures, and finally compared with the
statement in Mat. 24:29: "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the
SUN BE DARKENED, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from
heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken."
The sun in prophecy is the
most exalted ruler of any order, the moon second, while the stars are other governmental
authorities. The heavens are the thrones which these rulers occupy. The earth is that
which is ruled by the heavens- that which looks to the sun, the moon, and the stars for
its light and direction. There is an order of human government now, but all these are soon
to pass away, be darkened, fall from heaven, and a new order shall be inaugurated. In the
The truth of the
constellations of the heavens includes many wonderful examples of that which is taking
place in the realm of the Spirit. The stars of the heavens exist in a realm where God is
absolute Sovereign and Lord, where His life prevails. Therefore, in their highest meaning,
in their spiritual meaning, the stars are used to represent HEAVENLY, SPIRITUAL RULE AND
DOMINION. Can we now open the eyes of our understanding to behold the wondrous truth that
God's elect sons ARE THE CONSTELLATIONS OF THE SPIRITUAL HEAVENS, THE LUMINARIES AND
RULERS IN GOD'S SKY! As the glory of the Lord arises upon His chosen ones they pierce the
gloom of the dark night of sin and sorrow and bring deliverance, life and order out of the
chaos of man's failure and despair. In the light of Daniel's startling prophecy (Dan.
12:3) I am compelled to say to the elect of the Lord: Y-O-U ARE THE TRUE SIGNS OF THE
ZODIAC IN GOD'S SPIRITUAL HEAVENS!
In that long ago primordial
beginning the sun, moon and stars were given as SIGNS. A sign is something that points to
something else. The sign itself can be a reality. But as a SIGN, it is a reality that
points to A REALITY THAT IS BEYOND AND GREATER THAN ITSELF. If you see a sign in a
building that reads, "EXIT," you do not for a moment think that the sign itself
is the way out. You know that it is an indicator pointing you in the direction of a door
or opening nearby. The scriptures declare that our Lord Jesus Christ was just such a
reality, for it is written that He was a SIGN. "Therefore the Lord Himself shall give
you a SIGN. Behold, a virgin shall conceive .and bear a SON and ye shall call HIS name
IMMANUEL (God with us)" (Isa. 7: 14). It was not the virgin birth that was to be the
sign. It was THE SON THAT WAS BORN OF THE VIRGIN that was the sign. Therefore when the
infant Jesus was brought to Simeon and Anna in the temple, again it was prophesied that
the SON was a SIGN, for Simeon said, "Behold, this child is set for the fall and
rising again of many...and FOR A SIGN which shall be spoken against'' "Lk. 2:34).
Jesus was a SIGN! He was also
a "stumbling block". People stumbled over the sign because they could not
comprehend its meaning! They spoke against it because it was beyond their understanding.
They resisted it because they perceived it with carnal, rather than spiritual, eyes. But
Jesus was a Sign, a fact that He Himself told us when He said, "The things concerning
Me have an END" (Lk. 22:37). That word "end" is in the Greek TELOS, meaning
"consummation." In other words, Jesus was something to be FULFILLED. He was a
reality in and of Himself, but He was also a reality that pointed to a reality greater
than Himself. What reality was that? As the FIRSTBORN among MANY BRETHREN, He was the SIGN
that pointed to a many-membered Christ, a whole company of Saviours (Ob. 21), who shall be
HIM revealed in His many-splendored glory!
Here I would share a most
illuminating and instructive word from the pen of George Hawtin. "One of the greatest
truths ever kept hidden from the eyes of man is this: that JESUS CHRIST, THE ONLY BEGOTTEN
SON OF GOD, was from His birth to His resurrection the greatest SIGN that God has ever
given to the world. Everything about His life and His ministry, His birth, His death, His
resurrection was a clear distinct SIGN of things that are to come. We may have overlooked
the fact that no less an authority than Jesus Christ Himself made the clear definite
statement that 'as Jonah was a SIGN to the Ninevites, so also shall the SON OF MAN be to
this generation' (Lk. 11:29-30). This passage tells us that Jesus was a sign to this
generation in the same way that Jonah was to his generation. When I meditate upon the
experience of Jonah as he went into the whale' s belly and felt the bars of hell close
about him, then to come forth from that hell to experience the glory of a resurrection, it
seems small wonder that his preaching so mightily affected the Ninevites that in forty
days one hundred twenty thousand souls turned to the Lord. Jonah's experience was a sign
to the Ninevites of wonderful things to come when Christ would go into death and hell and
then lead forth in triumph an innumerable company of captives from the pit itself
(Eph.4:7-10). But we dare not stop here. The glorious victory of Christ in descending to
hell and leading forth a host of captives is in itself a sign of the day when the sons of
God will unlock the gates of hell, for the gates of hell shall not prevail against
them" --end quote.
May God grant unto all who
peruse this message eyes to see that this glorious first-born Son of God, begotten of the
Father by the Holy Ghost, was a SIGN SON. He was a sign of a great COMPANY OF SONS who
would also be born of the Spirit and nurtured unto the measure of the stature of the
fullness of the Christ through the centuries stretching between
Jesus was a sign and you and I, my beloved, are
given for signs. The sun, moon and stars were set in the diamond-studded heavens to be for
signs and to rule over the earth. Jesus was a sign, and He is the Sun of righteousness set
in the heavens of God's vast spiritual universe, and He is the Creator of the world, and
its Ruler. The bride of Christ is the moon in God's spiritual and governmental heavens,
for as the sun represents the positive, masculine, life-giving principle, so the moon
symbolizes the passive, feminine, receptive side. The elect sons of God are for signs and
they shall shine as the brightness of the firmament and as the STARS forever. "Do all
things without murmurings and disputings, that ye may become blameless and harmless, sons
of God , without blemish in the midst of a crooked and darkened generation, AMONG WHOM YE
SHINE AS LIGHTS IN THE WORLD" (Phil. 2:15). This word here translated
"lights" is the Greek word PHOSTER, and it means luminary, light container, or
simply star. The sons of God, then, are the stars of God to shine in this darkened world.
To what purpose is this
beautiful figure given? Let us recall that Moses said of the stars that they were for
SIGNS. Many a weary wanderer, lost in the blackness of a darkened night, has thanked God
when the storm was lifted, so that he might see the stars, and find his way back home to
safety and to peace. The stars are for signs, and that tells the whole tale of God's
expectation of us. Christ Jesus our Lord is a sign and He is a sun and Christ is King, He
rules, and not another. He has been given power over "ALL flesh" (Jn. 17: 2).
Before He ascended He stated, "ALL power is given unto Me in heaven and in
earth" (Mat.28:18). "All power" means "all power" and leaves no
room for Satan to have some power. And this unbounded power is not a mere recent
acquisition, for in Jn. 17:5 we read that before ascending Jesus petitioned the Father to
glorify Him with the glory which He had before the world was. So the glory and power which
He now possesses, He also possessed in Old Testament times, and even before time began.
And by the wisdom of God and the revelation of His Spirit, we have come to understand that
our spirits, too, were with God in the beginning of the creation. Long before we existed
in this form of dust, or of flesh and blood, we were with the Father. To those who can
receive it there is a blessed and divine answer in the New Testament to the question put
by the Almighty to Job in that long ago: "Where wast thou when I laid the foundations
of the earth...when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for
joy?" (Job 38:4,7). O that men might see that there was a day in which God
established in the heavens His great plan of creation and redemption. In that moment of
the early councils of the Elohim there erupted such an harmonious symphony of rejoicing
and praise and the morning stars formed a celestial choir which broke forth into a
rhapsody of song while all the sons of God filled the unlimited vastnesses of infinity
with their shouts of joy and expectation as they with wonder beheld the end of Father' s
glorious plan.
There is a chord far away in
the depths of my spirit today that still vibrates to that wondrous shout of joy. There is
no doubt whatsoever in my mind that in that long forgotten past we were there with Him in
spirit, and there is an inward sense of assurance that much of the truth we now possess
was known to our spirits since that early beginning. The call to sonship was placed within
our spirits at that time, for the scripture with divine certainty testifies that it was
those whom the Father FOREKNEW that He also predestinated to be conformed into the image
of His Son (Rom. 8: 29), 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 sons by Jesus Christ to Himself (Eph. 1:4-5). Paul
Mueller wrote some time ago that all that has taken place in our lives, from the cradle to
the grave, was at that time programmed into our spirits, and we are now walking out the
path that Father ordained for us in that pre-dawn hour. To which my spirit shouts a hearty
"Amen!"
Jesus Christ is Himself the
"bright and the morning star," but this assurance I have from the Spirit of
Truth within, that a vast company of MORNING S-T-A-R-S intoned that glorious celestial
song of creation and redemption on that primeval occasion ere the foundations of the earth
were laid. And just as Jesus Christ came into this world as a Sign-Son, so all the sons of
God are given for signs and wonders in
"Immediately after the
tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her
light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be
shaken: and then shall appear the S-I-G-N OF THE SON OF MAN IN HEAVEN: and then shall all
the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of
heaven with power and great glory" (Mat. 24:29-30). I have quoted this portion of our
Lord's teaching that we might be assured that by using the symbols of the sun, moon,
stars, and the powers of the heavens, Jesus reveals the total and complete collapse and
destruction of this present World-order. Then He shows that after all the lights of the
human governmental systems go out, when one would expect only darkness and anarchy, A VERY
IMPORTANT EVENT OCCURS. The SIGN of the Son of man will appear in THE HEAVEN.
"And THEN shall appear
the SIGN of the Son of man in heaven." In examining this statement we must first note
a grievous error that is made by most people who study it. The unthinking masses skip over
it lightly, misinterpreting it as "the COMING of the Son of man in heaven." That
is not what the text says at all. We need to pay particular attention to all the words.
they all mean something. The verse does not say that the Son of man will appear in heaven,
rather, "the sign" will appear: the SIGN of the Son of man. A sign is a far
different reality from that which it points to. You cannot ride in a road sign advertising
a certain make of automobile. The sign merely tells you where to find the man who sells
that car. So the SIGN of the Son of man is not the Son of man. But going to the Greek we
find the word for sign is SEMEION which means a miracle, sign, wonder or signal. And the
text also tells us where this wonder, or signal will appear. In the previous verse we saw
the sun, moon, and stars fall from heaven: from their thrones. And then we saw these
heavenly or exalted powers themselves pass away and go into oblivion. They are no more.
And the Word of God tells us that upon the burning of the Babylonian heavens, there will
arise a new system, a new governmental arrangement, a new heaven and new earth, wherein
dwelleth righteousness (II Pet. 3:12-13) And that is where we find this "sign"
or wonder or signal of the Son of man. It appears "IN HEAVEN." And heaven in
prophecy means thrones, the governmental realm, that which is established for rulership.
The sun, moon and stars of Mat. 24:29 "fall from heaven," from their place of
dominion, and in verse 30 we see the sign or signal of the Christ ascending the SAME
THRONES or taking away their place. The old order passes away. This is a new day. And
Christ is King. He reigns. And His will shall be done in earth as it is done in heaven!
Let us turn now to chapter 12
of Revelation, that most wonderful, symbolic unfoldment of God's plan for the time now
present and the days just ahead. The chapter opens with this cryptic statement: "And
there appeared a great WONDER IN HEAVEN." It is necessary to pause here and note that
the word "wonder" in this passage is the same Greek word SEMEION which, in Mat.
24:30 is translated "sign". In other words, "there appeared a great SIGN IN
HEAVEN." Now compare this with the statement of our Lord in Mat. 24:30: "And
then shall appear the SIGN of the Son of man IN HEAVEN." This comparison makes it
crystal clear that what Jesus spoke of, and that which John saw, are indeed ONE AND THE
SAME THING! So --what is the SIGN that John saw "in heaven"?
"And there appeared a
great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and
upon her head a crown of twelve stars: and she being with child cried, travailing in
birth, and pained to be delivered...and she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all
nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to His throne"
(Rev. 12:1-2,5). Some tell us that the woman in this chapter is Mary, or
This glorious sun-clad woman
is the same woman of whom Paul spoke in II Cor. 11:2, "For I am jealous over you with
a godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a
chaste virgin to Christ." Paul again speaks of this woman in Eph. 5:31-32, "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
T-H-E C-H-U-R-C-H." Nothing in all the pages of God's blessed Book can be plainer
than the fact that THE CHURCH IS THE BRIDE OF CHRIST. If it is not, we will have to tear
the above quoted verses from our Bibles and cast them into the fire. It is the end-time
Church, not the wanton harlot who calls herself the Church, but the true Church of the
living God in the end of this age which as a virgin people is clothed with the sun, even
the Sun of righteousness, the glory and splendor of the Lord Jesus Christ; she shall be
crowned, brought under the submission to the divine authority of God, for twelve is the
number of divine government, this government being symbolized by the stars of the twelve
Patriarchs of the Old Testament and the twelve apostles of the Lamb in the New Testament.
Since the primary figure in this instance is the woman, the moon, in this case, bears a
different connotation, representing that this spirit-filled and spirit-led woman has put
the cold, reflective light of ritual and ceremony under her feet, to walk in the
brilliance of the glory of the living Son of God. And it is from this virgin company, this
espoused bride, this sun-clad woman that the man-child, the manifested sons of God shall
be birthed. This CORPORATE SON is destined to rule all nations with a rod of iron, and
shall be caught up to God and to His throne. This should help us to understand the
fathomless depths of meaning in the words of Jesus, "And he that overcometh, and
keepeth My works unto the end, to HIM will I give POWER OVER THE NATIONS: and he shall
RULE THEM WITH A ROD OF IRON" (Rev. 2:26-27). This overcoming company, my beloved, is
the man-child who is caught up to God and to His throne, who rules all nations with a rod
of iron.
With the foregoing truths in
mind, let us see with divine clarity that the "sign" of the Son of man in
heaven, and the "wonder" John saw in heaven both portray the very same reality.
That "sign" is simply the coming forth in the earth of a company of fully
overcoming, victorious SONS OF GOD who are to take the reins of the government of this
world and RULE ALL NATIONS in the blessed age to come. When these sons of God begin to
come forth in the earth in the GOVERNMENTAL AUTHORITY of the Spirit of God, then shall the
SIGN of the Son of man be seen--for these sons ARE THE SIGN! Methinks that I have stood in
God's bright today, as John stood in vision in that long ago, and with my eyes have beheld
this SIGN OF THE SON OF MAN IN HEAVEN. In my brief span of years upon this fair planet I
have been privileged to be a firsthand witness to this woman heavy with child, and pained
to be delivered. Within the depths of my own soul have I experienced the piercing pain of
her travail for the dominion of the Christ Spirit to come forth into manifestation and
ascend the throne of my own being to rule in life and victory and authority over every
vestige of sin, carnality and death. I have beheld with my own eyes the wonder of the
incorruptible nature of God's pure and holy Son being formed in a people that has embraced
the Cross of Christ. I have the assurance of the Holy Spirit that in due time these shall
be raised to the incorruptible, heavenly sphere to reign in absolute righteousness,
perfection and incorruptibleness, free forever from sin, limitation, and the curse.
This present time is,
therefore, the most important of all the periods of earth. It is the time to which
patriarch and prophet looked forward with longing to see. We are truly a privileged
people, in that we have been favored to live to see this day. It is the great day of the
Lord, bringing in the Sabbath, the day of rest, when God's saints will have rest and
rejoicing, and deliverance from all the bondage of the past. And it is the day of defeat,
and darkness, and bondage, and humiliation for all our enemies (Amos 5:18-20). It is the
day when the first shall be last, and the last first: when those who have been despised
and reproached for the truth' s sake, out of all the ages, will be brought to honor and
glory, and all the proud and haughty who now reign will be abased and brought low.
Therefore, my beloved, if you
desire to see a "sign" of the coming of the Lord, look not to the depressing,
negative, corrupted conditions in the earth today. Wickedness, licentiousness, violence,
war, and ever-increasing sorrows are NOT signs of the Lord's appearing, as the ministers
of
This earth is but a proving
ground for those who shall reign with their Lord over the endless vastnesses of infinity.
They have proven faithful over few things. In due time they will be made ruler over many
things: over all His possessions (Mat. 24:45-47). And these possessions are beyond number.
We are able to see a few of them in the starry heavens above, but there are others besides
these, and they all belong to our King. And as He has given us His glory (Jn. 17:22),
because we are brethren, bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh. We are of common
parentage, brothers by birth: to be like Him in nature, name and being. We are all
"out of ONE: for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren" (Heb.
2:6). Hence, we belong on His throne. And the place which He has been preparing for each
one is not only a world, and a Kingdom of life and light, but a position, a place of
eminence at His side, ruling with Him from the throne of His heaven, over all the
endlessness of His unbounded dominions. AMEN!
A TABERNACLE FOR THE SUN
From the finger tips of our
almighty heavenly Father worlds glide forth in their orbits, and mighty stars as numerous
as the sands of the sea circle for incalculable ages in their courses with the sweet
precision of a diamond watch. The inspired Psalmist penned these words of beauty and
truth: "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His
handiwork. IN THEM HATH HE SET A TABERNACLE FOR THE SUN. Which is as a bridegroom coming
out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from
the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from
the heat thereof" (Ps. 19:1,4-6).
In the days when David wrote
these expressive words the word "tabernacle" carried an altogether different
connotation than it does in our modern usage. When we were in
In God's tabernacle or
habitation it was not a matter of protecting God from the influences of the external
elements, but a matter of a place to draw attention to the fact that He was there. It was
the place of His abode, His manifestation, His activity, that His people might behold Him
and know that He dwelt amongst them. He inhabited the tabernacle in order to presence
Himself with them, not in order to have a shelter for Himself. This concept of the
tabernacle as being a DISPLAY to EXHIBIT the glory of God is the thought of the Holy
Spirit in Psalm 19. The sun is not contained within the strong walls of some celestial
fortress--if it were it would be hidden. It is not concealed, it is put on display for all
creation to behold in all of its brilliance and majesty. "In them (the heavens) hath
He set a tabernacle for the sun."
There is no truth within the
pages of God' s blessed Book more certain than the fact that God is creating a new heavens
and a new earth, and the constellations of the new heavens are not made up of the physical
stars which comprise the signs of the Zodiac, but of living stars of God's sons formed and
fashioned into an order and image through which to influence creation and rule over all
things. Beyond question this is the allegory proclaimed by the Lord to the prophet Isaiah,
"And I have put My words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of Mine
hand, THAT I MAY PLANT THE HEAVENS, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto
Zion, THOU ART MY PEOPLE" (Isa. 51:16). In commenting on this instructive passage Ray
Prinzing wrote: "When God has thoroughly planted His people in the heavenlies, they
will be in a settled place, firmly secured by His grace, to DWELL IN HIM, established in
His love and grace, no more to be lost or wandering in the emptiness of selfhood. 'But
God...hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenlies in Christ
Jesus: that in the ages to come He might show (display) the exceeding riches of His grace
in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus' (Eph. 2:4-7).
"Andrew Jukes brings out
that this expanse above us is called 'heaven,' that is THE ARRANGER, so called, because
this heaven, in ways above our thoughts, is the great agent in arranging everything, and
that the word comes from the root 'to set or place.' And there is reference made to the
effects ascribed to attraction, gravitation, etc. along with the repulsion, electricity,
evaporation, and so on. While we are more acquainted with the effects, than understanding
the underlying forces or power which cause these effects. I might also point out how the
ancient Greeks derived their word THEOS for 'God,' from the word TO SET OR PLACE, for the
same reasons. HE is the DIVINE ARRANGER, PLACER. In His planting the heavens, God has
purposed to bring into ONENESS WITH HIMSELF a people that shall become 'arrangers,
placers,' that with Him they might establish His righteousness upon the earth. To be, as
Paul brings out so very clearly, 'laborers together with God' (I Cor. 3:9).
"Furthermore, as Paul
pointed out, we are made to 'SIT TOGETHER,' or, literally, TO SIT DOWN WITH HIM in the
heavenlies. There is a DIVINE PLACEMENT where we are FIXED in Him. Not running or
wandering all over the heavens, roaming about here and there, causing havoc by the
exercising of spiritual power where it ought not to be placed. We are not to be 'wandering
stars' blazing across the sky in some brilliant display attracting attention, but we are
to be placed in our fixed orbit, to be SEATED IN HIM--abiding in the calling wherewith we
are called, to fulfill that for which we have been apprehended. God has a place for every
one in His great purpose.
"'Thus saith the Lord,
He that created the heavens, and stretcheth them out' (Isa. 42:5). Note the word 'created'
from the Hebrew BARA with a threefold meaning: to form, fashion, prepare. It covers the
whole realm of processing from the initial forming, through the development, until it is
fully prepared, brought forth a newly made finished product. Begun, continued, climaxed.
And He does it all, as well as totally controlling the time element. That which we read of
the vast cosmic order about us, is also applicable for this new spiritual order which is
being prepared. 'The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth; BY UNDERSTANDING hath He
established (prepared) the heavens' (Prov. 3:19). Understanding, from the Hebrew TEBUNAH
meaning: skillfulness, discretion, wisdom, understanding. What tremendous wisdom and care,
what skill and glorious handiwork is revealed as He marks out, chooses, plans and prepares
His elect to be PLANTED IN THE HEAVENLIES. Furthermore, we read, 'I, even MY HANDS, have
stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded' (Isa. 45:12).
"'He shall call to the
heavens from above, and to the earth, that He may judge His people. Gather My saints
together unto Me; those that have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice. And the HEAVENS
SHALL DECLARE HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS: for God is judge Himself' (Ps. 50:4-6). Declare,--here we
have a different Hebrew word from that used in 'The heavens declare the glory of God,'
which is meant to recount, to tell with praise, or to celebrate. But now it is the Hebrew
word NAGAD meaning: to be in front, thus, TO MANIFEST, by bringing to light, to declare,
i.e. to solve, to explain an enigma. All the hidden secrets of His righteousness will be
revealed through those whom HE has planted in the heavens. What a union, what a oneness
with Him, that HE shares the mysteries of His righteousness with these processed ones, and
then places them in position to declare that righteousness. Not just by words, not just by
some form of preaching or teaching, but by their OWN TRUE STATE OF BEING. They,
themselves, shall be all righteous, and thus become a living declaration of His
righteousness. Words fail us to express the wonder of this glorious truth which begins to
gleam in our spirit with hope and joy" --end quote.
Again I would emphasize the
fact that the Psalmist establishes the position of the sun in the heavens. Of the heavens
He says, "IN THEM hath He set A TABERNACLE FOR THE SUN." In the Old Testament as
well as in the New, the glorious sun that lights our day is set as a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God. This fact is evidenced clearly by the prophet
Malachi, who writes: "But unto you that fear My name shall the Sun of Righteousness
arise with healing in His wings" (Mal. 4:2). The sixtieth chapter of Isaiah contains
some of the grandest poetry that was ever written in any tongue. The song of
The shining constellations
spreading across the enormous expanse of the heavens represent the Lord's dwelling place
in the Kingdom of His new creation people. God has
set a tabernacle for the Sun (Christ) in the heavens--in the midst of His star-sons. Other
passages confirm this truth, such as Isa. 40:22, which states that the Lord
"stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out AS A TENT TO DWELL
IN." In the constellation of Sagittarius we find the Sign of Ara, which is the altar
of the heavenly tabernacle. In fact, all of the symbolisms of
God has set a tabernacle or
tent in the heavens in the which the sun runs its course, a tabernacle speaking of a
particular order and the sun's course denoting certain prescribed limits. Furthermore, the
Lord states that its geometrical form is a CIRCUIT or circle, and this is further
clarified in likening the sun to a strong man running a race which historically was
normally done on a race track in the shape of a circle. "His going forth is from the
end of the heaven, and his CIRCUIT unto the ends of it" (Ps. 19:6). It is now
concluded by leading astronomers that the sun, with the entire solar system, actually DOES
move through space--it races, in fact, through the heavens at the tremendous speed of
600,000 miles per hour- and not in a straight path, but in such a gigantic circuit, or
circle, that it requires over two million centuries to complete it. The sun's circuit IS
from one end of the heavens to the other! What a wonderful book is the Bible! Long before
astronomers discovered these things they were revealed to God's holy prophets by the
Spirit.
God has set a circular
tabernacle or circuit for the sun, indicating a certain work is to be accomplished within
those prescribed limits. This is but a faint shadow of the reality established in the
spiritual heavens, typified also in the Tabernacle in the wilderness. For example, the
Tabernacle in the wilderness was of a certain size and shape for a specific work, carried
forth by the priestly ministry appointed to it. As the High Priest made his ceremonial
"rounds" in the tabernacle, moving in priestly function from the Outer Court to
the Holy Place and finally into the Holiest of all and out again, so the sun in its
heavenly tabernacle makes its circuit from one end of heaven to the other, all the while
fulfilling day by day its illuminating and life-giving service.
Around the tabernacle were
twelve tribes, each had a standard or ensign. If you walked around the tabernacle, passing
through each of the twelve tribes, you would pass through twelve standards or ensigns.
This parallels the twelve signs of the Zodiac, for the twelve ensigns of the twelve tribes
of
By observing the course of
the sun through the signs of the Zodiac, we can understand our current, daily walk, with
the outworking of God's processing's in us and in creation. There are various
"houses" in God's great house into which and through which the Sun moves on its
circuit. Is it not true that there are many mansions, many levels of spiritual life and
attainment in God's great Kingdom? Have we not identified with various of these spiritual
realms in our forward walk in God? Some of us have camped for a season in the
"salvation" house, then in the "deliverance" house, the
"grace" house, the "faith" house, the "Holy Spirit" house,
the "gifts" house, the "New Testament Church Order" house, the
"death to self" house, the "sonship" house, the
"reconciliation" house, etc. The Sun (Son) ascended and moved forward in its
circuit through each of these houses! We experienced the glory of His arising there, the
symbolism of the sign was fulfilled within us spiritually, and there followed a true and
glorious ministration of His life from each of these realms to creation--and there still
is! He is running His race as a strong man, starting from the distant skies and racing
through all the expanse of the heavens, just as we are experiencing Him in this world.
Thank God for the tabernacle for the Sun, praise Him for each and every "house"
of this tabernacle, how we rejoice in His progressive circuit through the heavens of OUR
EXPERIENCE!
The reality that lies behind
what is commonly known today as horoscopes and behind the common signs of the Zodiac is an
original revelation designed by God -- a revelation not of pagan mythology or
superstitious powers, but of the wonderful truths of God's grand and glorious plan of the
ages through His anointed Christ, written in the very stars of heaven--this fact being
attested to by the faithful testimony of the scriptures "which are able to make thee
wise unto salvation" (II Tim. 3: 15)
In these twelve celestial
signs we have enshrined for us like jewels in a velvet case the twelve great heavenly laws
or principles which we are to pass through and master while we walk our foreordained path
on this planet. Each one of the twelve signs embodies a
Chapter
4
A
Tabernacle for the Sun
The natural sun is the
brightest luminary in the natural heavens. And to help us in correctly interpreting the
meaning of the prophetical sun, Gen. 1:16 informs us that God made "the greater light
to RULE the day, and the lesser light to RULE the night: He made the stars also."
Here we first have the idea expressed of both the sun and the moon being RULERS. Then we
find that God, the supreme Ruler, is called in the Word a "Sun." "For the
Lord thy God is a SUN and a shield" (Ps. 84:11). Also, our Lord Jesus Christ, the
King of kings, is in Mal. 4:2 called "the SUN of righteousness." He rules.
Furthermore we find, in reference to men, that II Sam. 23:3-4 reads, "He that RULETH
over men...shall be as the light of the morning, when the SUN riseth." And in II Sam.
21:17 we find David the king called "the LIGHT of
Earthly tongues and natural
images can but dimly describe things that belong to heavenly realms, but this great truth
of the stars being RULERS is also set forth in Job 38:31-33. "Canst thou bind the
sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? Canst thou bring forth
Mazzaroth (the twelve signs of the Zodiac) in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus
with his sons? Knowest thou the ordinances of the heaven? canst thou set the dominion
thereof in the earth?" Here the almighty Creator speaks of the "sweet
influences" of Pleiades, the "bands" of Orion, the "seasons" of
Mazzaroth, the "ordinances" of the heavens, and the "dominion" of
these constellations in the earth! Each of these powers and influences of the
constellations over the earth is indicated by God Himself as FACT! The truth of the
constellations of the heavens includes many wonderful examples of that which is taking
place in the realm of the Spirit. The stars of the heavens exist in a realm where God is
absolute Sovereign and Lord, where His life prevails. Therefore, in their highest meaning,
in their spiritual meaning, the stars are used to represent HEAVENLY, SPIRITUAL RULE AND
DOMINION. Can we now open the eyes of our understanding to behold the wondrous truth that
God's elect sons ARE THE CONSTELLATIONS OF THE SPIRITUAL HEAVENS, THE LUMINARIES AND
RULERS IN GOD'S SKY, of which the signs of the Zodiac, sprinkled by the hand of God across
the night sky, are but the dim type.
There is no truth within the
pages of God' s blessed Book more certain than the fact that God is creating a new heavens
and a new earth, and the constellations of the new heavens are not made up of the physical
stars which comprise the signs of the Zodiac, but of living stars of God's sons formed and
fashioned into an order and image through which to influence creation and rule all things.
Beyond question this is the allegory proclaimed by the Lord to the prophet Isaiah,
"And I have put My words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of Mine
hand, THAT I MAY PLANT THE HEAVENS, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto
Zion, THOU ART MY PEOPLE" (Isa. 51: 16). The sons of God are the promised STAR-SEED
of the Kingdom. "Do all things without murmuring and disputing," says the
apostle, "that ye may become blameless and harmless, SONS OF GOD, without blemish in
the midst of a crooked and darkened generation, AMONG WHOM YE SHINE AS LIGHTS IN THE
WORLD" (Phil. 2: 15). The word here translated "lights" is the Greek word
PHOSTER, meaning luminary, light container, or simply star. The sons of God, then, are the
STARS of God to shine in this darkened world. In the same wonderful way that the heavenly
constellations of the signs of the Zodiac rule by cosmic energy the men of earth, so do
the heavenly, spiritual sun, moon and stars rule over the earth realm by the spiritual
authority and power of the
The inspired Psalmist penned
these words of beauty and truth: "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the
firmament showeth His handiwork. IN THEM HATH HE SET A TABERNACLE FOR THE SUN. Which is as
a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His
going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there
is nothing hid from the heat thereof" (Ps. 19:1,4-6). The shining constellations
spreading across the enormous expanse of the heavens represent the Lord's dwelling place
in the Kingdom of His new creation people. God has set a tabernacle for the Sun (Christ,
Spirit) in the heavens- in the midst of His star-sons. The position of the sons of God
among the stars is revealed in the fact that they are declared to be citizens of heaven,
or as Moffat so beautifully translates, "We are a colony of heaven" (Phil.
3:20); their home center or citizenship has been moved there from the earth. Their names
would, therefore, appear only among the celestial beings, in any true census of the
universe. These are the same morning stars which sang and the sons of God who shouted for
.joy in that long ago when the foundations of the earth were laid (Job 38:4-7).
All the signs of the Zodiac
are placed in a massive circle in the hemisphere. The path of the sun passes through one
of these signs (houses) each month. This shows forth His glorious plan of redemption as
the SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS WITH HEALING IN HlS WINGS passes through the heavens. The sun is
but a type of the true Son of God. He, as THE HEAD of this GLORIOUS SONSHIP COMPANY, is
coming out of His chamber in the bosom of the Father to run a race on the great race-track
of the heavens. He passes through every sign (house), seeking His elect from the four
winds of heaven, heralding the rise of their influence and rule in the heavenly Kingdom of
God. I hear a Voice, my brother, my sister, bidding me to distinguish between the
"dwellers on earth" and the "dwellers in heaven." "Therefore
rejoice, YE HEAVENS, and YE THAT DWELL IN THEM. Woe to the INHABITERS OF THE EARTH... for
the devil is come down unto you..." (Rev. 12:12). In the thirteenth chapter of
Revelation we are told that the "dwellers in heaven" are the TABERNACLE OF GOD,
which is the tabernacle for the Sun. The tabernacle of God is that blessed company of the
overcomers- the sons of God. Ah, YOU, precious saints of God, ARE THE PEOPLE THE SUN (SON)
OF GOD PASSES THROUGH UNTIL HIS DAY IS ACCOMPLISHED AND HIS PURPOSES FULFILLED IN ALL
CREATION.
Twinkle, twinkle little star,
How I wonder what you are;
Far above the earth so high,
Like a diamond in the sky...
Ah- you are a son of God,
Once to walk on earthen sod;
Now transformed by His great hand
To reign forever o'er the land.
THE DWELLERS IN THE HEAVENS
The revelation of Mazzaroth
(Job 38:31-33) is the revelation of the power and glory of the heavens--God's spiritual
Zodiac, His sons and daughters of LIGHT, REVELATION AND POWER. Heaven does not have a
present significance in the mind and spirit and understanding of vast numbers of God's
people. Somehow the churches relegate heaven as an aftermath, something beyond this life,
the category that awaits us after death. And that is to the great detriment of the church.
The church is, by definition, a heavenly institution on earth and in time--NOW. Those who
dwell in heaven (spirit) are required to bring the dimension of heaven into their present
experience and expression. So if we save the word heaven for the future we are striking a
death-blow at the very nature and character of the
Everything in the world
militates against this kind of consciousness in the world. Everything in modern
civilization, everything in the scientific, educational, medical, industrial and social
institutions of the world is calculated against heaven, against eternity, against SPIRIT.
They want to delude the masses of mankind to believe that this is it--this temporal,
spatial, physical and visible world is the sum and substance of REALITY. That is the
wisdom of the world, the wisdom of this age that undergirds and permeates the entire
kingdom of corruption and death. The world operates on the supposition and premise that
everything of value is now, in time, material, the things that are seen, tangible, felt
and held, and that when this life passes it is over. Therefore, eat, drink and be merry;
therefore fornicate; therefore aggrandize; therefore grasp; therefore get all you can get
and enjoy all you can enjoy, for this is all there is. And that is a LIE! The world is
living in a lie. And the church world is living in another (and just as serious) LIE. The
churches tell us that heaven is a future hope--beyond the grave. They understand not that
heaven and spirit are synonymous--you cannot have SPIRIT without having HEAVEN. And the
What is wanting is a people
that are in consciousness so in the heavenly dimension now, presently, are so alive to the
things that are eternal, the things that are SPIRIT, that even without them speaking this
explicitly, their very presence exudes the atmosphere of life and the fragrance of
eternity. God is after a people, a heavenly and celestial race, set in time. "...and
hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
that in the ages to come He might show..." (Eph. 2:6-7). This is meaningless prattle
unless the Spirit opens our understanding. We have been warned by the carnal minded of
this age about the danger of being so "heavenly minded" until we are "no
earthly good." That is what the world says, and what should you expect from the world
but to controvert and to take the wisdom of God and so distort and pervert it until it
appears ridiculous and absurd to have mankind believe exactly the reverse! But these words
are being written to show that we have no choice, no option as to whether we will be
heavenly minded or not; for the truth is, IF WE ARE NOT HEAVENLY MINDED IT IS
I-M-P-O-S-S-I-B-L-E TO BE OF ANY EARTHLY GOOD! It is only as a power from above reaches
down and touches earth that it can be raised and quickened, transformed from the image of
the earthly into the image of the heavenly. And Paul, the apostle of apostles, through
whom the sacred secrets of God were revealed by the grace of God, defying the empty and
inane cavilings of men and their fruitless doctrines and meaningless traditions,
admonished those who would be the sons and daughters of God in the midst of a crooked and
perverse generation, "Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the HEAVENLY CALLING...
if ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are ABOVE, where Christ sitteth
on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things ABOVE,
It is when we are quickened
to the realm of SPIRIT, to the heavenly and celestial, to that bright glory world where
alone can be perceived eternal truth and reality, that we hear our heavenly Father
speaking from the throne of eternity, long before the ages were formed and before cosmos
appeared out of the wastes of chaos, there in the glory and wonder of His presence, from
out of the depths of His omniscient mind, His purpose for the ages, the dispensations, the
worlds, and for eternity itself was laid down upon the infinite blue-print, plan by plan,
purpose by purpose, age by age, so that each eonian purpose and every divine decree shall
be guided and controlled by His omnipotent hand to grow and mature from glory to glory
until His vast family of beloved sons shall deliver up to Him all things in perfection
that God Himself might be all in all. The very idea that one could in some way become so
"heavenly minded" that he would be "no earthly good" reveals the
incredible darkness and deluded stupidity of the carnal mind and its pitiful inability to
comprehend things that belong to heavenly realms. Oh that the wisdom of man which is
foolishness with God might be torn from our hearts that we might see beyond the mists and
theories of time and tradition right into the very heart of the eternal where is found the
infinite wisdom that teaches us how it is that until one becomes truly HEAVENLY MINDED he
CANNOT be of any EARTHLY GOOD! The fact is, the only reality in the universe is
S-P-I-R-I-T. The things which are seen are TEMPORAL, says the Lord, and the things which
are not seen are ETERNAL. This is the wisdom of God in a mystery. Until one learns how to
live and have his being OUT OF SPIRIT, out of the invisible realm, out of his very
innermost being, he will continue to be held captive by the corruption of the flesh and
dwell in the shadow of death.
"Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS IN
HEAVENLY PLACES in Christ," the inspired apostle wrote. In the Old Testament the
blessings of the people of God were temporal and physical in nature. They were seen in
financial prosperity, the multiplication of the herds and the sheep and the goats, in many
children, in servants and in wealth. That was because they were a people of another age
and God had to make His blessings visible to their eyes so that their faith could
comprehend and grasp it. In the New Testament we move to a higher plane and see that our
blessings that God bestows upon us are primarily spiritual blessings in heavenly places.
We might have physical blessings in this world, and God does pour them out upon us in the
overflow--He does help with many physical needs of finances, healing, and answers to
prayer, but all these things have a problem. They are like that gourd on the vine under
which Jonah sat in
He who writes these lines
testifies to those who read them that all who live after the flesh, out of the flesh, and
for the flesh are earth dwellers, and woe! unto them that dwell upon the earth, for the
world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that does the will of God abideth
forever. All who by faith live after the spirit, out of the spirit, and for the spirit
have now become PART OF THE ETERNAL. Neither can they die anymore. Death's cruel sting,
filled with its venom of sin, has passed away, and victory has been snatched from the
yawning jaws of the tomb. We have passed from the realm where all is death to the realm
where all is life. Our citizenship in this present age has been revoked and we have had a
new citizenship conferred upon us from the eternal and undying realm. And just as the
stars influence and control the destinies of earth, so does the power of the SPIRIT
quicken and metamorphose all natural things and even our mortal bodies as we live out of
the high and eternal realm of the Spirit. We are not citizens of earth, we are the true
SPACE PEOPLE. Neither are we to be governed by the laws of earth. We are to be governed by
the laws of heaven, for we are citizens of that realm. In the realm of heaven there is
life more abundant, incorruption and immortality. There is fullness of joy, peace, love
and righteousness. There is no lack of anything, for all is out of God (spirit) and GOD IS
ALL IN ALL. Even the natural world is blessed and made fruitful and quickened and raised
when it comes under the rule of the heavens. Jesus was showing us this principle when He
fed the five thousand from five loaves and two small fish, when He turned the water into
wine, when He sent Peter to catch a fish in whose mouth was clenched the money to pay
their taxes, and when He healed the sick and raised the dead to life again. Jesus lived
out of spirit, He knew God the Spirit as the source and substance of all things, He knew
the power and reality of the Father who dwelt within Him, and all supply came out of the
realm of spirit rather than from the limited and perishable capacity of the flesh.
When the day of Pentecost was
fully come, and the Spirit was shed forth, Peter stood up with the eleven. Consider the
scene that day! There was Peter, a fisherman, a little man, an uncouth and apparently
inconsequential man. But on that day of the outpouring of the Spirit, when he rose to
testify and proclaim that Jesus was resurrected and ascended to the heavens, this little
man was in a position higher far than the most exalted rank of earth. The greatest and
highest on this earth could not compare with Peter and those standing with him. Why were
they so high? How could such as them be so exalted? It was because at the very moment
their spirits were quickened by HIS SPIRIT they were in the ascended Christ. They were not
men on this earth; they were men in the heavens. By the power of the Spirit these
disciples were resurrected people, new creation people, people in the heavens. They
transcended everything on this earth. The high priest, the rulers, the kings and the
emperor were all under their feet. They surpassed the highest rank of man because they
were seated in the heavens in God's Christ. They were living in Him, walking in Him,
talking in Him, manifesting out of Him. They were living on this high plane and in this
exalted realm of the Spirit.
Living, experiencing, and
expressing out of the heavenlies is not a matter of geo-graphics, not a question of
physical location at all. It is a matter of experience and consciousness. Our citizenship
IS in heaven. We do not move in and out of heavenly realms at our whim. But according to
the positive declaration of the scripture, we exist constantly in the heavenlies. This is
a state of constant spiritual existence, but because our outer man is still in this flesh
realm, we are not always AWARE or CONSCIOUS of the greater privileges of our heavenly
existence. We must continually heed the admonition of scripture: "Be not conformed to
this world: but be ye transformed by the RENEWING OF YOUR MIND" (Rom. 12:2).
Transformed by the renewing of the mind! Almighty Father! what words are these which
instruct us to be transformed by the way we THINK and PERCEIVE! I am sure that as the Holy
Spirit illumines these significant words to your understanding you will find them among
the most revealing and deeply meaningful and most powerful and life changing of all
inspirations. In the beautiful words of the chorus, the Lord bids us...
Come into this
place--Ascension,
Where no death can enter in.
My own life through resurrection,
Qualifies this Corporate
I AM ready now to speak as
I am righteous evermore--
New Ascension brings authority,
And I've opened up your door.
by Charlotte Torango
REIGNING FROM THE HEAVENS
The heavens are the realms of
spirit where the Lord now rules with absolute authority and dominion. How do we know this
to be true? Because of the words of Jesus, when He taught us to pray, "Our
Father...Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, AS IT IS IN HEAVEN." These
words lead us to the certainty that GOD'S WILL IS DONE IN THE HEAVENS; and, if you can
discover a realm or a person anywhere where God's will is perfectly done, such is a
heavenly place and a heavenly person. The will of the Father is being done in heaven, in
the realm of spirit, and it is our expressed desire that His will shall also be done in
earth, the realm of the physical, AS IT IS IN HEAVEN. There is no sin in heaven, for the
will of God is done in heaven, and where the will of God is done there is no sin. There is
no foul, loathsome disease in heaven eating away at the vitals, weakening, crippling and
destroying the life, for the will of God is done in heaven, and where the will of God is
done there is no sickness. There is no sorrow nor pain in heaven, for the will of God is
done in heaven, and where the will of God is done there is no grief. There is no death in
heaven, no crepe on the door-knob, no winding funeral processions, no weeping and wailing
of heartbroken, disconsolate mothers, fathers, and children, no silent, waxen forms
lowered into the cold stillness of earth, for the will of God is done in heaven, and where
the will of God is done there is no death. My Father and my God! Guide me to that place
where Thy will shall be done in me upon this earth, as Thy will is done in heaven! The
heavens declare the GLORY of God, for the heavens are His eternal domain. His throne
occupies the heavens, and the earth is His footstool (Acts 7:49). Our Lord Jesus Christ
rules all the heavens having ascended "far above all heavens, that He might fill all
things" (Eph. 4:10). Throughout the vast and boundless expanse of the heavens, the
will of God is expressed and fulfilled. How our hearts cry, "Thy will be done in
earth, as it is in heaven!"
God rules and God speaks from
heaven. If you will but listen, you can hear God speaking from heaven, even the Kingdom of
Heaven that is within you. There is a secret to hearing His voice. It will not be heard
above the excited babble of the multitude. He will not boom and thunder to drown out other
voices that clamor to be heard. He waits until all other voices are hushed and you have
put away from your heart and mind all your own striving, and the uproar of the throng that
shouts for your attention has completely died away.
You must become insensible to
the demands of all other voices and hear only the Voice of the Holy Spirit speaking out of
your spirit. "Be still and know that I am God." When your soul is agitated to a
turmoil and your flesh demands with insatiable desire that its claims be met, and the
outer world evokes utter confusion and despair with its myriad exasperating problems, it
is time for silence, repentance, and listening to the voice of Christ.
God is always speaking. In
the February, 1990 issue of THE LIVING WORD Paul Mueller wrote the following words which
carry this truth home powerfully to the heart. "The heavens declare the glory of God
because God speaks from that realm and sends
forth His word which is heard through all the earth, and to the ends of the world. Within
the last few months, God spoke words of freedom, liberty and deliverance from His heavenly
sanctuary. Those words of liberty and freedom were sent into the hearts of millions of
East Europeans, causing them to send up a shout and demand for freedom that is bringing
down the whole communistic system. And what did God do
to bring an end to the oppressive governments of Soviet domination? He simply sent a word
out of His heavenly sanctuary, and the work was done. The Lord accomplished this
unbelievable task without the help of man and with the simplicity of the power of His
Spirit. When God speaks from His heavenly sanctuary, that message goes out to find lodging
in the hearts of those to whom the message was directed. Thus, when the Psalmist described
this heavenly, spiritual activity, he said, 'Day unto day pours forth speech, and night
unto night declares knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not
heard; yet their voice goes forth through all the earth, and their words to the ends of
the world (Ps. 19:2-4, Smith Goodspeed). The Lord' s message of liberty and freedom shall
accomplish the will of God, according to His omnipotent purpose. There is no speech, nor
words, nor voice of man, yet His message is received to the ends of the world. The Lord
thus bypasses all human instruments to fulfill His word. Just as His word cannot fail, so
the heavens cannot fail to send forth that word with all the life and energy of the realm
of the Spirit.
"God's word, sent forth
from His heavenly sanctuary, cannot fail to accomplish His purpose. If He wants to
eliminate the whole communistic society, He will do so by simply sending a word of liberty
into the hearts of the multitudes, just as He has done. Mighty armies of hundreds of
thousands could not have accomplished what the Lord has done in a few months, though they
might have fought for many years in constant struggle and intense warfare. The blood of
multiplied thousands of men has been spilled over the world in two bitter world wars for
far less than this. Instead of bringing a deliverance, those wars resulted in greater
oppression and bondage. The very fact that the communistic empire is falling should cause
every child of God to renew their faith and trust in God, and to believe for the
fulfillment of the remainder of all His holy word of truth.
"These are truly
exciting days. This is a day like no other in the history of the world. God has taken to
Himself His great power and is reigning in all the universe. This is the day of the Lord.
It is the very day of which the prophet prophesied, when he said, 'For the day of
vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of My redeemed is come' (Isa. 63:4). It is the
day of the Lord's vengeance upon all disobedience and unrighteousness, and it is also the
time designated as 'the year of My redeemed.' Just as the Lord spoke a word of liberty and
freedom from His heavenly sanctuary, and sent that word to the oppressed peoples of
"I hereby charge all who
read these lines to remember what our omnipotent Lord has already done in
"We will learn a great
truth when we learn, with full understanding, that the Lord accomplishes His purposes by
speaking a word from His heavenly temple. He spoke from heaven, 'and called the earth from
the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.'
The Lord shall shine out of
In 1983 the Lord spoke to me
in a dream. In the dream I was standing on a wide boulevard at a busy intersection in a
large city in the
Immediately the scene
changed. I was in the same city, but found myself in a store-front building. There was
nothing in the large room where I stood except a number of folding chairs. I was aware
that this building was used by certain believers who met for prayer, counsel, preparation
and planning; for from this place teams of ministry were sent forth through out the length
and breadth of the Soviet Union. Suddenly I was transferred to a small room at the back of
the building. The room was furnished with only a single cot with a small table at its
head, upon which lay a book with a dark purple cover, and embossed across the front in
gold letters was this title: THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. The next scene was back in the
larger room where several people had congregated. I knew that a meeting was soon to begin,
with prayer and a strategy session for sending out the ministry teams. In connection with
this activity I was shown a massive intervention of God 's power accompanied by a dramatic
move of the Holy Spirit across the.
Upon awaking the
interpretation of the dream flooded my spirit. It was clear that a new condition of
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY was to come to the people of the
in 1984, first at a
Convention in Daytona Beach, Florida, I commenced to proclaim the word the Lord had given
me; following that in meetings in El Paso, Texas and in other parts of the! country.
Beginning in March, 1985 with the ascendancy of Gorbachev to power, reports began to come,
and continue to come, to us of actual changes taking place in the Soviet Union involving
increased religious freedoms, release of most religious prisoners, public harassment
relaxed, thousands of new churches opening, the Lord has opened doors---tremendous avenues
for the Gospel. Teaching services in Soviet churches are now diverted to evangelistic
messages in deference to the masses of unbelievers (most first-time attendees) flooding
the meetings. Invited by friends or attracted by a printed invitation, many Soviet people
come to churches seeking an answer to their great spiritual hunger. Evangelical churches
in the
Late in 1989 as I watched the
NBC Evening News, suddenly- THERE IT WAS! The reporter was giving a report from
The sons of God are soon to
arise on the world scene. It will be MORE than revival this time, my beloved, IT WILL BE
THE KINGDOM OF GOD WITH POWER! There is yet another move of the Spirit and work of God
that transcends by far anything that has ever been seen or known. We are nearing the hour
of the manifestation of the sons of God. The long, long awaited liberation from the
bondage of sin, sorrow and decay is near at hand. The greater works which Jesus, our eider
brother, told us of are soon to begin on the earth. The hour is at hand when the
GOVERNMENT SHALL BE UPON HIS SHOULDER and the enduring Kingdom of God which shall never be
destroyed shall consume and destroy forever all other kingdoms. The sons shall reign in
the power and authority of the Spirit over all dominions from pole to pole and from sea to
sea, and all nations shall know and serve the Lord. There shall be peace on earth and
goodwill to men, with justice and judgment and equity and LIFE ABUNDANT FOR ALL.
Even now God's apprehended
ones, His heavenly and spiritual constellations of star-sons, are reigning from the
heavens of the Spirit. Through prayer and the spoken word the satanic influence over men
and nations has been broken and the heavens opened and the Spirit poured out from on high.
How we cry out to be participators in the outflow of HIS LIFE! The celestial influence of
God' s star-sons over affairs on earth is graphically illustrated in an experience shared
some years ago by Ralph Mahoney. He related that "a missionary friend of mine was
carrying on a ministry of literature evangelism in a little town situated on the border of
"My missionary friend
was on the Uruguayan side of the main street offering attractive gospel leaflets to the
Saturday morning shoppers. As usual, they would refuse or, if accepting the literature,
might discard it a few steps down the street. Mid-morning he crossed over to the Brazilian
side of the main street and began offering the same literature to the shoppers there. To
his amazement, the people eagerly accepted the gospel leaflets and would often pause to
start reading them before moving on down the boardwalk. Thinking that perhaps his mind was
"playing tricks" on him, he passed back to the Uruguayan side of the street. The
people still showed little or no interest. With a non-committal attitude they might accept
the literature to discard it a short time later.
"He thought, 'I am going
to test this.' He offered literature to a woman who refused the tract. Immediately after,
she crossed to the Brazilian side of the street and began walking slowly past the windows
of the stores casually observing the items for sale. The missionary, noticing this, walked
a half block ahead in the direction she was moving and to his amazement, when he offered
the same gospel leaflet, the woman eagerly took it and thanked him with several
enthusiastic 'Gracias! Gracias!' This process was repeated several times with the same
results each time it was tested. As the missionary pondered and prayed about this
phenomenon, the Lord brought back to his mind an incident that had taken place in
Through faith and prayer and
prophetic decree the STRONG MAN'S influence over
Can you comprehend, dear
reader of these lines, what effect you can have upon creation by REIGNINC FROM THE
HEAVENLIES? There is no need to board a great airliner and fly to far-away nations with
strange-sounding names and quaint customs in order to bless the world. I have never set
foot on the soil of the Soviet Union, yet I do not doubt for one instant that the
declarations of God's word through my mouth aided in some mysterious and divine way the
amazing events that are unfolding in that land. The apostle Paul instructed the young
Timothy, "I exhort therefore, that, first of all, SUPPLICATIONS, PRAYERS,
INTERCESSIONS, AND GIVING OF THANKS be made for A-L-L M-E-N... for this is good and
acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; who WILL HAVE ALL MEN TO BE SAVED, and to come
unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and
men, the Man Christ Jesus; who gave Himself a RANSOM FOR A-L-L, to be testified (proven,
demonstrated, fulfilled) IN DUE TIME" (I Tim. 2:1-6).
You will note that the
command to pray for all men is rooted in the fact that God W-I-L-L HAVE A-L-L MEN TO BE
SAVED. The prayers of the saints! Prayer, precious friend of mine, is not a useless
exercise, it is part of God's cosmic purpose. I don't pretend to understand it, but when
Jesus was going away He said, "Hitherto have ye asked nothing in My name, from now on
you will ask the Father in My name, and whatever you ask the Father I will do it."
Ah, we have missed the importance of prayer in the redemptive and reconstructive and
restorational purposes of God! Our prayers ARE important! Don't ask me to explain the
mystery of the apparatus, but they are important. You'll find yourself praying, you'll
find yourself desiring to pray, and that's the Holy Spirit urging you to do what is
necessary to enable things to happen the way they are supposed to happen. There is a
relationship between the decrees of God and the response of God's people! God created all
things by a Word. God SAID, "Let there be...and it was so." That's a CREATIVE
WORD! Prayer is a participation in the creative Word of God, speaking the new creation
into existence. It's a mystery I don't fully understand, but there are times when I have
to pray, there are times when the altar of my soul is full of clouds of holy incense as I
send up to God petitions, as I decree a Word, not for myself, but for others, and when I
can't articulate them in English I send them up in an unknown tongue. And there is that
deep inner consciousness that somehow I am participating in a great tableau and drama of
history.
What power pertains to those
who are seated with Christ in the spiritual constellations of the heavens! And you, dear
saint of God, are seated with Christ in the highest of the heavens! And you are not seated
there to sing and shout and dance all over God' s heaven. You have been placed there in
the heavenly constellations to RULE, to REIGN OVER THE EARTH. "...Thou hast redeemed
us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast
made us unto our God KINGS AND PRIESTS: and we shall REIGN ON THE EARTH" (Rev.
5:9-10).
Simply speaking, to reign is
to exercise authority for God- to rule all things. God's one intention from the beginning
has been that He may make man in His image and likeness and GIVE HIM DOMINION- that he may
reign for Him in the universe. Although this matter of reigning will not be completely
realized until the manifestation of the sons of God, yet today God wants it to have a
beginning on earth. If any believer has not yet reached the degree of reigning for God, he
has missed God' s purpose in creating man. There must be such people prepared by God that
through them the authority of God can be executed and the
The Lord says, Behold, I have
given you AUTHORITY to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the POWER of the
enemy: and nothing shall in any wise hurt you" (Lk. 10:19). True, the King James
Version states that Christ has given us "power" to tread on serpents and
scorpions, but the Greek word is "exousia" meaning AUTHORITY or JURISDICTION.
When Jesus speaks of the "power" of the enemy, however, He uses a different
word, "dunamis," meaning POWER. Our English words dynamite and dynamo come from
that Greek word. Praise God , all that the adversaries of this present age have is POWER-
but what the Lord gives us is AUTHORITY. This shows that authority is over power and can
control power; therefore authority is greater than power. The Lord gives us authority in
order to deal with all the power of the enemy. We may illustrate this by an automobile
moving along the road. Although it is full of power, yet a traffic policeman has authority
over it. When he blows his whistle the mighty engine must slow to a whisper and the car
must stop. Again, it is like an army. Although it has great power with its men, guns,
tanks, airplanes, and bombs, yet the General has the authority. When he gives an order,
the army must obey. He has authority over the power. Authority is over power and can
control power, therefore authority is greater than power. The Son of God has given us
AUTHORITY over all the POWER of the enemy! Rejoice, YE STARS! Exult and shout, YE
CONSTELLATIONS OF THE HEAVENS!
As the "sweet
influences" of Pleiades, how sweet shall be the influence of God ' s beloved sons!
How precious the positive force of God's spiritual energy--Holy Ghost nature and Holy
Ghost power, ministering His life, His love, his joy, His peace, His righteousness, His
victory unto creation.
These shall not only declare
His Word, but have authority and ability to see it established in the earth. When the
power of God arises in all fullness in His body of sons, and He is exalted in the people
He has prepared, how unspeakably glorious and honorable He will be in the eyes of His
creation!
Truly, "The heavens
declare the GLORY of God!"
Chapter
5
VIRGO--THE
VIRGIN
"The heavens declare the
glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and
night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is
not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the
world" (Ps. 19:1-4). "Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose
the bands of Orion? Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth (the signs of the Zodiac) in his
season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons? Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven?
canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?" (Job 38:31-33).
The names of the
constellations with their stars reveal the divine truth that was later written in the
Bible. The written scriptures began with Job some forty-one centuries ago, but the truth
of God was recorded in the starry heavens from the distant dawn of creation, untold ages
before Abram journeyed from
As Kenneth Fleming has
pointed out in his book GOD'S VOICE IN THE STARS, the word Zodiac comes from a primitive
Greek root "zoad," denoting
The reality that lies behind
what is commonly known today as horoscopes and behind the common signs of the Zodiac is an
original revelation designed by God- a revelation not of pagan mythology or superstitious
powers, but of the wonderful truths of God's grand and glorious plan of the ages through
His anointed Christ, written in the very stars of heaven- this fact being attested to by
the faithful testimony of the scriptures "which are able to make thee wise unto
salvation" (II Tim. 3:15).
In these twelve celestial
signs we have enshrined for us like jewels in a velvet case, the twelve great heavenly
laws or principles which we are to pass through and master while we walk our foreordained
path on this planet. Each one of the twelve signs embodies a
It is a blessed day for any
man when he discovers that what the Bible calls "heaven" is in fact and in truth
the REALM OF THE SPIRIT. It is not a place on some far-away planet, nor a figment of man's
imagination, but a realm of reality where saints of God may
dwell here and now. These things are hard to utter, because the vast majority of
Christians cling tenaciously to the dark understanding of the carnal mind, and it is
almost impossible for them to believe that heaven is an abiding and eternal reality. It is
even harder for them to comprehend that the
If you would understand the
scope and magnificence of the mighty working of God in your life, my beloved, consider the
message of the radiant constellations of the illimitable heavens above and know that all
the power and glory and wisdom and working so marvelously illustrated in their shining
configurations is in fact and in truth wrought out in the deepest recesses of your own
being. If you will give prayerful consideration to the statement of our Lord that the
Kingdom of the Heavens is within you, you cannot avoid the conclusion that man is a copy
in miniature of the universe, and everything that exists or takes place in the vast
expanses of the cosmos, also exists and takes place in the inner constitution of man. The
powers and forces and laws that make up the nature and constitution of man are the same as
the powers and forces and laws that on an infinitely larger scale are called the universe,
and every reality in the heavens expresses itself in the consciousness of man, and
reflects itself in the experience of man, enabling man to know the universe by himself,
and himself by the universe.
Scientists are probing into
two unseen worlds. One is a world too vast and far away to be seen by the eye and the
other is a world too small to be observed by the eye. I want to give you three words in
this connection, together with their meanings. First, we find the word MICROCOSM. This
word means a little world: anything regarded as a world in miniature: man, viewed as an
epitome of the universe. This word comes from two words in the Greek. One is MIKROS which
means little or miniature. The other is COSMOS meaning world. Thus we have the meaning of
LITTLE WORLD. The word MACROCOSM, on the other hand, means the great world, or the
universe. It also comes from two words. One is MACROS meaning great and the other is
COSMOS meaning the world. We noted above that the word MIKROS carried the meaning of
"man viewed as an epitome of the universe." This word EPITOME means, among other
things, A CONDENSED REPRESENTATION of something. The word MICROCOSM then gives us the
meaning that man is a CONDENSED REPRESENTATION OF THE WHOLE UNIVERSE! Thus, man is the
CONDENSED REPRESENTATION of all the universe, or man is all the universe in miniature.
After the original creation, God then began to move to bring the whole vast creation into
fellowship and harmony with Himself. In order to accomplish this God made man in the image
of the creation, but also in the image of Himself. Man is therefore the bridge or
connecting link between God in His spiritual existence and the creation in its visible and
material constitution. God put both Himself and the whole universe into man in
miniature--a microcosm of the macrocosm! His purpose is that by and through man all things
shall be brought into subjection to the mind of the Lord. We read in Hebrews that we do
not as yet see all things put into subjection to man, but WE DO SEE JESUS who was, we may
safely say, as the second man and the last Adam, a CONDENSED REPRESENTATION of God, the
universe, and all mankind. In other words, what was done in and through the singular Man,
Jesus the Christ, will also be done in and through corporate man, but on an enlarged
scale, for Jesus said we would do even greater works than He did. There is no stagnation
in God, for He continually moves ahead. And as He moves we move with Him, advancing
according to His pre-determined plan. What wonders lie ahead of us in this majestic
pathway!
The seventeenth century
German mystic, the simple shoe cobbler from Golitz, Jacob Boehme, penned the following
words which are just as revolutionary and up-to-date as the space age. "Now, dear
reader, observe: If you want to know about Heaven and what Heaven is and where it is, you
do not need to cast your thoughts many thousands of miles off, for that place, that heaven
thousands of miles away, is not your Heaven. The true Heaven is not a created place but an
uncreated place, and it is not found in a particular place but everywhere, even in the
very place where you are standing and going. For when your spirit within yourself is able
to penetrate inward through and beyond your own flesh and life, and is able to catch hold
of the innermost moving of God, then you are clearly in Heaven. Moreover, if your eyes
were but opened, you should see God everywhere in His Heaven, for Heaven is found
everywhere. For instance, when Stephen saw Heaven open and the Lord Jesus at the right
hand of God, his spirit did not suddenly transport itself into outer space, but rather
Stephen's spirit had moved inward, within, into the innermost place where Heaven is found
everywhere. So you must realize that this world with all its physical properties is in
union with the vast vistas of the heavenly spaces above the earth. There is only one
Heart, one Being, one Will, one God, All in all.
"I urge you to open the
eyes of your spirits and your hearts, for I want earnestly to show to you the true and
proper way to the gates of God's Heaven. Behold! God is the True, the One, the only Being
out of whom you yourselves were created, and within whose Life you are living even now.
Therefore, Oh child of man, when you behold in your flesh the depths of the universe, the
stars and the complexity of the earth, and all that is in heaven and earth, you are in
fact truly in the presence of God. For He is All, and in Him you live and have your being;
and that same God reigns and rules over you as well, because He is your King and Creator
It is from this God that you receive even your senses and your ability to have
consciousness and to know and think and express yourself. Don't you see? You are a part of
Him, and your entire being is a derivative of Him. You are His offspring, you came from
Him, and you truly exist in Him. If this were not true, you would never have been.
"And so little children,
if you now want and desire to draw near by faith to the Life of God, Listen! You must
enter inward to the depths within yourselves wherein Christ dwells- not without. For
within you there exists an eternity, even as there is an eternity within Him. So you must
go in to the depths of the hidden secret place within you, to the very depths of the
Eternal Willing in the Father. For it is within this Will or Desire that Wrath and Love
eternally struggle against each other, and in which Love is the eternal victor out of the
fiery dark wheel of selfishness, through the eternal cross in God's Heart, into
regeneration bursting forth as the eternal glorious light of God's nature. His nature is
Light, Gentleness, Mercy, Wisdom and Love forever, and it is expressed to us by His Voice,
the Word, the Son, our Lord, Saviour, and God. And out of this eternally immense depth of
God's Desire, there forever streams forth the Light and Love which is the uncreated glory.
And this is the true Heaven.
"For in this depth
within you, God eternally rules in Holiness in His uncreated Heaven. And His Willing
within you expresses itself as the willing to all goodness, not wrath, and this willing
ever reigns in everlasting dominion, the Sovereign God of Love in victory through the
eternal cross on which was slain the Lamb of God before ever a single atom was created.
And when you comprehend this, that is, the tragedy which forever occurs in the eternal
depths of the Heart of God, and when you know that our God is safe forever, True forever,
Merciful forever, and the Being of Love forever (because He forever dies to Himself on the
cross in His own heart to all wrath and selfish desire), then my brothers and sisters, you
will have crossed through and penetrated into the very and holy heart of God.
"And when you comprehend
this, you shall know that within this Heaven within you, you are in Christ Jesus, always
in union with God. And since you are in oneness with Him, you also shall experience in
your flesh, soul, and spirit the same eternal struggle in which you shall forever die to
wrath and to self, and through the cross, always being crucified with Him, you shall
eternally flash brilliantly with the fire of new Life and Love, as you by faith, hope, and
love replace wrath with love, evil with good, and the negative with the positive in all
aspects of your life. You too shall, as He did, surely fill the gap and take up the office
of High Priest with Him ever living to make intercession for others; and then you shall
walk on this earth bringing peace into the midst of the storms that shall always come in
this life as long as the present world remains. And when this is done, then God, whose
very being is for others and who has now forever made you to be His Sons for others, shall
truly reign and control in oneness with you in your regenerated being. Then my friend, you
shall be as God is who Himself is heaven, earth, stars, the molecules and atoms. All in
all, and for all. Hallelujah! Amen!" --end quote.
In Andrew Jukes' book, THE
RESTITUTION OF ALL THINGS, he says, "And when I think of the change which can be
wrought in us, --when I see that man contains all worlds, and is indeed the hieroglyphic
of the universe,- that not only the seen and unseen matter and spirit, time and eternity,
but hell and heaven, and the life of each, as well as the life of earth, ALL ARE IN HIM
(MAN)..." What a powerful statement! Hieroglyphic writing was an early form of
Egyptian writing, consisting of pictographic inscriptions in the form of symbolic
characters. According to Webster hieroglyphic also means a figure or symbol having a
hidden meaning. Man is a figure or a symbol CONTAINING A HIDDEN MEANING. Therefore all
that God is, is in man, and all that the universe is and is to be is in man. In other
words, God has put His complete self IN THE NEW CREATION MAN, and in Himself lies the
destiny and development of the universe.
WHERE DO WE BEGIN?
The twelve signs of the
Zodiac as originally ordained by God were a prophetic outline of the progressive unfolding
purpose of God in creation and redemption. In order to decipher this wondrous Heavenly
Scroll, we must discover just where to begin reading the names of the constellations and
their starry hosts, for God is said to have both NAMED AND NUMBERED them. This means that
there is a divine order as well as naming. These signs are in the form of a circle. Now a
circle has no beginning and no ending. Where is the beginning and where is the end of this
circle through which the sun is constantly moving? When we endeavor to read the story of
the signs, obviously, if we begin at the wrong place, our efforts must yield a meaningless
result. Where are we to break into this circle and say, "This is the
commencement," and at what point are we to say, "This is the end, the
conclusion." Modern astrology begins with Aires, the ram or lamb. But how do we know
that that is the place to begin? Since everything else about the Zodiac has been corrupted
by pagan mythology perhaps this is corrupted also. The fact is, it is! So how are we to
know where to begin?
What I am about to say may
surprise you, but the ancient Sphinx in
There is yet another point of
utmost importance. A comparison of the prophecies in the heavens with that which was
afterwards written in the scriptures clearly shows that Virgo is the starting point in the
divine promise concerning the Seed of the woman in Gen. 3:15, and Leo is the only point at
which we can logically conclude with the climax of scripture in the triumph of the Lion of
the tribe of Judah in Rev. 5:5. The great drama of redemption started with the sign of
Virgo in the promise of the Seed of the woman in the first book of the Bible. In the
promise of the triumphant Lion in the last book of the Bible we reach the final scene in
the last act in the great tableau of history. Oh, the wonder of it!
VIRGO--THE VIRGIN
The first sign, as we have
noted, is Virgo. The sun occupies Virgo for forty-three days, passing through it from
September 14th to October 29th. This group of stars is associated with the picture of a
young woman with an ear of wheat in one hand and a branch in the other hand. In Hebrew she
is called BETHULAH, which means "virgin," just as VIRGO, from Latin, means
"the virgin." Everywhere her name is the same. However, you can study the stars
in Virgo until you turn blue and they would never look like a woman! But the picture which
has gone with them down through the ages, in every nation and culture of the world, is the
picture of a woman. The fact that the signs of the Zodiac bear little resemblance to the
pictures associated with them should mightily confirm the faith of all who know the living
God. The fact that every single ancient culture which had any knowledge or tradition
concerning the stars recognizes the same twelve star groups and the same names and
pictures! Cultures as far away and diverse as
The greater wonder is that
MOTHERHOOD attends the virginity of this glorious woman. The wheat and the branch in her
hands denote fruitfulness --offspring. It will not be difficult for any man to see that
this is a picture right out of the Bible--A VIRGIN BRINGING FORTH A SEED! In that long ago
Eden the almighty Father spoke the first promise of a Redeemer to the erring man and his
wife when He gave the blessed assurance, "And I will put enmity between thee (the
serpent) and the woman, and between THY SEED and HER SEED; IT shall bruise thy head, and
thou shalt bruise His heel" (Gen. 3:15). This "seed of the woman" is the
first prophecy of the coming into the world of the Saviour who would "bruise the head
of the serpent." Historically this is Jesus, born of the Virgin Mary, living, dying,
and rising again in triumph over death, hell and the grave, opening up the wellspring of
eternal salvation to all who would believe. Spiritually it is the Son of God birthed in
us, brought forth unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ out of our own
"virgin" relationship with God.
"For I am jealous over
you with a godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present YOU
as a CHASTE VIRGIN to Christ" (II Cor. 11:2). To be a virgin means to be pure,
undefiled and separated unto our Lord. God is creating the desire in a people in this hour
to be truly VIRGIN in their desires toward Him. We have known what it is to be conformed
to the course of THIS WORLD. Then we have known what it is to trust Christ as Saviour
while remaining entangled in all the wretched defilement of a corrupt babylonish church
system. But God is calling forth in these days a glorious body of Christ who, because of
the quickening of the Holy Spirit, is desiring to be VIRGIN- reserved only and completely
for her glorious Lord, unto intimacy of fellowship and vital union with Him. How lightly
we sometimes take the purposes of God in us! It is one thing to be washed in the blood,
freed from all our past sins, and quite another thing to truly be VIRGIN in our desires to
keep ourselves only unto Christ in the spirit, purged from all the aspirations and
dictates of the carnal mind and the outward sense realm. As we follow on to know Him
separation comes from everything of the flesh, the world, and the devil, and from every
vestige of entanglement with that vile harlot system of religious
Glorious indeed and full of
wisdom and creative design is the fact that your relationship to Christ as a
"virgin" is ordained to forerun your manifestation to the world as a
"son." As in the natural, so in the spiritual; the virgin relationship bears the
feminine characteristics of modesty, gentleness, tenderness, love, sensitiveness,
dependence and obedience, whereas the sonship relationship bears the characteristics of
the masculine nature. Aggressiveness, boldness, strength, valor, authority, power and
dominion are among the traits of the masculine sex. Hence the Lord calls the CHURCH a
virgin, but to the OVERCOMER He says, "He that overcometh shall inherit all things;
and I will be his God, and he shall be My SON. To HIM will I give POWER over the nations:
and he shall RULE them with a rod of iron. To him that OVERCOMETH will I grant to sit with
Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with MY FATHER in His
throne" (Rev. 21:7; 2:26-27; 3:21). The mighty, eternal and indisputable truth is
that THE S-O-N IS ALWAYS BORN OF THE V-I-R-G-I-N! Just as the blessed firstborn Son was
born of a virgin, so is it through the vehicle of a PURE AND UNDEFILED SOUL (virgin) that
the MIGHT AND DOMINION OF THE SPIRIT (son) is manifested, expressed and revealed. This is
a true principle in God that I hope no earnest saint of God who reads these lines will
miss! I cannot emphasize too forcefully, or too carefully, that the power and glory of
SONSHIP will never come forth from the man or woman of God who has not first become truly
VIRGIN in their soul life.
Now since we have seen that
HISTORICALLY the virgin bringing forth the Son is Jesus born of Mary, the virgin of
Nazareth; and SPIRITUALLY it is the Son of God (spirit) birthed (brought into
manifestation) out of the transformed life through the virgin soul; let us go on to see
that PROPHETICALLY it points to the manchild of Revelation 12, that glorious company of
the many-membered Christ, the MANIFESTED SONS OF GOD, birthed out of the mother Church,
the pure virgin bride of Jesus Christ, for whom all creation is in deepest travail and who
shall deliver the creation from the bondage of corruption.
Hannah Hurnard relates how in
the Jewish religious writings there is a tradition from earliest times that the twelve
tribes of
THE SEED OF THE WOMAN
A hundred years before Christ
an altar was found in
The seed of the woman has
been generally accepted as fulfilled in the birth of Jesus Christ, as conceived of the
Holy Spirit and born of a virgin, triumphing over death, satan, hell and the grave by His
death and resurrection, which is surely correct beyond a shadow of a doubt. Yet there is
always in God's economy a larger fulfillment or a further fulfillment, the harvest from
the original seed planted, and there is a constant unfolding of the many-faceted wisdom
and truth of God until it becomes resplendent with the glory of its eternal increase and
revelation. We do not belittle the fact that Jesus Christ fulfilled this promise of Gen.
3:15, but let us not stop there and fail to see the further unfoldings of fulfillings, for
the truth is like a pebble dropped into the ocean of knowledge that begins with a small
ripple but continues with ever-widening waves until it reaches the vast shores of infinite
wisdom.
The Virgin holds a sheaf of
wheat and that seed of wheat Christ appropriates as a symbol of Himself. It seems a most
singular thing that in that long ago
On a certain day some Greeks
approached the disciples of Jesus with the request, "Sirs, we would see Jesus."
This request was promptly carried to Jesus by Andrew and Philip, to which our Lord gave
this strange and very remarkable reply: "The hour is come that the Son of man should
be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn (grain) of wheat fall into the
ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit" (Jn.
12:23-24). In this cryptic statement Jesus likened Himself to a seed, a grain of wheat,
which was to fall into the ground and die. He would be sown as a seed into the earth and
be raised again. Not only would He be raised in glorification, but in centuries yet to
come THIS SEED, which was Jesus Christ, would produce a vast harvest of many sons of God
in His exact image and likeness. NO SEED is raised from the earth as just a singular seed,
there is always an increase, the natural law of progression being "first the blade,
then the ear, then the FULL CORN IN THE EAR." Only one seed was planted in the earth,
and the Christ who came out of that Palestinian tomb was not the harvest- merely the blade
breaking the ground. The multitude that will appear in the time of harvest will be THE
SEED of THE SEED, the increase, every one bearing the image and likeness of that CHRIST
SEED which was planted in death.
I am certain that the Lord's
reply was an enigma to those men to whom He spoke. The Greeks looking for Jesus could
hardly be expected to comprehend a mystery so deep and eternal. They made their earnest
request, "Sirs, we would see Jesus," and He responded with His mysterious
dissertation. We are not told whether Jesus ever consented to have these Greeks interview
Him, but in answer to their request He gave the oblique reply, "Except a corn of
wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth
much fruit." His message to them was simply this: If they saw Jesus at that time they
would see only one seed, one grain in the image of God--the man Christ Jesus. But there
would be more, much more to CHRIST than appeared to them that day! A whole universal field
of ripened grain was to follow in His likeness, born of that original seed, imbued with
the very same life, raised in the same resurrection, who would be the "sons of
God" and "the Christ" even as He is a Son of God and the Christ of God. The
many sons would form ONE CHRIST, Head and body, each having the seed of life in himself.
THE SUN-CLAD WOMAN
The risen and ascended Lord
descended in a vision of glory on the lonely isle of Patmos, and there meeting His
startled disciple John, gave him a communication concerning the Church, commanding him to
write it in a scroll and send it to the seven Churches in Asia. With wondering eyes John
stood transfixed as in spirit he saw a great wonder in heaven, "A woman clothed with
the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: and she
being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And she brought
forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was
caught up unto God, and to His throne" (Rev. 12:1-2,5).
In the book of Revelation
there are three great wonders mentioned- the great wonder of the sun-clothed woman (Rev.
12:1), the great wonder of the great dragon who stands before the woman (Rev. 12:3), and
the great sign or wonder of the seven angels with the seven last plagues (Rev. 15: 1). The
word "wonder" or "sign" comes from the Greek word SEMEION which means
an "indication" or "mark" or a "signification." A wonder is
something that arrests, and surprises, and astonishes. A wonder is something unexpected,
unprepared for, unprecedented, and surpassing all our experience. The whole world is full
of wonder to a child. But a wonder is more than that. It is a symbol, a prophecy of the
reality that it represents. The purpose of a wonder is to call attention to a person or
thing as special or supernatural, to so get the attention as to declare something
important and special as indicative of a particular circumstance or time and as
confirmation of truth.
The "great wonder"
that John saw in heaven was not heaven itself, wonderful as heaven itself was. It was a
WOMAN--a glorious woman--giving birth to a remarkable man-child. Who is this woman, and
where is she today? Some have said that she signifies Mary, the mother of the Lord Jesus.
Others have said that she stands for the nation of
John the Revelator, in his
marvelous vision on the isle of Patmos long ago, saw the ultimate seed coming forth, when
he saw a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, a crown of twelve stars
upon her head, and she brought forth a manchild who was caught up to the throne of God to
rule all nations with a rod of iron. In order to fully understand this awesome scene, one
needs to understand the mysteries of the heavenlies, that is in the Word of God. When
understood by the spirit of wisdom and revelation, the Bible reveals that the physical
heavens in their every aspect are only a type of a revelation of God's spiritual heavens
here in the earth, which spiritual heavens We are.
The sun is a type of Jesus.
Just as the sun is the light of the world, so Jesus is the light of God's Kingdom. In the
light of HIS GLORY we enter the DAY of the Lord. "At midday, O king, I (Saul of
Tarsus) saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round
about me...and I said, Who art thou, Lord? And He said, I am Jesus whom thou
persecutest" (Acts 26: 13-15). "Being confident of this very thing, that He
which hath begun a good work in you will perform it unto THE DAY OF JESUS CHRIST"
(Phil. 1:6). "Ye are all the children of LIGHT, and the children of the DAY: we are
not of the night, nor of darkness" (I Thes. 5:5). We are children of THE DAY and not
of the night! We are of the Day because the light of Christ, the blessed "Sun of
righteousness" has dawned upon us and risen in our hearts. Therefore anytime you find
the term sun in the New Testament it is never talking about the literal sun, but Christ
the light of life. When John saw this woman clothed with the sun, his vision indicated
that this woman is clothed with all the light and truth and glory that her husband Jesus
had while He was here. Nothing is clearer in the book of Revelation than the fact that the
OVERCOMERS who are to rule the nations with a rod of iron (Rev. 2:26-27) are birthed out
of the CHURCH to whom the letter is addressed and unto whom it was sent (Rev. 1:4, 19-20;
2:1,8,12,18; 3:1,7,14).
Norene Nichols has shared some interesting and
edifying insights into this important theme. "The garbling of the woman of Rev. 12 is
unusual in that she is CLOTHED WITH THE SUN. On the surface one might refer to this as
being clothed in light or understanding which it is, but there is much more meaning lying
under the surface of these words than most of us realize. With the help of the Lord may we
ponder this matter a little further and see some of what is involved. In the Greek there
are two words used for CLOTHED, one is ENDUO and the other is PERIBALLO. In this
particular case the word PERIBALLO is used, and realizing that every word is important in
respect to where and how it is used by the Spirit of God in the scriptures, we know that
PERIBALLO is distinctly illuminative. ENDUO means to GO INTO CLOTHING which infers that
the clothing is of a certain size and specification into which a person must fit. In other
words, a person up to a particular size could fit into a certain garment, but over that
size it would be impossible to get into it. On the other hand, PERIBALLO means to CAST
AROUND ABOUT which would infer some sort of a garment that can be put on and cast around a
person and made to fit the person rather than the person fit the garment. For instance,
Lk. 24:49 speaks about 'being ENDUED (endue--clothed) with power from on high referring to
the infilling of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. Here the word used means to be
CLOTHED with power in the sense of GOING INTO CLOTHING, or having the garment of a
particular size into which the person must fit. We have seen much in times past of people
who claimed so much because of the enduing of power, when in reality they fitted as best
they could into that garment. Thus I have seen many trying to do great wonders and signs
in a garment they are in but which is too big for them, into which they have not grown up,
and which drags in the dust realm (carnality), bringing a reproach and criticism from many
looking on.
"On the other hand, the
word PERIBALLO used of the sun-clothed woman infers that this full-grown woman has a
covering of the sun that is CAST ABOUT her in such a manner that the garment fits her
rather than her trying to fit into the garment. This woman is a mature woman--matured in
God, matured in love, matured in understanding--and God grants her the clothing that fits
her maturity. Her clothing is comprised of one thing: the sun. The sun is the light and
warmth of our solar system and rises upon the just and the unjust alike. It is no
respecter of persons. The planets revolve around it and are benefited thereby. Thus this
woman is clothed with the light (understanding, revelation) and warmth (effect, blessing)
of Him who is 'the Sun of Righteousness.' She does not withhold her light and warmth from
anyone either just or unjust, but beams alike upon all. In other words, her light of
understanding is dispersed abroad, not by words, but by BEING, EVEN AS THE SUN SPEAKS NOT
BUT IS WHAT IT IS BY VIRTUE OF ITS NATURE. She claims nothing for herself--no position, no
gifts, no power, no ministry--but simply IS what she IS by the grace of God. The sun does
not have to say, 'I am the sun!' It is that by reason of its being, and this woman is what
she is by reason of her being who she is, and as a result, her light and warmth are shed
abroad without stint" --end quote.
Not only is this woman
clothed with the sun, but she has the moon under her feet. The moon is a type of the
fleshly
When John saw this woman
clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet, his vision indicated that this woman is
being clothed, not with the dim light or revelation that the fleshly Israel had, or that
the old-order carnal church system has even to this day, which stands in carnal programs,
static creeds, empty rituals, lifeless ceremonies, and outward ordinances, but she is
being clothed with all the blazing spiritual light and truth of her husband, Christ.
Having the moon under her feet means that she has come through all the types and shadows
of the law, and the external ordinances religion imposes on the outer flesh man, with all
their reflected glory. She is lifted up to a higher plane of light and truth, of
experience and being, of reality, life and glory!
There is yet another
remarkable feature about this sun-clad woman--she wears a crown composed of a certain
number of stars upon her head--TWELVE. Twelve is the number of DIVINE GOVERNMENT, and
wonder of wonders! the true Church of the Lord Jesus Christ has much to do with the
establishment of divine government in the earth, and otherwise. This may seem like a
strong and exalted position for a woman, for we often think of divine government only in
terms of the masculine, the promised kings and priests who shall rule and reign with
Christ. Nevertheless, what is a King without a Queen? So in the eventuality of God's plan
this woman becomes that Queen that is described in Psalm 45 who stands on His right hand,
the place of power and authority, attired in gold of Ophir. Ah--she is the true QUEEN OF
HEAVEN! She brings to that dominion the feminine characteristics of tenderness,
gentleness, sensitiveness, concern, nourishment and love, counterbalancing the masculine
qualities of boldness, strength, valor, authority, power and dominion exerted by the sons
of God. What a Kingdom!
This crown of twelve stars,
as nothing else, positively identifies this woman as Virgo, the virgin of the Zodiac. The
astronomer, Professor Thorley, has shown that there are exactly TWELVE STARS surrounding
the head of Virgo as we view them from the earth. If one will look at Norton's Star Atlas,
twelve visible stars will be seen around Virgo's head. They are, according to astronomical
terminology: (1) Pi, (2) Nu, (3) Beta, (4) Sigma, (5) Chi, (6) Iota--these six stars form
the southern hemisphere around the head of Virgo. Then there are (7) Theta, (8)Star 60,
(9) Delta, (10) Star 93, (11) Beta, (12) Omicron--these last six form the northern
hemisphere around the head of Virgo. The apostle John saw the scene when the sun
"clothes" or "adorns" the woman. This surely indicates that the
position of the sun in the vision was located somewhere mid-bodied of the woman- between
the neck and the knees. The sun could hardly be said to clothe her if it were situated in
her face or near her feet. This "clothing" of the woman by the sun in the
heavenly constellation of Virgo occurs for a twenty-day period each year. And here is a
fact of surpassing wonder- at the time of the new moon at the feast of trumpets (John's
vision of the sun-clad woman appears under the seventh trumpet in the book of Revelation).
THE SUN, IN ITS RELATION TO VIRGO, IS IN THE UTERINE POSITION AND THE MOON IS SEEN UNDER
HER FEET! Coincidence?
The woman with a crown of
twelve stars is a great WONDER IN HEAVEN. In other words, the manifestation of the glory
and power of God upon this virgin bride of Christ PRECEDES THE MANIFESTATION OF THE SONS
OF GOD, for the woman is manifested to the heavenly sphere, though it is quite evident
that she is right here on earth at the time. Paul spoke of this wonder of the woman in
heaven in these words, "To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in
the heavenly places might be known BY THE CHURCH the manifold wisdom of God" (Eph.
3:10). We have rejoiced to see that she is clothed with the sun and has conquered the
moon, but let us take into further consideration that her head is crowned with twelve
stars and she is crowned BEFORE the manchild is ever born, not afterwards. She has
authority given her BEFORE he comes to birth, and she is a glorious Church without spot or
wrinkle, and her dominion is not given because her child is born as the manifested sons of
God, but is given her of God BEFORE the sons are manifested, while they are still hidden
in the womb. There shall be manifested great anointing, power and glory upon God's true
virgin end-time Church ere the sons of God arise to reign and restore all things back into
the life of God again.
Again I would share some
beautiful insights from the pen of the late Norene Nichols. "Before considering the
crown of stars, let us delve a bit into the meaning of the word 'head' upon which the
crown rests. It comes from the Greek word KAPHALE which comes from the root KAPTO which
means TO SEIZE, or that the head is the part most readily taken hold of. How apt! Is it
not the head or the MIND that satan seeks to captivate and take hold of? By the same
token, it is the head or mind that the Spirit of God wants to seize and lay hold of that
the mind of Christ might be fully manifest therein. There can be no spiritual nor bodily
changes in anyone without there being a changing of the mind and thought patterns
(consciousness). Have you not read that we are TRANSFORMED BY THE RENEWING OF THE
M-I-N-D??? What a battle has been waged to keep the mind in subjection to bondage and
darkness and ignorance, but contrariwise, there is also a battle whereby liberty comes to
the mind to bring it enlightenment and renewal. It is thus upon a renewed mind that the
crown rests.
"Furthermore, from this
same Greek word we get another form--KEPHALIS, which is translated as VOLUME, 'Then said
I, Lo, I come (in the VOLUME of the book it is written of me,) to do Thy will, O God'
(Heb. 10:7). The word VOLUME means a HEAD or KNOB which is placed on the end of the roll
upon which the scroll is rolled. Is not this interesting? In other words, the inference is
that the head, or mind, is to be inscribed and ingrained with truth. Has He not promised
that He would write His laws in our hearts and MINDS? Therefore the crowning can only take
place upon the head that is girdled with truth, filled with truth, open to the Word of
God, a mind that is a channel for HIS THINKING and His inscribings.
"Another form of this
same Greek word is KAPHALAION which means SUM, especially a sum of money, though it also
means a sum of knowledge. How does this fit into the fact that it is upon the woman's head
that the crown rests? If the head or mind is renewed and ruled by the mind of God (truth),
then it also stands to reason that the head is the SUM. A sum of money in the natural is a
medium of exchange, and its spiritual counterpart is FAITH which is the spiritual medium
of exchange. Not only is the Head to be filled with truth, but that truth generates faith
which looks not at the things which are seen (sense realm) but at the things which are not
seen (spirit) and CALLS THEM INTO EXISTENCE. Therefore this woman is a woman of faith, and
her faith tops or heads all impossibilities. Here is a mind of faith! And furthermore,
KEPRALAION not only means a sum of money, but it means also the SUM OF KNOWLEDGE. 'Now of
the things which we have spoken, this is the SUM...' (Heb. 8:1). Paul proceeds then to sum
up the vast knowledge he has been giving regarding our High Priest, as related to
Melchizedek, which priesthood has been so misunderstood and therefore not-understood. He
brings that knowledge to a head, to an understandable amalgamation of truth and
revelation" --end quote. My beloved, God is in these days SUMMING UP or CROWNING His
divine truth and revelation upon the HEAD or MIND of His elect, in consciousness and in
faith. What a work!
Chapter
6
VIRGO--THE
VIRGIN
(continued)
The reality that lies behind
what is commonly known today as horoscopes and behind the common signs of the Zodiac is an
original revelation designed by God -- a revelation not of pagan mythology or
superstitious powers, but of the wonderful truths of God's grand and glorious plan of the
ages through His anointed Christ, written in the very stars of heaven--this fact being
attested to by the faithful testimony of the scriptures "which are able to make thee
wise unto salvation" (II Tim. 3:15). In these twelve celestial signs we have
enshrined for us like jewels in a velvet case, the twelve great heavenly laws or
principles which we are to pass through and master while we walk our foreordained path on
this planet. Each one of the twelve signs embodies a
The first sign, as we pointed
out in our last Study, is Virgo. The sun occupies Virgo for forty-three days, passing
through it from September 14th to October 29th. This group of stars is associated with the
picture of a young woman with an ear of wheat in one hand and a branch in the other. In
Hebrew she is called BETHULAH, which means "virgin," just as VIRGO, from Latin,
means "the virgin." Everywhere her name is the same. The wheat and the branch in
her hands denote fruitfulness --offspring, motherhood. It will not be difficult for any
man to see that this is a picture right out of the Bible --A VIRGIN BRINGING FORTH A SEED!
In that long ago Eden the almighty Father spoke the first promise of a Redeemer to the
erring man and his wife when He gave the blessed assurance, "And I will put enmity
between thee (the serpent) and the woman, and between THY SEED and HER SEED; IT shall
bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel" (Gen. 3:15). HISTORICALLY this is
Jesus, born of the Virgin Mary, living, dying, and rising again in triumph over death,
hell and the grave, opening up the wellspring of eternal salvation to all who would
believe. SPIRITUALLY it is the Son of God birthed in us, brought forth unto the measure of
the stature of the fullness of Christ out of our own "virgin" relationship with
God, conquering the sin, sickness, sorrow and death is us. PROPHETICALLY it points to the
manchild of Revelation 12, that glorious company of the many-membered firstfruits Christ,
the MANIFESTED SONS OF GOD, birthed out of the mother Church, the pure virgin bride of
Jesus Christ, for whom all creation is in deepest travail and who shall deliver the
creation from the bondage of corruption.
VIRGO means the VIRGIN, or
the untouched one, the one of undefiled soul. Mary the mother of Jesus, was a virgin when
she conceived and bore her divine Son, although she was betrothed (espoused, engaged) to
Joseph and under the law of those times was considered his wife. Of the true Church Paul
said, "I have espoused (engaged) you to one husband, that I may present you as a
chaste VIRGIN to Christ" (II Cor. 11:2). Why was Paul so jealous that this little
virgin keep herself pure? Ah--Paul had a revelation that from this woman, or virgin
Church, the Lord was going to bring forth His seed. Even in the natural a man cannot bring
forth a child apart from a woman, so also in the spiritual. God must have a woman that He
can plant His life in. She is going to bring forth in these last days, a many-membered
manchild that will grow up to the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ,
and shall be caught up to the throne. And during that blessed age of the Kingdom of God
these sons shall be manifested as that ultimate promised seed that God told Abraham would
come forth, who would rule and reign in the earth, solve all the world's problems and
bring perfect blessing and life abundant to all the families of the earth
Just as Jesus was born of a
betrothed virgin, so will the manchild company of the manifested sons of God be birthed
out of the betrothed, yet virgin, Church. This Church is the pristine bride without spot
or wrinkle, not some conglomeration of all so called churches and all believers. May the
Spirit of the living God enlighten the eyes of all who read and give understanding that
each may be enabled to discern and easily differentiate between that VIRGIN BRIDE without
spot or wrinkle, which Jesus Christ is preparing for Himself, and that filthy HARLOT
SYSTEM, full of names of blasphemy, with her multiplied sects and denominations, who
seduces the inhabitants of the world with the unspeakable lie that she is, herself, the
very bride of the Lamb. Such cannot be, for the Bridegroom says of this little virgin
bride, "Thou art all fair, My love: there is no spot in thee...thou hast ravished My
heart, My sister, My spouse...how fair is thy love, My sister, My spouse! How much better
is thy love than wine! And the smell of thine ointments is like the smell of
In the book of Revelation we
have two women described, one is the glorious sun-clad woman of whom we now write and the
other is Mystery Babylon riding upon a beast, gorgeously decked with all manner of
precious jewels, with rich gaudy apparel and precious stones, having a golden cup in her
hand full of "The Wine of Babylon." She has a name on her forehead,
"Mystery Babylon, the Great." Notice the difference between these two women in
the vision of John. One is clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and a crown
of twelve stars upon her head. See how closely she is associated with heaven, and those
things of heaven that bless, guide, and quicken mankind. Clothed with the sun,
representing light, illumination, understanding, revelation, truth, vision, warmth, life,
reality, growth, transformation and blessing of every kind! The wanton harlot, on the
other hand, is decorated with worldly apparel, the things that attract those who love
earthly things, temporal things, external things of the sense realm, the treasures of the
carnal mind. She is decked with unrealities, riding upon the beast of the carnal nature,
the antithesis of the righteousness, peace and joy of the
When John was shown the great
city, Mystery Babylon, we read, "And there came one of the seven angels which had the
seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will show unto thee the
judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters" (Rev. 17:1). Again, when
John was shown the New Jerusalem Bride we find, "And there came unto me one of the
seven angels which had the seven vials...and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will
show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife" (Rev. 21:9). In each instance the very same
angel came and delivered the very same challenge to the astonished Seer of Patmos,
"Come hither; I will show unto thee..." These words take on new depth of meaning
when we understand that in the book of Revelation the word "come" always
signifies AN INVITATION TO REVELATION. The whore and the sun-clad woman are two women; the
invitation goes forth to come and see by the Spirit what they mean; and I do not hesitate
to tell you that it requires a REVELATION FROM GOD to see either!
One would certainly think
that God's people would respond to this invitation to revelation whereby the Spirit says,
"COME HITHER, and I will show you," and that they would look with anointed eyes
.and readily see the difference between the virgin and the harlot, but such is not the
case. Would God that all men could now see the hidden mystery of Christ and the Church!
Would God that all men could see the hidden mystery of the virgin sun-clad woman who
delivers the manchild! Would God that all men could see that this hidden mystery has
nothing to do with that tradition-ridden system which everywhere calls itself THE CHURCH
and CHRISTIANITY! The glory of the sun-clad woman represents the pure, unadulterated TRUTH
of God permeating and overwhelming the soul. When the soul is truly overwhelmed and
subdued by TRUTH, the seed of Christ (spirit) begins to take form within. Think of this,
dear reader, for it will lift the sackcloth from your eyes, and you will behold the
white-winged dove of SPIRITUAL REALITY descending upon you. Come hither! Arise from the
lowlands of ignorance, false consciousness, and mistaken identity; from the harlot
THE MANCHILD
"And she was with child;
and she cried out, travailing in birth, and in pain to be delivered" (Rev. 12:2).
What does it mean to be with child? It means that a child is in the mother's womb, and the
child and the mother are united in one body. When the mother eats, the child is nourished.
What the mother eats, good or bad, is transferred to the child. The condition of the
mother is the condition of the child. On the other hand, however, this child is different
from the mother; it is another being. If you say that they are one, it is truth, for the
child receives life from the mother. Yet, as far as his future is concerned, he is
different. His future is entirely distinct from that of his mother. Immediately after he
is delivered, he is caught up to the throne of God, while his mother flees into the
wilderness for testing and proving, as was Job who was declared by God to be a PERFECT
MAN, yet was untried and unproven. While the woman is with the child, all that can be seen
is the mother; the child is hidden. Outwardly, it appears that there is only the mother.
The child assuredly does exist, but he is hidden with the mother; he is included in the
mother. While the individual application of this truth is precious, pointing to the Son,
the Spirit, concealed within the womb of the soul, ultimately to come forth in power and
glory to reign even over the soul and all things, yet it is to the corporate truth that I
would now draw your reverent attention. For many years God's end-time body has been in
preparation. There is a people that has come to the Kingdom for such a time as this. And
hidden within this body is a group of people among them. This group is a portion of the
whole, a part of the many chosen for this hour. This is the manchild to be brought forth
by the woman. This means that the manchild is not a single individual, but a composition
of many saints. In comparison with the mother, this manchild appears to be small. When
this group is compared with the whole, their number is in the minority. But God's plan is
fulfilled in them and His purpose rests upon them. As the mother is the final glory of the
Church age, the manchild is the firstfruits--the glory and power of the greater and more
glorious age to come. The woman gathers within her the harvest of this age at the end of
the age, whereas the sons of God inaugurate and establish the new order of the
This is the revelation of
Jesus Christ--that God be manifested in the totality of His divine nature, wisdom and
power in a company of sons born from this virgin Church, into the measure of the stature
of the FULLNESS of the Christ. The Church will come to perfection in its realm. God will
see to it that the Holy Spirit brings her to perfection. There is approaching the day when
she comes into her glory and fulfills her perfect work, but she will never be the sonship
company nor do his work. In spite of the fact that she will finally be brought to
perfection, she is not God's final revelation of Jesus Christ. A sonship company must be
born out of this Church. Then in the union of the masculine and the feminine nature of God
shall be seen the full revelation of Godhood. Great is the mystery!
The
woman is "clothed" with the sun, the blazing glory of Jesus--divine Truth. But
notice, precious friend of mine, the manchild does not "wear" the glory of Jesus
as a garment--he IS by very nature and being the glory of Jesus, caught up to His throne!
This one has discovered the ALL-SUFFICIENT SPIRIT WITHIN to constitute the sum and
substance of his reality and has ceased to see reality as something apart from or without
himself, thus developing to live completely in and by the plenitude of God within. These
have life within themselves even as the Father has life in Himself. THESE ARE THE SONS OF
GOD! Oh, that the spirit of wisdom and revelation from God may enable all who read these
lines to comprehend the difference! Can we not see by this that the virgin Church realm is
the SOUL CLOTHED UPON WITH CHRIST (TRUTH), SUBMITTED TO CHRIST, OBEDIENT TO CHRIST, YET
THE SOUL OPERATING IN ITS OWN PERSONALITY UNDER THE ANOINTING AND HEADSHIP OF THE CHRIST.
BUT THE MANCHILD IS THE S-P-I-R-I-T I-T-S-E-L-F BURSTING OUT OF THE WOMB OF THE SOUL TO BECOME THE O-N-L-Y LIFE, WISDOM, TRUTH,
REALITY AND PERSONALITY!
I would say to you that the
life of Christ, the life of sonship, is not something outside ourselves. The idea is not
that Christ is in heaven, or standing by us, or worn as a garment, so that we stretch out
some mysterious faculty and touch Him there. This is the vague form in which babes in
Christ conceive the truth, but it is contrary to Christ's teaching and to the analogy of
nature. Vegetable life is not contained in a reservoir somewhere in the skies, and
measured out spasmodically at certain seasons. Animal life is not bottled up somewhere in
the blue beyond and dropped down to earth now and then when it is time for an embryo to be
formed. The life is IN every plant and tree, every animal and fish and fowl, inside its
own tissue and cells, and works there as a mighty power to form even that which is
contained within the life. The life is permanently fixed and rooted in the organism. Life
is not one of the homeless forces which promiscuously inhabit space, or which can be
gathered like electricity from the clouds and dissipated back again into space. Life is
definite and resident; the Spiritual Life is not a visit from a force, but a resident
tenant of Being. "The
Thank God for the fellowship
and encouragement of those of "like precious faith," but I declare to you that
the life of sonship can only be known as we turn INWARD, to discover and know the living
and eternal REALITY OF THE CHRIST WITHIN, conscious of His voice speaking, His hand
guiding, His power generating, His life producing, from within, ALL THAT YOU NEED, and the
image of God. With my poor and puny ability I cannot make the potential of GOD'S
INDWELLING LIFE to be a living, transforming, all-sufficient reality to your heart. None
but the Spirit of God can perform this wonderful and divine act of illumination. He alone
can take the things of God and show them unto you.
There was a day in which
Jesus and His disciples had made it to Jacob's well in Sychar and decided to stop for
lunch. Jesus sat in the shade of the well's shelter while His disciples went into the
nearby town for food. Through the shimmering heat haze, a woman with a water pot on her
shoulder approached the well. She came to where Jesus was sitting, and He asked her for a
drink. Her response was brittle with the hatred between the two peoples: "How is it
that you, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?" (Jn. 4:9).
Jesus was unruffled, offering her the gift He had come to give all men: "If you knew
the gift of God, and who it is that says to you, Give Me a drink, you would have asked
Him, and He would have given you living water" (Jn. 4:10).
You see, Jesus is saying,
"You're the one that needs the water, don't you know that?" She responded by
saying in so many words, "You don't have a water pot. How are you going to get water?
Why, this well is deep, and how are you going to draw from this well? Have you got some
water that doesn't come from this well? Are you greater than our father Jacob who dug this
well?" She's a little provoked with this Jew that is speaking to her. Then Jesus
tells her a principle that she understands all too well in the natural. He said,
"You've been drinking this water all your life, and YOU HAVE TO KEEP COMING BACK
EVERY DAY. You know what a wearisome thing it is to walk back and forth through the heat
and the dust with that water pot on your head. I do have some water, and if you drink of
the water that I give you, you'll never thirst again. Take a drink of this water and it
will BECOME IN YOU AS A WELL, a never-ending INTERNAL SOURCE!
Jesus spoke to this woman of
a truth more wonderful and glorious than the vast majority of Christians have ever
grasped. How many of the Lord's people STILL COME TO THE WELL! How many of us still have
our well, our water, our supply, our source of life, ON THE OUTSIDE! We are still trying
to pray something down from heaven, or work something up in a meeting, or always looking
for some ministry, some prophet, some healer, some experience from which we can DRAW LIFE!
And after all our running to and fro, from well to well, from water pot to water pot,
we're still thirsty! We're still singing, "Fill my cup, Lord!" We're still
conscious of our need! So we keep looking for a well from which to draw to quench our
thirst and meet our need. Some even think it is NORMAL to always be thirsty, to ever be
coming to the well, drinking again and again.
Jesus shared with the
Samaritan woman one of the most profound and blessed truths of the ages. He said that He
has water to give you, and if you once drink this water, you can throw away your water
pots, because this water becomes a mighty artesian well WITHIN YOU. As long as the well is
on the outside, as long as our source of life is without, then we have to go to the well
and get water to satisfy our thirst. And any time you have to go to the well to drink you
are going to be thirsty again! And if you stay away from the well very long you will
become famished! Is this not a spiritual thermometer by which one can determine just how
mature he is? So Jesus asked the woman, "How would you like to have the well on the
inside? No more water pots, no more drawing, no more walking back and forth, no more
thirst, no more effort and sweat." Let me ask you, dear reader, What would you think
if you had the well on the INSIDE? This is what this thing of sonship is all about! It is
the well on the inside: "Christ IN YOU the hope of glory. Sonship, maturity,
overcoming, perfection, the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, life and
immortality--all this is found in that blessed realm where we finally know that we do
indeed HAVE LIFE IN OURSELVES even as the Father has life in Himself. This is the well on
the inside! And it is high time that we drink until we get the well on the inside! It
should be clear to every thinking heart that once you have the well on the inside, not
only do you not need to draw from a well without, but you BECOME A SOURCE of life for all
about. THIS is sonship!
What an exciting hour in
which to live! For some years now the Holy Ghost has witnessed in every city and hamlet
across the length and breadth of the land that the manifestation of the sons of God is at
hand--the next order of business on God's schedule of things. Great things are happening!
God is moving in a wonderful way among His people. The night is far spent, THE DAY is at
hand. This is not just another day, it is THE DAY of the Lord. It is the day when the sons
of God are going to be manifest; those whom God has been working with; trying them,
testing them, taking them through the fire of His dealings; making them perfect through
sufferings; changing them from natural beings into spiritual ones; bringing forth the
image of Christ, the reality of SPIRIT. The time is at hand for God to remove the veil and
reveal His sons. The great day of the restoration is at hand. What anticipation this
evokes within! It is the day all creation has been travailing for, and even now "the
whole creation is on tiptoe to see the wonderful sight of the sons of God coming into
their own" (Rom. 8:19, Phillips).
ULTIMATE FAITH
I pray that the Holy Spirit
will impress upon the minds of all who treasure the beautiful hope of sonship two
important factors about the birth of this manchild seed that need to be burned deeply into
our hearts. The first is that this manchild is going to be birthed supernaturally, and the
second is that it is going to be through faith. First I want to state with the greatest
possible clarity and authority that this manchild is going to be born supernaturally,
therefore naturalism cannot and will not have anything to do with the manifestation of the
sons of God. One of the most subtle tricks the carnal mind- ever since that fateful day in
long ago Eden--is continually playing on God's people is injecting naturalism--carnal
means and methods- into their vision, their revelation, their worship, and their walk in
God. Because of their lack of faith and patience, the carnal mind (serpent) is continually
convincing them that God is going to fulfill His promises somehow through the normal
processes of nature, through natural law, natural wisdom, natural knowledge, natural means
and formulas.
The Word of God clearly
teaches that the manifestation of the sons of God at the close of this age brings FULL
SALVATION, which, of course, includes the BODY OF INCORRUPTION- salvation for spirit, soul
and body. The purpose of this manifestation is twofold: first, to bring full redemption to
God's elect; second, to bring deliverance to all peoples, kindreds, tongues and nations,
to those now living as well as to the vast multitudes who have lived and died throughout
the ages, until sin, sickness, sorrow, darkness, pain and death shall exist no more
anywhere in God' s unbounded universe, worlds without end. Let us notice how the apostle
Paul reveals this purpose of God in the following words: "For even the whole creation
waits expectantly and longs earnestly for God's sons to be made known--waits for the
revealing, the disclosing of their son-ship. For the creation was subjected to frailty--to
futility, condemned to frustration -- not because of some intentional fault on its part,
but by the will of Him who so subjected it. Yet with the hope that creation itself will be
set free from its bondage to decay and corruption and gain an entrance into the glorious
freedom of God's children. We know that the whole creation has been moaning together in
the pains of labor until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves too, who have
and enjoy the first fruits of the Holy Spirit -- a foretaste of the blissful things to
come --groan inwardly as we wait for the redemption of our bodies from sensuality and the
grave, WHICH WILL REVEAL OUR ADOPTION, OUR MANIFESTATION AS GOD'S SONS" (Rom. 8:
19-23, Amplified).
When Paul by inspiration
penned these blessed words of hope he did not have in mind another great
"revival" of the kinds we have experienced in many localities and nations
throughout this age of grace. The creation is not groaning for another evangelistic
campaign, nor for another healing service, nor for more gifts of the Spirit, nor for more
apostles and prophets and teachers, nor for more signs, wonders and miracles, nor yet for
144,000 flaming evangelists just like Jesus when He walked the shores of blue Galilee. In
two thousand years none of these things has ever produced a perfect Church, nor have they
ever brought the fullness of the Kingdom of God, and not even one of them or all of them
put together ever delivered the creation from its bondage to corruption! It is not just
another "patch-up" job we want, but a full and complete and eternal deliverance
from the whole dreadful realm of corruption in spirit, soul and body!
How we praise God and bless
Him unceasingly for every blessing so lavishly bestowed by His bountiful grace. We rejoice
exceedingly in His provision of our daily need, for those healings which have preserved
alive these mortal bodies unto this day, for each sign and wonder that has quickened our
faith and given assurance of His wonderful love, faithful care and gracious presence. We
would not minimize the blessedness of any of these things, yet are aware that none of
these is that for which creation, with ourselves, groans and travails. We cannot --dare
not- be satisfied until we AWAKE IN HIS LIKENESS! Christ shall minister the fullness of
HIS ETERNAL AND INCORRUPTIBLE LIFE to a firstfruits company of sons who shall in turn in
part that same life and glory to the creation. These SONS are alive and in the world
today. They may at this present time be fathers, and mothers, and sons, and
daughters...they may be carpenters, or plumbers, or nurses, or technicians, or truck
drivers, or housewives, or store clerks...or they may be apostles, or prophets, or elders,
or deacons. But it is in their ultimate fashioning as SONS that they shall become the
LIBERATORS that God has in mind for a world in darkness and bondage.
I stated earlier that this
manchild shall be born supernaturally and through faith, and naturalism cannot and will
not have anything to do with the birthing of this man-child. The scriptures make very
clear, using the experience of Abraham and Sarah, who birthed Isaac, the first manchild of
promise that was to come into this world, completely by-passing the processes of nature,
and who was a type of not only Jesus, the manchild that was born two thousand years ago,
but also a type of this many-membered manchild that is going to come forth from us in
these last days, that naturalism is not going to have anything to do with it. It is very
important that all of God's people who are in the flow of God's dealings and revelation
today have this truth deeply implanted into their minds and hearts. For, wherever people
are moving in the revelatory Word and present truth, the Kingdom message, sooner or later
they are going to be visited by so-called "Kingdom Ministry," who will begin
presenting to them natural, fleshly, legalistic, letter of the law means by which they can
go on to perfection in Christ, and this man-child can be brought forth from within them.
Many of us who have contact
with God's elect across the land and around the world, already have run into these
so-called apostles who are teaching these things. They will come into your midst with
their juice blenders advising you that the way God has provided to heal everybody's
diseases and perfect everybody's health and bring the sons of God into longevity and
eternal life is by eating health foods. They will come with their vitamin pills and whole
wheat bread, and wheat germ and herbs and all kinds of things grown out of the earth and
the water, bought from the health food stores, and teach you that the way into health and
longevity and sonship is by ceasing to eat anything that can be bought from the local
supermarket, and going on to eat only those foods that can be bought from the health food
stores.
They will tell you that the
only way that we can go on to perfection is by keeping perfectly the legalistic letter of
the Old Testament dietary laws: touch not, taste not, handle not, don't eat pork, don't
eat meat, if there is a literal animal that chews the cud, but doesn't divide the hoof,
then that meat is unclean to you before God. And before they are finished they will bring
you into a bondage of legalism and naturalism that will separate you completely from the
leadership of the Spirit of God, and God's new creation life, and make you in the end to
bring forth an Ishmael, a child of the flesh, through the processes of nature just as
Hagar did long ago. Hear me! Any ministry which teaches you that God's means for you
fulfilling His will perfectly is to fulfill the letter of God's Word, by keeping typical
laws of it, particularly the laws and statutes of the Old Testament, is deceived by
deceiving spirits, ministering in a deceiving spirit, and bringing you under bondage to a
deceiving spirit. Every law and every statute that God gave in the Old Testament has a
spiritual fulfillment in this New Testament age that is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit.
It is that spiritual fulfillment in reality that God wants to bring forth in us.
Now, don't misunderstand me!
I do not mean that it is healthy to put any and every kind of food into your body. I am by
no means opposed to health foods, proper nutrition, or obeying the natural laws of God
established in the physical realm. In fact, I am personally supportive of these things. I
have learned experientially that the human body is the most amazing and marvelously
constructed mechanism in God's physical universe. It is completely self-constructing,
self-preserving, self-defending, and through the mighty power and intelligence put into it
by the almighty Creator, it is totally self-cleansing, self-repairing, self-restoring and
self-healing. The body is designed to MAINTAIN ITSELF in perfect health, completely free
of disease, if its needs are correctly met, and it is not polluted and clogged with all
kinds of poisons and contaminating debris. Foremost among these needs are fresh air, pure
water, rest and sleep, and a diet to which our bodies are biologically and
constitutionally adapted, namely, fresh raw fruits and vegetables with some raw nuts and
seeds. Volumes could be written on this subject, were that the call of God upon my life. I
have personally been speedily and dramatically healed of seven different physical ailments
simply by converting to the diet our bodies were designed for. And I know for a fact that
thousands of people have been delivered from practically every disease known to mankind
simply by fasting and adapting to the diet to which humans are creatively adapted- fresh,
raw, natural foods. But I can also tell you without fear of contradiction that all the
fruitarians and vegetarians of all previous generations now lie silent in their graves,
for no NATURAL SUBSTANCE possesses one iota of power to impart to spirit, soul or body the
elements of spiritual or ETERNAL LIFE. How can corruption minister incorruption? Proper
nutrition will enhance the performance and extend the life-span of the earthly, mortal
organism, but it has absolutely nothing to do with the nature of God, spiritual life,
divine power, the mind of Christ, perfection, incorruption or sonship!
Beloved, no natural formulas,
no natural foods, no laws of nature, and no teaching that God is going to use the natural
things to produce this supernatural manchild is going to have anything to do with the
birthing of this manchild. It is going to be done supernaturally by the operation of the
Spirit just as Isaac was birthed supernaturally by the operation of the Spirit, and the
only thing that this manchild can eat that is going to enable him to come forth is the
Word of God, which produces faith, for he is going to be born and brought forth and
manifested by faith.
Another delusion that the
carnal mind has foisted upon many who seek after sonship is the notion that divine
enlightenment and incorruptible life comes by the quickening and re-activation of the
PINEAL GLAND, a small cone-shaped gland located at the base of the brain, having no proven
function, but believed to be a vestigial sense or endocrine organ. Some teach that this
gland ceased to function at the time of Adam's transgression in
As we have previously pointed
out, the birthing of the first supernatural child of promise, Isaac, makes this very clear
to us. When God came to Abraham and Sarah, and gave them a promise saying, Behold Sarah
shall have a son, there was no possible way that this child could be born through the laws
of nature or any natural process. Sarah was already so old that her womb was dead. She had
passed the time of women, there was no possible way that this manchild could be born from
her through the natural processes of nature according to the manner of natural women.
There was no natural means by which Abraham could help Sarah to bring forth this manchild.
He had no pill, no doctor, no scientist to give him some foolish promise by which Sarah's
dead womb could be restored to life. He had no juice blenders, no natural health foods,
God didn't give him any dietary laws by which if Sarah kept on the right diet, this
manchild could be born. There was only one thing that Abraham could do to help Sarah bring
forth this manchild, and that was to BELIEVE THE PROMISE OF GOD.
The inspired record in Gen.
21 tells us that when, after twenty-five years of waiting in faith, the promised manchild
was finally born, it was not because nine or ten months before the birth God suddenly
livened up Sarah's womb, or re-activated her pineal gland, and through the natural
processes, and according to the laws of nature, Sarah finally birthed the child. But
Genesis 21 tells us that at the set time GOD VISITED SARAH… the manchild was born,
not through the natural processes of women, but by the sovereign visitation of the Spirit
of God. A sovereign anointing came upon Sarah and she was enabled to birth a supernatural
child of promise. And so it is going to be with this little Virgin Woman, the Bride of
Christ, that is being clothed with the light of the sun, and prepared to bring forth a
manchild. NATURALISM IS NOT GOING TO HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH IT! You can count on that.
It isn't going to come through any naturalistic formulas preached by preachers, including
baptisms, confessions, or any of the rest, but it shall happen supernaturally by faith.
At the Father's set time when
our faith has been tried and proven, there will come the sovereign operation of God by His
Spirit upon this Virgin Bride, and through that sovereign operation of the Spirit of God
there shall come an anointing upon us, a sovereign anointing of God, that will bring forth
and manifest this incorruptible manchild.
The second thing that we need
to have impregnated deeply into our consciousness is that not only is this thing going to
be done supernaturally, but it is going to be done by faith, and through faith, yea, by
and through nothing else. The scriptures make it very clear that there was absolutely
nothing Abraham could do in the natural to help Sarah bring forth this son, except believe
the promise of God. It was through twenty-five years of believing God's promise and firmly
embracing and clinging to God's promise, and through much testing that this manchild was
finally born.
In that wonderful fourth
chapter of Romans is revealed to us the great faith that Abraham had when it proclaims
that HE STAGGERED NOT AT THE PROMISE OF GOD, but was STRONG IN FAITH, giving glory to God,
and the Lord imputed his faith to him for righteousness and the manchild was born. The
divine record states that Abraham staggered not at the promise of God. This is the problem
with many saints today, they stagger at the promises of God. The promises seem so high and
glorious that they do not have the faith to take hold of them. Particularly as God is
speaking to His elect in this day, that there is coming an hour when right here as we
stand upon our two feet many of us shall be suddenly and gloriously changed from
corruptible to incorruptible. This promise is not only in the written Word, but is
quickened to us by the Spirit of God, that it shall be fulfilled in a people in these days
at the close of the age. It is so high and so glorious that it staggers the mind of those
who try to grasp the things of God with their intellect instead of by the spirit. But
Abraham staggered not at the promise of God, and was strong in faith, giving glory to God.
Even during his whole twenty-five year period of testing, he simply went about as we are
today, praising and glorifying God for the wonderful promise, saying, Thank you Lord, I
know you are going to do it; praise God! I know your promise will not fail. And for no
other reason than this manifested faith, the sovereign visitation of God came and the
manchild was born.
I would earnestly exhort the
elect of God in this momentous hour that the faith of yesterday and yesteryear is not
sufficient for today. The admonition of the inspired apostle is especially meaningful for
God's apprehended ones at this time, wherein he says, "Therefore leaving the
principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on to perfection; not laying again the
foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of
baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal
judgment" (Heb. 6:1-2).
The King James Version here
instructs us to leave the "principles" of the doctrine of Christ. The Moffat
translation says, "Let us pass on then to what is mature, leaving ELEMENTARY
CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE BEHIND..." The
In spite of such a plain
admonition the sad fact is that not one believer in a million ever gets beyond these first
stepping stones- these elementary rudiments of the doctrine of Christ. The Spirit declares
that ALL these elementary rudiments of the doctrine of Christ pertain to the realm of
LITTLE CHILDREN- babes in Christ. In the verses immediately preceding the passage under
consideration the apostle says, "For every one who continues to feed on milk is
obviously inexperienced and unskilled in the doctrine of righteousness, that is, of
conforming to the divine will in purpose, thought, and action, for he is a MERE INFANT
--NOT ABLE TO TALK YET! But solid food is for full-grown men, for those whose senses are
trained..." (Heb. 5:13-14, Amplified Bible). It is very easy to spot a spiritual
babe, for he will always be dwelling around one or more of these ELEMENTARY
PRINCIPLES...laying and re-laying that foundation. It is one of the great marvels of the
universe, and perhaps the eighth wonder of the world, that the family of God has not
completely disappeared from the face of the earth, for it is crystal clear to any who have
eyes to see that the preachers and leaders of the church world today are altogether as
INFANTILE as the church members! They are one and all, according to the criterion of our
text, merely spiritual infants. These slobbering, sputtering, dribbling infants are in
charge of the care and feeding of the whole congregation of infants. Truly it is the
phenomenon of the ages that they have not all starved to death or died in their own
purulence.
Now there is nothing wrong
with laying these elementary foundations for those that need them, but the immature babes
in Christ will always be known by the fact that they will continue to minister these
things over and over to God's people who should long ago have passed on to higher things.
But those believers sit there in those meetings week after week and service after service
drinking that same diet of MILK. And those same preachers, day after day, and year after
year, continue to USE MILK and minister milk to the people of God. No wonder they NEVER GO
ON TO PERFECTION! And these babes, from the pulpit to the pew, are busily engaged in
defending these "fundamental" and ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES of the doctrine of
Christ. That's all they know. Start to talk about perfection, sonship, immortality, the
Melchizedek Order, the army of God, bringing in the Kingdom and other things related to
God's great Kingdom purposes and you are as a Barbarian to them--they have not the
foggiest notion what in the world you are talking about !
Oh! that once and for all we
might clearly see that for us too, NEARLY EVERYTHING WE HAVE EXPERIENCED UP TO NOW has its
existence in that realm of elementaries! And it is from HERE that we are exhorted to GO ON
TO PERFECTION. You don't go into the first principles in order to go on to perfection. You
leave them! The fullness of God in Christ lies beyond all these. If you choose to remain
there you simply will never arrive at spiritual maturity in God. The elementary principles
are just GRAMMAR SCHOOL for those who would be sons indeed. They constitute the "in
part" realm in which we move before that which is PERFECT is come. LET US GO ON TO
PERFECTION is the present call of the Spirit.
In Hebrews 6:1-2 the Holy
Spirit lists FAITH among the elementary principles of the doctrine of Christ. But let us
note that it is not simply FAITH of which the Spirit speaks, but FAITH TOWARD GOD. This
distinction is important. The word "toward" is the translation of the Greek word
EPI which means "upon," "to," or "toward." The Greek
Interlinear New Testament which I have at hand renders this as "faith upon God."
The thought is of a faith which turns one in a specific direction and THRUSTS HIM UPON
GOD. This faith is directed totally TOWARD God and bears along the one identified with it
so that he in turn is directed toward and cast upon God. The Amplified Bible comes very
close to expressing the correct thought from the Greek: "Let us not again be laying
the foundation of...the faith BY WHICH YOU TURNED TO GOD." Thus, this elementary
faith, this faith toward God, is that first ministration of faith to our hearts which
turns us around from our stumbling in ignorance and blindness, causing us to trust in the
living God who is the Saviour of all men. If you lay again and again that foundation you
will in the consciousness of your weakness and sin, continually be turning again and again
to repentance, getting "saved" over and over, never overcoming the flesh, the
world, or the devil, but ever "turning" again and again to the Lord for mercy
and salvation. Elementary faith is first and foremost the faith that reconciles and saves
us --which also appropriates the many elementary blessings and benefits of our redemption
such as forgiveness, healing, material provision, gifts of the Spirit, answers to prayer,
etc.
We must not, however, dwell
here in this realm of elementary faith for it is the faith of our babyhood walk in God. We
are commanded to LEAVE this dimension of faiths and go on to perfection, even PERFECT
FAITH. It is required, therefore, that we press on to a HIGHER AND GREATER FAITH which
will lay hold upon BETTER THINGS...embracing BETTER PROMISES...revealing the ULTIMATE
PURPOSES of God...a faith that will bring the body of Christ into the completion and
perfection of God's eternal purpose in the elect. This is why the Spirit is sounding the
trumpet across the land, thundering the Kingdom message from one end of the earth to the
other! There are those who hear the trumpet sounding for the next great move of God in the
earth, and they pull up their tent stakes, get their eyes on the forward moving cloud of
His presence and glory, and faith is being evoked in them to literally WALK OUT each and
every dealing of God in their lives until they fully and completely qualify to receive a
Kingdom and Glory that far transcends any glory yet revealed unto the sons of men.
There is a most significant
passage of scripture in Rom. 1:17: "For therein is the righteousness of God revealed
from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith." The full import
of this verse is beautifully brought out in the Amplified Bible: "For in the gospel a
righteousness which God ascribes is revealed, both SPRINGING FROM faith and LEADING TO
faith --disclosed through the WAY OF FAITH which AROUSES TO MORE FAITH. As it is written,
The man who through faith is just and upright SHALL LIVE AND SHALL LIVE by faith!"
Ah, the gospel reveals a righteousness which both SPRINGS FROM FAITH and LEADS TO FAITH.
The righteousness of God in us springs from the elementary faith God ministers to us when
we are saved, turned toward God, reconciled. But once the work of God has commenced within
us His objective is to cause His inworking in us to LEAD US ON TO FAITH--that is, from one
degree of faith to another! This is the "WAY OF FAITH, that AROUSES TO MORE
FAITH." The unfolding of God's revelatory truth in this hour is leading the body of
Christ into an understanding of God's ULTIMATE PURPOSE in them--GOD MANIFESTED IN THE
FLESH. And in keeping with this expanded vision the Spirit is INCREASING OUR FAITH FROM
ONE REALM OF FAITH TO ANOTHER until finally that PERFECT FAITH, yea, that ULTIMATE FAITH
shall have been evoked within and we shall apprehend that ultimate purpose of God.
It is ULTIMATE FAITH realized
in God's ULTIMATE PEOPLE that shall bring to pass in the earth God's ULTIMATE PURPOSE. Let
us go on to perfection!
Chapter
7
VIRGO
-- THE VIRGIN
( continued )
"And God said, Let there
be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be
for SIGNS, and for seasons, and for days, and years" (Gen. 1:14).
The word for
"signs" as found in the passage above is OTH in the Hebrew. A sign is a mark to
indicate something greater than the mark itself. Musical notes are symbols, or signs, to
the pianist sitting at his instrument. If the pianist interprets the notes together in
proper sequence, then the audience hears what the creator of the music intended when he
wrote the composition. Likewise, the heavens are signs, as notes on a sheet of music. If
we interpret the signs in the heavens correctly, then we can understand and appreciate the
symphony of God's creation from the beginning to the end. Signs in the heavens can also be
compared to notes of music in another way. As the pianist plays a concerto, the music,
like a constant revelation, is heard in its proper sequence. Similarly, "signs"
in Gen. 1:14 mean that the heavens are the unfurling of God's revelation to man. In other
words, the heavens tell the story of things to come--they PROPHESY!
PICTURES speak in every
language, and this significant fact was recognized by the psalmist in Psalm 19 as in
spirit he stated that the heavens declare a Divine meaning, in universal language, to all
people, everywhere. Almighty Lord! in whom dwelleth the wisdom and knowledge of the
universe, may our hearts be filled with the holy assurance that the starry hosts shining
in the night skies above us are like a glorious PICTURE BOOK which God has placed wide
open above us. It is full of wonderful things, glorious beyond words, for us to see and
learn about Himself, our selves, and His great and stupendous plan for us. They speak in
every language to every people. And they speak and reveal the majesty of God's great plan
and purposes to His creation. Upon the blue sapphire of the firmament is spread a sheet of
royal paper written all over with the wisdom and power of God. This Book of Creation is
not sold in stores, but it is to be read by everyone who lifts his eyes up to heaven.
To establish the message of
God's Bible in the sky, the Lord selected three of the most godly and eminent of men at
the beginning of history--Adam, Seth and Enoch. It is not our purpose to go into the
wearisome trail of historical evidence in support of the fact I have just stated--but it
does exist. According to Arabic tradition the signs came from Seth and from Enoch. This is
the same tradition that the Greeks have, only they knew Enoch as "Atlas." This
is the same tradition the Egyptians have, only they knew Enoch as "Hermes." But
all these go back to the grandson of Adam and say that Enoch and his father Seth were the
founders of this ancient understanding of the heavens. In the divine record of the fourth
creative day the sun, moon, and stars were arranged as lights in the sky, and these lights
were designated to be for SIGNS, so that night after night, year after year, in the purple
depths of the midnight sky, those burning suns show forth and silently but ceaselessly
proclaim the Great Revelation. There is only one system in the universe where STARS and
SIGNS are united together and that is in the SIGNS OF THE ZODIAC, also called the
Celestial Signs and the Twelve Signs. Ancient and modern civilized nations have called
them Signs. The renowned Jewish historian, Josephus, mentions Seth as the first
astronomer, or arranger of the Zodiac. The ancient Egyptians said SET (Seth) was the
inventor of astronomy--and astronomy in ancient times was by the study of the Signs of the
Zodiac. And according to Gen. 4:25-26 it was directly through the ministry of Seth that
MEN BEGAN TO CALL upon THE NAME OF YAHWEH. The method by which Seth taught the knowledge
of God was by the stars of heaven, for there was no written scripture in that early time.
Seth gave a name to each star group, designating them by the attributes of Yahweh and the
characters and events involved in the great scheme of redemption. He named the first sign
VIRGO--for the Redeemer of the world would come forth as a child, born of a Virgin. The
last sign he named LEO--the figure of a great rampant lion, leaping forth to rend, with
his feet over the writhing body of Hydra, the Serpent, which is in the act of fleeing. The
Lion of the tribe of
At the time of the building
of the tower of Babel, under the rebellion and apostasy of Nimrod, who introduced idolatry
into the world, this glorious truth of God was corrupted into pagan mythology, whereby
instead of these being signs of God and His salvation, by which men should know the Lord,
and understand His wonderful plan of the ages, they were changed into deities themselves
and people began to worship the host of heaven: the sun, the moon, the planets and the
stars. These became the great gods of
THE DECANS
In ancient times there were
more constellations recognized than the twelve signs of the Zodiac. Each of the twelve
signs has three other constellations grouped around it. Thus, altogether there are twelve
Zodiacal signs with 36 additional constellations. These secondary constellations are
called "Decans," from the Shemitic term DEK, meaning a "part" or
"piece." The Decans are therefore "sidepieces," indicating that they
belong to the sign and that their message is a part of that sign's message. As previously
pointed out, each Zodiacal sign has three Decans, or three secondary constellations
grouped about it. These three additional constellations are a part of that sign's
revelation. Therefore, to fully comprehend the significance of each sign we must examine
not only the major sign, but also its three Decans. The sign of VIRGO has its three
Decans: the constellations of Coma, Centaurus, and Bootes. Before proceeding to the next
major sign let us consider the three Decans or other pieces of Virgo's house.
COMA
The first is called Coma. It
depicts a woman sitting in a chair holding a child in her arms, which she is contemplating
and admiring. The name Coma means "the desired" or "the longed
for"--the very word which Haggai the prophet uses where he speaks of the coming
Messiah as "THE DESIRE of all nations." "And I will shake all nations, and
THE DESIRE of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the
Lord of hosts" (Hag. 2:7). The ancient Egyptian name for this constellation was
SHES-NU, meaning THE DESIRED SON! The woman in Virgo, and the woman in this first Decan of
Virgo, as well as the sun-clad woman in Rev. 12 are one and the same; and the infant here
is everywhere identified with the Seed and the Branch. Historically this is Jesus the
Christ. But prophetically it is the manchild of the manifested sons of God--the complete
Christ, Head and body. Oh, the mystery of it! How this precious child is DESIRED!
"For even the whole
creation waits expectantly and longs earnestly for God's sons to be made known--waits for
the revealing, the disclosing of their sonship. For...the creation itself will be set free
from its bondage to decay and corruption and gain an entrance into the glorious freedom of
God's children" (Rom. 8:19,21). When Paul by inspiration penned these blessed words
of hope he did not have in mind a manifestation of God's sons after the order of which
Jesus was manifested while on earth. Jesus glorified the Father on the earth plane, and so
do we; but this is not the glory yet to be revealed that we anticipate, neither is it the
hope for which the whole creation is in travail. The glory to which we are called as sons
of God is not the glory Jesus had on earth, but the glory for which He prayed when His
earth-walk was completed: "And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self
with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was." Paul wrote, "When
Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall YE also appear WITH HIM IN GLORY"
(Co1. 3:4). And Peter declared, "But the God of all grace...hath called us unto HIS
ETERNAL GLORY by Christ Jesus" (I Pet. 5:10).
I can assure you, precious
friend of mine, that this resurrection glory, this incorruptible glory, this eternal glory
is the HOPE OF ALL CREATION. We rejoice in the manifestation of the gifts of the Spirit,
in prophecies, visions, healings, miracles, temporal blessings and provisions, but I must
confess that I am saddened to see the Lord's people continually following after mere
TEMPORAL SIGNS and PHYSICAL, MATERIAL, MORTAL BLESSINGS. It is a distress to my soul to
see my precious sick brethren (as well as myself) healed by the power of God, only to
behold them smitten later by some other debilitating disease. What sorrow it brings to the
human heart to see the precious men and/women of God who have walked in the Spirit, and
proclaimed the revelation of God, and have so mightily blessed God's people finally grow
old or be struck down by some loathsome disease and pass from our midst into the silence
of the grave. I grow tired of healing the sick only to see them sick again. It is
frustrating to pray for the same saints over and over again for the same problems and
weaknesses. I say it reverently, but I am weary of seeing the dead raised just to watch
them aging and weakening on their way into death again. I tire of signs and wonders which
cater only to the flesh, and minister solely to the physical man on the plane of
mortality: food, raiment, money, and all the rest of the corruptible things of earth. I am
deeply discontented with that which blesses men in the natural but then leaves them to
carry on their lives in corruptible bodies and natures. There is NO ETERNAL GLORY nor is
there any release from THE BONDAGE OF CORRUPTION in any of these things. How expressive
the word which the Spirit selected when He inspired the apostle to write: "For in
this (our earthly house) we groan, EARNESTLY DESIRINC to be clothed upon with our house
which is from heaven... that mortality might be swallowed up of life" (II Cor.
5:1-5). Paul says that the whole creation GROANS and EARNESTLY AWAITS the manifestation of
the sons of God, and we ourselves ALSO GROAN, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the
redemption of our body. This incorruptible race of the manifested sons of God is the
"desired son"--COMA! The "greater works" of which Jesus spoke will
appear when this corruptible has fully put on incorruption and the sons of God are put on
display in the fullness of His divine life and Glory. When we consider the transcendent
majesty and power of the glory of a ministry beyond limitation, death, and the curse, it
seems but little wonder that such deliverance and reality is indeed THE DESIRE OF ALL
NATIONS. With what anticipation do we wait for this glorious manifestation!
CENTAURUS
The second constellation of
Virgo is Centaurus. It is depicted as a centaur, which in ancient times was a creature
having the head and torso of a man, with the body and legs of a horse, and thus a
dual-natured being. Centaurs were believed to be heaven-begotten. They were born of the
clouds; they were sons of the gods. But they were despised, hated and abhorred by both
gods and men. They were fought, driven to the mountains, and finally exterminated. The
Centaur in the Decan of Virgo is pictured going forth as a hunter, with a spear he is
slaying a beast which is called the VICTIM, and the whole scene appears in the heavens
against the back-ground of the Southern Cross or Crux. The name of this constellation in
Arabic, Chaldaic and Hebrew was BEZEH, meaning "the despised one"--just the
opposite of Coma, "the desired." Yet--they are one and the same! This title
BEZEH, meaning "the despised one," is found several times in Hebrew Old
Testament. Most commonly known of the passages in which it is to be discovered is Isa.
53:3 where it appears twice in one verse. Referring to the rejection of
Let us summarize the scene.
Here is a double-natured being, out of the heavens, yet in the likeness of men, who, to
men is repulsive and despised, yet really great, powerful and beneficent, pushing with his
spear at the heart of some victim, and moving all the while over the constellation of the
Cross. What a picture! Historically this is Jesus, the man who is the Lord from heaven,
but made in the likeness of sinful flesh, humbling Himself to be despised and rejected of
men, yet great, powerful and glorious with words divine attended by signs, wonders,
miracles, and authority and grace such as men had never witnessed, yet laying down His
life, slaying Himself, as a Victim, over a cross, as a sacrifice, a sweet smelling saviour
unto God.
The message which beams from
this awe-inspiring picture like the blazing rays of the noon-day sun is one of SACRIFICIAL
LOVE--REDEEMING LOVE. The truth of love in Jesus Christ was that He loved without
retaliation for evil, a love that suffered long, even to the agonies of the cross, and
then was kind enough to pray: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they
do" (Lk. 23:34). And I declare to you that regardless of what other sins those wicked
men may come into judgment for, they will never stand in the judgment condemned for
killing the Son of God, for HE AND HIS FATHER FORGAVE THEM! This truth of the love of God
in Jesus Christ must also be true in us, the younger sons of God. Jesus did not love
people because He loved Himself, as it was under the law. It was the Father's
unconditional and all-surpassing love flowing through Him, surging as a mighty river out
to humanity, overflowing redemptively, so that He could say, "Let your love for
others not be based on love for yourself, but on what was true in Me: If the Father could
love Judas through Me, and love Peter through Me, and the people that crucified Me, then
let the Father's love so find expression through you."
In years past we have sung a
chorus that goes like this: "His love has no limits, His grace has no measure, His
power has no boundaries known unto man; for out of His infinite riches in Jesus, He
giveth, and giveth, and giveth again." This is a lovely chorus and I love to sing it
and I say it is true. In Jesus Christ, there is NO LIMIT to His love, NO MEASURE to His
grace, and NO BOUNDARIES to His power for He is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and
His mercy endureth FOREVER. If I say that there is one sin, one condition, one creature,
one place, one age or group of ages unto which His love and His grace shall not reach then
I LIE and know not the truth. Jesus loved His friends, His enemies, the man who betrayed
Him, the man who denied Him, the men who nailed Him to the cross. There just was no limit
to His love! You could never find a place where you could say, "So far would He love,
but no farther." Is that love true in us? Or do we say, "Well, I will only stand
so much, I will only forgive so long, I will only trust so far, and that is the end of
it." It is God's purpose that His love should find no limit in us, His grace no
measure in us and His power no boundary in us.
God is preparing a people
who, when they stand up and say, "God is love," are not talking about God's love
in heaven, or God's love in Jesus; no, they will be expressing the love of God in their
own person. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son"
(Jn. 3:16). Everyone likes a verse like that. But how many would like a verse like this:
"God still loves the world so much that He would like to give His sons, right
now." We do not like that. We like to be sons if God will keep us, if He will bless
us, if He will take us to His bosom and not let us go. But what does God do with His sons?
Why, He GIVES THEM! Jesus said, "As the Father has sent Me, even so send I you."
What did Jesus also say? "This is My flesh, My B-O-D-Y, which I GIVE for the life of
the world." If we are His body, then will He not give us for the life of the world?
"Oh," someone says, "I do not like the kind of religion where I do not get
something." Well, my brother, my sister, that is how it starts, by receiving, but it
must not end there. We must come to the place where God can give us, where we can lie down
and become a channel, a river--the
This is the high drama of the
double-natured Centaur carrying the spear and slaying the Victim--for those elect sons of
God represented by this Centaur are both human and divine, earthly and heavenly, and they
are both Centaur and Victim. It means the laying down of the life for the world. It is the
receiving of heaven's life into earthen vessels, but not for our sakes, but for creation's
sake, that there shall be an out-flowing of God into men's lives. If you have been trying
to prove something out of the Bible, let it be proved out of your life instead. Let us
say, "Father, make your truth to be reality and life in me and through me." This
is sonship! This, beloved, is the Victim dying, not in the place of mankind, but FOR or ON
BEHALF of mankind, universally pouring out his life unto all. This is God IN us, God AS
us, God LIVING THROUGH us, God FLOWING OUT of us, loving through us, redeeming through us,
reconciling and restoring all by us. Amen. So be it!
THE FOOLISH FIVE-FOLD MINISTRY
There is a truth enunciated
by the apostle Paul in I Cor. 1:26-29 that should hold us spellbound once we grasp its
meaning. The statement is very simple and, like so many profound truths, it is easily
missed, going completely unnoticed. But you, O people of God, partakers of the heavenly
calling and sharers together with Christ Jesus in the sonship for which all creation
groans, should give continual meditation and consideration to these words. Paul, having
stated that Christ is both the wisdom and power of God, and that the FOOLISHNESS OF GOD is
wiser than men and the WEAKNESS OF GOD stronger than men, says, "For ye see your
calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many
noble, are called: but God hath chosen the FOOLISH THINGS of the world to confound the
wise; and God hath chosen the WEAK things of the world to confound the things which are
mighty; and BASE things of the world, and things which are DESPISED, hath God chosen, yea,
and things which ARE NOT, to bring to naught things that are: that no flesh should glory
in His presence."
There are five powerful
ministries listed in this remarkable passage--a FIVE-FOLD MINISTRY. Many men have aspired
to be a part of God's great five-fold ministry set forth in Eph. 4:11. Who wouldn't covet
the ministry of an apostle, a prophet, an evangelist, a pastor or teacher? The world has
been turned up-side down by such ministries! But the five-fold ministry revealed in I Cor.
1:27-28 has nothing to do with these ministries at all. Rather, it is what I have termed
GOD'S FOOLISH FIVE-FOLD MINISTRY. These five ministries are just as real and far more
powerful, effective and far-reaching than the more popular five-fold ministry. The five
ministries mentioned in Eph. 4:11 are exclusively for the body of Christ, for the
perfecting of the saints, but the five superlative ministries set forth in I Cor. 1:27-28
are universal in scope, Kingdom in character, subduing all things unto God. This powerful
and effective five-fold ministry shakes empires off their hinges, subdues kingdoms,
confounds the wisdom of the mighty, and brings to naught all the things that are. All
those blessed ones apprehended to sonship will share in this invincible ministry. In spite
of their surpassing glory and irresistible power we do not desire them, but they come to
us just as surely as day follows night. They come to us unannounced and unsolicited. None
of us would invite these God-ordained ministries to come our way! But God in His great
wisdom and unsearchable ways sends them to us that we may know Him as He is and learn the
strange but wonderful WAYS OF HIS KINGDOM. Now that we see how important and powerful
these ministries are, let me present them to you:
1.
foolish things
2. weak things
3. base things
4. despised things
5. things which are not
We need not look to the great
men of this age, nor yet to the esteemed religious leaders of this age, nor the wise men
after the corrupt wisdom of this age to be the ones who will bear the government of the
Seeing, then, that God has
rejected the wisdom and power and honor of this world and its vain system and has chosen
instead a people that the wisdom of the world considers foolish, stupid, weak and of no
account, we should readily see that divine wisdom has chosen those who for His name are
despised, who glory not in the wisdom of men, but who glory in the hidden wisdom of God
revealed in Jesus Christ our Lord who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness,
sanctification and redemption, according as it is written, "He that glorieth, let him
glory in the Lord" (I Cor. 1:31).
It is interesting to note
that the word FOOLISH is from the Greek word MOROS meaning "dull, stupid, heedless,
blockhead, absurd." Furthermore, this Greek word is the word from which we get our
English word
There is absolutely no need
for any of us to try to search out the ways, means and methods that God employs to bring
His purposes to pass. For God has declared and written that He will destroy the wisdom of
the wise and will even bring to nothing the wisdom of the prudent. And, as we have seen,
the FOOLISHNESS of God, is WISER than men. Or this thing that appears to be so foolish to
the carnal mind (the Christ and His work) is actually the WISDOM OF GOD. Not a great many
wise men, after the flesh, are called of God. They are left to follow the plan prescribed
for them, and in God's due time and according to His plan, they will be brought to a
knowledge of God. Their wisdom, which is nothing but foolishness, will drop from them,
light will shine upon their path and they will be brought to understand at last what true
wisdom is.
"For though He was
crucified through weakness, yet He liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in
Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God" (II Cor. 13:4). "I can do
all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Phil. 4:13). In becoming WEAK IN
HIM, brought to obedience unto the death of His cross, we are also brought to the end of
our self-life, in its carnality, perverted consciousness, distorted understanding, and
deceptive illusion. But rather than being destroyed by this process, there is a new and
glorious living by the power of God out of our own reality of SPIRIT-LIFE. There is a
revelation in weakness that few have comprehended. The purpose is to magnify the supremacy
of the SPIRIT, the power of the divine life released through us, while discouraging
completely the strength, wisdom, and reality of the OUTER MAN. Again I would share an
enlightening insight from the able pen of Ray Prinzing: "Regardless of Paul's natural
stature, be he a short man, or otherwise, I do envision him standing before men and
speaking with power and authority because of the revelation of God which he possessed, and
because of the anointing upon his message. His boldness, his free-spokenness was IN GOD,
not as the result of being psyched up by his own ego. The natural world today relies
heavily upon this self-psyched state. Athletes will win or lose a game according to the
degree they mentally 'jack themselves up' until they feel themselves to be superior to all
the athletes in contest with them. On the energy-force of this mental state, combined with
a physical body that has been toned and prepared for this hour, they emit a
self-confidence that is used to intimidate their opponent. However this self-induced state
cannot be maintained, and they will 'peak out,' burn up their resources, and afterwards
have a 'let down' and be unable to continue any immediately stressful conflict. How
OPPOSITE is the way of the child of God, who knows that 'in himself he is nothing,' and
then, relying solely upon the power of God, can move forth in divine confidence. Thus, at
the same time Paul was speaking forth the truth by the power of the Spirit, yet he was
conscious of his own weakness, that in his flesh (outer man) dwelt no good thing (Rom.
7:18). Be there any sufficiency at all, it would have to be BY THE POWER OF GOD. Nor did
Paul desire that people put their trust in him--this would be building a kingdom of man,
which man would have to maintain. There must be a BALANCE, for while we have a
'consciousness of our weakness,' we must not develop a WEAKNESS COMPLEX. For though it is
true, I AM WEAK, yet it is also true, I CAN DO ALL THINGS! Thank God when He imparts to us
a real understanding and comprehension of our own weakness--we should not despair because
of it, because it becomes the arena wherein He can show forth HIS POWER. 'Out of weakness
were made strong...' (Heb. 11:34)" --end quote.
In the physical universe we
have the example of the atom. The tremendous power which we fear in our world is not the
flow of great rivers or the floods which they cause. It is not the might of the tide as it
pushes the millions of tons of water forward and then draws them back again. It is not the
flash of the lightning or the crack of the thunder. It is something so small that we
cannot see it. It is the atom which we fear, and it is the atom which has the unlimited
power to blow the world apart. What would seem to be the weakest thing in the world is in
reality an unbelievably powerful force. So it is that God in His dealing with humanity
uses, not the great spectacular things which worldly rulers use, but the insignificant
things which men despise
One of the unique workings of
God in the earth is that He has always delighted to use small instances to launch mighty
movements. Divine wisdom has never been particular about the condition or position from
which He selects His privileged sons who were to change the ages. God has His failures.
His Kingdom cannot do without them. These failures are His men and women of promise, weak
in themselves and the wisdom of this world, often walking the way of defeat, failure,
humiliation, and resignation--unto glory. Did God choose ancient
Pharaoh thought that by
slaying all the Hebrew male infants in Egypt that he could further oppress the people of
God, but the very edict he sent forth opened the door for little Moses to slip right into
his own house and be raised as his own son, finally overthrowing his throne and scattering
the Egyptian tyrant and his armies upon the rocky depths of the Red Sea. Thus was the
wisdom of
God chooses the foolish
things. It must have seemed very foolish to the people of
The Lord spoke to, and dealt
with Gideon so encouragingly, when he was hidden in the winepress beating out wheat. The
angel saluted him with: "Yahweh is with thee, thou mighty man of valor." Gideon
did not appear to be either a mighty man or a man of valor, for he was hidden away for
fear of the enemy. But it was not anything in Gideon that made him mighty; it was because
of the Mighty One in the midst of him. And the Lord led him on until His gentleness made
Gideon great, and he really became a mighty man of valor. How preciously God woos us on;
and as we yield that He may work in us, He ascribes to us the fruit of His own working
upon and within us, for HE IS MIGHTY IN US. What could be weaker than Gideon's three
hundred, and what were their weapons? Nothing but lamps and pitchers, and the lamps would
not shine until the pitchers were broken. The earthen pitcher represents the majority of
believers today whose consciousness of their identity in the outer flesh-life has never
been smashed to pieces by the inward power of the Holy Spirit. But when the pitchers were
broken the inner light shone out with such brilliance that three hundred men with NOTHING
BUT LIGHT were enough to scatter the hosts of the enemy and give victory. If our military
generals are going to fight a battle they would want more men than that. But when God
wants to fight a battle He delights in getting hold of the SMALLEST THING HE CAN FIND. He
knew how to tumble a cake of barley-meal down into the camp of the Midianites, and have it
confuse them so that they fell to slaying themselves, and the victory was the Lord's. In
like manner ONE WORD from the realm of SPIRIT is enough to confuse and put to flight all
the forces of sin, sickness, sorrow and death from the carnal mind.
What was weaker than David's
sling? It was just such a sling as any boy could make. David slipped down to the brook and
picked up five stones, and gained a victory for God that all the army of
Note how rare it is that a
prophet ever comes forth from the ranks of privilege in either Church or State. Your
mighty Elisha comes from the plough; it is seldom that he comes from the conventional
school of the prophets. It seemed very foolish for Jesus in choosing disciples to ignore
What was ever so weak as
Christ? "He was crucified through weakness" (II Cor. 13:4). When God said,
"Let us make man in our image, and after our likeness, and let them have
dominion," it seems that God made a mistake. When He lowered that man into this gross
material realm, made of dirt, of the dust of the ground, and formed him with the kind of
human body we have, flesh and blood, soul and body, with all the appetites, desires and
weaknesses we have, all the frailty, all the ability for twisting, warping, and spoiling
things, when He created us like that and then thought that in such a physical, human,
natural, earth-made body HIS IMAGE COULD BE MANIFESTED, it seems that God was mistaken.
Could that human creature limited like us, rule the world, and judge angels, and subdue
and control all the unbounded heavens unto the unlimited vastnesses of infinity? So God
said, I will invade humanity and come down in the person of My Son, limit Myself to a
human, physical body just like man has, with all its appetites, hunger, weakness, sorrow
and death, and I will demonstrate the character, the life, the love, and the power of God
on the human level. THE INCARNATION WAS GOD MANIFESTING HIMSELF WITHIN THE LIMITATION OF A
HUMAN BODY. Christ could not fly like a bird, He could not see further than anybody else,
He could not run faster than the other young men in His day, He got as tired as anybody
else, He got hungry and thirsty, fell asleep, they could spit on Him and finally kill Him.
Yet in Jesus Christ you have the perfect expression of God and the demonstration of the
ultimate triumph of THE SPIRIT over all the weakness of the flesh.
What is the importance of God
in Christ Jesus? It means that the Spirit of God, the Son of God, the inner man, God
Himself, can live and express Himself in a physical human body. When God invaded humanity
in the body of Jesus Christ, took upon Himself human nature and limitation, was made in
the likeness, not of glorified flesh, but of sinful flesh, and for thirty-three and a half
years lived, walked, slept, and died in that body, manifesting God in the scope of
humanity, it meant that God can by His Spirit of life within you, my beloved, live in
these human bodies of ours, living in us, loving in us, reigning in us, speaking in us,
blessing in us, and manifesting Himself in the absolute fullness of His Godhead. Being
mocked, God was living in Him. Asleep in the back of a boat, God was living in Him. He
goes to a tree and finds nothing on it, and God is living in Him. When He was weary,
persecuted, hated, spit upon, nailed to the cross, God was in Christ reconciling the world
unto Himself.
Do you see what God did? He
made it possible for Himself to be at home in human bodies. "The tabernacle of God is
with MAN" (Rev. 21:3). Not with angels, with man. "We beheld His glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth" (Jn. 1:14). The
Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. "Let the Word of Christ dwell in you,"
is the inspired admonition (Col. 3:16). This is not God in Jesus, this is God in YOU! That
is not just a figure of speech, in your physical body is the tabernacle, the dwelling
place of the eternal God. In man dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. "That
you might be filled with ALL THE FULLNESS OF GOD" (Eph. 3:19). God demonstrated this
will of God for all mankind in the person of Jesus Christ, GOD manifest in the flesh.
"The Father and I will...make our abode--be at home--with you" (Jn. 14:23).
"Abode" means not to be a visitor but to settle down, without conflict. The
SPIRIT will abide with you forever, so that the mind of the Spirit flows through your mind
normally and naturally. The word of God shall flow out of your mouth normally and
naturally. It seems some so-called prophecy cannot come forth unless the speaker starts to
shake or change his tone of voice. Don't you know that God was speaking through Jesus all
the time?
It is a wonder when we think
of the method that God used to accomplish the redemption. It was not that He appeared as
some blazing flame of fire from the heavens. No! He came as "a little tiny baby thing
that made His mother cry." God in swaddling clothes! A wonder indeed to behold! God
as a teenager, God as a carpenter, God as the wandering peasant preacher who proclaimed a
new message which startled men. Everywhere He went He caused people to wonder, "What
manner of man is this?" In one moment He is wearily lying in the back of a ship and
in the next He says, "Peace, be still," and the waves cease their roaring and
the winds die at His command. "What manner of man is this?" "Whence hath He
these things, seeing that He never learned?" Here the wisest man that ever lived
astounds the doctors and the lawyers and the theologians with the depth and profundity of
His wisdom. It is a wonder by the principle on which it operates, a principle which is so
foreign to anything we know in this world. It is a principle which most people have never
even dimly grasped--that God is Spirit, that God tabernacles in human flesh, that man is
basically spiritual, not physical, that we can live out of the Spirit so that out of the
greatest weakness is revealed the greatest strength, God manifest in the flesh! It is the
principle that GOD HATH CHOSEN THE FOOLISH, WEAK, BASE, AND DESPISED THINGS of the world
to confound the wisdom of the wise and the power of the mighty.
The meaning of the
incarnation is that God could drink out of a bottle if Jesus drank out of a bottle, God in
Him learned to crawl before He learned to walk, God learned a language and stumbled over
the words before He got it straight, for God limited Himself to the limitation of man that
He might increase in man to the unlimited capacity of the Spirit. When God dwells in us
and Christ is living in us, it is not something foreign that has invaded us. Paul did not
say, "For me to be spiritual and shake and fall out under the power is Christ."
He said, "For me to LIVE is Christ" (Phil. 1:21). Living for Paul did not mean
those supernatural moments when he was seeing visions and hearing voices and being caught
up into the third heaven. It meant for Paul to walk from one town to another on the dusty
streets with Christ walking in him and as him. It was for Paul to sew tents, with Christ
making tents through him. It was speaking to people and manifesting the love of God, with
Christ manifesting that love through him. THE LIVING OF HIS LIFE WAS CHRIST. So now God
can be at home in us, without any strangeness or abnormality. God can live in us, manifest
His life in us in the office, in the shop, in the home, in every relationship of life. At
all times, in all places, under all circumstances it is God manifest in the flesh, the
Spirit living out through the soul and body. As one brother said, "I drive my car in
the Spirit--if you don't believe it you should see the spirit some people drive their cars
in!"
As great as was the mighty
apostle Paul, yet he said that he was the "chief of sinners," the "off
scouring of all things," "contemptible" in the eyes of so many, "for
they say, His letters are weighty and impressive and forceful and telling, but his
personality and bodily presence are weak, and his speech and delivery are utterly
contemptible of no account" (II Cor. 10:10). It should not surprise us that those
whom the Lord has chosen and is preparing to PROMOTE to the highest rank for His own
pre-determined purposes will be those that seem most unlikely and unfit for such a
"high calling" according to human estimates and values. And it should not seem
strange to us that God has deliberately chosen for the firstfruits company of the sons of
God, those typified by Jacob the schemer and trickster, by Joseph misunderstood, hated,
sold into slavery and condemned to years of misery and oblivion in an Egyptian dungeon, by
David the young shepherd boy, who was the least likely candidate for becoming king amongst
his seven brothers, by the dark-skinned Shulamite maiden (a native shepherdess) of the
Song of Solomon, who was so dark and uncomely and common, of peasantry rather than
royalty! I do not hesitate to tell you that those precious saints who walk in the Spirit,
love the truth and embrace the promises--who by any religious standards would be voted the
most UNLIKELY TO SUCCEED in any spiritual endeavor--will in fact be God's Kings and
Priests for the age and the ages to come!
The following words penned by
George Hawtin add a dimension of fullness to the truth I now share. "Thus is the door
of sonship SLAMMED SHUT in the face of the rich, the mighty, the famous, and the great,
but OPENED WIDE to the poor, the humble, and the unknown. 'For He hath shown strength with
His arm; He hath SCATTERED THE PROUD in the imagination of his heart. He hath PUT DOWN THE
MIGHTY from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. He hath FILLED THE HUNGRY with
good things, and THE RICH He hath sent EMPTY AWAY' (Lk. 1:51-53). Blessed are the poor in
spirit, blessed are they that mourn, blessed are the merciful, blessed are the pure in
heart, blessed are the peacemakers, and blessed are the persecuted, for they shall be
called God's sons and they shall be the children of the
As we approach the more
excellent ministry of the sons of God and that greater glory of the age of the Kingdom of
God, I must confess that in the face of my own weakness and the seeming insignificance of
those elect of God scattered across the face of the earth today I feel a bit like the
little boy in a story I heard one time. The little boy called at a house selling picture
post cards for a dime a piece. He was asked what he was going to do with the money he was
earning. He said, "I'm raising $100,000 for our new school building." The
startled customer replied, "Do you expect to raise it all by yourself?" He
answered with a straight and serious face, "Oh, no sir. There's another little boy
helping me."
That, precious friend of
mine, is just the glory of CENTAURUS--"the despised"--who lays down his life,
bringing redemption to all mankind! Centaurus is the epitome of those foolish, weak, base,
and despised are nots who bring to naught the powers that are. Glorious victory!
Hallelujah to the Lamb!
Brother, sister, do you feel
neglected, unnoticed, unhonored, unseen, and unsung? Do you seem to those who know you, as
being a little peculiar, as one who certainly isn't doing much for God--separated from all
the religious activities, soul saving crusades, not involved with the great and grandiose
programs of the church systems of the world? Surely you are judged as having little or
nothing, for your strong foundations, laid down during a long period of processing, are
hardly noticeable to those who pass by. "Nevertheless THE FOUNDATION OF GOD STANDETH
SURE, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His!" (II Tim. 2:19). As
someone has written, "You may be so unlearned that you cannot recite the alphabet, so
unwise that you could not make one right decision, so weak that all men would oppress you,
and so dishonored that none would associate with you, but if your spirit has beheld these
things which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man,
then you have attained a wisdom which this world knoweth not. God did not choose you
because you were better or greater than someone else, but because God chose you and
ordained you that He might commit unto you the word of reconciliation for the age to come
when all men, through the ministry of God's sons, shall be brought to the fullness of the
knowledge of God. There was nothing in us that we deserved to be chosen. The God of
Welcome, my beloved, to GOD'S
FOOLISH FIVE-FOLD MINISTRY!
Chapter
8
VIRGO--THE
VIRGIN
(continued)
In last month's Study on the
Signs of the heavens we considered the three Decans, or three secondary constellations
grouped about the Sign of Virgo. The first is called Coma. It depicts a woman sitting in a
chair holding a child in her arms, which she is contemplating and admiring. The name Coma
means "the desired" or "the longed for" -- the very word which Haggai
the prophet uses where he speaks of the coming Messiah as "THE DESIRE of all
nations." "And I will shake all nations, and THE DESIRE of all nations shall
come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts" (Hag. 2:7).
Historically this is Jesus the Christ. Prophetically it is the manchild or the manifested
sons of God--the complete Christ, Head and body. How this precious child is DESIRED!
The second constellation of
Virgo is Centaurus. It is depicted as a centaur, which in ancient times was a creature
having the head and torso of a man, with the body and legs of a horse, and thus a
dual-natured being. Centaurs were believed to be heaven-begotten. They were born of the
clouds; they were sons of the gods. But they were despised, hated and abhorred by both
gods and men. The Centaur in the Decan of Virgo is pictured going forth as a hunter, with
a spear he is slaying a beast which is called the VICTIM, and the whole scene appears in
the heavens against the back-ground of the Southern Cross or Crux. The name of this
constellation in Arabic, Chaldaic and Hebrew was BEZEH, meaning "the despised
one"--just the opposite of Coma, "the desired." Yet --they are one and the
same! This title BEZEH, meaning "the despised one," is found several times in
the Hebrew Old Testament. Most commonly known of the passages in which it is to be
discovered is Isa. 53:3 where it appears twice in one verse. Referring to the rejection of
Israel's Messiah by that nation, the prophet cries, "He is DESPISED (BEZEH) and
rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid as it were our
faces from Him; and He was DESPISED (BEZEH) and we esteemed Him not."
Let us summarize the scene.
Here is a double-natured being, out of the heavens, yet in the likeness of men, who, to
men is repulsive and despised, yet really great, powerful and beneficent, pushing with his
spear at the heart of some victim, and moving all the while over the constellation of the
Cross. What a picture! Historically this is Jesus, the man who is the Lord from heaven,
but made in the likeness of sinful flesh,. humbling Himself to be despised and rejected of
men, yet great, powerful and glorious with words divine attended by signs, wonders,
miracles, and authority and grace such as men had never witnessed, yet laying down His
life, slaying Himself, as a Victim, over a cross, as a sacrifice, a sweet smelling saviour
unto God.
The message which beams from
this awe-inspiring picture is also enunciated by the apostle Paul in I Cor. 1:26-29.
"Ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many
mighty, not many noble, are called: but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to
confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things
which are mighty...that no flesh should glory in His presence." And so it has been,
even as the apostle declared, that the Lord rarely calls the mighty ones of this world.
No, He calls the lowly, the meek, the humble; those possessing a simple, childlike faith;
those who in their hearts are humbly and truly seeking Him, "if haply they might feel
after Him, and find Him" (Acts 17:27). To these, and these alone, He reveals the
glorious MYSTERIES OF THE KINGDOM.
This, indeed, is a miracle of
the ages; it is one of the most thrilling of all the Lord's arrangements for His people.
For, to know and understand these precious truths is a confirmation of our sonship; it is
assurance that the seed has fallen on good ground and that it is being received into good
and honest hearts. It is evidence that the great God of the universe has begun a good work
in us, that He has called us and is dealing with us as His children. Is this not a
marvelous arrangement! And so we can say with the apostle that "we speak the wisdom
of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our
glory: which none of the princes of this world knew" (I Cor. 2:7-8). But we have the
mind of Christ, and He has revealed these things to us by His Spirit. For unto us,
unspeakably, amazingly, "it is given to know the mysteries of the
To those who have not eyes to
see the grand and glorious purposes of God He appears to do some very foolish things, and
to exhibit a lot of weakness for One who is supposed to be the omnipotent Creator of the
universe. The wonder of His ways is revealed in the fact that it is in these very things
that God is pleased to reveal His glory, His wisdom and His power: to baffle the wisdom of
the wise, and to bring to naught the counsels of the mighty. As George Warnock once wrote:
"Therefore, in the midst of the apostasy of modern day Christianity, and the
hypocrisy and artificiality of modern day religion, we who know somewhat of God's ways can
rejoice in the fact that it is just like God, in times like these, to rend the heavens and
come down in power and great glory...and yet in ways that will seem strange and foolish in
the eyes of the world. We are confident that the darkness and gloom about us will once
again become the fitting background for the display of the gems of His glory. Some good
Christian people are trying to set the stage for God to work, but God always has to
by-pass these efforts, for He has prepared the stage upon which He will reveal His sons
who are moving in harmony with His will. For it is consistent with God's character and
way, and with the jealousy of His Glory, that the greater the work He will perform in the
earth--the greater will be the measure of weakness and foolishness that He will cause an
unbelieving world to behold."
God has chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise. As far back as Isaiah God said that He would
cause the wisdom of the wise to perish or disappear. It will be made to disappear, not by
a mighty act or work of God, but by some foolish thing of the world. Foolish means
something which is dull or stupid. Ah, the weakness of God is stronger than the might of
man! God will take a thing in the world that man looks upon as stupid or dull and use that
to cause the wisdom of the world to perish or disappear. The dull or stupid thing, so
regarded by the "enlightened" religious world, will confound, disgrace, or
"put to the blush" the wisdom of the wise. The wise man of the religious world
will be put to shame by that which he considers to be stupid, yet is chosen of God. God is
choosing that which is weak, which has no strength of itself, to confound, to disgrace, to
make to blush those things which are mighty in the world. To know the mind of God we must
have the mind of Christ. And the mind of Christ is this, that He emptied and humbled
Himself, and became obedient unto death. This humility was His capacity, His fitness for
rising to the throne of God. This mind must be in us if the hidden wisdom of God is to be
revealed in us in power. This is the mark of the spiritual, the perfect man.
Dearly beloved, consider
Jesus! The popular notion is that the death of Christ was His cruel death upon the cross
of
Paul clearly sets forth the
scope of Christ's sacrifice when he says, "Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His
poverty might be rich" (II Cor. 8:9). This passage points to the fact of the
pre-existence of our Lord and clearly identifies His sacrifice. The sacrifice He made did
not happen AFTER His incarnation, but BEFORE. He left the "GLORY that He had with the
Father BEFORE THE WORLD WAS" and His boundless "RICHES in glory" and
entered into this gross material realm, being "made in all points like unto His
brethren." Ah--before ever the babe appeared in
When Christ left the glory
and riches of celestial life and was "made flesh," what sort of a condition did
He enter into? He was not spared the lowliest kind of birth. Humanly speaking, Jesus was
not born to the purple. Into the arms of a peasant maiden He came, in a stable rough-hewn
out of the hillside, yonder in a little land whose light seemed to have gone out and whose
people were the helpless subjects of a foreign power. If one has walked in
Handel H. Brown tells us in
his extensively researched work, WHEN JESUS CAME, that "the inns, or khans, were
usually quite crude affairs. They consisted of a series of thatched rooms built around a
central courtyard. Often they were no more than covered porches. The travelers brought
their own food for man and beast. They brought the pot in which to cook it on an open fire
in the yard. They brought their bedding, and often their firewood. They looked to the
innkeeper for water and shelter. When Mary and Joseph reached
"The angel said to the
shepherds that star-lit night, 'THIS is the SIGN unto you: Ye shall find a babe wrapped in
swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger' (Lk. 2:t2). This probably shook them more than
anything else. Had they heard correctly? Surely the least they could expect for THE SIGN
of such an event would be an outstanding miracle. It would be a sign at least comparable
to the rod of Moses turning into a serpent (Ex. 4:2), or the sundial of Ahaz being
reversed to convince king Hezekiah that God would heal him (II Kings 20:8). Yet they were
not even granted the miracle of a star hovering over 'where the young child was' (Mat.
2:9). The problem was not that the sign was commonplace. It was worse than that. Babies
were common enough, but who, except the outcast or the poverty-stricken, would put a baby
in a manger? That was a place for cattle fodder. 'A babe...lying in a manger.'
"But for the forewarning
of the angel, this was the only child in
In
When Jesus came to earth He
died to all that He was as God to become a man. But when He came to the Jordan He died
again--He DIED TO ALL THAT HE WAS AS A MAN to be the Son of God. When He went down into
the watery grave of John's baptism to "fulfill all righteousness," He offered
there all the capabilities, potentials, ambitions, desires, and talents He possessed AS A
MAN, laying all upon the altar, surrendered completely to God, reserving nothing for
Himself, a burnt-offering, a sweet smelling savor unto God.
Can we imagine what Jesus
might have accomplished had He elected to use the wisdom and knowledge and power resident
in His PERFECT MANHOOD for His own ends? He could have used His power for wealth and
become the rightist man in the world. He could have used His talents for power, usurped
the thrones of the rulers of this world and become Emperor of the mighty Roman Empire. He
might have used His powers for sensual gratification, attracting the fairest women of the
world to Him, building the largest harem of the most beautiful women ever possessed by a
man. He could have become the world's greatest general, or the most famous artist, or the
most acclaimed orator, or the most accomplished musician, or the most brilliant scientist,
or the most articulate philosopher, or the most important, distinguished, eminent,
exalted, renowned, or noble of a thousand different vocations and positions. But He
didn't! He could have rallied the masses and marshaled an army before which the name of
Alexander the Great would pale into oblivion. He could have built great hospitals, schools
of learning, and gold-domed cathedrals. He could have initiated wonderful programs to
better society and save the world from disease, poverty, and trouble. But He didn't! He
said, simply, "When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am
He, and that I can do nothing of Myself; but as My Father hath taught Me, I speak these
things...for I do always those things that PLEASE HIM" (Jn. 8:28-29). Yes, dear ones,
He DIED TO ALL THAT HE WAS AS A MAN that He might do only and always the will of His
Father. And that will led Him to
Finally, Jesus died to all
that He was as the Son of God, God manifest in the flesh, that He might live again in the
glory He had with the Father before the world was--the incorruptible, eternal, unlimited
dimension of SPIRIT. For when Jesus was crucified, risen and ascended, He returned to the
Father or to SPIRIT and is now with the Father as SPIRIT, omnipotent, omniscient and
omnipresent. When this Christ or Anointed One was crucified, risen, and ascended, He
returned to His eonian resting place--HUMANITY. He has come as the last Adam, in the place
of the first Adam, assuming his position as Head of the race, in order to QUICKEN THE
SPIRITS OF ALL MEN BY HIS SPIRIT that they may regain the sacred knowledge of WHO THEY ARE
and from WHENCE THEY CAME--the image of God on earth. As in the first chapter of Genesis,
the Spirit of God--the Christ, the Anointing--is moving upon the face of the waters, upon
the faces of multitudes of people, even the whole vast world of humanity. And God is
speaking into the darkened consciousness of all men the transforming fiat: "LET THERE
BE LIGHT!"
CHRIST CRUCIFIED
But we must go further. When
Jesus came into the world He died to all that He was as God to
become a man. After thirty years, reaching full manhood, He came to the
I pray that the Holy Spirit
will impress upon the hearts of all who follow after sonship the deep mystery of CHRIST
CRUCIFIED. It is the power of an EXCHANGED LIFE, the laying down of the human life
(identity, consciousness) to take up the divine life. Jesus fully and completely did this
for us, that BY HIM we may follow in His footsteps. This beautiful truth is wrapped in the
arms of one single verse in Isa. 40:31. This is what it says: "They that wait upon
the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall
run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." The key word is
"renew." "They that wait upon the Lord shall RENEW their strength."
The word actually means "exchange." What the prophet is saying is, "They
that wait upon the Lord will exchange strength." It means that, as we wait upon the
Lord, refusing to either recognize or demonstrate any ability of our own, our strength
will be taken away and exchanged for His strength. It is not a matter of combining our
strength with His, or asking Him to bless and increase our strength, but a complete
removal of our strength, and a putting on of His. God says, "If you're strong, if you
can do it yourself, you don't need Me." But of course our strength is limited,
imperfect, insufficient, finite, mortal, corruptible. His strength, on the other hand, is
unlimited, perfect, all-sufficient, infinite, immortal and incorruptible. WHAT AN
EXCHANGE!
You will never understand the
deep mystery of the cross until you grasp this principle of the EXCHANGED LIFE. What a
cross it takes to bring to death our ways, our thinking, our ideas, our perceptions, our
plans and purposes, our abilities and efforts! God would bring all who long for sonship
and life to a place of complete and total dependence on HIM, THE SPIRIT WITHIN, so that He
can live out His life IN US. We are His disciples, having taken a position against our
outer selves by saying, "Lord, I renounce my wisdom, my strength, my ability, my
(supposed) spirituality," for our trouble lies in the belief: "I am capable, I
can work for God, I am holy, I am spiritual, I know something." That is our
soul-life, the life of the flesh, the outer man. God wants that whole realm crucified and
in its place Christ ruling and reigning within. Jesus Himself set forth the pattern,
"being put to death in the FLESH, but quickened in the SPIRIT: by which (the Spirit)
He went and preached..." (I Pet. 3:18-19). He was put to death in the flesh, all that
was of earthly mind, self, error, mortality, limitation, and not of God delivered up to
crucifixion, that He might live only in and by the Spirit, heavenly mind, truth,
incorruption.
"They that are Christ's
have crucified the flesh..." (Gal. 5:24). "I am crucified," says Paul. The
"I" is the soul, the life of the outer man. In its place comes another self
which is Christ. "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but
Christ liveth in me" (GaI. 2:20). This Christ-self will now be manifested out of your
spirit. While you in your own self have renounced all wisdom and power, Christ becomes the
wisdom of God and the power of God in you. Paul was not, like some of the other disciples,
an ignorant and unlearned man. His was the best education available in his time. His
speech to the men of
There is a greater
manifestation of strength when in yourself you have no strength at all. Is that not a
strange paradox? "I am crucified...nevertheless I live; yet not I" --not the old
I- "but Christ liveth in me." Why then should there not be power and wisdom and
grace and authority and victory manifested in us? Christ lives in you and HE is
victorious. Out of your innermost being shall flow rivers of living water, a flow of
revelation and victory and power and triumph out of weakness and death. This is the
ministry of the SPIRIT. Even though we renounce our wisdom, the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge are manifested in us, for they are hid IN HIM IN US --THE SPIRIT! Nothing of
spiritual value comes out of the shallow well of the outer man or out of the stirring of
our soulish ability. We have to settle for it that what is going to bring humanity to God
in these last days will be that which out of weakness is made strong, out of death and
nothingness brings life.
Christianity today has no
need greater than the need to know the power and glory of the CHRIST WITHIN. CHRIST is the
image of God, the scripture says. I know these words may seem to be incredible but they
are truth--the very first mention of the "image of God" is applied, not to Jesus
Christ, but to our forefather ADAM. "And God said, Let us make MAN IN OUR IMAGE,
after our likeness: and let them have dominion...so God created MAN IN HIS OWN IMAGE, in
the IMAGE OF GOD created He him" (Gen. 1:26-27). As we consider the wonderful advent
of man created "in the image of God" we can only conclude that this is a
SPIRITUAL MAN brought forth out of the very spirit-substance of God Almighty, and bearing
His own divine nature, character, power, and attributes. The image of God is the nature of
God reproduced in man. Thus, man is the true image of God. The divine nature was best and
fully expressed in the man Christ Jesus who shed upon mortals the truest reflection of God
and lifted man's sights higher than their poor thought-models would allow. Jesus revealed
to men their true origin, heritage and destiny. He came to show man what man really is,
was intended to be, and through redemption shall be--THE IMAGE OF GOD. Christ is the Alpha
and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. In Jesus Christ you see
man as he was in the beginning and as he ever shall be world without end--THE IMAGE OF
GOD. Of Him it is written, "He is the expression of the glory of God--the
Light-being, the out-raying of the divine--and He is the perfect imprint and very image of
God's nature...” (Hebrews 1:3, Amplified). Christ, and humanity in Christ, is like a
ray of light which comes from the sun-man the outcome of God, reflects God.
Contrary to popular teaching
man has never LOST the image of God, although the image has been obscured, distorted,
marred and corrupted by the usurpation of the carnal mind, the outer man. A lost image is
NO image. The true likeness cannot be lost in divine reflection. It would be like fire
without light. The out-raying image of God is like the Word of God. To destroy the Word of
God you would have to destroy God Himself, for God and His Word are ONE. To destroy the
image of God would necessitate the destruction of God, for God and His image are ONE. The
apostle Paul confirms man as God's image in his remarkably significant words to the saints
in Corinth: "For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he I-S THE
IMAGE AND GLORY OF GOD" (I Cor. 11:7)
After having created the
SPIRITUAL MAN (man in God's image) in Gen. 1:26, we find a further work wrought upon this
man in Gen. 2:7. "And the Lord God FORMED MAN OF THE DUST OF THE GROUND, and breathed
into his nostrils the breath (spirit) of life; and man BECAME a living soul." Reading
this passage we have the definite assurance that, as man has first been
"created" on the sixth day a spiritual man, the image of God, a further work is
being carried forth by the same almighty Creator and the man is now being
"formed" into another expression: "FORMED of the dust of the ground,"
and so BECOMING a "living soul" -- manifest in the earth realm. The first is the
"created" man, the second the "formed" man. The first is a
"spiritual" man, the second a "physical" man. The first bears the
image of the "heavenly," whereas the second bears the image of the
"earthly." The first is known unto God in the SPIRIT, the second is manifest to
creation in the MATERIAL WORLD. But I do not hesitate to tell you, my beloved, that both
of these men are but aspects of the very SAME MAN!
What is man? Brain, heart,
blood, bones, etc., the material structure? If the real man is in the material body, you
take away a portion of the man when you amputate a limb; the surgeon destroys manhood, and
worms annihilate it. But the loss of some physical member has betimes become the quickener
of manhood as in the crucible of suffering there appear the virtues of humility,
thankfulness, patience, compassion, drawn from the rich resources of INNER SPIRITUAL
STRENGTH. The unfortunate cripple may present more nobility of true manhood than the
dashing athlete--teaching us that the man on the inside is of far more enduring substance
than the man on the outside! Take away the physical and take away the outer worldly
elements of wealth, possessions, fame, social recognition, which weigh not one jot on the
scales of God, and in what remains we get a clearer picture of man as God made him. Let
goodness, mercy, justice, purity, health, holiness and love--the Kingdom of heaven--reign
within us and the outer is found to be of no consequence. The real man is SPIRIT, not
dust. The true man is IMMORTAL, not dying. The inner man is the IMAGE OF THE HEAVENLY, not
the image of the earthly as perceived by the physical senses.
Adam's sin in eating of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil lay in his walking after the flesh (sense realm)
instead of the Spirit. It consisted in his making the outer, physical, material, sensual
man his center, identity and existence rather than the inner man of Spirit. The remarkable
thing is that he perceived not that all that pertains to the material world is
illusionary, transitory, corruptible. Sensual treasures are laid up "where moth and
rust doth corrupt." Mortality is their doom. Death breaks in upon them, and carries
off their fleeting joys. The sensualist's affections are as imaginary, whimsical, unreal
and short-lived as his pleasures. Covetousness, fleshly passions, gluttony, drunkenness,
immorality, fame, fashion, vanity, worldly wisdom, political power, military might, envy,
hypocrisy, revenge, hate, and so forth, pass away with the works thereof. Stripped of its
coverings, what a mocking spectacle the flesh is! When the almighty Creator counseled the
first man and his wife, "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou
shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die,"
He gave precisely the same instruction in wisdom and prudence that the apostle Paul
offered long millenniums afterwards when by inspiration he wrote, "For they that are
after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the spirit the
things of the spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is
life and peace. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the spirit
do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live" (
George Hawtin has eloquently
expounded on this thought, and I share a few of his valuable insights. "Well did the
apostle Paul know that the vast mass of humanity was 'at home' only in the REALM OF THE
BODY. They belonged entirely to an earthly realm where things are visible, audible, and
touchable. Their minds seldom mounted higher than things physical, and when for a few
moments they did rise to walk upon a spiritual plane, they were not really 'at home'
there, but waited for the moment when they could LAPSE BACK to the NATURAL AND NORMAL, for
that is where they were 'at home.' So, while men are 'at home' in the body, they are
'always absent from the Lord' (II Cor. 5:6-7), absent from the spiritual world of true
reality. HEAVEN IS CLOSED TO THEM. Their minds dwell in the realm where men buy and sell,
plant and build, marry and are given in marriage. They dwell in a realm of eating and
drinking, of finding pleasure for the body, amusing their minds with silly things of the
world, absorbing, listening to, or looking at some fictitious thing that serves only to
amuse the natural man, keeping his heart away from the realm of eternal reality."
My heart burns within me and
my spirit is flooded with joy unspeakable and full of glory as these sacred and wonderful
truths find lodging and substance within my consciousness. With what clarity I see that
when Adam stood between the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in
that long ago Eden, his future condition was to be shaped by the tree-identity
(consciousness) he pursued. "For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of
the flesh; but they that are after the spirit the things of the spirit" (
Again I would share
significant and enlightening words from the able pen of George Hawtin. In his excellent
paper, THE PASSING AND THE PERMANENT, he explains, "Now, since the flesh lusts
against the Spirit and is at endless conflict with it, then anything that seeks to make
you earthly and fleshly-minded is a great evil. The things that belong to the realm of the
flesh are passing away. Even the flesh itself is passing away. Anything that is passing
away is not real. It is like a bubble that floats prettily in the air only to burst never
to exist again. It is like the darkness that disappears with the dawn and has no certain
dwelling place. It is like a flower in the field that blooms for a moment and disappears,
a vision of the night, a fleeting shadow, a moment of joy, a passing sorrow, or a sudden
pain. When such things have passed by, no one knows where they came from or whither they
have gone. Those, however, who indulge themselves in the things that belong to the body
grow to think that nothing is true or real but what is bodily and can be touched or seen
or eaten or drunk or enjoyed by the passions of men. Unwittingly they change true riches
for false; things that are unseen by mortal eyes for things that are seen. They exchange
things that are spirit for things that can be touched, tasted, and felt by the body. The
soul now begins to think that these things which belong to the body are real and therefore
becomes fleshly minded. The carnal or earthly mind is an enemy of God and an enemy of all
things spiritual.
"It is small wonder then
that the natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God; for all things
connected with the natural belong to time and change, while all things belonging to the
spiritual are eternal and changeless. So then all who would come to know the WISDOM OF
GOD, and the REVELATION of the Lord, must turn their spirit from the realm of the physical
and changing, the corrupt and mortal, and fly away into the realm of the pure, eternal,
unchanging, and immortal. It is only there that rest and truth are found, and, abiding
there in the Spirit, even the body itself begins to be lifted from corruption to
incorruption and from mortality to immortality. We said a moment ago that when the soul
comes into the realm of the flesh, it becomes carnal and fleshly minded because it is
dragged into the realm of the body. Inversely then, when the soul and spirit dwell in the
secret place with God, they lift the body till it also becomes incorruptible, immortal,
and eternal. While the spirit and the body are united and dwell together, one must always
be in subjection to the other. Either the body will be servant to the spirit or the spirit
will be servant to the body. One will be the servant and be ruled. The other will be the
master and rule. We cannot avoid this conclusion. Either the flesh will rule the spirit,
or the spirit will rule the flesh. Since, however, the flesh is like the mortal and
changing, and the spirit is like the immortal and unchanging, then the spirit is the one
who should be the master. If the spirit is the master, it will save the flesh by lifting
it to the realm of God and immortality, but if the body is master, it will ruin the soul
by dragging it to the realm of the carnal, the mortal, the changing" --end quote.
When the Lord God lowered man
into this gross material realm man possessed, by the spirit, the divine potential to
overcome the flesh, sanctify it, transform it, infusing it with the qualities of
Life--holiness and incorruption. Jesus, the last Adam, came and demonstrated for us this
very principle. This potential in man to rule the natural by the spirit is shed forth in
Jesus' mighty works--by His healing the sick, cleansing the lepers, casting out devils,
forgiving sins, and raising the dead--He transcended by His life, words, and actions all
the so-called laws of the material, mortal realm. The great significance of Jesus' mighty
works will never ring clear in our spirits until we understand that He did not perform as
a unique, different kind of man--all His wonderful works were the teaching of what is
NORMAL FOR MAN IN HIS TRUE STATE AS THE IMAGE OF GOD. As the last Adam Jesus demonstrated
all that the first Adam lost--mankind's heritage as the sons and daughters of the Most
High. Little wonder, then, that He confidently and joyfully proclaimed to His disciples,
"The works that I do shall YE DO ALSO; and greater works than these shall YE DO"
(Jn. 14:12, Paraphrased).
By the Spirit within (the
Father dwelling in Him) Jesus made nature harmonious--calming the raging of the sea,
walking on the water, multiplying the loaves and fishes, turning water into wine, and
making everything in nature, including the human mind and body, to be servants instead of
masters. When a man's life is governed by the Spirit, his body is in submission to
everlasting Life, Truth and Love. Finally, going to the cross and Himself rising from the
dead He demonstrated for all men the wonderful and incontrovertible truth in the words of
the apostle: "If the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you,
He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit
which DWELLETH I-N Y-O-U" (Rom. 8:11). The truth had been lived among men, God was
manifested in flesh, the image of God had come forth in the face of Jesus Christ. But
until they saw that the INDWELLING SPIRIT enabled their Master to triumph even over the
grave, His own disciples could not comprehend the MAGNITUDE OF THE POWER OF GOD IN MAN.
After the resurrection, even the unbelieving Thomas was forced to acknowledge how complete
was the great proof of the power of the divine life in earthen vessels.
By His resurrection Jesus
proved the Spirit within to be OMNIPOTENT, all-conquering, all-sufficient. He met and
mastered death itself by the law of the Spirit of Life. He took no drugs to allay
inflammation. He did not depend upon food or pure air or vitamins or herbs to resuscitate
wasted energies. He did not require the skill of a surgeon to heal the torn palms and bind
up the wounded side and lacerated feet, that He might use those hands to remove the napkin
and winding-sheet, and that He might employ His feet as before. Jesus vanquished every
material obstacle, overcame every law of matter, and stepped forth from His gloomy
resting-place, crowned with the glory of a sublime success, and everlasting victory--the
second MAN, the last ADAM--the role-model for each and every man of Adam's race! Jesus'
victory over sin, sickness, pain, limitation, death and the grave was for the
enlightenment of all men and for the salvation of the whole world. Paul writes, "For
if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more,
being reconciled, we shall be saved BY HIS LIFE (WITHIN).” (Rom. 5:10).
Glory be to God and peace to
the struggling hearts Christ hath rolled away the stone from the door of human hope and
faith through the revelation and demonstration of Life in God, the life resident in the
SPIRITUAL MAN.
We have come to the most
sublime of all truths. The beauty of these celestial realities is found in the fact that
all Jesus did He did "for us" -- not in our place, but ON OUR BEHALF. A musician
demonstrates the beauty of the music he teaches in order to show the learner the way by
practice as well as precept. This was the precious import of our Lord's sinless life and
of His demonstration of power over the whole flesh realm, including death. Our heavenly
Father demands that all men should follow the example of our Lord and Master. In order to
enter the Kingdom of the Heavens, the anchor of hope must be cast beyond the veil of this
carnal, dying realm into the Shekinah into which Jesus has passed before us; and this
advance beyond the law of sin and death must come through the joys and triumphs of a
people "led by the Spirit" who are "the sons of God" as well as
through their sorrows and afflictions. It is by facing the enemy in the crucible of
experience and by the authority of the Spirit that victory is snatched from the jaws of
defeat. Each and every test in our lives is an opportunity to prove for ourselves and
demonstrate to those about the triumph of the Spirit over the flesh. Step by step, battle
by battle, victory upon victory we ascend into the heights of the
Now to come back to our
original thought--CHRIST CRUCIFIED. Our Lord died to all that He was as God to become a
man. He died to all that He was as a man to become the Son of God--TRUE MAN! And He died
to all that He was as a Son to bring us to God. His crucifixion was the continual laying
down of SELF, and the outpouring of LIFE. It meant dying to everything in every realm that
was anything LESS THAN GOD. For us it pioneered the pathway of VICTORY OVER THE FLESH,
which is also victory over sin, sickness, limitation and death. The cross and the
resurrection are the supreme examples of what Paul means when he says, "But God hath
chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak
things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world,
and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to
naught things that are: THAT NO FLESH SHOULD GLORY IN HIS PRESENCE. But of Him are ye in
Christ Jesus, who of God is MADE UNTO US wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification,
and redemption: that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, LET HIM GLORY IN THE
LORD" (I Cor. 1:27-31).
Strength, my friend, springs
out of weakness! Life emerges out of death! Victory is secured in the heat of battle!
These are the laws of the Kingdom, and it is the lesson of the Centaur in the heavens!
This is the high drama of the double-natured Centaur carrying the spear and slaying the
Victim--for those elect sons of God represented by this Centaur are both human and divine,
earthly and heavenly, and they are both Centaur and Victim. It means the laying down of
the life for the world. It is giving ourselves to the triumph of heaven's life in our
earthen vessels, but not for ourselves alone, but for creation's sake, that there shall be
an outflow of life to touch men and quicken them again to the realities of the Spirit--the
Paradise of God. This is sonship! This is God IN us, God AS us, God LOVING THROUGH US, God
FLOWING OUT of us, loving through us, redeeming through us, reconciling and restoring all
by us. Amen. So be it!
Chapter
9
LIBRA--THE
SCALES
The immutable testimony of
the Holy Spirit bears faithful witness to the fact that our omniscient and omnipotent God
created and designed the scintillating splendors of the heavens with their Zodiacal
configurations, displaying therein the wisdom, ways and purposes of the Lord unto His
people who are able to receive the message communicated for their instruction and
edification. "It is God who removes the mountains, they know not how, when He
overturns them in His anger; who shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars
tremble; who commands the sun not to shine, and SETS A SEAL UPON THE STARS; who alone
stretches out the heavens, and tramples down the waves of the sea; WHO MAKES THE BEAR,
ORION, AND THE PLEIADES, and the chambers of the south; who does great things,
unfathomable, and wondrous works without number" (Job 9:5-10, N.A.S.).
All that is to take place in
the earthy, literal realm has first been fulfilled in the spiritual realm. The heavens
cast their shadow upon the earth, or shall we say the earthy IS THE SHADOW of the
heavenly. The inspired writer to the Hebrews referred to "the example and shadow of
heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle:
for, See, saith He, thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the
mount" (Heb. 8:5). The pattern which was shown to Moses in the mount was according to
"the example and shadow of heavenly things." The tabernacle was first created in
the heavenlies, and was later made on earth. The plan and purpose of God was first
recorded in the heavens, and was later written in the Bible. Likewise, as the Lord has set
a seal upon the stars of the heavens, so has He sealed His servants, the Sons of Light, in
their foreheads (Rev. 7:1-8). These facts clearly reveal that all that has been displayed
in the constellations of the heavens shall be spiritually fulfilled in God's elect saints
here upon earth in due time. The truth of God is as vast and expansive as the measureless
distance of the unbounded sidereal above. Consider the fathomless expanses of the
innumerable galaxies sprinkled through the universe, and you will realize that we have
barely scratched the surface of divine truth. And the truth that is yet to be revealed to
us, in us, through us and AS
LIBRA--THE SCALES
Having previously dealt with
Virgo, the Virgin, we now come in our series to the second house or constellation in the
Zodiac: Libra, the Scales. The Zodiac consists of the twelve Signs that are around the
ecliptic of the heavens, as well as the 36 Decans or pieces which go with them. There is a
major Sign and three Decans, or minor Signs, in each of the houses or mansions, or
"tabernacles for the sun," as Psalm 19:4 describes them. We now turn our
prayerful attention to the major Sign in the second house which is LIBRA. In Latin it
means "the scales" and in Hebrew it is MOZANAIM, "the scales
weighing." Libra is always pictured as a pair of old fashioned balances or scales
which work like a seesaw, an instrument with a beam or lever supported exactly in the
middle, having two scales or pans of equal weight suspended from its two ends. When a
certain weight is placed in one scale, then a corresponding amount must be placed in the
other scale, if it is to be in balance. It is the most accurate kind of scale. They were
used by the Egyptians thousands of years ago, to weigh things like wheat. The wheat would
be placed in one large pan or basket and a stone in the other. The stone usually weighed
about fourteen pounds. When the lever was balanced, it meant that there were fourteen
pounds of wheat in the basket. This figure pictures the idea of being IN BALANCE, neither
lacking nor being overweighed on the other side. It bespeaks of a state of sufficiency,
equilibrium, correctness. When there is more weight on one side than the other, it is
unequal and out of balance--so that which is lacking needs to be ADDED until a balance is
achieved again.
In Greek mythology Libra
commemorated Mochis, the inventor of weights and measures. Libra also represented the
balances of Astraea, the goddess of Justice, in which the fate of all mortal men must
eventually be weighed. The Egyptians identified Libra with the scales in which the human
heart is weighed after death. In
In Libra the scales are NOT
BALANCED--one side is high and the other is low. The figure of the scales found in all the
Eastern and most ancient Zodiacs has the low side hanging toward the deadly Scorpion (the
serpent; satan). In some instances the pan on the low side was held by the Scorpion's
claws. In Libra there are two bright stars with spiritually significant names. The first
is called ZUBEN AL GENUBI meaning "the price is deficient." The second is called
ZUBEN AL CHEMALI meaning "the price that covers." All this clearly shows that
this Sign of the Zodiac has reference to some great adjustments relating to deficiencies,
defaults or defects, involving prices and payments. Obviously, we begin with a DEFICIT
which is later ADJUSTED--from "the price is deficient" to "the price that
covers." It is the picture of man, weighed in the balances and found wanting; man
missing the mark; man lacking a little from Elohim; man face to face with divine justice
weighing the demerits and awards of self, sin, carnality and death on the one hand, and
the commensurate price and infinite power of REDEMPTION AND RESTORATION on the other. In
our journey from the natural to the spiritual realm we are continually faced with our
dreadful sense of LACK and the need to apprehend the necessary restoration to WHOLENESS IN
GOD. This profound sense of lack, with the corresponding dealings of God to meet that
deficiency and bring our state of being into completeness and balance, are wrought out
under the spiritual influences signified by the Sign of Libra--the place of weighing.
Some time ago a sister in
Christ was carried in vision into a revelation of this place and process of divine
weighing. She wrote: "There are many places in God, and each one is different from
the others; in fact, all things are in Him. Today He took me to a new place of great
severity and cold exactitude, where the balances of God weigh, with inflexible vigor, all
things from the smallest to the greatest. Although the sense of warm, flowing love is
absent, it is, nevertheless, the background against which the severity of His balances
operates. Here there is tremendous exactitude and perfection of harmonic distribution
where nothing, not even the smallest atom, is out of place, for all things are located in
exact positions. Although nothing moves from its designated place, nevertheless, all
things are greatly moved upon by the tremendous operations of these powers of great
severity. In this place of weighing which is in continuous and ceaseless operation, all
things are examined and weighed to utmost perfection; not one thing, no matter how small,
is ever overlooked. In this judging place which is impartial, inflexible, solemn and
severe, the atmosphere is not like that of a tribunal or court of justice. It is more like
that of a school principal's office, where a disobedient chili is brought for correction,
or a godly home, where the sole purpose of the wise discipline of an upright father is to
bring a rebellious child to right paths."
BEFORE THE WORLDS WERE FRAMED
It is my deep conviction that
all of God's sons are standing today in the place of weighing. We are at the end of this
dispensation. That which we must do must be done now, and what we are to be we must become
now. Therefore "let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset
us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the
author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the
cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty
on high.” The truth written in this message is glorious beyond compare, because it
contains the truth concerning the FULLNESS OF OUR SALVATION--RESTORATION TO THE IMAGE AND
GLORY OF GOD that was ours before ever the worlds were framed.
Hans Christian Anderson was a
great storyteller. He could spin a yarn and tell a tale with the best of writers. He also
recognized a greater writer, the storyteller of life. "Every man's life is a fairy
tale," he wrote, "written by God's fingers." When do our tales begin? Many
say, "Why, at birth, of course, when the cord is cut and the child draws its first
breath and sees the light of day." God, the storyteller of life, tells us His
"fingers" were busy long before that. Long before your conception in a physical
world, you existed, because you are the children of the Father in heaven. If you did not
exist before your conception, then, my friends, you have no SPIRIT within you, and God,
the Father of spirits, the Father in heaven, is not the Father of the spirits of all men.
The question begs an answer: From whence came your spirit? From God? From the devil? Did
God by a special act of creation form it at the moment of your conception or birth? Was it
pro-created in the physical union of sperm and ovum? If you did not exist before your
conception you do not belong to the family of God, nor are you the sons of God, nor did
Jesus descend from the heavenly realms to redeem you, and there is not much I can tell you
that will do you any good.
I turn to the passages of
scripture which with divine certainty relate this. In Eph. 1:4-5 we find, "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
(placement as sons) by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His
will." Blessed be God! The apostle Paul informs us that God chose and predestinated a
company of sons BEFORE the foundation of the world. The word "before" translates
the Greek word PRO meaning "to go before, to precede." Hence, the Father's act
of choosing the firstfruit-sons preceded the laying the foundations of the world. How, I
ask, could God choose you IN CHRIST and predestinate you in that long ago eternity IF YOU
DID NOT THEN EXIST? Now, therefore, when I talk to you, I am talking to a household of
God's sons and daughters; I am talking to a celestial race, a divine household; and these
are the people of whom the apostle spoke when he wrote to the saints in Rome, saying,
"For whom He did FOREKNOW, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of
His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren" (Rom. 8:29). Yes--the
Father in heaven FOREKNEW YOU, my beloved brother, my precious sister in Christ. And that
can mean nothing else but that He KNEW YOU BEFORE and at that time when He KNEW YOU BEFORE
He predestinated you to enter this earth-experience and thereby be conformed to the image
of first, unique, and preeminent Son, Jesus Christ.
Never were words more sublime
uttered by sage or prophet than those spoken by King David when he lifted up his heart to
God in a prayer of thanksgiving and adoration saying, "Lord, Thou hast been our
dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever Thou
hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art
God" (Ps. 90:1-2). It is my deep conviction that every man of Adam's race had his
beginning in God and existed in Him in eternity past before ever we came to this earth to
be enriched and perfected by the experience of temptation, sin, death, redemption and
restoration. Our coming to this earth was with the purpose that through the desperate
furnace of trials in this charnel house of sin and death we should come to the knowledge
not only of good and evil and the holiness of God, but to the sacred understanding of the
mystery of godliness--of WHY the wages of sin is death; WHY when any creature of God sows
to the flesh he reaps of the flesh only corruption; when a man sows to the spirit he of
the spirit reaps life everlasting. Having gained this sacred knowledge of the law of Being
we shall not stand in God's image and glory like robots programmed to function in divine
nature inherently incapable of being anything less, but we are brought to the spiritual
appreciation of the principles of Divine Being and by our perfection in knowledge and
experience stand before our Lord at last in an ETERNAL CHOOSING to abide in a perfection
like unto His own.
As poor Job sat on the ash
heap in the midst of trial and suffering the Lord commanded him to stand up like a man and
respond to the questions He, the Lord, would put to him. The Lord then asked forty
questions, none of which Job could answer. Among the questions was this one: "Where
wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth...when the morning stars sang together
and all the sons of God shouted for joy?" (Job 38:7). Job was speechless, for he had
no idea where he was in that time of long ago, but the truth, it seems to me, was that Job
was there among the company of the sons of God, beholding with wonder the plan of God on
earth with its sufferings and testings and the glory that should follow. These sons of God
who shouted for joy on that primeval morn understood the wisdom of a plan by which they
should gain the enlightenment of perfection by experience instead of perfection by
creations guided only by divine instincts, and that the sufferings of this world are not
worthy to be compared to the glory that is to follow as a result of them, and so awesome
was the prospect that they shouted for joy in holy expectation. We do not shout unless
there is something to shout about. The message is clear--there was a time before the
foundations of the earth were laid; there were sons of God who already existed in that
ancient time; and those young sons of God lifted their voices with the morning stars in
contemplation of the marvelous purpose they were to fulfill. It is precious to know that
God's first Son, our own Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, is named the Bright and Morning
Star.
In the ninetieth Psalm
referred to above the prophet David assures us with great plainness of speech that the
Lord has been our dwelling place in all generations. Even before the mountains were
brought forth or God had formed the earth, from everlasting to everlasting He is God and
in Him we dwelt and from Him we came. Our spirits were with Him before the creation of the
earth, for the Father was then our dwelling place. We were sent to this earthly realm for
a wise and glorious purpose--for testing, learning, instruction, training, discipline, and
perfection--preparation for our part in that magnificent work of deliverance of the whole
creation from the tyranny of darkness, decay and death. The Psalmist said, "Thou
turnest man to destruction (this realm of sin and death, of flesh and blood); and sayest,
Return, ye children of men" (Ps. 90:3). The Lord turned man to destruction, which is
to say, He sent us down to this earth realm of dust, sin and death, and then said to us,
"Return! ye children of men." What a revelation that is!
During our sojourn in this
life, we (the firstfruits) have heard our Father's call to return to Him. And so we are
returning in obedience to His call and in the strength and anointing of His quickening
Spirit. I do not believe our heavenly Father will leave us in this realm of destruction
one day longer than is necessary. When He who in eternal wisdom turned us to destruction
sees that all the lessons have been fully and eternally learned and that destruction's
work has been fulfilled, then He says, "Return, ye children of men," and we
return. When our Lord says, "Come," we come. Matters not how far we have
wandered in our sin or how low we have gone in degradation. When the day comes for the
Lord to say RETURN YE CHILDREN OF MEN He puts into our hearts the desire to return and we
return. At the end of our sojourn in this earthly realm we will have learned the truths
Father wanted us to learn and experienced His ways unto perfection. We began in God, we
are walking out our predestined path in this life, and will return to the Father as fully
manifest sons of God, equipped to set creation free from the curse of sin and death.
Far away in the depths of my
spirit today there is a chord that still vibrates to that wondrous shout of joy before the
foundations of the earth were laid, when, in that long forgotten past we were there with
the Father in spirit, and there is an inward sense of assurance that much of the truth we
now possess was known to our spirits since that early beginning. Because the spirit is
burdened down with the earthly and visible, man has come to the place in his experience
where the inner sanctum wherein God lives in man's spirit is veiled by the flesh and his
spiritual consciousness is imprisoned by this gross material realm. We remember not the
things of old--until that heaven-blest day when Christ comes in quickening power and
touches the mind of our spirit, restoring the memory of those former things. For lack of
true understanding we call this restored memory "revelation". When by the eyes
of spirit we see Jesus, crowned with glory and honor, the powerful attraction kindled in
our hearts for Christ and reality is, in fact, just the beginning of the wonderful
RENEWING OF THE MIND to recall again the things of that high and holy realm from whence we
came. The "renewing" of the mind can be nothing else but the restoration of the
mind to a realm of knowledge and understanding previously enjoyed.
There is an ancient folk-tale
about a tiger that was brought up with a herd of goats. From the day his eyes opened, all
he saw was a goat's life so it became his style of life too. The tiger munched grass with
the rest, butted heads with the younger goats for recreation, and learned to bleat in an
odd sort of way a sound that resembled, so he thought, the goat's voice. Once in a while
there was a nagging voice inside him that said, "You don't belong to this life!"
But always he put it aside as a fantasy, some disturbing intrusion from the world of
dreams. If this didn't satisfy him, he just marked it off as the discontent that always
hovers around the edges of any life style. So he, a tiger, chose to stay with a goat's way
of life because he believed that was the way life had to be. Then one day a tiger came
into the clearing. He was all tiger, having grown up knowing who he was. He looked into
the clearing and spotted the goats. He roared the earth-shaking roar of his species,
bounded out and made his kill. The goats fled in terror and so did the tiger who had grown
up with them. At first he wanted to stay. The roar from the edge of the forest had stirred
some lost memory in his soul. He flexed his great muscles in a kind of automatic reflex to
the challenge from the forest edge. For a moment he could have been a tiger too, but he
could not believe in the sound he heard, the challenge it brought. He couldn't believe in
himself, in the instincts that had lain dormant so long. For a brief moment, he could have
been a tiger. He wanted to try, but then the goat's life was all he knew so he turned and
fled. He could have grasped a new and greater life, but then he fell back to being a goat
for the rest of his days. The tiger at the edge of the forest of your existence is JESUS,
unique, divine, glorious and powerful. He will not fail--He will draw ALL unto Him! He is
all you should be. He is all man was created to be. He is all you were destined to be. He
is what God intends. He is THE SON as you are predestined to be sons and daughters of the
Most High. You cannot avoid Him. You cannot resist Him. Something deep within stirs. Deep
calleth unto deep. The tiger calls to the tiger in you! The God in Christ calls to the God
in you!
"But God who is rich in
mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath
quickened us together with Christ, and hath raised us up together, and made us sit
together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus...for we are His workmanship, created in
Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath BEFORE ORDAINED that we should walk in
them" (Eph. 2:4-10).
WEIGHED IN THE BALANCES
In Libra we see two scales,
one of the scales is tipped down, the other is up revealing an imbalance, deficiency,
lack--showing the failure of man to be weighed properly in the scales of God. Some glad
morning, the dawn of which methinks I now behold, when the processings of God in His
firstfruits are complete, our eyes will behold with endless joy the surpassing glory of
that celestial realm in which walked Adam, the son of God. Our eyes, long dimmed by the
darkness of this carnal realm, have not beheld such glories as were there; our ears have
not heard its heavenly song, nor have our wildest imaginations probed the splendors of
that realm of life where Adam stood in God's image and likeness having no sin, no sorrow
nor crying, no labor nor sweat, no bondage nor limitation, no pain nor death; for even
now, in this "in part" realm of the firstfruits of the Spirit, we yet see
through a glass darkly.
In Gen. 1:26 we see the
wonderful advent of man created "in the image and likeness of God," a SPIRITUAL
MAN brought forth out of the very SPIRIT-SUBSTANCE of God Almighty and bearing His own
divine nature, character and attributes. God first called man ADAM -- meaning RED, or
SHOWING BLOOD IN THE FACE--when He created him a SPIRITUAL MAN. In Gen. 2:7 we find that
in God's inscrutable wisdom the dark hour came when the creature was MADE SUBJECT TO
VANITY (Rom. 8:20). Of this man who had been created as pure spirit in the image of God,
it is now stated, "And the Lord God FORMED MAN OF THE DUST OF THE GROUND, and
breathed into his nostrils the breath (spirit, the spiritual man) of life; and man (then)
BECAME a LIVING SOUL." The man who had been spirit now "became" a LIVING
SOUL--manifest in the earth realm. Adam--red, showing blood in the face--BECAME a living
soul, revealing that there was a PROCESS of descending from pure spirit existence, into a
lesser realm.
The point of special interest
to us here is the fact that God first called man ADAM, or RED--SHOWING BLOOD IN THE
FACE--when He created him a SPIRITUAL MAN. Man did not "become" Adam when he was
"formed of the dust of the ground"--it was not the earthly man who was first
characterized as red, or showing blood in the face--but the heavenly man! And this Adam
was not formed of the dust, but was created "in the image and likeness of God."
No poet or philosopher or prophet could possibly describe the glory and eminence of THIS
MAN! I have long known that the "face" in symbolic terms bespeaks of the outward
expression and revelation of the deepest inward parts of man's being--the heart. All that
a man thinks and feels and is inwardly is written and expressed outwardly upon the
countenance, known and read of all men. Blood bespeaks LIFE. To "show blood in the
face" is to show life in the countenance--the OUTWARD REVELATION OF THE INNER
CONDITION OF L-I-F-E!
Lowered into the earth realm,
becoming a living soul, man sank even lower. The bright and glorious spirit ruled in the
man and woman of flesh until that dreadful hour in which they partook of the forbidden
tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Then and there their eyes were opened to see their
OUTWARD FORMS. The outraying spirit of glory that had reigned within them dimmed beneath
the newly discovered consciousness of the OUTER and they knew the shame of their nakedness
before the Lord. Truly the "nakedness" consisted in their sense-consciousness of
the lack of reality in the realm of the flesh. In this state they knew the grief of
sustaining their bodies by sweat and travail. Man was lowered from the realm of spirit,
into the realm of the soul; then in disobedience, drawn away of his own lust and enticed
down into the flesh, so that at last God said of man, "He is BECOME FLESH" (Gen.
6:3)He was lowered from spirit to soul, and fell from soul to "flesh." The
spirit of man is the image of God--GOD consciousness. The soul is the seat of
SELF-consciousness, and the body is the seat of SENSE-consciousness. In spirit Adam was
God-conscious. In soul man was both God-conscious and Self-conscious. But ruled by his
five senses, fulfilling the desires of the flesh, conscious of the outward world about
him, seeking his experience, existence and identity in that low realm, he was a FLESHLY
MAN. Having made the transition from the celestial to the physical, we died to the
spiritual and became alive to the natural, under the throes of the carnal mind, to have
"our conversation...in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh
and of the mind...by nature the children of wrath, even as others" (Eph. 2:3).
I would point out, that Adam
had already "fallen", as it were, before he partook of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil.. It was BECAUSE he had already been lowered from a higher realm that he
DID partake of this tree. One of the outstanding texts which shows this
"lowering" of man and his subsequent LACK is Ps. 8:4-5 wherein we read,
"What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that Thou visitest
him? For thou hast MADE HIM a little LOWER than the angels..." The word
"angels" in this passage is from the Hebrew ELOHIM and is always the Old
Testament word for GOD. "In the beginning GOD (Elohim) created..." (Gen. 1:1).
The phrase "made a little lower than the angels" would more literally be
translated from the Hebrew text, "Thou hast caused him (man) to LACK FROM
ELOHIM." When God would execute the purpose of the ages He laid hold of His ELOHIM
COMPANY and stripped from them some of that glory, that fullness, that oneness and caused
them to lack, for He subjected us to the bondage of vanity and corruption, emptiness and
nothingness, not willingly on our part, but by reason of HIM who subjected us in
hope--hope, in the words of another: "...that out of all its travail and processings
would come forth a company that would redound to His praise, that the inherent glory of
our pre-existent state in God, and the acquired glory through the contact with evil, and
the overcoming thereof, would combine their effulgence and the latter state would be
greater than the former; so that all we once had, plus all that is wrought out through the
processing will combine their effulgence, and redemption's glory will shine out to His
praise and all the universe shall throb anew with wonder of the power and the inworking
grace of God" --Gospel Echoes.
But in the meantime we were
made to lack, lowered from that pure spirit existence in the image of God. "Thou hast
made Him a little lower than Elohim," the spirit was lowered, it was made to lack
from the realm of fullness, so that some of the counterbalancing qualities which promote
order and righteousness were missing. This immediately made man vulnerable to any
temptation that might come his way and so he fell into the delusion of sin. The very
moment the spirit was made to lack man fell into the power of death. This in turn produced
a change in even the body of man and he became helplessly subject to this realm of gross
materialism as we know it now. And so, when we come to Adam in the garden, when the Lord
God formed him of the dust of the ground and placed him in the garden to dress it, guard
it, keep it, and take care of it, Adam was ALREADY SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD! He had
already been lowered, had already "fallen", as it were, and been MADE TO LACK.
He did not have sufficient resources to fulfill the command of God. And God planned it
this way!
The moment you understand
this truth, it is a simple matter to grasp the fact that all sin--with the whole realm of
vanity, darkness, evil and death--is the fruit and manifestation of an IMBALANCE, a LACK,
a DEFICIENCY, a FRAGMENTATION.
Eve was deceived in this
realm by a half-truth--it is not that the devil has no truth--even the truth he has is a
lie--for it is truth out of balance, partial truth, a half-truth, which, though it
contains an element of truth, is not truth at all, but a lie. In the true and eloquent
words of a friend: "The serpent in the garden of Eden used an argument that is
correct IN FORM, but because it was ONLY FORM and had lost its ESSENCE, Eve was deceived
by it. What was the argument that he used that was 'correct in form but actually invalid?'
Hear it! 'God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof your eyes shall be opened!' That
was truth--and 'ye shall be as gods' was also a truth, for after the man and the woman had
eaten, the Lord God Himself verified the serpent's statement as being absolute truth.
'Behold, the man is become as ONE OF US to know good and evil,' God said (Gen. 3:22). He
was saying that Adam had become a god himself! "Ye shall be as gods,' the serpent had
said, and that he told the truth is confirmed in the words, 'The man has become as one of
us' --he has become AS A GOD! In FORM, then, the serpent had a truth. He had, in fact,
drawn on the very Word of God itself to tempt Adam and Eve, for the Lord had said, 'Let us
make man in our image, after our likeness.' What the serpent failed to reveal, however,
was the ESSENCE of the form which is that INDEPENDENTLY OF GOD man can NEVER be a partaker
of the divine nature! This should have been self-evident truth, but man failed to see it.
Man became a god, alright, in the eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil--but he became a god in the wrong realm, for at the same time that God acknowledged
man's 'deity' He also CAST HIM FROM THE GARDEN--cast him from the consciousness of the
Kingdom of Heaven on earth--and set him in the earth 'to till the ground from which he was
taken.' Thus, we find that Adam truly became a 'god' --as the serpent promised and the
Lord confirmed--but he was not an heavenly god. He became, rather, the 'god of THIS WORLD'
(II Cor. 4:4). It is one thing to be 'a partaker of the divine nature' and it is quite
another thing to be the 'god of this world.' In the former, there is contained the thought
of TOTAL DEPENDENCE -- in the latter, the principle of
Independence--separation--fragmentation--imbalance--these
terms each bespeak of that which has come OUT OF God into a state of division, disunion,
thus lacking wholeness. As we pointed out earlier, all sin, evil, darkness and death is
the result of an IMBALANCE or LACK. "For all have sinned (missed the mark) and COME
SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD" (Rom. 3:23).
One of the great principles
of the universe is the principle of BALANCE. If the earth were a few miles closer to the
sun, it would be an inferno. If it were a few miles farther away, it would be a desolate,
frigid desert. But in its present location, balanced at an ideal distance from the sun,
our planet is in a perfect condition to sustain an exciting proliferation of life forms.
None of the other planets in our solar system can accommodate life because they are all
unbalanced in their relationship to the sun. Disease is the product of imbalance in the
physiological system. Cancer is one of the most dangerous and most dreaded of all
diseases. In cancer, some of the cells of the body become disorganized and begin to grow
so fast that they choke off organs of the body that our lives depend on. When those organs
can no longer work, the person dies.
Many things that are good for
us can become threats to our well-being if they get out of hand. Water is good, but too
much causes a flood. Cars provide efficient transportation, but too many of them in one
place can cause a traffic jam. We need food every day, but if we eat too much, it shows up
in the wrong places--our hips and waistlines. Things like these we must keep under
control. The most important form of control is self-control, which originates within our
hearts by the spirit. To exercise self-control, we must be
moderate--temperate--balanced--we must restrain the impulses of the flesh and the emotions
and desires of the carnal mind. "Now the fruit of the SPIRIT is love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, generosity, fidelity, tolerance, SELF-CONTROL--against these there is
no law" (Gal. 5:22-23, KJV & Phillips). Interesting, isn't it, that self-control
is a fruit of the HOLY SPIRIT! The Lord our God is ONE Lord -- united, undivided,
unfragmented, BALANCED in all His attributes and Being. Nothing is out of control, nothing
unbalanced, no lack or over abundance anywhere, no contradiction or conflict. That is just
the problem with man--he is OUT OF BALANCE! Man has been weighed in the scales of
Libra--and found wanting!
It is possible even in our
walk in God and our apprehension of truth to be OUT OF BALANCE. Recently a most beautiful
article was received from brother Ray Prinzing titled A BALANCED WALK IN AN
UNBALANCED'WORLD. I would quote just a portion of it which I found supremely edifying.
"There have been some precious, yea, awesome revelations imparted by the Spirit. Men
have caught a glimpse of a certain truth, and then leaned heavily upon that one
revelation, until it threw their walk out of balance. Perhaps nowhere is this more evident
than in what is termed 'the faith message.' Faith for healing, faith for prosperity, etc.
Open the Book and you find these truths from cover to cover--and they are precious truths,
BUT they often are taken clear out of balance.
"'Whereby are given unto
us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the
divine nature...and beside this, giving all diligence, ADD to your FAITH virtue; and to
virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience
godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if
these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor
unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ' (II Pet. 1:4-8). First we have the
emphasis upon the Word--exceeding great and precious promises. BELIEVING THE PROMISES, we
are made partakers of the divine nature. One would surely think that was enough, but then
Peter writes on, 'Giving all diligence, ADD TO YOUR FAITH...' The inference becomes clear,
the 'faith message' alone is not balanced. Place it on one side of the scale, and then
START ADDING on the other side, until it balances out.
"We speak of faith for
financial prosperity--and we hear some testimonies of great happenings. So we think to
exercise faith in that dimension, and it doesn't work the same, and we wonder what is
wrong. Haggai 1:6 speaks of the man that earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.'
He needed to hear more than a faith message for prosperity, he was in desperate need for
WISDOM, to understand what the will of the Lord is. Fast as the man prayed in the money,
out it went through the bag with holes. God would purify your desires, your priorities,
until HE COMES FIRST, and His will is your will, then for whatever He provides He will
also control its outgo.
"We speak of faith for
healing, but conveniently forget to ADD TO YOUR FAITH TEMPERANCE, i.e. self-control. It
was not the devil that made us sick, it was our own eating habits, junk food, etc. and
after spending years in destroying our bodies with wrong eating, drinking, smoking,
overworking, etc. we suddenly decide we need faith to be healed. Thank God He often
mercifully does heal us. But we also find that He would have us ADD TO OUR FAITH those
qualities which would bring us into BALANCE" --end quote.
We are all sailing the sea of
life. All are mariners, spiritual voyagers. We might profitably use the following
illustration. Tom Smith and John Jones both presumably own sailing vessels. They agree to
race to a certain point in the Pacific Ocean one hundred miles due west from
Each and every son of Adam is
a navigator on the sea of life. And the voyage upon which we all embarked at birth is one
for which none of us was fully prepared or equipped; we were thrust out upon a tempestuous
sea, there to maneuver our tiny bark to another shore. Winds, tides, and currents swept us
out to sea, and carried us on alone. Humanity, at present, is divided into a thousand
fragments both individually and collectively. We are fragmented, separated--LOST! But I
have good news for you, my friend--it is possible to discover exactly where we are
now--and how to get back on course to that bright and beckoning harbor ahead--for our
heavenly Father has sent One to search for us and SHOW THE WAY!
There is one image that is
perfect: the blessed Son of God, the visible manifestation of the Father, the only One who
has ever walked upon this planet who sums up the totality of DIVINE BALANCE. He is the
only whole, united, balanced, UNFRAGMENTED MAN! In Jesus Christ a Man has stepped forth
who came from God without any lack, so that He could make this astonishing declaration:
"He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the
Father? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself: but the Father that
dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in
Me" (Jn. 14:9-11). Jesus Christ is the One who shows us just where we are--and opens
up the way for our return into the fullness of God. Our heavenly Father demands that all
men should follow the example of our Lord and Master. In order to enter the Kingdom of
Heaven, the anchor of hope must be cast beyond the veil of this carnal, dying realm into
the Shekinah into which Jesus has passed before us, as by faith we are led to prove for
ourselves and demonstrate to those about the authority of the SPIRIT OF LIFE WITHIN over
the law of sin and death in the flesh.
Christ Jesus is perfectly
balanced and united in all His faculties, and IN HIM all things are restored into oneness,
wholeness, balance. "He that is joined unto the Lord is ONE SPIRIT" (I Cor.
6:17). "That they all may be ONE; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that
they also may be ONE IN US...and the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them; that
they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made
PERFECT IN ONE; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me" (Jn. 17:21-23).
"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither
male or female: for ye are all ONE IN CHRIST JESUS" (Gal. 3:28). "That in the
dispensation of the fullness 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" (Eph. 1:10).
One of the most challenging
passages in all the Word of God is found in Eph. 4:15. "But speaking the truth in
love, may grow up INTO HIM in all things, which is the Head, even Christ." The key
words are: GROW UP I-N-T-O HIM...WHICH IS THE HEAD. Grow up into ...the Head! Who ever
heard such a thing? Who has ever seen a body grow up into a head? The body grows, and the
head may grow somewhat, but the body remains a body and the head remains a head. But in
the progressive development of the many-membered Christ, the Elohim Company, the door has
been opened for some members who will GROW UP I-N-T-O T-H-E H-E-A-D. It signifies a
transference from one part of the body to another, from the torso, up into the Head. Oh,
the mystery of it! It means that these grow up into the measure of the stature of the
fullness of the Christ, sharing ALL that He is. These are the sons of the MOST HIGH. And
this is the ultimate high heritage of each and every son of Adam's race, for ADAM IS THE
IMAGE OF GOD.
This bespeaks of a realm
where you do not draw your life from without, from others, but you have life in yourself,
life for yourself, and life for others. You are not a receptacle but a source. Jesus
unfolded this realm when He proclaimed, "The Son of man CAME NOT TO BE MINISTERED
UNTO, but to minister, and to give His life..." (Mat. 20:28). Jesus did not come to
receive life for HE WAS LIFE. He came not to receive life but to GIVE LIFE. He HAD LIFE IN
HIMSELF even as the Father had life in Himself. Within that life was contained every
element of victory, righteousness, wisdom and power He could ever need. All the infinite
resources of God were within Him. WITHIN HIM! No one could add anything, no one prayed for
Him, laid hands on Him, counseled Him, prophesied to Him, encouraged Him. His disciples
received from Him but not one gave to Him. They asked of Him, but none contributed
anything to Him. He prayed for them, but they never had to pray for Him. If He needed
power, the power was in the life within. If He needed encouragement, the encouragement was
in the life. If He needed wisdom, this wisdom was in the life. ALL was in the Father, and
the Father was IN HIM. This is a nature and a life that is not dependent upon anything
without, for it is a self-existent life, demanding no sustenance, underived, inherent,
drawing not from anything or anyone. ALL SUFFICIENT, ABUNDANT, GLORIOUS AND UNCHANGING
LIFE! No lack, the scales are perfectly balanced.
You can always tell when
people are growing up into the Head. They no longer need to BE MINISTERED TO. They aren't
waiting for a healer to come to town and lay hands on them, for they have grown up into
that measure of His fullness where they discover the HEALER WITHIN, and are now able to
appropriate FOR THEMSELVES the faith of God within to gain the victory over sickness and
disease. They are not searching for a prophet to give them a word, to tell them where to
go or what to do, to reveal the will of God in their life, for they have learned to know
HIS VOICE, communing freely with the PROPHET WITHIN, flooded with wisdom and
understanding. These don't talk about their problems, or lament about the devil, or plead
for help, for the joy of the Lord is their strength and the peace of God rules in their
heart. They don't ring up the elders, friends, or the saints requesting prayer for this
and that need in their life, for they have discovered the
The manifested sons of God
are not little fragments of God, but each grows up to be complete in the totality of the
Father of spirits. Just as Jesus Christ is the personal embodiment of the fullness of God,
and would be such EVEN IF WE DID NOT EXIST, so each and every son of the Highest MUST
become the reproduction of the Father in the totality and completeness of Himself. The
ONENESS, the WHOLENESS of God's nature must be fully developed in each son until there be
no fragmentation, lack or imbalance. Thus shall sin, limitation, sickness, sorrow and
death be swallowed up of life!
REDEMPTION
There are two bright stars in
Libra, GOD'S BIBLE IN THE SKY, which tell the whole story. The brightest star, appearing
in the scale which is tipped downward, is entitled ZUBEN AL GENUBI which means "the
price is deficient." It is a picture of man in the carnal mind and nature, weighed in
the balance and found wanting; man ruined and condemned; man with his life added up and
found wholly in vanity and illusion, existing in the realm of the corruptible and passing.
But blessed be God! In the other scale which is tipped upward there is another bright star
called ZUBEN AL SHEMALl which means "the price which covers." When Christ is
placed in the scales, then we have that weight which raises us, bringing life, truth,
reality--RESTORATION, HARMONY, WHOLENESS AND BALANCE. This is exactly what the Lord Jesus
taught and demonstrated so wonderfully through His healing and delivering ministry. He
spoke the words of compassion and power into the souls of all marred creatures and called
them beloved children of God. He healed their diseases, forgave their sins, raised their
dead and lifted them up from the mire and defilement and set them on the pathway to
holiness and restoration to their lost estate that they might live again as sons and
daughters of the Most High. Under the Sign of Libra we are all to learn to be SAVIOURS,
giving the kiss of Life, Light and Love to all who dwell in the shadow of death, darkness
and fear.
Never forget, precious friend
of mine, that Jesus came as THE PRICE WHICH COVERS, the substance in the scale that
replenishes all deficiency. He shed His blood--His divine life--pouring it out for us.
Life and blood are synonymous. Spirit and blood are synonymous. Spirit, blood and life are
all different names for the same element. Jesus performed His mighty works by the shores
of
Christ gave Himself FOR US
and TO US. Our spirit must be quickened by His Spirit. This is the power of His redeeming
blood. That He might liberally pour His dear-bought treasures into benighted human
storehouses, was the inspiration of Jesus' intense human sacrifice. Some hold not to this
truth, choosing rather to believe that they are a self-sufficient god within themselves,
needing no Saviour beyond their own inherent divinity. But here let me utter a note of
warning. In the testimony of scripture the order is ever:
"Unto HIM that loved US,
and WASHED US from OUR SINS in HIS OWN BLOOD." And, "To as many as received HIM,
to THEM gave HE power to BECOME the sons of God." Break these links and the chain is
gone. Even in nature a seed, though containing the life, does not sprout of itself: it
sprouts because there are "mysterious forces" BEYOND the seed -- sun, wind,
rain, and the whole economy of the universe--playing upon the mysterious life in the seed.
Let us never forget this. Some trust so strongly in their own divinity they need no
Saviour, no sun or wind or rain from without to quicken the life within. The unwary are
caught by it. All this time the blood of Christ is omitted or ignored. Not one word is
said about it. The silence is ominous. Do let us understand truth clearly, for "there
shall be false teachers among you who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even
DENYING THE LORD THAT B-O-U-G-H-T THEM and bring upon themselves swift destruction"
(II Pet. 2:1). Truth out of place is the most dangerous error--IMBALANCE.
The love of God became a man,
the love of God became human flesh, the love of God in Jesus Christ has flowed into our
souls as the precious blood of Christ to wash away the veil of flesh and quicken us again
to our true identity and heritage in God. "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not
redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold from your vain manner of life
received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a
Lamb without blemish and without spot" (I Pet. 1:18-19).
Hallelujah for the blood!
Chapter
l0
LIBRA--THE
SCALES
(continued)
The first of the Decans
(minor constellations) in the house of Libra is THE CROSS (CRUX), known as "The
Southern Cross." It is situated beneath the feet of the Centaur. This is one of the
most beautiful of the Signs in the heavens. It consists of four bright stars placed in the
form of a cross. At the time of the coming of Jesus Christ this Southern Cross was visible
in the latitude of
In Hebrew this Decan is
called ADOM, which means "the cutting off." In Dan. 9:26, we read: "After
threescore and two weeks shall MESSIAH BE CUT OFF..." Here we have the connection of
the Messiah with the Crux or the Cross--the "cutting off" of the Messiah. Of our
Lord it is written: "And after He had appeared in human form He abased and humbled
Himself still further and carried His obedience to the extreme of death, even the death of
the cross!" (Phil. 2:8, Amplified).
Two thousand years ago, the
CROSS didn't inspire religious awe or thoughts of the Messiah's redemption. Instead, the
cross inspired sheer TERROR. A crucifixion was a gruesome, torturous, and shameful way of
dying--the lowest form of execution, reserved for traitors and hardened criminals. It was
undoubtedly one of the most barbarous and exquisitely cruel forms of torture known to man.
The method used by the Romans in the time of our Lord was a refinement of this gruesome
form of death devised by the ancient Assyrians. The sadistic form of crucifixion
originally was IMPALEMENT of the enemy upon sharp stakes. Cutting the branches off a small
but sturdy tree, these masters of torment would shape it into an upright post with a
razor-sharp point. Hauling their victim to the crucifixion site they would rip the
clothing off his body in the presence of his frightened associates. These strong soldiers
would then lift him up in the air over the upright CROSS, poising his wildly twisting body
momentarily over the sharp point in the rectal area. Suddenly, with precision timing, the
powerful warriors who held him would drive his body downward with all their might. If they
were especially skilled they would drive the sword-like stake through the intestines, and
all the way to the diaphragm. Although strong enough to drive the cross into the heart
they would stop short so that the screaming, jerking victim would gyrate long enough to
burn the event into the souls of his watching countrymen. The Assyrians knew that such a
memory would aid them in conquering other cities, tribes, and nations without so much as a
battle.
The Greek word used in the
New Testament for "cross" is STAUROS. From the time of Alexander the Great, who
also practiced the awful art of crucifixion, the term STAUROS meant "an upright
stake." In respect to the Roman cross the word STAUROS referred to the upright
post--the horizontal beam was called the PATIBULUM or cross-arm--for there was no word in
the Greek language for "cross" as the Romans made it. The Persians who picked up
the practice of crucifixion from the Assyrians were the first to change the form of
execution by impalement through the bowels to impalement through the hands. Their purpose
in this was not to be more humane but, rather, to cause a more lingering death to impress
the vanquished with the foolishness of resisting their military might. The Persian version
of crucifixion, using the crossbeam in addition to the upright post, was picked up by
Alexander and his generals and carried back to the Mediterranean world.
The Romans learned the art of
torture by crucifixion and immediately set out to refine and improve it in many subtle
ways. At the time of Christ the Romans made use of four cross forms. In addition to the
upright STAUROS which was used alone for impalement through the bowels, there was what
they called the CRUX IMISSA in which the cross-beam was located about one-third the way
down the post. This is the traditional design which is usually associated with the cross
upon which Jesus was slain. The third Roman cross form was called the CRUX COMMISSA in
which the crossbeam was hauled to the very top of the pole, forming a T-shaped cross. The
fourth Roman cross form was in the shape of the letter "X" and was called the
CRUX DECUSSTA. Tradition maintains that Peter was crucified upside down on this shape of
cross. The Latin word CRUX, which was the Roman term for these instruments of torture,
comes into English as "cross" by way of the French CROIX.
Regardless of the cross form
used it was a slow and agonizing death--reserved for traitors, slaves and in general the
SCUM of the Roman world. But the process of crucifixion involved more than the shame of a
brief public hanging. First, the victim was mercilessly scourged with spiked whips, sticks
and all manner of physical and verbal abuse. Then the victim was forced to CARRY his own
heavy cross to the site of the crucifixion. Afterwards came the painful process of nailing
his hands and feet to the cross. Finally, this slow, agonizing death was aggravated by
taunts, threats and buffeting from the crowd. The terror of the cross--like the
anticipation of a public hanging--is heightened by the victim's fear of the event. Most
criminals were crucified immediately after their trial because the forebodings of pain
were more than most mortals could handle. The crucifixion of Jesus was typical in this
respect--He was crucified on the same day He was convicted. But this death sentence was no
sudden surprise to Jesus. He anticipated His death by the cross throughout His
three-and-one-half year ministry. As a young man growing up in
Of all the lives that have
suddenly ended in what would seem to be defeat and tragedy, none would have appeared to be
more defeated or more tragic than the life of Jesus, the teacher from
When Jesus hung upon the
cross the heavens robed themselves in midnight mourning and bowed to the earth and wept.
The rocks in their dumb grief burst, because their Creator was put to death by those whom
He came only to save and bless; and the earth itself rocked with convulsive throes. As the
Lord of glory hangs there--absolute silence takes the place of the noisy babble of the
crowd. At length after three hours, the silence is broken, and a cry pierces the darkness,
till it strikes a heaven not opened now, but closed even to Him, "My God, My God, why
hast Thou forsaken Me?"
THE CROSS IN THE HEART OF GOD
In spite of the awful fact of
It is my deep conviction, and
I say it with all reverence and respect to my blessed Lord, Jesus Christ, but the truth is
that Jesus in the natural suffered no more on the cross than thousands of others who were
nailed to a tree, or thousands of others who died on the rack during the Roman
inquisition, or thousands of others who were burned at the stake, or fed to the lions, or
made blazing human torches at the Circus in Rome. The physical suffering was no greater.
The cross of Christ refers to a greater spiritual cross and a greater spiritual death. The
cross of Christ had its beginning that day in heaven, when the Word of God, "being in
the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made Himself of NO
REPUTATION, and took upon Him the FORM OF A SERVANT, and was made IN THE LIKENESS OF MEN;
and being found IN FASHION AS A MAN, He HUMBLED Himself, and BECAME OBEDIENT UNTO DEATH,
EVEN THE DEATH OF THE CROSS." Fierce as was His suffering at Calvary, that fearful
hour of agony and blood was but the final act of a life of the cross as step by step He
descended from the majesty and glory of equality with God to the fearsome moment when in
anguish He cried, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?"
Though I am sure it is
impossible to plumb the shining depths and the inexhaustible riches of the meaning of the
cross, I would like to endeavor to set before you the deeper meaning of the cross of
Christ. We will never understand the mystery of the cross until by the spirit of wisdom
and revelation from God our eyes perceive the eternal cross in the heart of God Himself.
The only true and eternal life in the universe is the life of God. He alone is
self-existent. He alone is reality. He alone is eternal substance. If we are to fully know
and partake of that life, we must die to all that is contrary to that life. Everything
that exists in the universe has its opposite--and as surely as God exists there is the
opposite for all that He is. God is love--and the opposite of love is hate. God is
light--and the opposite of light is darkness. God is truth--and the opposite of the truth
is the lie. God is life--and the opposite of life is death. Every positive has its
negative, and all the laws of the universe reveal this principle of opposites. Jesus
enunciated the fundamental principle of life (spirit, God) when He said that except a
grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone; but if it die it brings
forth the increase of life. Every negative must be brought to death. Everything in the
universe must die to all that is contrary to divine life and nature, being born again of
the Spirit. This is the meaning of "Behold, I make ALL THINGS NEW" (Rev. 21:5).
This has been the Father's plan for man--man in the image and glory of the incorruptible
God.
The principle was set in
motion with the first man, Adam. Adam had to fall into darkness, sin and death, not
because he was inherently evil or rebellious, but because all that is contradictory to God
must be stirred up, experienced, faced, understood, repented of, overcome and eternally
put to rest in man's will before the image of God can shine safely and eternally through
him. In recent months my whole understanding of why the cross is the gateway to LIFE has
been clarified and crystallized within my spirit. I have come to see that God Himself dies
to everything but His self-giving self, which is love. God Himself dies to every dark
principle that would sow selfishness, pride, strife, bitterness, trouble, pain, sorrow,
chaos, disappointment, weakness, limitation or evil of any kind. The cross is the very
heart of God, and the basis of why He is the ETERNAL GOD. He is eternally God just because
He IS ETERNALLY all that makes Him God.
In the increasing light with
which God is filling the hearts of His elect, this scripture, "Hear, O Israel: The
LORD our God is ONE Lord," bears a depth of meaning greater far and deeper than the
surface truth we have understood with natural minds. That this passage may become clearer
to our minds, scintillating in heaven's light like the ray which is broken into many
prismatic hues, consider now the glorious things concealed in this mighty word of the
Lord. The Lord our God is ONE. One, in the numerology of scripture, means UNITY, UNITED,
UNDIVIDED, UNFRAGMENTED. One is the primary number, denoting beginning or source. Unity
being indivisible, and not made up of other numbers, is therefore independent of all
others, and is the source of all others. "One" excludes all difference, for
there is no second with which it can either harmonize or conflict. One means unity and
unity comes from the word "unit".
In reference to His
substance, God is SPIRIT. In reference to His state of being, God is ONE. That which is
ONE is that which is UNITED, UNDIVIDED, UNFRAGMENTED. Oneness speaks of unity, harmony,
singleness, concord, solidarity. God is ONE! The fact that there is ONE GOD must not be
confused with the truth that GOD IS ONE. Perhaps, as someone has said, this is only
another aspect of viewing the same truth, for God is truly one, undivided in Himself, or
in His will and purpose. And surely HE alone is God! But this One God IS ONE. It is a
great and blessed fact that God is ONE. He who is united, undivided and unfragmented in
every aspect of His nature and state of being cannot be influenced, affected, moved,
upset, frustrated, changed, altered, damaged, destroyed, made discordant or set at
variance in any way. The character of God is eternal, change-less, unaffected. The love,
joy, peace, righteousness, wisdom, justice, power and will of God do not rise and fall,
rise and fall, rise and fall. Matters not what happens nor what men devise or devils say
or do, the love of God, the purpose of God, the holiness of God, the power of God are
steadfast, unmoved, unquenched, unaffected, without fluctuation. He is Yahweh, the
SELF-EXISTENT ONE. He is ONE. No power in the universe can cause any deviation whatsoever
in God's nature, will or action.
But how is it that God is
UNCHANGEABLE in His nature--is it because He CANNOT change or because He CHOOSES not to
change? Truly God "cannot lie" and God cannot be anything other than life, light
and love. But why CANNOT He be? The answer that the blessed Spirit of Truth has revealed
in my heart is because HE HAS ETERNALLY DIED TO THE POSSIBILITY THAT DARKNESS CAN ARISE IN
HIS LIFE! The entire principle of darkness has its foundation in the life of God, for was
it not God Himself who "divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light
Day, and the darkness He called night" (Gen. 1:5). "I form the light, and create
darkness: I make peace, and create evil. I the Lord do all these things" (Isa. 45:7).
This mystery of darkness in God's nature remains unrevealed because He has eternally
WILLED to be Life, Light and Love. All the negative potential is there--the law of
opposites--but there is a cross in God's heart--by which He eternally dies to all that
would make Him anything less than GOD. This is ALWAYS happening in God's life, because the
cross is an eternal fact. "Eternity" doesn't mean unbeginning time in the long
ago or unending time in the inscrutable future. Eternity means NO TIME. Eternity is
TIME-LESS. This means that the decision to die to the negative principle is not subject to
review or change--it is forever settled and determined in the heart of God. That's why He
says over and over, "I change not." It is not that He is intrinsically set so
that He cannot change. Rather, it is that He has ETERNALLY CHOSEN not to change. It is an
eternal, accomplished, irrevocable choice, born of wisdom and understanding. It is the
eternal cross in His heart. Therefore He cannot change. He is forever love. He is forever
pure. He is forever righteous. He is forever wisdom. He is forever Light and Life. He is
forever SAFE!
The cross is the secret of
God's gift of love. It means that God does not live for HIMSELF. All the selfhood of God
is forever crucified upon the cross in God's heart. Selfhood must be a vital
characteristic in any life. The selfish desire that would cause God to live for
Himself--to this God eternally dies. He has willed to be a self for others instead of a
self for self, by eternally dying to the dark, selfish principle. Andrew Murray said that
the spirit of love is AN ETERNAL WILL TO ALL GOODNESS. The best and most wonderful word in
the universe is Love. For God is love. What is love? The deep desire to give itself for
the beloved. Love finds its joy in imparting all that it has, all that it is, to make the
loved one happy and fulfilled. This is THE ONE ETERNAL, IMMUTABLE GOD that, from eternity
to eternity, changeth not, that can be neither more nor less, but an ETERNAL WILL TO ALL
THE GOODNESS that is in Himself and come from Him. The creation of ever so many worlds
adds nothing to, nor takes anything from, this immutable God: He always was, and always
will be the same immutable WILL TO ALL GOODNESS. So that as certainly as He is the
Creator, so certainly He is the Blesser of every created thing, and can give nothing but
Blessing, Goodness and Happiness from Himself, because He has in Himself nothing else to
give.
The spirit of love does not
want to be rewarded or honored; its only desire is to become the blessing and happiness of
everything that needs it. The wrath of an enemy, the treachery of a friend, only gives the
spirit of love opportunity to be more triumphant. The rebellion (selfhood) of Adam but
opened up avenues for mankind to experience the incredible depths of the love of God! God
IS LOVE! And His sons are of His own nature. The Sons of Love! What a blessed title!
Little wonder, then, that the whole vast creation, sold under slavery and bondage to sin,
sorrow, and death GROANS for the manifestation of THE SONS OF LOVE!
From this flash-point, Life
sheds forth Light and Love. The whole creation sprang out from this unselfish love, for
God said, "Let there be..." and "God SO LOVED THE WORLD that He
gave..." Life begins after the cross, even in the life of God. The cross is more than
Calvary- it is the fulcrum or point of power in which the entire infinite might of the
forces of divine desire issue in love, creation, and self-abnegation for others. This is
why Jesus said, "Take up YOUR CROSS and follow Me." We carry our cross with us
in our walk IN SPIRIT- the cross that God has in His heart --not to suffer physically
necessarily, but to die to all negatives and all selfhood and selfishness and spring forth
as rivers of living waters in life anew. So we become life and light for others. As Adam
Parker wrote, "How does the sun in the sky give light? It is continually dying to
produce light. We don't see the death, or the dark contracting forces in this great star.
We only see the light. But death is the key to the light. And that light is the life of
our world in the physical dimension. So also the Son, with the cross in His heart, is the
Daystar risen in our lives. We share in His eternal death and new life, for He is our very
life --and He in us is the light of the world that brings life to all men.”
All the books in the world,
though written with pens of silver and ink of gold, could never fully describe the glories
of His cross, nor could all the learned tongues of men or the heavenly voices of angels
explain to the mind of man how He, who was rich, for our sakes became poor that we through
His poverty might be made rich. Eternity itself will not be too long to sing the praises
of such a One, who came from the cross in the bosom of God to shed His life blood that all
creation might find eternal life in Him.
BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD
We have been told many times,
by the Spirit, that life can only come through death. This is one of the fundamental laws
of creation. Jesus said, "Except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it
abideth alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit" (Jn. |2:24). In other
words, it brings forth an abundance of life--but it is necessary that it die before a new
life can be brought about. If it doesn't die, it remains alone, and nothing is brought
forth. It was essential for Jesus to be made a man, of the earth earthy, with a body made
of the dust of the earth, for the life of God to fall into this ground and die that He
might bring forth much fruit, after His own kind.
If Jesus Christ had not died,
He would have remained the ONLY begotten Son of God. God would have had no more sons like
Him, but because He did come in the likeness of men, with a body of the dust of the earth,
encased in the darkness of mortal mind, to die in that body, He can now bring forth many
more begotten sons like Himself; and not only that, He came to make it possible for an
entirely new creation to come into being.
There is no doubt that the
Christ played a very important role in this present creation, for all things were made IN
Him, THROUGH Him and FOR Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. Without
Him the present creation could not have come into existence. I hope, with the help of the
Holy Spirit, to enable you to see and understand His relationship to this present cosmos.
If life can only come out of death, then there was a death connected with the bringing in
of this present creation. If this law is true, there had to be a death associated with the
birth of creation.
I would draw your reverent
attention to a few significant passages of scripture. Most Christians seem to think that
the time the Christ of God left the glory above was when He was conceived in the womb of
the virgin of Nazareth and born a babe in Bethlehem's stable, laying down that life that
He had with the Father, birthed into our life which is a life of death, separated from the
eternal glory of the Father for a mere 33 years, then laying aside that robe which was of
flesh to return to the Father and take again that glory which He had with the Father until
that wonderful day when the angel Gabriel was dispatched by God to Mary in Nazareth. But a
close inspection of the scriptures will give us a different idea.
In that wonderful prayer
Jesus prayed on the night before His crucifixion, He said, "I have finished the work
which Thou gavest Me to do." Then He went on to ask, "And now, O Father, glorify
Thou Me with Thine own self, with the glory I had with Thee before the world (cosmos)
was" (Jn. 17:4-5). These words certainly indicate that Christ had been away from the
Father's glory for a lot longer than 33 years. He is actually saying that He left the
glory BEFORE THE COSMOS CAME INTO BEING. How long ago that was I don't have the foggiest
notion--but it was certainly centuries, millenniums, yea, vast and innumerable ages before
our blessed Christ walked among us. Now He was asking the Father to restore to Him the
glory He had forsaken before ever the cosmos came into being. In the 24th verse we read:
"Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that
they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me: FOR THOU LOVEDST ME BEFORE THE
FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD."
Why these references to the
beginning, yea, before the beginning, before the founding of the cosmos? What happened
away back there that He should appeal to it? Why did He speak of the Father's love for Him
in that distant point of time? Did not the Father always love Him? I feel deeply within
that something tremendously important happened at that time that invoked a special love
from God, His Father, causing Him to love His Son in a very special way. One thing is
certain--that was the time when the Christ left His pre-existent glory. Otherwise, why
should He say, "Father, glorify Thou Me, with Thine own self, with the glory I had
with Thee B-E-F-O-R-E THE COSMOS WAS." If He had left the glory of the Father only
when He came to earth as a man, why not say, "...the glory which I had with Thee
before I came to earth"? Ah--it was not in Mary's womb that He descended from the
glory of the Father, it was much farther back--BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD!
Notice now these wonderfully
meaningful words penned by John the Revelator. "And all that dwell upon the earth
shall worship him (the beast), whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb
SLAIN FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD" (Rev. 13:8). Let us notice just what truth is
stated here. A better rendering would be, "The Lamb that was PUT TO DEATH from the
founding of the cosmos."
What does it mean that Christ
was the Lamb slain "before the foundation of the world"? The word
"world" in these passages translates the Greek word COSMOS meaning "order,
arrangement, system of things." The "world" is a negative thing in relation
to God. James declares, "...the friendship of the world is enmity with God, whosoever
therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God" (James 4:4). The apostle
John adds his testimony, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the
world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in
the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of
the Father, but is of the world" (I Jn. 2:15-16). The world is the present system of
things upon this earth conceived by the carnal mind and generated by the natural man.
The world consists of all
that man has instituted that replaces God (the Spirit) in his life. The present political
systems, economic systems, educational systems and religious systems are not of God, but
of the world. When people, activities, or things--whether good or bad, beautiful or
ugly--enslave man, they comprise the world. Anything that causes man to disregard the
SPIRIT, be removed from the anointing, trust in the outer world of flesh, or be
independent of God is the world. All that does not come from the Father, all that
originates outside of SPIRIT, all that man institutes by his own carnal wisdom and fleshly
ability is of the world, and is contrary to the life and nature of God.
The word
"foundation" (foundation of the world) translates the Greek word KATABOLE which
is a compound word made up of BALLO meaning "to cast, to throw" and KATA meaning
"down." When man fell from his high and holy relationship with God and was cast
down into the carnal realm of consciousness, the "foundation" of the world was
laid in his heart and actions. But--blessed be God! The apostle Paul informs us that God
the Father elected some SONS in Christ BEFORE the foundation of the world! "According
as He hath chosen us in Him BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD...unto the adoption of
sons..." (Eph. 1:4-5). The word "before" translates the Greek word PRO
meaning "to go before, to precede." Hence, the Father's act of choosing us in
Christ preceded the fall of man and the establishment of the world system.
These blessed ones chosen by
the Father are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb "slain from the foundation of the
world" (Rev. 13:8), and they are the heirs of the
It is my earnest prayer that
the Lord will give understanding to all who read these lines. Christ was lowered from the
bright glory of the Father BEFORE THE WORLD WAS and He was the Lamb that was put to death
from the FOUNDING OF THE WORLD. Meditate deeply upon this, my beloved, for we are looking
at two different events in these two statements. He was lowered from the Father's glory
before the world was. This was how this present creation was made possible. He had to make
a sacrifice of Himself in order for the creation to be brought into being as He has to
continue to sacrifice Himself to bring the new creation into existence.
Life can only come out of
death. The life you and I have in the natural had to be given us by the Son of God, and it
has to be sustained by other things giving their lives so we can keep ours. All of the
beef, fish and fowl we eat and the fruits and vegetables we consume, were at one time
living things; living creatures that gave up their right to live so we could live. There
are some things that are written about Jesus that are an enigma to the natural mind. One
is, that He is the beginning of the creation of God. "These things saith the Amen,
the faithful and true witness, THE BEGINNING OF THE CREATION OF GOD" (Rev. 3:14). Now
we know that it has been said of Jesus that He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning
and the end, the first and the last. This really means that He is everything, the
beginning and the end, and everything in between; the center and the circumference, and
the whole area of the sphere. And here we find that He is the beginning of the creation of
God. What can this mean? Clearly it means that He was the first of the creation to be
brought into being. He had to be brought forth before anything else was, if He was
"with God in the beginning." This is verified in Prov. 8:23-31 where we read of
wisdom personified (Christ). "I was set up from age lasting, from the beginning, or
ever the earth was, when there were no depths I WAS BROUGHT FORTH, when there were no
fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I
BROUGHT FORTH."
If Christ was the beginning
of the creation of God, what was He in the beginning? What place did He occupy in the
grand and glorious scheme of creation? Let us consider the very first thing God brought
forth from His creative hand. The picture we get is of a universe and an earth that was
without form and void, and darkness covered the face of the deep (Gen. 1:2). Dense
darkness covered the whole cosmos. The earth was dark and the heavens also, for there was
no light anywhere. The first necessity was to bring the illuminating, life-giving LIGHT
into a cold and darkened cosmos. So LIGHT was the first thing God brought about. "And
God said, Let there be light: and there was light" (Gen. 1:3). Now what was this
light? Was it the sun, the moon, or the stars as some Bible teachers are wont to tell us?
It couldn't have been, for the light of the sun, moon, and stars shone not upon earth
until the fourth day. This must have been some other light. If Christ was the beginning of
the creation of God, He must have somehow been connected with this first light. And if He
is the beginning and the end, the first and the last, was He not the light that God
brought forth at this time? Let us look at the last light, in the next to the last chapter
of the Bible. "And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in
it; for the glory of God did lighten it, and THE LAMB IS THE LIGHT THEREOF" (Rev.
21:23). So in the end there is no need for the sun nor the moon, for the glory of God and
the Lamb is the light. If He is the light in the end, can we not see that He was also the
light in the beginning--for He is the beginning and the end!
Now let us look at some of
the things Jesus said about Himself. "I am THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD (cosmos); he that
followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of Life" (Jn.
8:12). The whole cosmos was in darkness, the heavens as well as the earth, else the
heavens would have shed their light upon the earth. The first and greatest need was light,
and God brought that light into the dark universe, and that light was THE WORD, THE
CHRIST. Jesus also said, "I am come a light into the cosmos, that whosoever believeth
on Me should not walk in darkness" (Jn. 12:46). The truth He proclaimed was that HE
WAS THE LIGHT THAT CAME INTO THE COSMOS, to bring light into the darkened creation. He was
indeed the light, but there was more in Him coming into the darkened universe than just to
be a light. There was much more to it than that! John by inspiration of the Spirit sheds
additional revelation on it when he speaks of the Word being with the Father in the
beginning, and how all things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that
was made. Then he goes on to say, "In HIM was life, and the life was the LIGHT OF
MEN" (Jn. 1:4). From this verse we see that light and life are essentially one and
the same. "The life was the light of men." So when He came a light into the
cosmos, He also was the life that came into the creation, to give life unto all creatures.
"The Spirit is Life," says the apostle Paul. Life and Spirit are synonymous even
as Life, Light and Spirit are but three ways of saying the same thing. The Word was the
Life, the Life was the Light, the Light was the Christ, the Spirit is the Life--GOD
INFUSED INTO HIS CREATION--or, as we read in Job 32:8, "There is a SPIRIT IN MAN: and
the INSPIRATION OF THE ALMIGHTY giveth them understanding."
John continues, "That
was THE TRUE LIGHT, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world" (Jn. 1:9).
There never was any other light. All other lights are artificial, imitation. Only the
Christ was the TRUE LIGHT, and He came a light into the cosmos. In these statements of the
apostle John he speaks of the time of the beginning of the creation, when the Word was
with God bringing in the creation. He is NOT speaking of the time of His birth in
Light is life, darkness is
death. Whenever we read of light it always speaks to us of life; when we read of darkness
it is referring to death. Light is that which dispels the darkness. When one brings a
light into a dark place the darkness goes, because you see, darkness is really
nonexistent; it has no substance, no reality; it is just the absence of light. Provide the
light and the darkness is gone. It seems strange to our natural understanding that the
Light in the beginning didn't do away with the darkness; the darkness still remained. Why
didn't the darkness disappear when the Light came on the scene? When you turn on the light
in a dark room the darkness flees. Where did it go? It didn't go out the door or through
the window. It didn't go anywhere because it is a negative, a no-thing. So why didn't the
Light in the beginning dispel the darkness? The answer is, of course, that God did not at
that time shine His Light into every place. He "divided the light from the
darkness."
This gross material realm was
created on a level of death, and death is still a part of the creation; and as long as
darkness exists death will still be around. But, blessed be the Lord! darkness and death
will ultimately be done away, for the Light shall shine brighter and brighter unto the
perfect day and "there shall be NO NIGHT there." When this present creation came
into being, death was in the universe, for everything has its opposite, and death is the
opposite of life as darkness is the opposite of light. There is even the opposite in God,
which is slain by the cross in His heart, so that God is light and in Him there is no
darkness at all. Everything of this present creation, when it was formed, had the
potential of death in it. It was a built-in factor in creation. But included in God's
great and eternal purpose is the abolition of death and darkness; and God, in working out
His plan, is doing just that. When He has finished there will be no darkness nor death
anywhere in the universe. "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." But
destroyed it shall be, and His Son, who is the Light and the Life, is the One ordained to
perform this great task. And He performs it IN US. Praise His name.
When once we understand that
this present creation was formed with the shadow of death upon it, it will become
increasingly clear that the Son had to leave the eternal, incorruptible glory of the
Father, and enter into a level of death, in order to bring the creation into being. It was
the Word of God lowering Himself to bring forth and indwell on this lower level. Thus, He
was the Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world. This was the beginning of
God's great creative and redemptive process. So when this present creation came into
existence the potential of death was in it; but thank God, the potential for life was also
there, for there was both light and darkness in it from the beginning.
The Light of Life is now
being unveiled in a people into whose hearts GOD HATH SHINED. The pen of inspiration
wrote, "YE are all the children of the Light, and the children of the Day, we are not
of the night nor of darkness" (I Thes. 5:5). There are many other places where we
read of the children of light, the sons of light, the children of the day; and the
children of night or of darkness. We can be either children of the Day, or children of the
Night. We can walk in light, or in darkness; it all depends on who we are following, and
where our source is--flesh or spirit. The Spirit is life, and light is life. "If ye
walk after the Spirit, ye shall live!"
Christ is to God what the
light-rays of the sun are to the sun. Compared to the great orb of fire blazing in the
heavens the gentle sunlight which strikes planet earth seems pale and limited; yet it is
the very substance of the sun and the dispensation of the sun to us. Ere it left the sun
it was with the sun and was the sun, as the Christ was with God and was God. "He is
the sole expression of the glory of God--the Light-being, the out-raying of the
divine--and He is the perfect imprint and very image of Gods nature" (Heb. 1:3,
Amplified). Light is energy, and the energy of the sun, for example, can change into other
forms of energy. When light causes sugar to form in green leaves, some of the light energy
is changed into chemical energy and stored in the sugar. When you look at those green
leaves you see nothing that even slightly resembles the glory or brilliance of the sun.
The lesson here is that the light of the sun has been LOWERED into another form, and when
you eat those leaves you receive the strength of life from the energy in the sugar which
is really the energy of the sun lowered into that existence.
In like manner, the Christ
was the Light and the Life of the creation, but in becoming that Light He Himself had to
be limited--as the rays of sunlight are the glory of the sun by measure, so is Christ the
measure of God to every man. When He left the glory of the Father to bring forth the
creation and to shine upon it and live within it, He was lowered from the infinite realm
of the Father, stripping from Himself some of that in order to fulfill the Father's great
plan of creation and redemption. This He did BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, and this
He did BY THE CROSS IN THE HEART OF GOD for only by the work of the cross could He lay
aside the glory He had to shed it forth in love and blessing to creation. He was the Lamb
slain from the founding of the cosmos, made subject to death with the rest of creation,
that through death He might bring forth much fruit unto God.
I hope you can see this. The
glory which He had with the Father before creation was, was not the glory He brought with
Him; He had left some of that behind. He had come down to a lower level, actually a level
of death, in order to bring the creation into its present state. He had glory, yes, as
John said, "And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth" (Jn. 1:14).
The glory they saw in Him was the glory of the only begotten Son of the Father, but it was
not the Father's glory, just as the energy in a green leaf is not the glory of the sun.
Before the Christ could bring
the new creation into existence, with the fullness the Father had planned, He had to
return to the glory with the Father He had left before the cosmos was. He Himself, as the
token and forerunner of humanity, had to be clothed again with the fullness of the glory
of God before He could lift the creation to that level. He could not lift the creation to
a higher level than the one He Himself was on.
When He became a man, born in
I would like you to notice
these words: "Father, glorify Thou Me with THINE OWN SELF." He was asking now
for the glory of the fullness of the Father; not the glory of the only begotten Son, but
the glory of the fullness of God; and this fullness He received AFTER He was crucified and
ascended to the realms above. He is no longer in a limited state; He now possesses the
fullness of deity, the full extent of the glory of God. And He has done all for us--on our
behalf. HE is the forerunner, opening up the way, that we may follow Him to the place into
which He has entered. A new and living way is opened for us, beloved. All that He is and
has there is FOR US; it is to be our possession.
It was when the Christ hung
upon the cross before the foundation of the world, and upon the cross of
Hallelujah for the Cross!
Chapter
11
LIBRA
-- THE SCALES
(continued)
We continue with our study of
the first of the Decans, or minor constellations, in the house of Libra -- THE CROSS
(CRUX) -- known as 'The Southern Cross.' It is situated beneath the feet of the Centaur.
This is one of the most beautiful of the Signs in the heavens. At the time of the coming
of Jesus Christ this Southern Cross was visible in the latitude of
Two thousand years ago, the
CROSS didn't inspire religious awe or thoughts of the Messiah's redemption. Instead, the
cross inspired sheer TERROR. A crucifixion was a gruesome, torturous, and shameful way of
dying ---the lowest form of execution, reserved for traitors and hardened criminals. Most
criminals were crucified immediately after their trial because the forebodings of pain
were more than most mortals could handle. The crucifixion of Jesus was typical in this
respect --- He was crucified on the same day He was convicted. But this death sentence was
no sudden surprise to Jesus. He anticipated His death by the cross throughout His three -
and-one-half year ministry. As a young man growing up in
One of the most strangely
arresting statements in the Word of God is that Jesus is the "lamb SLAIN FROM THE
FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD” (Rev. 13:8). Well do I know that there are shining depths
and lofty heights of meaning in that sublime statement, yet the central thought seems to
be plain enough. It is that long ago "when the morning stars sang together and the
sons of God shouted for joy" --- the purpose of creation and redemption was conceived
and wrought out in the heart of God in celestial realms. The sacrifice and death of the
Christ did not start with the events surrounding Calvary; it began away back then at the
beginning, and culminated on Calvary. He was the Lamb who was put to death from the
beginning. Just as the cross did not begin at Calvary, so the crucifixion of Christ did
not begin at
Christ came into this world,
humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, to bring us
back to God and the glory we had with Him before the world was. That may seem a strange
statement to some, but because God is God, all the wisdom and understanding of the
universe dwells in Him. We must expect Him to say many things and state many facts that
the natural mind cannot comprehend nor pry into. It is the inspiration of the Almighty
that giveth understanding. The most unlearned and simple among men can comprehend the
deepest things of God in that moment when the divine light from above shines upon them. It
is a divine certainty that Christ was with the Father and loved by the Father before the
worlds were made or the ages framed. 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God" (.In. 1:1-2).
In that wonderful prayer
Jesus prayed on the night before His crucifixion, He said: "Father, I will that they
also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory, which
Thou hast given Me: FOR THOU LOVEDST ME BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD. "And ....
blessed be God! --- it is no less a divine certainty that in that long ago eternity God
loved and elected some OTHER SONS in Christ, as the pen of inspiration affirms:
"According as He hath chosen us in Him BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD: . . having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children (placement as sons) by Jesus Christ to
Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will” (Eph. 1:4-5). “For whom He
did FOREKNOW, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He
might be the firstborn among MANY BRETHREN" (Rom. 8:29).
Our human minds cannot
measure eternal things nor such divine love. Human love is limited to days, weeks, months,
and years in duration. Fifty eight years ago I stood by my lovely, blushing bride-to-be in
a marriage ceremony under the stars. A year and a haft prior to that hour we had fallen in
love -- deeply, devotedly. In pledges written poetically, and in promises whispered
personally, we had spoken of our love that would last forever and ever. Yet it came as a
stunning, shocking, sobering reminder of the frailty of earthly love when I discovered in
our marriage vows that we could only pledge our love to each other 'until death do us
part.' There was a moment when our love was born -- but there would be another moment when
it will cease! Not that we embrace death -- but all EARTHLY THINGS pass away whether by
death or by transformation to a higher plane of existence. Not so with the love of God!
God's love toward us did not begin the day we were born into this world. You may go back
beyond the time when a wave beat upon a beach, or a star shone in the sky, or glorious
Seraphim cried 'holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty!' and when you get back as far as the
mind can reach you will know that GOD KNEW YOU THEN, GOD LOVED YOU THEN, GOD PURPOSED FOR
YOU THEN, GOD PREDESTINATED YOU THEN, and the blessed Lamb of God was SLAIN FOR YOU THEN
UPON THE ETERNAL CROSS IN THE HEAVENS. This is a deep spiritual truth, a mystery of the
universe. Think and pray over it and the Holy Spirit will teach you.
THE PRINCIPLE OF THE CROSS
We have come to see that the
great cross of Christ was not the wooden one upon which He was crucified. The real cross
of Jesus the Christ lay in the eternal disposition of Christ --- His humility, His
sacrifice, His spirit of self-denial, His laying aside His glory, His pouring out of His
life, His lowering of Himself to raise all, in Him, up to God. This was no single act ---
it was a constant and all - pervading nature. This is the real cross where He was
eternally slain before the world was.
After Christ was risen from
the dead the apostles went out to preach His Kingdom, and what they preached was the
cross. And wherever they went into the wide world they carried the cross, and the power of
that cross transformed the world. It changed Saul of Tarsus from a fierce persecutor of
the saints to a tender believer and a fearless apostle of Jesus Christ. Its power changed
wicked men into holy ones. It shook off the bondage of paganism and altered the course of
history. Its power departed when it was changed from a transforming principle in men's
lives and made an outward symbol to be hung around the neck as an ornament. Paul said,
'But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom
the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world' (Gal. 6:14). Paul's GLORYING in the
cross was not an IDOLIZING of the "old rugged cross", not an ornament to be
worn, not a symbol to be displayed, not a magic sign to ward off evil, not a Christian
fetish, not a relic to be prayed over. Again the apostle wrote, "For the preaching of
the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power
of God" (I Cor. 1:18).
"The preaching of the
cross" . . . Here we note that the word "preaching" is actually the Greek
word LOGOS --- THE WORD. The word LOGOS goes far beyond just an utterance, a spoken
saying, or particles of speech -- it reaches into the very will, purpose, intent, and
thought behind the words. The LOGOS (WORD) OF THE CROSS speaks to us of the full will of
the cross, the full purpose of the cross, the full intent of the cross, the mighty power
of the cross working in our life, which becomes in us THE POWER OF GOD. As Ray Prinzing
wrote: "IT IS NOT IN THE SYMBOL, IT IS IN THE WORD --- in the outworking of the will
and purpose of God through the cross, that becomes HIS POWER IN US. Or, shall we say, it
is the experiential outworking of the cross in our life which becomes THE POWER OF GOD.
Talking about the cross, singing about the cross doesn't do, but the inworking of this
WORD OF THE CROSS becomes a marvelous thing." Not the theory of the cross, but the
tremendous, heart - gripping WORD --- the REALITY of the cross is what towers in our
interest.
The principle of receiving
all divine things involves giving it all up. As Abraham was told to sacrifice Isaac, and
the rich young ruler was told to sell all his possessions and give to the poor, so the
principle of the Cross is one of sacrifice --- forsaking and relinquishing all. A. C.
Dixon wrote: 'May the Spirit of God help us now to go a little farther into this Holy of
Holies, and try to realize the meaning of CHRIST AND HIM CRUCIHED, with the glory of it,
the glory of giving up glory, the honor of surrendering honor, the reputation of being of
no reputation, for the sake of the glory, honor and reputation of others. Seeking glory
and grasping after honor may mean selfishness; but there is a higher glory than seeking
glory, and a deeper honor than grasping after honor ---the glory of the sacrificial spirit
which gives up glory and honor for the sake of others.
"Let us imagine, if we
can, a man in this world who is truth incarnate. In him is all truth; and I mean by truth,
reality without sham --- no pretence. There is not a ring of unreality about him. A man
like that would be the glory of his nation. Then imagine another man in whom all light
centers. I mean by light, knowledge and understanding, light on every subject in the
universe; and if you could find a man like that he would be the glory of his nation. Then
look for another man in whom life is centered --- physical life, intellectual life,
ethical life, spiritual life, all the life you can think of incarnate in this one man. He
would be the glory of his nation. Then find another man in whom all wisdom is centered,
not simply knowledge, but how to use it. He never makes a mistake, never acts foolishly.
He would be the glory of his nation. Find another man in whom all power is centered, and
he would be the glory of his nation. Then another man in whom all love is centered, love
that is pure, love that is not flecked with lust; everything that is lovely and of good
report centers in him. He would be the glory of his race.
"Now find, if you can, a
man in whom all of these things are centered --- all truth, all light, all life, all
wisdom, all power, all holiness, and all love, and you would say that a man in whom all of
these were incarnate was not only the glory of earth, but he is the glory of heaven. In
such a man you have the glory of all worlds. Yet we have just approached the glory of the
Cross. I have been describing to you our LORD JESUS CHRIST! He is the only One who ever
came into this world of whom it could be said, 'In Him is all Troth, all Light, all Life,
all Wisdom, all Power, all Holiness and all Love.' These things incarnate in Christ make
Him not only the glory of earth but the glory of heaven. YET YOU HAVE NOT TOUCHED THE
GLORY OF THE CROSS. I have just described in this faint, feeble way the glory of the
incarnate God.
"Let us go a step
farther and see what the Cross means. If you can find a man in whom all truth is centered,
not contending for the troth, but dying for those in error, you have reached another
degree of glory. If you can find a man in whom all light is centered, light not displaying
itself, but dying for those in darkness; if you can find a man in whom all wisdom is
centered, not wisdom admiring itself, but dying for the ignorant; if you can find a man in
whom all life is centered, not protecting itself, as a coward would, but giving itself for
those who are dead; if you can find a man in whom all holiness is centered, holiness not
cultivating itself, though that is a good thing, but holiness giving itself on the altar,
dying for the unholy and the impure; if you can find a man that has all power, not
exerting itself, but willing to be weak, restraining itself, that it may carry out its
noble purpose of sacrifice for sin; if you can find a man that is all love, not simply
enjoying itself, but love on the altar, love dying, love giving itself to the cross in
order that the unlovely might be saved; if you can find all these, you will have some
little conception of what the Cross of Christ means. Now put all into one --- O God, help
us to realize it! ....all Truth, all Light, all Life, all Wisdom, all Power, all Holiness,
all Love, incarnate in one Man, who gives Himself for the untruthful, for the darkened,
for the dead, for the weak, for the unholy, for the unlovely and you have some conception
of what the Cross of Jesus Christ is in its deeper meaning" --- end quote.
TAKE UP YOUR CROSS
Jesus' secret to the life of
sonship was: "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his
cross, and follow Me. For whosoever shall save his life shall lose it and whoever will
lose his life for My sake shall find it" (Mat. 16:24-25). ". . . let him deny
himself" --- not: protect, defend, uphold and promote himself, or feel sorry for
himself. How can you love any one else if you have all of that to do? Most people would
rather deny the movie theater, the liquor store, the gambling den, the
In his remarkable book, BORN
CRUCIFIED, the author, L. E. Maxwell, makes the following potent observation: 'The
victorious believer will become aware of many forms of SELF which must yet be dealt with.
We shall discover in our service for Christ, self-confident and self-esteem; in the
slightest suffering, self-saving and self-pity; in the least misunderstanding,
self-defense and self- vindication; in our station in life, self-seeking and
self-centeredness; in the smallest trials, self-inspection and self-accusation; in the
daily routine, self-pleasing and self-choosing; in our relationships, self-assertiveness
and self-respect; in our education, self-boasting and self-expression; in our desires,
self-indulgence and self-satisfaction; in our successes, self-admiration and
self-congratulation; in our failures, self-excusing and self-justification; in our
spiritual attainments, self-righteousness and self-complacency; in our public ministry,
self-reflection and self-glory; in life as a whole, self-love and selfishness. THE FLESH
IS AN ' I ' SPECIALIST. These are but a few of the multiplied forms of the flesh to be
discovered and taken to the cross. In the
Why did the love of Christ
lead Him to the cross? Because nowhere in Him did SELF rise up and say, ‘I have had
enough of it.’ Nowhere in Him could self say, 'I should not have to suffer so much,'
or 'I should not have to give so much.' When Judas betrayed Him, there was no place in Him
where self could rise up and say, ‘I trusted this man to be the treasurer and now be
has sold me down the river.' Or when Peter denied Him, 'I gave him the keys to the Kingdom
and now be denies Me. He could truly say, 'The prince of this world cometh, and hath
nothing in Me’ (Jn. 14:10). There was no ground in Him where the carnal mind could do
its work. The path of sonship is truly one of denying ourselves, submitting to the cross
as the Lord applies it to our lives, and following Him all the way. The road to
There is no place where self
is a more cunning and deceitful devil than in the realm of our SPIRITUAL LIFE. Volumes
have been written on the CRUCIFIED LIFE -- the surrender of our will to God, of becoming
nothing, that He might become everything. I am sure that some of my readers have sung the
little chorus that expresses this beautifully:
'Lord, take me and break me
until I'm nothing,
And make me and mold me until I'm something,
Then take me and use me for Your glory,
Until all that I am is You.'
As another has written:
'Herein is a definite inworking of the Spirit, till we recognize that in ourselves we are
nothing -- as pertains to the spiritual realm. Then He will make us a 'something' --
indeed, the new creation is to become a part of HIMSELF, so we truly bear His image. And
we are able to say with Jesus, ' I can of mine own self do nothing' (Jn. 5:30). Now, this
we have found -- the deep inworkings of the cross do not take away our self-respect, sense
of self-value that belongs to the natural realm. It is dealing with an entirely different
realm. The cross is used to cancel out any self effort to become spiritual. All of the
natural gifts and graces wherein we are endowed in the earthly, proper for their sphere,
do not qualify us for spiritual glories. We are born into this earthly realm, receiving
whatever strengths, abilities, and weaknesses, that are appointed to us. And we grow and
develop to the fullest potential we are able. Likewise, we are BORN into the heavenly
realm, and endowed with HIS gifts and graces, and then are to progress toward spiritual
maturity. Thus we find that we have a LIFE WITHIN A LIFE. The natural has its sphere, the
spiritual has its sphere. The spiritual will help you to be even a better natural person,
BUT THE NATURAL CANNOT HELP YOU BE A BETTER SPIRITUAL PERSON. For 'it is the Spirit that
quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing' (Jn. 6:63).
“The lesser (flesh) can
be helped by the greater (spirit), but it is self-evident that the lesser can add nothing
to the greater. Day by day we cry out to the Lord for HIS EVER PRESENT HELP, and He
enables us to accomplish the task before us -- imparting wisdom and understanding even
beyond our inherent abilities. He truly condescends to men of low estate, and ministers to
us in the very nitty-gritty of this earthly living. Yet, when it comes to growing in
spirit, that His life might fill and flood us, and that all comes under His indwelling
control --- the flesh can add nothing to this. 'Which of you by taking thought can add one
cubit unto his stature?’ (Mat. 6:27). It is HIS LIFE growing within us, ministered to
by the Spirit, receiving of His grace. True, we can 'give ourselves to these things' in
our yielding and seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, but we cannot
BIRTH OURSELVES into His Kingdom, nor can we make ourselves more righteous -- self-effort
produces self-righteousness. And that is the self which is dealt with by His cross.
Spiritual life must be spiritually sustained.
“Paul taught this to the
foolish Galatians, asking them, 'Are ye so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now
made perfect by the flesh’” (Gal. 3:3) --- Gospel Echoes.
The Spirit-substance that
nourishes our spirit is the life of the Father within. When we live out of SPIRIT we walk
in GOD-CONSCIOUSNESS and SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS has no place. If any man speak, let him speak
as the oracle of God -- out of his innermost being. When one speaks the truth, when one
speaks and performs what he hears from the Father, it is GOD IN MANIFESTATION, and self is
there crucified upon the cross in God's heart. God is raising up a people today, sons who
no longer are self-conscious. The secret of Jesus' sonship was that He paid no attention
whatsoever to Himself. "Whatsoever I see the Father do, that is what I am doing,
whatsoever I hear the Father say, that is what I am saying." The Father said,
"You are the way, the truth and the life," so He said, "I am the way, the
truth and the life." He did not say it with His eyes turned to the outer man,
thinking how important He was, how vital He was to the situation. He said it because His
heart was set on the Father. He said, "The Father has given Me the words I should
say." And He spoke the words the Father gave Him with no self-consciousness at all.
God is raising up sons in
these days whose eyes are set upon the Father, who will be able to declare, "We are
the light of the world," not out of self-consciousness, but because of a
God-consciousness, who is speaking out of our innermost being, "Arise and shine, for
thy light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee." The Lord said to
Paul, "They will not accept thy word, turn to the Gentiles, for I have set thee to be
a light to the Gentiles, thou shalt be My salvation to the ends of the earth." If
Paul were diplomatic, if Paul were religious, if Paul were self-seeking, if Paul were
self-saving, he would have kept the revelation to himself and just walked out of town
calmly and said, "Well, they do not understand, but really, I have a deeper and
greater calling, I will just go off to fulfill it." The Father said to Paul, 'I have
set thee to be a light to the Gentiles, thou shalt be for salvation to the ends of the
earth." So Paul said to the people, "For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying,
I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto
the ends of the earth." (Acts 13:47).
Jesus instructed His
disciples: "Into whatsoever city you enter and they receive you not, shake the dust
off and say to them: Nevertheless, the
No man can walk this path of
sonship apart from the cross. When the blessing of God comes, when the power and glory of
God arise upon us, what happens? We speak either out of the life of God with no
self-consciousness, or self takes the credit for what we have received and struts about
like a peacock, with its tail all spread out, parading flesh before men. Self will assume
the tide of “Reverend," “Head Elder,” “Senior Pastor,"
“Bishop,” “First Apostle,” “the Prophet,” "General
Overseer,” or “God's man of faith and power for this hour,” subjecting the
people to his dominion for prestige, power or gain. I do not hesitate to tell you that men
who have never denied self and who know nothing of the work of the cross have been blessed
by God with gifts and self has usurped these gifts and used them for its own ends --
building vast empires of flesh in the name of the Lord. These men of reprobate minds
presumably serve God but are dedicated to material gain. They promote what they term a
"faith message” or a "life message" with joy, peace, miracles,
blessing, healing, prosperity, glory, fame, power, and anything else you can invent which
would appeal to the lusts of the flesh, and make life on earth one continuous glorified
"Disney World” experience. In the name of Jesus Christ, and under the banner of
spiritual ministry, they separate the simple, God-fearing saints from their money. These
religious racketeers, wearing the masks of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and
teachers, promise blessing, healing, miracles and prosperity -BUT NOT WITHOUT A PRICE.
Their “prayer request" forms are attached to their “offering” forms,
subtly suggesting that if you GIVE you will GET. Their clever promises and adroit
manipulations have led tens of thousands of distressed and needy souls to send in their
meager incomes in hope of a miracle in return. The apostle Paul bluntly describes these
crafty promoters of greed and warns the godly against their message and methods in these
forceful words: “... men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that
GAIN IS GODLINESS: from such withdraw thyself. But godliness with contentment is great
gain . . . and having food and raiment let us therewith be content. But THEY THAT WILL BE
RICH FALL INTO TEMPTATION AND A SNARE, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which
drown men in destruction and perdition. For the LOVE OF MONEY IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL:
which while some have coveted after, they have ERRED FROM THE FAITH, and pierced
themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, FLEE THESE THINGS; and
follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness." (I
Tim.6:5-11). Again, “For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you
even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction,
whose GOD IS THEIR BELLY, and whose glory is in their shame, who MIND EARTHLY
THINGS." (Phil. 3:18-19).
There is a work of the cross
that cuts deeper in the lives of God's sons than the things of which we have been
speaking. The revelation of Jesus Christ is the need of the hour. Only a present
intervention of the divine mind, only a present revelation of the spirit of wisdom and
power will be able to meet the need. If God does not give a special ministration and the
spirit of wisdom and power to meet the need, it will not be met. There are no buttons to
press to solve problems and deliver creation. The further we move in God the more helpless
and totally empty we become.
God is moving on. The higher
we go in God the more refined become the testings. God is causing us to take positions and
stands, not against the BAD simply, but against things that are GOOD. Of course, if you
take a stand against things that are good and were started by God, formed by God, ordained
by God, it will appear as if you are an instrument of the devil out to destroy the work of
God. But God said once, "That which I plant, I will pluck up" (Jer. 1:9-10;
18:6-10). I rejoiced for years because I saw that "every tree which my heavenly
Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up" (Mat. 15:13). Now, as we move on in God,
we must rejoice when we see God pluck up that which HE PLANTED. God says, "That which
I built, I will destroy." We are to rejoice when we see God destroy that which He
built. Unless God has done a work in our spirits by the power of the Holy Ghost, we cannot
believe that. Our own concept is that if God built it, the only one out to destroy it is
the devil. But God says: “I will destroy." May The decade we are in now be a
decade in which we are prepared to lose the good as well as the bad, prepared to see God
pluck up that for which we have given our life to see it planted, where we see God break
down and destroy that for which we have sold ourselves out.
Most of us have no problem as
to our bad, we know the flesh and all that it represents must go to the cross. But all of
us have areas in our life which we think are good: a devotion, a commitment, a
consecration, a faith, a prayer life, a knowledge, a ministry, but which are as much SELF
as the bad temper, the lust, and the rest of it. God is saying that everything must go.
That which is left will only be CHRIST HIMSELF formed in us. Why is this? Because when God
has planted something, after a while we become idolatrous about it. Idolatry is really the
self-life projecting itself into the things of God so that they turn into idols because
they become the thing which is produced by our consecration, our prayers, our dying. But
we do not want it to die, because it has cost us too much, and it represents a work of God
in our life. We have given our whole life to see this thing come into being, and anyone
that comes along to destroy it is destroying all our consecration, the prayers we have
prayed, the reputation we have lost, the deaths we have died. After God has established
it, you are telling me that it has to die? But that is exactly it! If it lives we will do
what
Unless Christ is being formed
in us, unless self is firmly nailed to the cross, we will not surrender to the planting of
the corn of wheat; we will not accept the destruction of the thing God has used so
mightily in our life. Many who read these lines have given their lives to some realm in
God, and now the Spirit speaketh expressly, “Get up and leave it.” Why did the
Jews crucify Jesus? Because of His position relative to the Law. The Law represents Moses
and the deliverance out of Egypt, and then one day Jesus stands in their midst and
announces: "It was said by them of old time . . . but I SAY UNTO YOU!" bringing
an entire new dimension of Grace.
There is no clearer statement
of truth in all scripture than the truth that the sons of God are the
How our glad hearts rejoice
and our tongues drop down their pearls of praise in the sacred knowledge that we are each
a living stone in the living temple of God, rising to form a holy sanctuary in the Lord.
There is, however, a holy ambition of God that transcends the form of what we are becoming
in Him. Only with the mind of the Spirit can we fathom the deep mystery John the beloved
encountered on barren Patmos when in vision he beheld the glorious
What we have witnessed to for
years was a work of God, His salvation in us, His peace in us, His victory in us, we had
become a product of the work of God. But God's purpose is not that we shall be a testimony
of the work of God, but that there shall come a revelation of A PERSON, that the
revelation will BE CHRIST. It will not be a revelation of the work of God, but a
revelation of the Person of God in us. God is talking to His sons about PERSONIFICATION,
MANIFESTATION, REVELATION AND IDENTITY. Now you are going to PERSONIFY CHRIST as you have
embodied the works of Christ. Christians represent the work of God: Saved from this,
having received that, changed into something else, but it is still “ME”. What
you see is a marvelous expression of the handiwork of God. But God intends that the hour
should come when there shall be a revelation of the Person of God, the Identity of God, so
that HE IS OUR LIFE. Not: we have life because He has wrought life in us, but "Christ
who is our life shall appear" He no longer gives us peace, He becomes our peace, our
righteousness, wisdom, redemption, sanctification, ALL THAT HE IS until we are no longer a
witness to a work or an experience, but a witness of His Person, His Identity as our
reality. Are you willing to have nothing but the Person? Are you willing for God to be
your life, and you His life until HE IS ALL THERE IS? Are you willing to forget the work
and the experience to bear HIS IDEN'ITYY? In our moving on into God, God is saying to us:
"What I did for you yesterday, the works of God, must now become the Person of God in
you. The cross must strike not only at our carnality and sin, but at all our blessings and
experiences and attainments in God. While we praise God for all His mighty acts on our
behalf, in and through us , it must all be slain by the cross until we no longer talk
about the work of God wrought in us, for that is duality --- God and me. When men saw
Jesus, the salvation of God, they saw more than a work of God; they saw the PERSON OF GOD,
for, 'He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father’ (Jn. 14:9). Ultimately God's purpose
is that when the cross has done its work Christ will be so formed in us, so expressed and
revealed through us, until he that sees us sees the Father. There are tens of thousands of
people here in Texas and tens of millions around the world today who are living witnesses
to the work of God, of His handiwork, the power of the blood, the power of faith, the
glory of His gifts and graces. But what is God looking for and creation groaning for that
is DIFFERENT from what we have had for two thousand years? Ah --- creation is groaning for
the manifestation of the sons of God, the unveiling of GOD IN HIS SONS, a people who are
no longer witnesses to the work of God, but who bear the very Person of God, who bear the
very Identity of God, from whom flows the life of God without limit or measure. What the
Spirit is saying is that God must have a people in whom the Lord, the Spirit, is BECOMING
rather than DOING. That is what the manifestation of the sons of God is, that is what the
revelation of Jesus Christ is, there will never be the unveiling of Jesus Christ if all I
can talk about is what He has done. His works are not Him --- HE is a Person. Paul said,
“It pleased God to reveal His Son in me.” Not, “It pleased God to reveal
some of the works of His Son in me and give me an experience.” And when he prayed
earnestly for the saints: “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until
Christ be formed in you", Paul did not mean that they should receive another healing,
another miracle, another answer to prayer, another gift of the Spirit, another revelation,
or die a little more death and so on. There came an hour when Paul knew that the works of
the Lord would not be sufficient, but that the Lord Himself had to be put on, so that
instead of having a work of faith, or a work of love, or a work of power, the Lord
Himself, the spirit of life within, would BE THE FAITH, LOVE AND POWER. It looks as if you
are turning your back on these wonderful experiences in God, but you needed them to bring
you where you are. The lesser is swallowed up of the greater.
If at this hour we still need
God to DO for us rather than for Christ to BECOME in us, then we are not ready for any
revelation or unveiling. When God sends His manchild forth, He sends them forth as those
in whom Christ is so fully formed that it is not a matter of needing God to do any thing
more, for these sons live entirely out of God their life within. May Christ be so fully
revealed in all of us is my earnest prayer and my deepest desire, that in these coming
days there will not be any longer a cry in our being, “O God, do something more for
me,” for that leaves me with myself on my hands. The secret of Jesus was that for
three and a half years He did not have to be more consecrated, He did not have to he more
dedicated, He did not have to he more victorious, all He had to do was let the Father
within live out through Him. This is sonship --- Christ fully formed in us, Christ living
out all the glory of God, in all the fullness of His Life and Light and Love and Power and
Victory, expressed through us, and AS US.
Blessed Father! let it be so
in us. Let Christ be fully formed in me and in all who read these lines and in all the
body of Christ. Oh God! let the work of doing for us come to an end, until it shall be GOD
IN US. Lord! cause Jesus Christ to become in us our Peace, our Joy, our Life, our Victory,
our Mind, our Nature, our Power, our Wisdom, that from this moment on there shall be the
expression of Himself, not a witness to His work, but a revelation of His own Person and
Being and Nature. Oh God! may that divine nature, that divine reality of God be so fully
manifested in us, that the creation that is groaning for the unveiling of God in His sons
will see Him unveiled in His body, unveiled in His Church, unveiled in His ministry,
unveiled in His King-Priests, that every eye shall see Him and all the kindreds of the
earth shall wail because of Him, and every knee shall bow to Him. Amen!
There should be no need to
remind those who read these pages that the cross does not end when God becomes ALL in us
-- for the cross is eternal in the heart of God. Let us rehearse what is meant by the
cross of Christ. Truth, light, life, wisdom, holiness, power and love all in ONE CORPORATE
MAN --- the Christ, Head and body. What a character that is! Yet truth, light, life,
wisdom, holiness, power and love by themselves do not make for true glory. I have heard
people testify about the work of God in them and all they were doing was bragging. They
were boasting and glorying in what God had done for them, in what God had given them, and
all they had was centered in themselves. But truth becomes truly glorious when it goes to
the cross, when it becomes sacrificial, not defending, but dying upon the cross for those
enslaved by error. So with light when it goes to the cross, not displaying itself, when it
is willing to give itself for darkness; when life refuses to protect itself, but goes to
the cross and gives itself for those who are dead; when wisdom goes to the cross, not
admiring itself, but giving itself for the ignorant; holiness, not boasting in itself, but
giving itself for the unholy; power not exerting itself, but holding itself back in order
that it may be sacrificed for those who are weak; love not enjoying itself, but pouring
itself out for the unlovely. That is greatness, great through conforming to the death of
Christ, great in that all that is good is on the altar of sacrifice for those in need.
That is God, for God brought the whole vast universe, the creation, all things visible and
invisible, in the heavens and in the earth, out of Himself; then He gave Himself to the
creation, to live for the creation, to dwell in the creation, that He might be ALL-IN-ALL.
Truly this is the heart of God and the hope of creation!
I would close with these true
and transforming words from the pen of George Hawtin. "Hear, Oh man of God, and give
earnest heed, ye sons! It is now in this dreadful age of greed and selfishness, violence
and spoil, that the Father all-glorious is finding a people who has nailed SELF and
SELFISHNESS to the cross of Christ. He is picking them out one by one, setting them apart
as sheep are set apart from goats and as wheat is separated from the tares. These are
beginning to reign with Him in that
Chapter
12
LIBRA-THE
SCALES
(continued)
The Southern Cross is the
first of three minor constellations or groups of stars which adhere to the constellation
of Libra. It cannot be seen in most parts of
"The sun also ariseth,
and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose. The wind goeth toward the
south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind
returneth again according to his circuits. All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is
not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again"
(Eccl. 1:5-7). Like the waters of rivers, we have all experienced the downward journey,
irresistibly drawn by the gravitation of the flesh and self, until we come to the lowest
point, a raging sea of pollution and death. But there is another power, transcending the
pull of the earthly, and that is the DRAWING OF THE SON, lifting us up out of the
"dead sea" and raising us up again into the heavenlies, to bring us back to the
glorious heights of the Spirit.
Multitudes throng the low
road, taking the path of self, sin, and death. But some, praise God, are already being
irresistibly drawn upward, to take that
How we rejoice with joy
unspeakable and full of glory in the blessed knowledge that "all these things are of
God." He has planned it all. He it is, too, who has been fulfilling it. There is no
place BEYOND GOD, for it is "IN HIM that we live, and move, and have our being,"
even though it be without a consciousness of His presence and consumed by the
consciousness of our own self-will. Still we cannot get beyond Him, for matters not the
extremity of our rebellion and waywardness, we shall find that HE IS THERE with His cross,
waiting to deal with our self-hood, and then with HIS LIFE to restore us back into
wholeness in Him again. There is, then, a divine Plan, and that plan is "the way of
the cross" that LEADS HOME. A clear and profound statement of this plan occurs in
Hannah's simple words in I Sam. 2:6, "The Lord KILLETH, and maketh alive." A
killing process is here taking place, one which is being carried out under the direction
of our Lord.
The question sometimes annoys
us --- Why does God deal with me as He does? Why is God so SEVERE? Why does He strike so
VIOLENTLY?. This burning question the scripture answers very simply by saying: He KILLETH.
There is something within us that must be put to death. And that something God
deliberately kills, whether we understand what He is doing or not. He does not ask us for
permission thus to kill. It is the old "I" which must be put to death, our
mistaken identity. Our self-hood must be bruised and broken. And not our self-life in the
form of egoism and self-willfulness only. That too. But what we wish to emphasize here
first and foremost is that our soulish life in its relation to God must be broken. It is
that confidence which I have in myself, in my own understanding of spiritual things, in my
own will, in my own ability and righteousness and spirituality, that confidence in myself
with which I always oppose THE SPIRIT and which is the real hindrance to the expression of
HIS INDWELLING LIFE, which must be broken. To break our own inherent and deeply rooted
self-confidence, and self-righteousness, which is fallen man's deepest error, is
undoubtedly the most severe work that God has to accomplish within us. And when we see how
He does it, we must stand before Him in awe, adoration, and thanksgiving. He breaks our
old fleshly life, our carnal consciousness. This He does by driving it to exhaustion, to a
point where it has spent all its energies and lies at His feet, surrendered and brought to
naught --killed.
Is it not strange that the
God who thus slays us is the same God who has given us the command: "THOU shalt not
kill." It would seem a double standard --- GOD can kill whom He will, and without any
permission or cooperation from us, but WE are forbidden to kill! Why is this? The answer
is found right within the passages which speak of His killing. We have already quoted the
words of the mother of Samuel the prophet, "The Lord killeth and maketh alive,"
to which she adds, "He bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up." The Lord
Himself declares, "See now that I, even I, am He, and there is no god with Me: I
kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of
My hand" (Deut. 32:39).
As the spirit of revelation
and understanding floods our minds, we are left without any question as to the meaning of
all this. The KEY in each of these statements is the little conjunction "and".
"The Lord killeth, AND maketh alive! .... The Lord bringeth down to the grave, AND
bringeth up." "I kill, AND I make alive." "I wound, AND I heal."
Thus the picture becomes clear --- no one has any right to kill that which he CANNOT MAKE
ALIVE, nor to bring to the grave that which he CANNOT RESURRECT, nor to wound that which
he CANNOT HEAL. God has commanded men not to kill for the simple reason that man is
powerless to restore that which he slays. Death and destruction for man is final,
irreversible, eternal. Only one with the power to restore, AND THE DISPOSITION TO DO SO,
may be permitted to bear the sword! Infinite wisdom and divine purpose must be the sure
foundation beneath all destruction and restoration. Herein lies the deep mystery of the
cross .... God kills AND makes alive!
"I am CRUCIFIED with
Christ: NEVERTHELESS I LIVE; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now
live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself
for me" (Gal. 2:20). Before Jesus died on the cross, men would go to a cross to die.
This was the method of execution for criminals. Since Jesus died on the cross, men now go
to the cross to live. The seat of death has become the source of life. Whosoever loses his
life shall find it, Jesus said. That is the meaning of the cross. For years we have
emphasized the work of the cross, the dying to self, the crucifixion of the "I",
to be stripped of every vestige of the flesh and the carnal mind. And the more we preached
death, the more conscious we became of dying, and there was nothing but death, death, and
more death. But there is the death side and the life side to the cross. An over-emphasis
on the death side of the cross will arrest our spiritual progress by glorifying a death
process that has no end, forever dying, but never coming to the knowledge of BEING DEAD.
But there is a dying to die no more, and then it is time for RESURRECTION, to become
conscious of the inflow of HIS LIFE which results in our complete salvation, spirit, soul,
and body. It was upon the cross that He poured out HIS LIFE to us, so that dying we might
live.
T. Austin-Sparks wrote:
"The Spirit of God shows that God's ways and means are always positive and not
negative. I want to say that with emphasis --- let us underline it in our minds. God's
ways are ALWAYS CONSTRUCTIVE AND NOT DESTRUCTIVE; they are purposeful, not just ends in
themselves. And if God's inclusive, comprehensive means is the Cross, let it be
understood, once and for ever, that by the Cross He is working to an end --- a large end.
The cross is never intended to end in destruction; it is never intended to end with a
negative. God is working for some great thing, and He uses the Cross in a positive way.
You see, the weakness in our apprehension of the Cross is largely due to a
miss-apprehension of the Cross. Our idea of the Cross is that it is destructive, it is
negative, it is death. We revolt against that; we don't want to be always reminded about
this death of the Cross --- death, death, death. It is indeed possible so to preach the
Cross as to produce death; but that is a mis-preaching. That is not God's interpretation
of the Cross at all. Let me repeat: the Holy Spirit shows quite clearly that God's ways
and means are always positive and not negative; they always have in view something more,
and not something less; not an end, but a newness and a fullness.
"If only we could really
grasp that, it would transfigure the Cross. When the Lord confronts us with the challenge,
what do we do? We revolt, we draw back --- we don't like it! Why? Simply because we have
not seen that, in this application of the Cross, God is set upon securing something more
in our lives, something more than there has ever been before. That is God's law. God is
not a negative God. Other gods are negative gods, but our God is not a negative God. He is
not working to bring things to annihilation; He has very large purposes of INCREASE before
Him in all His ways and in all His means. What we really have to see is that, whatever the
Cross may negative --- it is God's most positive instrument for securing spiritual,
heavenly, eternal values. The Cross is God's most positive instrument for securing the
enlargement --- not the annihilation --- of THAT WHICH WILL ABIDE FOR EVER. So it is very
necessary for us to move onto this solid foundation, that God always comes in with a mind
to create or to recover, to build and to increase. If only we could believe that of the
Lord --- even on our most devastating times, when every thing seems to be taken away, and
all is stripped from us; when everything seems to be going, and the end appears at hand:
if only we could believe then that God is working ---not to bring values to an end, but to
increase them! That must be our ground --- that He is ploughing, He is digging; He intends
a harvest; He intends an increase. He understands exactly what He is doing and how --- we
don't. But we can be sure of one thing: God is at work by the Cross to make things safe
for Himself' --- end quote.
The new birth is spiritual.
The cross is spiritual. The life of sonship is spiritual. The well-spring of life is
changed at the cross. The cross is the transition point by which we die to this carnal
realm and are made alive unto God. There is a new influx of life from a heavenly source
--- "born from above." This new intake of spiritual life establishes our
identity as sons of God. The cross withers the old consciousness, and the Holy Spirit
imparts the new. The cross is the sword, in the hand of the Holy Spirit, to make place for
the new life from above. The life from beneath and the life from above are bitter enemies
that will never be reconciled. As in warfare, there can be but one victor and one
vanquished. This is the point where it hurts. The cross withers and dries the carnal
consciousness, the self-life. There is real pain. The struggle of life against life --- or
rather life against death. The old life is death --- a paradox of paradoxes. The present
energy that motivates and energizes the human organism we call life, the Lord calls it
death. The life that ends in death is not life, merely a mortal consciousness, a passing
thought, a ripple in the sea. "If any man come to me, and hate not.. . his own life..
. he cannot be my disciple" (Lk. 14:36). The Lord hates your life, or He would never
ask you to hate it. There is a place for hatred. This is very offensive --- a direct
insult of the flesh. The offense of the cross must come. There are many things preached to
avoid the offense of the cross, yet where there is no cross there is no life. This
temporary life is a counterfeit; because it poses to be the real thing. The Lord hates
this false life of ours, and He asks us to join with Him in that hatred. There is hope at
this point --- real, glorious hope! The Lord Himself is that hope. Those that hurt over
their own mistaken identity, their nothingness, are good candidates for the crucified life
of the risen Lord. There must be a deep union with the risen Lord, that the saint and the
Saviour may consciously share the same life. There was great energy that brought Him out
of the grave --- resurrection energy --- greater than atomic power. This resurrection life
energy is now available for the saints, for it abides right within YOUR SPIRIT. The
trouble is that the life that merits only hatred is constantly blocking the way. Only the
cross can remove it!
CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST
"I am crucified with
Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me" (Gal. 2:20). What is
this that Paul says: "I am crucified with Christ"? What does the apostle really
mean? In what sane and solid sense does he use these hitherto un-heard -of words? Saul of
Tarsus, we have his own word for it, had never seen Christ in the flesh, nor His cross
either. He had not been in Gethsemane with Christ like Peter, nor on
Nearly half a century ago
Lloyd C. Douglas wrote a best selling religious novel called THE ROBE. Paul Rees, in
reviewing the book, points out that its readers will remember that Marcellus Gallio was
the Roman tribune who was supposed to have been the officer in charge of the actual
crucifixion of Jesus. When Marcellus returned to his quarters after the crucifixion, he
made a confession to his Greek slave Demetrius. He confessed that he felt dirty and
ashamed. When Demetrius tried to console him by reminding him that he was only obeying
orders given him by Pilate, Marcellus asked, "Were you out there?.. . Were you there
when He called on His God to forgive us?" And the rest of the story is concerned with
the strangely persistent way in which this Roman noble was haunted by his sense of guilt
for having crucified the Lord. He, who was supposed to be upholding the law by executing a
guilty man, was somehow condemned by that man's innocence and made to feel guilty himself.
"WERE YOU OUT THERE," he asked. It is a fair question that Marcellus put to
Demetrius. And the answer is "Yes." WE WERE ALL OUT THERE! Whether Roman or
Greek, whether Israelite or Gentile, we WERE there when they crucified our lord.
Yes, the Christ was crucified
"for us" --- on our behalf --- but Paul goes deeper into the mystery that is
Christ and says that if we want to understand the deep meaning of the cross, we shall have
to see, not just Christ dying for us, but also our identification with Him, we will have
to see ourselves on that cross dying with Jesus. You see, IF JESUS MERELY DIED INSTEAD OF
US, then Jesus will merely rise instead of us. Selah. Pause and think about that ! The
scripture declares that we are crucified with Christ so that we may rise with Christ. If
there is no participation in the cross, there can be no participation in the resurrection.
George Hawtin has given beautiful expression to this precious truth in his article, THE
CHRIST LIFE. He writes: "Every man and every woman will have to face the cross. If
there be no cross, neither will there be a crown. We will have to face it in our own lives
and, if I am not mistaken, we will have to face it every day we live. 'For to me to live
is Christ, and to DIE is gain' (Phil. 1:21). Death to ourselves will be the greatest death
we ever die. This death will never be accomplished by our vain struggling and trying, but
it will be accomplished in that blessed hour when the Holy Spirit reveals to our hearts
the truth that He revealed to Paul: 'I AM CRUCIHED with Christ.' The world itself cannot
contain the full truth of this precious statement, 'I am crucified with Christ.' We will
never GET crucified nor will we ever have faith to crucify ourselves. We will never go to
an altar and accomplish this act by faith. The lesson we must learn, my earnestly seeking
friend, is simply this: Before ever there was a world or a sinner in it, God Himself by
His almighty power placed ALL MEN IN HIS SON JESUS CHRIST and then, having done so, He
crucified Him and, when He crucified HIM, He also crucified ME, because I was in Him. When
HE crucified His Son, He crucified YOU, because He had placed you in Him. All this took
place before the foundation of the world. All men died IN ADAM and, because all men died
in Adam, ALL MEN live IN CHRIST, because God has placed all men in Him. 'For as in Adam
ALL die, even so in Christ shall ALL be made alive' (I Cor. 15:22). 'But,' you ask, 'why
is it then that all men are not saved?' The truth is that all men are saved, but all men
have not yet believed, because God has not yet opened their eyes. All Christians are
crucified with Him, but few, oh so few, have ever been told that crucifixion is an
accomplished reality ---accomplished by God Himself and left for us to accept and believe.
Once the believer grasps this truth and seizes upon it by faith, then he understands that
all of the old carnal realm with all its terrifying specters was a paper tiger, an
alarming, petrifying panic, a phantom, a dead lion, no more real than a nightmare. My
brother, my sister, in that good and glorious moment when you see God by His almighty
power placing ALL MEN IN CHRIST, yea, even before the world began, and, having done so, He
sent Him to the cross to be crucified, then you will know that, when Christ was crucified,
YOU were crucified, for you were in Him. Then you will join with Paul and every
participant of the revelation, saying, 'I AM CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST.' Then you will be able
for the first time in your life to RECKON YOURSELF DEAD UNTO SIN, BUT ALIVE UNTO GOD"
--- end quote.
A most wonderful and
significant event, completely passed over by the vast majority of Christians, occurred at
the time of the crucifixion of our Lord. In the purposes of God extending from Paradise
lost to Paradise regained, the time came when all three of the characters (God, Adam, the
serpent) involved in the ancient drama in Eden MUST meet again --- this time AT THE CROSS!
You will understand a great truth when you see how it is that Christ, Adam, and the
serpent ALL MET AT THE CROSS. Let me unfold for you this deep and blessed mystery which
transpired on the hill called
Do you imagine, my friend,
that it was an accidental and inconsequential incident that Jesus was crucified between
TWO THIEVES? No way! The truth of God is multi-faceted and the scriptures abound with many
and varied representations of the redemptive plans, purposes, and processes of God. There
are those unique passages which point to all that has been wrought and made blessed
reality IN CHRIST. The prepositional phrase "in Christ", appearing some
thirty-five times in the New Testament, is filled with spiritual dynamite! Vital
necessity, this reality of being IN CHRIST. This has much depth and preciousness in it
when we remember that Christ is made up of many members, and that they, are joined
together as one, ONE MANY-MEMBERED CHRIST. There is a realm of fullness to come into, and
it is IN CHRIST, until it is no longer "Christ and me" but just--CHRIST. God has
chosen us IN HIM, and we are made alive IN HIM. We are new creatures IN HIM and are to
walk IN HIM as we have received Him, rooted and builded up IN HIM and established in our
faith. We become the righteousness of God IN HIM, we are established IN HIM, and can do
all things IN HIM that strengthens us. God always leads us to triumph IN HIM, making our
lives a sweet savor of Christ. IN HIM we have every spiritual blessing in heavenly places;
as we abide IN HIM we are made complete IN HIM who is the head of all principality and
power.
We should direct our thoughts
to yet another consideration. Wonderful as is this truth of our identification IN CHRIST,
let all who read these lines know and thoroughly understand that there is another and
blessed aspect of' truth to be embraced in the precious words "WITH CHRIST”. Now
I believe that I am quite correct in this statement--I am certain that Paul never said
that he was crucified IN CHRIST. He did say that he was crucified WITH CHRIST. Paul gave
us a remarkable clue to this great mystery when he explained, "I am crucified WITH
CHRIST” (Gal. 2:20), and again "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified WITH
HIM, that the body of sin might be destroyed" (Rom.6:6). With these words in mind it
should not be difficult to see that Paul never makes the statement or the inference that
Christ DIED IN HIS STEAD. But Paul made it the sharing of a common death by saying that he
was crucified W-I-T-H CHRIST. This may seem to be an insignificant and unimportant point,
but it makes a whole universe of difference whether we were crucified IN CHRIST or WITH
CHRIST. Every word of inspiration is meaningful and full of depth. Truly Christ died FOR
US, not in our stead, precluding our dying, but on our behalf, thus enabling us to truly
die and rise again WITH HIM.
Now actually, Paul nor any of
us, nor anyone else from Paul all the way down to us, was actually, physically, bodily
crucified with Christ. I refer of course to that particular time of the crucifixion of
Jesus. Jesus the Christ was there at the crucifixion as the embodiment and manifestation
of THE LIFE OF GOD IN THE SPIRIT, the pure, sinless, separate, divine, heavenly One
pouring out His divine life for the world. So also did Adam, man in his self-consciousness
in the soul, have a representative or a manifestation of himself there at the crucifixion.
One man, a thief, was there as the representative of the living soul, of all humanity, or
the representative of the first Adam, if you please. And the remaining thief, the jeering
malefactor, was the representative of the serpent and his kingdom, the spirit of the
carnal mind, the power of sin and death in our members. And ALL THREE DIED ON THE
CROSS--TOGETHER! They all died the same natural death and not one of them was saved from
it. The two thieves, above all who have ever lived, were truly and uniquely CRUCIHED WITH
CHRIST.
Turn aside with me for a few
moments and meditate upon these THREE CROSSES on
It is interesting to note
that two of the three men there that day were THIEVES. I must emphasize that any man,
message, action, or entity that brings to mankind any thing less than LIFE is a THIEF and
a ROBBER! Man is spirit, soul, and body, and is it not a self-evident truth that TWO OF
THESE THREE have no life of themselves and can transmit naught but corruption and death.
Truly did Jesus say, "It is the SPIRIT that quickeneth (giveth life); the FLESH (soul
and body) profiteth nothing" (Jn. 6:63). The apostle Paul adds his testimony in these
words, "For to be carnally (fleshly) minded IS DEATH; but to be spiritually minded IS
LIFE and peace. And if Christ be in you the BODY IS DEAD because of sin; but the SPIRIT IS
LIFE because of righteousness. If ye live after the FLESH, ye shall DIE; but if ye through
the SPIRIT do mortify (put to death) the deeds of the BODY, ye shall LIVE" (
You remember that the thieves
began to rail on Jesus, but one of them said, "Lord, help me!" The rulers, and
the soldiers, and the people standing there derided and mocked Him, but this one
malefactor asked that Jesus have mercy upon him. How foolish it seems to the natural mind
for this one to ask Jesus to help him or have mercy upon him, for here are two men, both
dying upon a cross, yet one requests help of another who is in no better position to help
him than he is himself. Such a thing appears utterly ridiculous and because it was so
absurd in the natural there MUST BE A MYSTERY HIDDEN IN THESE THINGS. All three of these
died at approximately the same time, on the same day. When the soldiers came to Jesus, He
was already dead and they broke the legs of the two thieves so that by shock, as we know
it today, their deaths might be hastened. All were dead by sundown. So the manifestation
of God in the flesh (spirit) died. The manifestation of humanity (Adam) in the flesh also
died. And the manifestation of the serpent (sin, carnal mind) died. They all entered the
realm of death.
Listen now with infinite care
as the drama of
With these poignant words he
confessed a wonderful faith in the almighty power of Christ. It has no parallel in the
Bible. There hangs the cursed malefactor with Jesus of Nazareth, and he dares speak and
say, "I am dying here under the just curse of my sins, but I believe Thou canst take
me into Thy heart and remember me when Thou comest into Thy Kingdom." The word
"remember" means to recollect and both of these words can be broken down into
two words: re-member and re-collect. The prefix "re" before them means to REPEAT
OR TO DO SOMETHING AGAIN. So the malefactor was asking that when Jesus came into His
Kingdom, He would remember him, or make him a member again. He was saying,
"RE-COLLECT or collect me again into that Kingdom and give back to me my original
place." This is re-storation, re-newing, re-demption, re-conciliation, re-freshing,
and re-surection he was asking for! This was man, Adam, the living soul seeking the
restoration of life, fellowship, authority and glory that he first had--in Christ! This is
the soul crying out to the spirit for salvation!
Oh. that we might learn to
believe in the almighty power of the CHRIST WITHIN! The penitent thief believed that
Christ was a King and had a Kingdom, and that on the other side of the cross He would take
him up in His arms and in His heart and remember him, make him a part again, when He came
into His Kingdom. He believed that, and believing that, he died. Dear brother, sister, you
and I need to take the time to come into a much larger and deeper faith in the power of
Christ, that the almighty Christ will indeed take us in His arms and carry us through this
death process, revealing the power of His death in us. Christ must do it. Christ CAN do
it! Now that Christ is upon the throne, now that the revelation has dawned that HE has all
power and authority in heaven and in earth, would you be afraid to do what the malefactor
did when Christ was upon the cross, and entrust yourself to Him to die His death and to
live His life? Christ, the very Christ of God within your spirit, will carry you through
the very process He went through. He will make the process of death work in you until it
is complete and your soul is swallowed up into the reality of HIS SPIRIT.
We have seen the faith of
this man. Now let us consider the response of Christ to his cry. First, the Lord met him
with that wonderful promise, "Today shall thou be with Me in
Such truth as this requires
deep spiritual thought and meditation. What do you think, beloved, Jesus meant when He
announced the glad tidings to this poor thief dying WITH HIM, "Verily, I say unto
thee, Today shalt thou be WITH ME IN PARADISE." Today--in
Consider the scene! "And
the Lord God planted a garden eastward in
Our English word "
Beloved, these are but
symbols, shadows, word pictures of grand and glorious SPIRITUAL REALITIES. Great and
precious promises are given to the "overcomer"-- the overcoming one is promised
a crown, a throne, a white stone, a new name, a feast of manna from a golden bowl, the
fruit from the tree of life, and the privilege of becoming a pillar in the
During those moments of agony
upon the cross, God ordained that one solitary first-fruit of Adam's race should be
gathered from the world of sin and death and restored to the Paradise of God as wonderful
proof that THE WAY WAS OPENED UP. It was the Spirit of God that moved upon the heart of
this dying thief, causing him to turn his eyes upon the crucified Lord. There was a
quickening, a rending of the veil of the carnal mind, and opening of the heavens above
him, and in an instant his vision became clearer than that of all the multitude, and the
soldiers, and the priests, and even the disciples. He saw in the Man hanging between him
and his fellow thief, the Messiah, the Son of God, the last Adam, come to OPEN ANEW THE
GATE OF THE PARADISE OF GOD.
That is why Jesus came--to
open again to man the Paradise of God. He lived and moved and ministered from that
And yet, the mystery would
not be complete apart from the knowledge that there is within us that which must die upon
the cross NEVER TO LIVE AGAIN. The second thief died--and for him there was no repentance,
no hope, no today or tomorrow, no offer of life, no promise of
Can we not see by this that
there is that which must die to live and there is that which must die never to live again.
Christ died to give us His life. The repentant thief represents that in man which must die
to receive of HIS LIFE that it may live. Death alone, without ANOTHER LIFE, is not enough
to bring us back to God's world. We need death to get out of this world, but we also must
have the life of God to live in God's world! The soul of man is the receptacle of His life
in the Spirit--in which union man's soul is redeemed, restored to the Paradise of God.
This is the first thief. This thief dies to live by receiving the life of the Christ upon
the cross in the midst. But the second thief represents that serpent in us which must
forever be done away, whose head must be thoroughly crushed once and for all, the BODY OF
SIN which is DESTROYED. "Knowing this, that our old man IS CRUCIFIED WITH HIM, that
the body of sin might be DESTROYED, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that
is DEAD is freed from sin" (
If you can see it, my
beloved, the second thief is that work of the cross the apostle sets forth in Gal. 6:14,
wherein he says, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." There are vast
multitudes of believers in the church systems today who may have grasped the concept of
the death of Christ for them, and go about glibly declaring that Jesus died for them, and
yet they do not even faintly perceive the fact that this also means that THE WORLD IS
CRUCIFIED UNTO THEM. When the Bible speaks of the world in the New Testament, it is not
referring to planet earth nor to the created universe, not to the stars and clouds and
mountains and flowers, but most always to the WORLD SYSTEM--to the corrupt system of this
world order with all its evil devices, with all its vain and false and selfish and corrupt
desires, its aims and goals and purposes, its self-centeredness and egotism. The
"world" in scripture is this whole fleshly and carnal system that passes from
father to child down through the centuries. The result of man's rebellion against the
Spirit has been the establishment of a whole world system which the Spirit testifies is
PASSING AWAY.
If we are God's elect the
world has been crucified to us; it is dead. It is somewhat like a man who loves a woman.
He greatly loves her but one day she dies, perhaps even in his arms. He looks down at her
body which just a moment ago was warm and moving. Now all is still and silent. The light
has gone from the eyes. Perhaps, if he really loved her, he might even yet smother her
face with his kisses. Wait but an hour or so and that body will grow cold, and a little
longer and it will no longer be soft, but now stiff and cold. Wait but a few days and it
will begin to rot and stink. A ,week later one would not be able to stand to go into the
room with it. That is what the Lord says should be happening in every believer's life
concerning this whole world system, with all its vaunted success, all of its goals, with
all of its economics, politics and religion. The world has already received at the cross,
its death blow. Even its king, the devil, has received a wound in his forehead from which
he will utterly perish. So this system is crumbling into oblivion. Even now you can smell
the putrefaction of it. For the sons and daughters of the Most High it has lost its
allurement with all its baubles and successes which men in the world count of great value
and of high esteem.
Ray Prinzing commented on
this passage: "While experimentally the world becomes crucified unto me-- so that we
no longer have any desire for the things of the world, no lusting for friendship with the
world, no latent feelings that can be awakened and stirred up by the world; to make it
even more complete, 'I am crucified to the world.' Thus, as far as the world is concerned,
you become dead to them also. They have no more desire for you--there is nothing in you
that appeals to them, you are as useless to them as a corpse. You cease to exist in their
realm. Don't be amazed, then, if they no longer seek you out or try to fellowship with
you. Only those who are quickened to the same new life which you are receiving, can
fellowship with you in that life. To all others you are a stranger and a foreigner."
In the Song of Solomon the
King, beautiful type of God's corporate Son, Head and body, exclaims, "Until the day
break, and the shadows flee away, I will get me up to the mountain of myrrh, and to the
hill of frankincense" (S. of S. 4:6). Myrrh in the scriptures is a figure of death,
while frankincense is a figure of life, and was uniquely the fragrance of the
It is not enough to make an
occasional trip up to the cross, for death must become a mountain to us, we must go there
to stay until the day breaks and the shadows all flee away. It bespeaks of a STATE OF
Chapter
13
LIBRA-
THE SCALES
(continued)
In this Study we come to the
third and final minor constellation, or group of stars, which surrounds and completes the
Sign of Libra. This constellation is known as CORONA BOREALIS--the Northern Crown---or
simply, the Crown. It is a lovely semicircle of twenty-one stars, most of which are of the
white, twinkling kind, so that the crown is fully jeweled. This beautiful crescent is
right overhead in the early summer sky. The Hebrew name for Corona is ATARAH, meaning
"Royal Crown.” In Arabic, its name is AL ICLIL, meaning “an ornament”
or “jewel.” This star name is found a number of times in the Old Testament, but
Isa. 28:5 is one of the most significant references to the most perfect of all royal
diadems: “In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a CROWN (Atarah) OF GLORY, and
for a DIADEM OF BEAUTY, unto the residue of His people.” Here we are shown the great
truth that the “crown of glory” and the “diadem of beauty" of the
elect of God is just the Lord Himself--THE INDEWELLING SPIRIT OF LIFE.
It is interesting to note
that each sign, each mansion, each house of the Zodiac ends its final Decan with one of
surpassing glory, one of resounding victory, one of eternal triumph either for Christ the
Head, Christ the body, or for the whole race of mankind! In the same way we see that the
Bible and the book of Revelation end with the great triumph and. victory of our Lord Jesus
Christ and His Kingdom. In the house of LIBRA which we are now considering, the Sign means
"the scales." The scales are not balanced--one side is high and the other is
low--revealing an imbalance, deficiency, lack. It is the picture of man, weighed in the
balances and found wanting; man missing the mark; man lacking a little from Elohim; man
face to face with divine justice weighing the demerits and awards of self, sin, carnality
and death on the one hand, and the commensurate price and infinite power of redemption and
restoration on the other. In our journey from the natural to the spiritual realm we are
continually faced with our dreadful sense of LACK and the need to apprehend the necessary
restoration to WHOLENESS IN GOD. This profound sense of lack, with the corresponding
dealings of God to meet that deficiency and bring our state of being into completeness and
balance, is wrought out under the spiritual influences signified by the Sign of Libra, the
place of weighing.
In solemn truth this process
of restoration is wondrously wrought out along the precise lines dramatically revealed in
the three Decans of Libra: the CROSS, the VICTIM, and the CROWN. The cross is the
transition point by which we die to this carnal realm and are made alive unto God. There
is a new consciousness of life from a heavenly source--"born of the Spirit."
This new reality of spiritual life establishes our identity as sons of God. The cross
withers the old consciousness, and the Holy Spirit imparts the new. The cross is the
sword, in the hand of the Spirit, to make place for the new life from above. The life from
beneath and the life from above are bitter enemies that will never be reconciled. As in
warfare, there can be but one victor and one vanquished. This is the point were it hurts.
The cross withers and dries the carnal consciousness, the self-life. There is real pain.
The struggle of life against life--or rather life against death. The old life is death---a
paradox of paradoxes.
The constellation of the
CROSS represents the process by which we are crucified with Christ. The second Decan in
the house of Libra is called VICTIMA, meaning "the victim." It is located right
below the scales, and was anciently called SURA-- a sheep or a lamb. This is our blessed
Lord Jesus Christ giving His life for us and to us, "the lamb slain from the
foundation of the world" (Rev. 13:8). We would have thought that in calling our Lord
“the Lamb” this name would have been used only in respect to His humiliation and
His earthly life and physical death. However, in scripture it is most often used in
reference to His glory in heaven, the realm of Spirit. John saw the Lamb in the midst of
the throne, standing as if slain, "having seven eyes which are the seven spirits of
God sent forth into all the earth" (Rev. 5:6). The Spirit works as the Spirit of the
Lamb. He works as a hidden, but divine power, breathing into the heart of His own people
that which is the divine glory of the Lamb--His life, His nature. The Lamb is the
The last constellation in the
house of Libra is the CROWN. This is the Crown of Life which Jesus Christ has won by His
death and resurrection, as He has been highly exalted by God. The scripture says, "a
CROWN was given unto Him" (Rev. 6:2). Again, "But we see Jesus....CROWNED with
glory and honour...” (Heb. 2:9). The voice of omnipotence proclaims, "I have set
MY KING upon My holy hill of Zion" (Ps.' 1:6). And so we rise from the Cross and from
the slain Victim to that One whom God hath raised up from the dead, taken up into the
higher than all heavens and caused to sit at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
CROWENED with glory and honour. Christ has risen from the depths of the SOUTHERN CROSS,
all the way up to the heights of the NORTHERN CROWN! His shameful Cross issued in a
glorious Throne. In the light of these beautifully meaningful pictures who can deny that
the great and glorious plan of the Almighty is foreshown in these starry patterns above
GODS BIBLE IN THE SKY! That Southern Cross connects with the Northern Crown. There is a
CROSS formed of stars, and there is a CROWN formed of stars. With what joy and
satisfaction do we now entertain His precious promise, "Be thou faithful unto death
(the work of the Cross); and I will give thee a CROWN OF LIFE" (Rev. 2:10). Look up
into that night sky and see the Northern Crown, the CORONA BOREALIS (which, by the way, at
midnight every night shines over the city of Jerusalem!) and be reminded that there is a
CROWN of life and righteousness and glory and honor for all who follow on to know the
Lord. This crown is that FULL SALVATION which includes the plenteousness of His
incorruptible life, nature and power. It is the FULL SALVATION of spirit, soul and body.
That is a glorious promise. His Word declares it. The heavens declare it. Oh, the wonder
of it!
THE CROWN
From the dawn of time the
crown has been a symbol of rule, whether by secular monarch or by sacred priest. The early
form of the crown was a simple band that was first used to hold back the long hair of the
wearer, not unlike our modern headband. Eventually it was adopted as a royal headdress
even among peoples wearing short hair. Such bands are represented in sculptures of ancient
One of the Greek words for
crown is DIADEMA which may be translated into English as "diadem." When heaven
was opened to the blessed apostle banished to the wilds of Patmos, and the white horse
Rider appeared in the bright skies above, the glory and eternal triumph of God's Christ
was magnificently expressed in these meaningful words: "And I saw heaven opened, and
behold a white horse; and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in
righteousness He doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His
head were MANY CROWNS; and He had a name written, that no man knew, but He Himself. And He
was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and His name is called The Word of God. And
the armies which were in heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen,
white and clean. And out of His mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite
the nations: and He shall rule them with a rod of iron... and He hath on His vesture and
on His thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS" (Rev. 19:11-16).
Can you not see, my beloved,
that this remarkable vision, blazing and shining with its scintillating glory of power and
truth, points directly to our Lord Jesus Christ who is the King of kings, and Lord of
lords, ruling the universe and guiding the spheres. This reference is clearly not to the
entire Christ body, but to the Head of that body. He is King of kings because He is King
of all those who shall rule with Him as kings. This same book of the Revelation distinctly
and markedly identifies the Lord Jesus as the King of kings. "And from JESUS CHRIST,
who IS the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and THE PRINCE OF THE
KINGS OF THE EARTH"
(Rev. 1:D. The word
"prince" in this verse is translated from the Greek word ARCHON which means
"a first in rank or power; chief ruler; prince; ruler." So Jesus is The FIRST IN
RANK of the kings of the earth! I would solemnly admonish all who read these lines,
DON’T TRY TO PULL RANK ON JESUS! Ah, "HE is the Head of the body, the church:
who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things H-E MIGHT HAVE THE
PREEMINENCE” (Col. 1:18).
Jesus is Lord of lords
because all others who rule with Him as lords have completely and lovingly submitted
themselves to His supreme Lordship. No one can promote the Kingdom of God who has not,
first of all, subjected himself to the very Lordship of Jesus the Christ--for the whole
objective of the Kingdom of God is to ultimately bring to pass this wonderful end:
"Wherefore God hath also highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above
every name: that at the name of J-E-S-U-S EVERY KNEE SHOULD BOW, of things in heaven, and
things in earth, and things under the earth; and that EVERY TONGUE SHOULD CONFESS THAT
J-E-S-U-S CHRIST I-S L-O-R-D to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2:9-11).
What does the word
"Lord" mean? In the days of Jesus, the word "lord" (Greek:
kurios--with lower case letters) was the title by which slaves addressed their masters.
When the word appeared in capital letters and with the definite article --THE LORD--it
meant the Caesar of Rome. In fact, when soldiers or public servants met each other they
used to greet one another by calling out "Caesar is Lord," and the response
came, "Yes, the Lord is Caesar!" But, you see, when Jesus came preaching the
Kingdom of God He came proclaiming MORE than just forgiveness of sins and a home in
heaven. He came introducing a KINGDOM. In the Old Testament the Messiah was always
represented as the coming KING, the coming LORD, greater than Moses, greater than David,
greater than angels. Even the great king David proclaimed of Him, "The Lord (Yahweh)
said unto My Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand, until I make Thy foes Thy footstool"
(Acts 2:34-35). And Peter said in reference to that statement, "Therefore let all the
house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same JESUS, whom ye crucified,
BOTH LORD AND CHRIST" (Acts 2:36).
This presented a problem for
the early disciples. In the culture of their day Caesar was hailed as THE LORD. They
insisted to the contrary that Jesus Christ is the Lord! Caesar didn't mind other men being
called "lords" as long as the title "T-H-E LORD" was reserved for him.
But when the believers gave themselves to Jesus they recognized that they were doing
something far more significant than "accepting Jesus as Savior" at a revival
meeting. They were pledging allegiance to a NEW KINGDOM--a new GOVERNMENT! They were being
"born again" into a new realm as citizens of an entirely new order--a new age--
a new WORLD! Therefore, Jesus, to them, became not only their sin bearer but the CHIEF-OF-
STATE--THE LORD! The message was: "J-E-S-U-S IS T-H-E- LORD! It is HE who possesses
supreme authority over us!" That is the real reason Caesar persecuted the Christians.
The gospel we find in the scriptures is a far different gospel than we have in the
religious systems, the evangelistic efforts and revival campaigns of today. The gospel of
today is a gospel of "easy-believism' salvation. But the gospel of the Bible is the
GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD. That gospel presents Jesus as KING, as LORD, as FIRST ONE,
as MAXIMUM AUTHORITY. The word LORD bespeaks of authority--the authority over all
authority. Truly "we see Jesus CROWNED."
The revelation of Christ to
the human heart as King will always be subsequent to the revelation of Him as Saviour.
There need not necessarily be a long interval between these two revelations, indeed the
sooner the one occurs after the other the better; but the Saviour must ever be discovered
first, and in the joy of that discovery the soul will be led on to find the King. When
Gideon had achieved the liberation of his countrymen from the yoke of Midian, we are not
surprised at hearing that they offered him a throne. It was natural that they should say,
"Rule over us," when his prowess had by divine assistance rescued them from the
pitiful bondage of their enemies. It is even so in the history of our own spiritual
progression in God. As we make proof of HIS power to save, and earnestly desire that He
should carry on His saving work to its final triumphant conclusion, we begin to feel that
He will be the better able to do this, the more completely we surrender ourselves to His
control. If He is merely a Saviour, called in at a moment of emergency, He will show
Himself on such occasions strong to save. But if He can once become our King, then He will
exert His regal power in making such transformations within the little kingdom of our own
nature as shall bring us to our full rights, benefits and state of being as citizens of
His glorious Kingdom.
Thus we begin to long for His
reign within; earnestly to desire that every lofty imagination may be cast down and every
fleshly desire subdued, so that He may have His will, and ours be lost in His. And then we
begin to find out that there is a vast difference between the conditions of the discovery
of the Saviour and the conditions of the quest of the King, and oftentimes great
searchings of heart will follow ere we can make up our minds at all costs and hazards to
start upon this quest and to accept this allegiance. Fear not, oh, my brother, my sister!
Let us not pause to calculate the consequences of His Rule. What are all these outward
trails, the strippings, purgings and processings, as compared with the inward glory which
the discovery of the King induces in our consecrated hearts? Surely we cannot lose by His
sovereignty! If He asks us to give up all that we have in the world of appearances, it is
only that He may enrich us with His VASTER ALL--the true riches, the eternal glory of the
Spirit.
The word "kingdom"
is derived from the two terms "king" and “dominion"--KING'S DOMINION.
It exists wherever the dominion of the Christ rules and holds sway over the hearts of men.
Christ is the great King right now, ruling all things for the well-being of His subjects
and bringing absolute perfection and completion to His plans which He ordained before the
foundation of the world. He is the King of the ages and invincible. He shall yet arise in
power and glory in His completed and perfected body---the MANIFESTED SONS OF GOD---and
reveal Himself as the great conquering King, initiating the mightiest of all campaigns,
bringing deliverance to the whole creation, reconciling all things unto Himself, and then
shall all know the glory of His Kingdom as every tongue confesses and every knee bows,
arid all in that day declare that JESUS CHRIST IS LORD. At the triumph of His Kingdom sin,
sickness, sorrow, pain and death all flee away to be remembered no more in the
consciousness of creation.
He is the great King of kings
and Lord of lords, crowned with glory and honor, and His Kingdom rules over ALL. And
praise His name, He is even now bringing forth in the earth a KINGDOM PEOPLE-- the
firstfruits of His redemption--who are discovering His Lordship over all of their lives.
When all hell assails us, when the power of death all around crowds in upon us, when the
pressures of this world would frustrate, vex and suffocate us, when our own soulish
passions and emotions and self-will would drown us in a sea of carnality and ungodliness,
HE THEN STANDS UP WITHIN US AS KING--in Kingly authority. When old Adam, the outer man,
mortal consciousness in this gross material realm, would tear us apart, frustrate our
lives, suffocate our inner reality, and smash our identity as sons of God upon the rocks,
HE IS THERE, the still small Voice, that deep, Inward Knowing. Let us learn of the real
and eternal, and make way for the reign of the Spirit, the
We are to crown the Lord, the
Spirit, as King in every place in our being, outer and inner. It was the humiliation of
So, precious friend of mine,
when you conduct the King to the place of crowning in your nature, you may have to escort
Him down a winding passageway, intricate with illusions, fears and wild distortions of the
carnal mind, dismal with sin, sickness and weakness, bare and jagged with earthly
consciousness and evil tendencies, on through the gloom and grime of corruption and death,
to the most sacred altar of your heart. There crown the Omnipotent Ruler--the Spirit--and
implore Him to arise and cleanse and purify all your entire nature every whit. Bid Him
write His laws upon your very heart, so that it cannot beat unless it beat in conformity
with the TRUTH and LOVE, and RIGHTEOUSNESS and POWER and LIFE and VICTORY of God's
glorious Christ!
There is an interesting and
enlightening statement in Rev. 4:11 wherein we read, "Thou art worthy, Oh Lord, to
RECEIVE glory and honour and POWER: for Thou hast created all things and for Thy pleasure
they are and were created." The Lord is here declared to be worthy to R-E-C-E-I-V-E
POWER--as well as glory and honor. The question follows, How can God, who inherently
possesses A-L-L POWER--R-E-C-E-I-V-E POWER? The 62nd Psalm says, "God hath spoken
once; twice have I heard this; that POWER BELONGETH UNTO GOD." Fifty-six times the
scriptures proclaim God to be THE ALMIGHTY. "Almighty" means "All ruling;
all powerful; absolute sovereign; omnipotent." Now, how can the omnipotent,
sovereign, all-powerful, all-ruling God RECEIVE POWER? It is time, beloved children of
God, that every man comes to know that there is no power apart from God. Omnipotence has
all-power, and to acknowledge any other power is to dishonor God. Either there is no
omnipotence, or omnipotence is the only power. A child of ten should be able to understand
a truth so simple, a truth so sensible.
The truth is, of course, that
although God (SPIRIT) is the supreme authority and power, and the only reality of the
universe--man with his mortal mind does not so perceive Him. The carnal mind ever pursues
an identity apart from God, proclaiming the ancient error: “I will ascend into
heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will ascend above the heights of
the clouds: I will be like the Most High" (Isa. 14:13-14). I will...I will... I will!
So man, in his distorted consciousness, rules his own life and destiny apart from the
consciousness of God--yea, in opposition to God! And the inevitable result of this course
is chaos, sorrow and death. How certain it is that "there is a way which SEEMETH
RIGHT unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Prov. 14:12). The power
of the human will is not sovereign. The human will pertains to the material senses, the
outer man who is perishing. There is no reality there.
There are many species of
insanity. All sin is insanity, in different degrees. The carnal mind is an insane mind
given wholly to destructive delusions. The natural man is mentally ill beyond
comprehension. The carnal mind is spared from this classification in our world, only
because the vast majority of the inmates in this vast asylum called “society” is
equally mad and in consonance with the delusion. There is a universal insanity of the
so-called “wisdom” of this world, but the wisdom of this world is foolishness
with God--the Spirit. The mortal, sinful, sick, warring, confused, sorrowing, imperfect,
carnal children of men are counterfeits, to be laid aside for the pure reality--man in the
image of God. This mortal, this deranged mind of old Adam, must be put off, and the new
man or real man, the sane man in the precious mind of Christ must be put on.
This brings us back to our
question: If the Lord HAS ALL POWER, how is it that He R-E-C-E-I-V-E-S POWER? The answer
is found in the prayer Jesus taught us which sets forth the great principles of KINGDOM
PRAYER. Jesus says, “When you pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be
Thy name. THY KINGDOM COME. THY WILL BE DONE IN EARTH, AS IT IS IN HEAVEN” (Mat.
6:9-10). What does it mean for God's Kingdom to come? I am the king of my life; I am
seated upon the throne; I make the decisions; I do according to my own will. But when THE
LORD comes I must abdicate my throne and let HIM sit upon the throne! The testimony of
sons in the Kingdom of God is: “Till I met THE LORD I was the commander of my life.
Since I came into relationship with Him, HE COMMANDS.” “Thy will be done in
earth" is something for now--not tomorrow, not in the millennium nor the ages to
come. You see, when I abdicate the throne and resign from the dominion I have exercised in
my life, that realm of dominion which was reserved unto myself is GIVEN TO THE LORD. The
power which I once held in my own hands is YIELDED UP TO HIM and He now exercises the
power and authority that I formerly exercised. Thus, HE RECEIVES POWER! He receives the
RULE over my life. He never took that rule by force, but He receives the rule when I
surrender it up to Him. It is when I truly recognize that there is NO POWER BUT THE LORD,
THE SPIRIT, that I crown HIM Lord of ALL!
THE VICTOR'S CROWN
There are two different Greek
words in the Greek New Testament which are translated 'crown" in English. One of them
is STEPHANOS, which denotes a wreath, a "chaplet.” The other is DIADEMA, meaning
a “diadem." The most common term rendered “crown” is the word
STEPHANOS. The popular name “Stephen” is derived from this word, and this crown
was usually a laurel wreath woven of fragrant branches, or the like. It was granted to
winners in the Olympic games and also as a token of public honor for distinguished
service--especially military leaders who had been victorious over their enemies on the
battlefield. It was also given at marriage feasts, specially in royal families, to
celebrate the joy of the bridegroom in having 'won' the maiden as his bride. This crown
always denotes a VICTOR'S CROWN ---i.e. crown of an OVERCOMER-- one who has fought and
WON!
Everywhere in the New
Testament world, Greek society left its mark on the culture and religion of the people.
Perhaps one of the greatest contributions was that of the Olympic Games. Held every four
years in
The apostle Paul evidently
enjoyed the games; he did not hesitate to stop and watch them and to draw lessons from
them. He had been in the great coliseum in
In the passage before us,
Paul likens the spiritual life unto a race. Pointing to the track runners, he said they
run their race to receive a prize. The Greeks of that day presented a crown of woven green
leaves to each winner. To win the crown was a great thrill, a tremendous achievement and a
coveted honor. To the Greeks, athletic supremacy was the epitome of life. The Olympic
victor's crown is said to have been the ancient world's most coveted, sought after prize.
The victor was duly celebrated. Honors of various sorts were conferred upon him, including
the erection of statues in his honor, as well as the composition, by a renowned poet, of a
poem or "victory ode." Olympic heroes in many cities reportedly were even kept
at public expense for the rest of their lives.
Paul had felt the electric
charge permeate the air in the arenas when the games were finished and all the winners
were gathered together to receive their crowns. The trumpets sounded, the crowds cheered
and the granite walls trembled as the victors knelt in the center of the arena. Suddenly,
emerging from his private observation box, the king would walk in great pomp and colorful
display toward the kneeling victors. A hush would come over the crowd. Silent tears
dropped from happy faces. In the suppressed silence, the winners could hear their own
hearts pounding with joy as the king placed the crowns on their heads one by one. When the
last crown decorated the last brow, the trumpets played an anthem of victory. Amidst the
deafening roar of the crowd, the athletes embraced each other while tears spilled down
their faces and they talked of "next year" when new crowns would be won. Paul
reminds us that the athlete trained and ran to obtain a CORRUPTIBLE CROWN. Those green
leaves would soon dry up, turn to a faded brown and crumble into oblivion. The fragrant
branches soon wilted and became dead and brittle. In contrast to this, oh ye saints of
God, OUR STEPHANOI are INCORRUPTIBLE CROWNS which will never fade away in death--for our
crown is the Crown of Life--LIFE ITSELF!
How appropriate that we
should read of the twenty-four Elders: "And round about the throne were... four and
twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads CROWNS
(stephanos) OF GOLD" (Rev. 4:4). Golden Stephanos! Golden Victor's Crowns! Gold is a
symbol for the divine nature. And how true that we are only able to overcome by being made
partakers of HIS DIVINE NATURE! To be "crowned" means to be given kingly
authority. As the kingly authority of God's divine nature ascends the throne of our lives
we are CROWNED, MADE RULERS, not after the carnal pursuits of the flesh, but in the love,
truth, life and glory of God's own character.
"And immediately I was
in the spirit: and behold, a throne was set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. And
round about the throne were four and twenty seats (thrones): and upon the seats (thrones)
I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their
heads crowns of gold. And in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were
four beasts full of eyes before and behind. And when those beasts give glory and honour
and thanks to Him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, the four and
twenty eiders fall down before Him that sat on the throne...and cast their crowns before
the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power...after
this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and
kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed
with white robes and palms in their hands; and all the angels stood round about the
throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their
faces, and worshipped God" (Rev. 4:2-11;7:9-11).
The imagery of this passage
is drawn in allusion to the encampment of the children of
The Tabernacle was erected in
the very center of the camp of
The Most Holy Place is, then,
an earthly picture of the throne of God--the realm of God's manifestation in power and
dominion. The Most Holy Place prefigured CHRIST THE KING together with all those holy sons
of God who reign with Him. It is the glory of KINGSHIP. Armed with the understanding that
the Tabernacle constituted God's throne among His people, let us remember that there is
"before" that throne a "great multitude" of people receiving the
blessings and benefits of His Kingdom ministered through the typical sacrifices and ritual
of the Tabernacle service. The arrangement of the Tabernacle, the Priesthood, and the Camp
of Israel into three distinct divisions, sets forth the three-fold economy of God in His
redemptive processes. Let us see! The Tabernacle is the dwelling place of God---His
throne, His sphere of activity, the center of His power and glory and authority. The Camp
of Israel, the great multitude "before" the throne, represents the whole world
of mankind outside of God, estranged from the life that is in Him. But there is a third
company--the CAMP OF THE PRIESTS--situated, as it were "round about the throne,"
directly BETWEEN the Tabernacle “throne" and the "great multitude" of
the Camp of Israel “before" the throne. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron,
“The Israelites shall encamp each by his own tribal standard or banner, with the
ensign of their fathers' houses, opposite the Tent of Meeting, and facing it on every
side. Then the Tent of Meeting shall be erected, with the CAMP OF THE LEVITES (PRIESTS) IN
THE MIDST OF THE CAMPS" (Num. 2:2,17). Divine infinite purpose lies behind this whole
arrangement and the moment the wonderful significance of this dawns upon your spiritual
understanding, you will see that God has placed a PRIESTHOOD COMPANY between Himself and
the world of mankind!
The priests made their Camp
around the Tabernacle and between the Tabernacle and the great Camp of Israel. It should
be clear to every thinking mind that the Priesthood camped "round about" the
Tabernacle corresponds precisely to the twenty-four Elders seated "round about"
the throne in Revelation chapter four. You will recall the account in I Chronicles
twenty-four of how, under David, the Levitical Priesthood was divided into TWENTY-FOUR
COURSES under the headship of TWENTY-FOUR ELDERS. The twenty -four courses or orders of
the Priesthood were chosen by families--according to the twenty-four grandsons of Aaron
the High Priest. Each course was named for one of these twenty-four grandsons and the male
descendants of each grandson constituted one of the twenty-four courses throughout their
generations. We are indicted to lightly pass over many profound statements of Holy
Scripture. The Priesthood was divided into twenty-four orders for this stated purpose:
"This was their order for coming on duty to serve in the house of the Lord, according
to the procedure ordered for them by their forefather Aaron, as the Lord God of Israel had
commanded him" (I Chron. 24:19, Amplified).
The priesthood numbered
thousands. Of course, all those priests could not go into the temple at one time, so they
were divided into courses and assigned to work shifts, each "course" of Priests
and Levites came on duty for a week, from one Sabbath to another. When a
"course" was on duty, all its members were bound to appear in the temple, and
the service of the week was subdivided among the various families which made up that
course. The point I wish to emphasize here is this: It took all twenty-four courses to
MAKE UP THE ENTIRE PRIESTHOOD OF GOD! As the Father unfolds these truths to the inner man,
we become convinced that as the four Living Creatures “in the midst of the
throne" reveal the glory of KINGSHIP, so the twenty-four Elders "round about the
throne" reveal the glory of PRIESTHOOD. KINGS AND PRIESTS! A
Ah, beloved, those are not
mere words. This passage is one of rare beauty. It is like a precious diamond, the
effulgence of whose radiance dazzles the mind. It is a drop of pure distilled essence,
whose fragrance fills the rooms of the heart of every man and woman who has received the
call to sonship. It is a joy forevermore and challenge to all who comprehend its message.
It must be engraved deeply upon every heart of God's Royal Priesthood. It exalts and
glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ. "THOU has MADE US!" THOU! There is so much
depth to that text that I am afraid that we often do not perceive it. It is like a
beautiful star-studded sky on a bright clear night and one cannot even begin to grasp the
vast depth that lies above us. So it is with these marvelous words: "Thou hast MADE
US TO BE KINGS AND PRIESTS!" Can you say that? As we plumb its depths a little more I
hope that you will ask yourself the question more carefully, "Am I being MADE a
PRIEST unto God? Is the process of transformation into the priestly nature taking place in
my life?” My deepest desire for you, dear one, is that you will come to be able to
experientially say these words: "Jesus Christ is MAKING ME A PRIEST!" Not in the
sweet bye and bye--but HERE AND NOW!
However clearly we see by the
eye of revelation and faith the truth of this realm of Kingship and Priesthood, however
earnestly we desire it, however firmly we think we grasp it by faith, all will not
avail--GOD HIMSELF MUST DO IT! As the path to Priesthood, God Himself must write His law
in our hearts, bring forth the new divine nature in such power of the Holy Spirit, that it
is HE that works WHTHIN
Consider, beloved, is it not
GOD HIMSELF who has faithfully directed all your steps, who has initiated each
Circumstance of your life, who has given sight to your poor blind eyes and caused you to
behold the majesty of HIS PURPOSE? Is it not GOD HIMSELF who has led you out of the
blinding traditions and enslaving bondage of Babylonian religion, and nurtured you and
brought you to the place in which you stand in Christ today? Is it not GOD HIMSELF who
placed the circumstances and experiences in your pathway which thrust you onward and
upward at the crossroads of your life? I do not hesitate to tell you that no more than you
can SAVE YOURSELF can you MAKE YOURSELF an overcomer, BRING YOURSELF to perfection,
TRANSFORM YOURSELF into life and immortality, or OF YOURSELF apprehend the beautiful
ministry of Kingship and Priesthood unto God.
The unveiling of the sons of
God is not the revelation of some people that can DO something. No, it is the unveiling of
some people who have BECOME something. "To as many as received Him, to them gave He
power to BECOME the sons of God" Jn. 1:12). "Thou has MADE US unto our God Kings
and Priests." If Jesus IS who He IS, then certainly He can DO all things, but the
doing is incidental, a by-product of the BEING. If you are BECOMING what HE IS, the signs
will follow automatically, you cannot help it. But we are not following signs. We are
"following on to KNOW THE LORD." Our hearts are set on HIM. We are not becoming
occupied with ourselves, we are occupied with what He has said He would MAKE US, for HIS
sake. "This people have I formed FOR MYSELF." "Ye shall be UNTO ME a
Once God has you, it is up to
Him to MAKE YOU whatever He desires you to be. He can make the vessel as it pleases Him.
If He wishes to make you a healer, that is not your business. If He wants to make you an
evangelist, or a deliverer, or a teacher, or a King-Priest after the order of Melchizedek,
let him MAKE YOU whatever He wants to make you! And when the revelation of His calling
bursts within your bosom, embrace the calling with all that is within you, yielding to the
processings necessary to bring it to pass. Do not drown the high purposes of God in a
flood of false humility. Set your face as a flint, turn neither to the right hand nor to
the left, consider not your own weakness, (faults, inability or insufficiency) for YOUR
SUFFICIENCY IS OF GOD! As with the halting and stammering Moses of old--HE WILL MAKE YOU!
Yes, God will make us--but as
we learn His ways our cooperation, yieldedness, and submission are vital to the process.
He never rapes or brutalizes us. But we must surrender. The twenty-four Elders, the Royal
Priesthood, have on their heads CROWNS of gold. Golden Stephanos! Golden Victor's Crowns!
In the Theatre of Ephesus there was found an inscription which read: "He fought three
bouts, and was crowned two times." In like manner the sons of God will soon be
rewarded for their bouts with "principalities and powers" which have their rule
in the darkness of the carnal mind. God is even now bringing forth an INCORRUPTIBLE
people. OVERCOMERS! Who shall overcome ALL THINGS. And of them, finally, it shall be said:
"They fought many bouts, and were crowned EVERY TIME!" No more weakness or
failure. No more flunking two tests and winning one. Overcoming ALL THINGS! A Royal
Priesthood. Priests reigning in God's own nature, love and power. Reconciling the world.
Subduing all things. As Kings they are seated IN THE THRONE; as Priests they sit ROUND
ABOUT THE THRONE. From thence they minister to the Great Multitude standing BEFORE THE
THRONE. In their surrender to the rule of the Spirit, they themselves BECOME RULERS as the
authority of God flows through them. God, the Spirit, RECEIVES POWER in their abdication
of the thrones of their lives; they RECEIVE CROWNS (authority) as the dominion of God
expressed through them.
God will have a body through
the earth in these days, a people filled with God, walking as God terrible as an army with
banners--whose only purpose is that the Father be glorified, a people formed for Himself,
through whom He can reveal and manifest Himself in all His wonderful fullness. Oh,
beloved, come, let us now open our hearts wide to him. Come, and as we gaze upon this
glorious ministry and its life-flow unto all the peoples of the earth, let us yield
ourselves under the mighty hand of God that He may work HIS WONDROUS WORK in our lives
until we am CROWNED with His life, His love, His mercy, His goodness, His glory and power
unto the blessing of all the families of earth. May God grant it in these days.
Precious elect of the
Lord--we are now to run the race for the high calling of God in Christ Jesus as if there
were a vast audience in a large amphitheater eagerly watching and enthusiastically
cheering us on. In particular we are to look to our trainer and coach, Jesus, who has run
this course before us, and been highly, completely successful. After elaborating upon the
exploits of the great heroes of faith in the Old Testament dispensations, the writer to
the Hebrews says, 'And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received
not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should
not be made perfect. Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with SO GREAT A CLOUD OF
WITNESSES, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and
let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and
finisher of our faith” (Heb. 11:39-40; 12:1-2).
“Cloud of
witnesses" means STADIUM OF SPECTATORS in Greek. In some of the more spacious
amphitheaters of olden times, the spectators rose in tier above tier to the number of
forty or fifty thousand; and to the thought of the combatant as he looked around on this
vast sea of human faces, set in various and gorgeous coloring, these vast congregations of
his compatriots must have appeared like clouds, composed of infinitesimal units, but all
making up one mighty aggregate, and bathed in such hues as are cast on the clouds at
sunrise or sunset by the level of the sun. And though in their day this multitude of
faithful warriors received not the promise--did not win the crown at the end of their
race--yet God prepared some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made
perfect. From beyond the veil, in that great amphitheater of departed spirits, that vast
stadium of spectators, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Noah, Joseph, Abel,
Gideon, Samuel, David, Daniel, Isaiah, Jeremiah and all the ancient worthies are joyfully
cheering us onward, for they all know that if we can conquer sin, limitation, and death,
THROUGH US they also shall receive the promise! They are most certainly the ones who now,
with us, are going to be perfected (Heb. 11:40): who are going to receive all the glorious
fullness of the Lord for this new day. Have you ever considered how it is that “they
apart from us shall not be made perfect”? Their perfection depends on our perfection.
Our victory will be their victory. The victory we obtain shall in turn be ministered unto
them. Hark! Brethren, hark! Do you not hear the deafening roar of the crowd as they cheer
us onward, do you not feel the electric charge that permeates the air? Can you not hear?
Have you seen--have you seen the heavenly hosts gathering from all the heavens? Can you
not see the CLOUD OF WITNESSES by which we are compassed about? Let us run the race! Let
us overcome sin and sorrow and pain and death! Let us win the victory over the flesh, the
world and the devil! Even now the trumpets are ready to sound, the King is prepared to
decorate the brows of the overcomers with the Golden Stephanos--the VICTOR'S CROWNS! Press
on, saints of God, the victory is nigh at hand!
Chapter
14
LIBRA
THE SCALES
(continued)
We continue with our study of
the third and final minor constellation, or group of stars, which surrounds and completes
the Sign of Libra. This constellation is known as CORONA BOREALIS---the Northern
Crown---or simply, the Crown. It is a lovely semicircle of twenty-one stars, most of which
are of the white, twinkling kind, so that the crown is fully jeweled.
From the dawn of time the
crown has been the symbol of RULE, whether by secular monarch or by sacred priest. There
are two different Greek words in the Greek New Testament which are translated
"crown" in English. One of them is STEPHANOS, which denotes a
"wreath," a "chaplet." The other is DIADEMA, meaning a
"diadem." The most common term rendered "crown" is the word STEPHANOS.
This crown is usually a laurel wreath woven of fragrant branches. It was granted to
winners in the Olympic Games and also as a token of public honor for distinguished
service---especially military leaders who had been victorious over their enemies on the
battlefield. It was also given at marriage feasts, especially in royal families, to
celebrate the joy of the bridegroom in having "won" the maiden as his bride.
This crown always denotes a VICTOR'S CROWN--the crown of an OVERCOMER--one who has fought
and WON!
Paul reminds us that the
athlete trained and ran to obtain a CORRUPTIBLE CROWN. Those green leaves of the laurel
wreath would soon dry up, turn to a faded brown and crumble into oblivion. The branches
soon became dead and brittle. Have you won trophies in your lifetime? If you have lived a
little while and have had a chance to look back on some of them, you have seen them begin
to turn and you wonder why in the world they could have seemed so important at the time. I
wonder about what Olympic stars, who spend years of grueling training working to win a
gold medal, must think thirty years later when they look at that medal. What does it
really amount to then ? Athletes will give themselves to incredible amounts of
self-sacrifice to win some perishable crown. In contrast to this, oh ye saints of God, OUR
STEPHANOI are INCORRUPTIBLE CROWNS which will never fade away in death--for our crown is
the Crown of Life--LIFE ITSELF!
The Victor's Crown is granted
as a reward for faithfulness---it is the trophy earned by steadfastness, perseverance and
carrying the battle onward to victory. There was once a king who had a heavy stone placed
in the middle of a busy road. He hid himself and watched to see who would remove the
cumbersome obstacle. Men of various walks of life approached it and went around it. As the
king watched, some men openly cursed the king for allowing the road to be so cluttered.
One by one they dodged the task of removing the heavy stone. At last, a poor peasant, on
his way to town, approached the place. His back was laden with a load of vegetables which
he was going to sell. He stopped and contemplated the stone. The king watched eagerly. The
peasant laid his load on the ground. Taking a deep breath, he buffed and puffed as he
rolled the heavy stone off the road. Turning around, he spied a money bag which had been
laying beneath the stone. With trembling hands, he opened the bag. It was filled with a
fortune in gold pieces. There was a note folded among the pieces of gold. It stated that
the person who removed the stone could have the gold. It was signed by the king.
Beneath every task that the
Lord puts in the pathway of our spiritual journey, is a hidden blessing. We, like the
people in the story, have a choice. We can dodge the obstacle if we wish. But we do it to
our own hurt. Our King will reward us if we faithfully OVERCOME in each test. There are
crowns He has prepared for the overcomer. We will receive them if we press on to victory!
"Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, IF WE FAINT
NOT" (Gal. 6:9). Faint in your fulfilling of the Lord's will and you will reap no
reward. That is the law of sowing and reaping. "Look to yourselves, that we lose not
those things WHICH WE HAVE WROUGHT, but that we receive a FULL REWARD" (II Jn. 8).
The word translated "wrought" is also translated "gained." Either way,
the message is clear: it is possible to lose rewards which you have gained. You must be
faithful to the end of the journey, to the completion of the process, to receive a full
reward.
"Behold I came quickly:
HOLD THAT FAST WHICH THOU HAST, that no man take thy crown" (Rev. 3:11). If, by
faithfulness, you hold fast to the ground you have already gained, you will receive your
crown. If you do not stay faithful all the way to the end, you will LOSE that crown which
you have already gained! However, SOMEBODY is going to receive it! The Greek word for
"take", here, is LAMBANO. It is also translated, "receive." It is not
that some other person is going to snatch your crown from you . . . but God WILL HAVE A
PEOPLE, a firstfruits, to display the fullness of His life to creation. Should we fail to
FOLLOW ON to become that people God will raise up another generation, just as He did with
the children of
May God help all who read
these lines to realize that if we would be overcomers we cannot be sluggards or quitters.
Nothing can defeat us except our own UNBELIEF! I think of a young man whose goal (in the
natural world) was to become a member of the legislature. Now that is a high goal for a
man to try to reach. He strove manfully and was defeated. So he decided that he should go
into business. The result was that he went bankrupt and spent seventeen years paying off
the bad debts of his crooked partner. He fell in love with a beautiful woman and death
snatched her out of his hands. He then decided to go into politics. He ran for congress
and lost. Then he sought an appointment to a government office (the U.S. Land Office) but
was rejected. Then he became a candidate for the vice-presidency, and he was defeated. If
any man had reason to quit, this man did! He had a young son who was the darling of his
life. And the boy died. Did he give up? No, though many a lesser man would have. Today in
Washington, D.C. you can look up into his face, filled with sorrow and compassion, and yet
with a certain determination as he sits there in his great white chair in the Lincoln
Monument and looks down upon the Union that he saved and the slaves that he freed. He
didn't quit! He became an overcomer! He prevailed! And he being dead, yet speaketh. Ah,
beloved, you may feel today that you have failed every test and opportunity that God has
set before you on the journey to the Throne--but arise and shake the dust from your feet,
be strong and of a good courage---the race has not ended yet!
"Whoso looketh into the
perfect law of liberty and CONTINUE therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer
of the work, THIS MAN SHALL BE BLESSED IN HIS DEED" (James 1:25). "This is a
faithful saying and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have
believed in God might be careful to MAINTAIN good works"(Titus 3:8). "Who then
is a FAITHFUL and wise servant . . .? Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord when He
cometh SHALL FIND SO DOING" (Math 24:45-46). "My beloved brethren, be ye
STEDFAST, unmovable, ALWAYS ABOUNDING (being superior, excelling) IN THE WORK OF THE
LORD!" (I Cor. 15:58). It is clearly evident. The crowns (rule in the Kingdom) will
go to those saints who faithfully run the race to the finish. Quitters will not receive
crowns. The faithless will be empty-handed. But the overcomers shall receive the CROWN OF
LIFE.
THE CROWN OF LIFE
The journey to the Throne
carries us through the process clearly revealed in the three Decans of the Sign of Libra:
the CROSS, the VICTIM, and the CROWN. The cross is the transition point by which we die to
this carnal realm and are made alive unto God--the realm of SPIRIT. The cross always meant
DEATH. When a man picked up his cross and headed for
With the apostle Paul the
life of the footstep followers of our Lord, the overcomers, is compared to a race and like
a boxing match. He exhorts the brethren in
James writes of this special
blessedness of the one who is patient under trial and stands up under the severest
testing, "Blessed, happy, to be envied is the man who is patient under trial and
stands up under temptation, for when be has stood the test and been approved he will
receive the VICTOR'S CROWN OF LIFE which God has promised to those who love Him"
(James 1:12). "Temptation," here, is not used in the usual sense. It means
"tried." The rest of the verse makes it clear. God never tempts a person to sin.
In fact, the apostle goes on to make that point clear. "Let no man say when he is
tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot BE tempted with evil, NEITHER TEMPTETH HE ANY
MAN" (James 1:15). God will not tempt you to sin, but He will TEST you in
faithfulness and faith. Blessed is the man who endures testing. He will receive the CROWN
OF LIFE. It is with you, as with your Lord; first the CROSS... and then the CROWN.
To further confirm the truth
of this higher realm and measure of life which is reserved for the overcomer Jesus Himself
says, "Fear none of those things which thou shall suffer: behold, the devil shall
cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten
days: be thou faithful unto death, and I WILL GIVE THEE A CROWN OF LIFE. He that hath an
ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be
hurt of the second death. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life,
which is in the midst of the paradise of God" (Rev. 2:7,10-11).
To help us understand this
transcendent realm of life offered to the overcomer, let us examine the two terms
"mortal" and "immortal". "For this corruptible must put on
incorruption, and this MORTAL must put on IMMORTALITY. So when this corruptible shall have
put on incorruption, and this MORTAL shall have put on IMMORTALITY, then shall be brought
to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory" (I Cor.
15;53-54).
MORTALITY signifies a state or condition of
liability to death; not a condition of death, but a condition in which death is a
possibility.
IMMORTALITY signifies a state
or condition not liable to death;, not merely a condition of freedom from death, but a
condition in which death is an impossibility.
Many people think that
"mortality" is a state or condition in which death is unavoidable. That is an
altogether erroneous understanding. That which is "immortal" cannot die, but
that which is "mortal" can die,--that is, in a state or condition where death is
a possibility. Even if the person dwelling in mortality were to live on and on and
on--endlessly--yet, at all times death would be a possibility. But with the person abiding
in immortality death is an UTTER IMPOSSIBILITY. The person who is mortal may not
necessarily have to die--but the possibility is always present that he can die!
When man was lowered from the
realm of pure spirit existence into this gross material realm he was placed by God in the
realm of mortality. He entered into the sense-realm with only a consciousness of his outer
flesh-life, the inner spirit being veiled. In this consciousness he could not have been
immortal, for God said to him, "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shall surely
die" (Gen. 2:17), and it is IMPOSSIBLE for an immortal person to die! But, on the
other hand, it was not necessary for Adam to die, for if he would die anyway why would God
have pronounced the threat or penalty of death as a result of his disobedience? If Adam
would never have eaten of the forbidden tree, it is obvious that he would have continued
to live for as long as that condition was met. It could have been forever! And yet he
lived within the POSSIBILITY OF DEATH at any time through disobedience, proving that he
was NOT IMMORTAL. The thing we want to see is, that although Adam possessed physical life
in full and perfect measure, he did not possess INHERENT LIFE. His outer life was a
SUSTAINED LIFE, SUSTAINED FROM W-I-T-H-O-U-T HIMSELF by "every tree of the
garden."
Many of those who read these
lines have pondered the events that transpired in the Garden of Eden in that dim and
distant past. Little by little fragments of truth have opened up, but the grand sum and
total of it is not yet unfolded before us. In that heaven blest Garden which the Lord God
planted there were all manner of trees that were good for food, and Adam and Eve were to
freely partake thereof with one exception--the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now
we know that eating a piece of fruit in itself was not the sin, but rather that tree
represented something, and that fruit signified a SPIRITUAL REALITY.
At the beginning of man's
existence on earth we are shown Adam in a relationship with THREE KINDS OF TREES. To
understand God's plan, we must be completely clear about these three kinds of trees and
what they represent. The three types of trees are set forth in Gen. 2:8-9, 16-17.
"And the Lord God planted a Garden eastward in
There is a clear distinction
made between a GROVE composed of "every tree of the Garden that is good for
food" on the one hand, and the two trees which were in "the midst of the
Garden" on the other hand-the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil. Thus, ALL THE TREES OF THE GARDEN (the grove) are distinct from either the tree of
life or the tree of knowledge. The tree of life was not of the same nature as "all
the trees of the Garden" and the tree of knowledge, likewise, was not the same as
those trees. After God formed man of the dust realm He placed him before these three kinds
of trees, and man's whole life was pictured as a matter of feasting upon one tree or the
other. How man would live and walk depended entirely upon his relationship with these
three kinds of trees. God told man plainly, "You may freely eat of ALL THE TREES OF
THE GARDEN." He also said, "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
thou shalt not eat of it." Let all who read these lines know and fully understand
that there was no death in "all the trees of the Garden"--death lay only in the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam could have continued to live on and on and
on.. . forever . . . being sustained only by the fruit of "all the trees of the
Garden." It was not necessary for him to eat of the tree of life in order to continue
to live. He had only to keep on eating from "all the trees of the Garden."
Yet--though he continued to live and not die he was STILL MORTAL, for the POTENTIAL for
death lay with him. His life was a SUSTAINED LIFE, not an immortal life. Yes, in obedience
to God he was justified--his life was secure--the sustaining elements would not be denied.
Thus seen, Adam had life, and death was entirely avoidable, yet he was in such a condition
that death was possible--he was MORTAL. Before long Adam did disobey and lost for himself
and for the whole human race the privilege of a sustained life. Adam, and all men in him,
fell into death.
The tree of knowledge and the
tree of life both were "in the midst" of the Garden. The tree of the knowledge
of good and evil is the flesh--the carnal mind. "For to be carnally minded IS
DEATH" (
It is imperative that every
saint of God understands that the first man Adam and the last man Adam are more than mere
historical characters. That first man did indeed live and walk upon this earth in the long
ago. The second man, Jesus Christ, likewise lived and walked upon the earth two
millenniums ago. But great is the mystery of God and great is the mystery of man. The
truth is that both men are STILL ALIVE AND WALKING THE EARTH. Both are here alive in their
posterity and both continue to reproduce after their kind. You will never understand the
mystery of God and the mystery of man until your eyes are opened to see that both men
exist right there within that wonderful and complex world which is YOU. The first man was
made "a living soul" and your soulish man is the offspring of that soulish man;
the second man was made "a QUICKENING SPIRIT” (I Cor. 15:45) and your spirit man
is the offspring of that spiritual man.
There is a spirit in man and
that spirit is THE TRUE MAN and the true personality--the image of God. The spirit can
never rest satisfied until it rests in God. It ever seeks communion with God and longs
with unutterable longing and unceasing desire for fellowship with the Most High. This
should not seem strange, for God is the FATHER OF SPIRITS (Heb. 12:9). Therefore it is no
wonder if the spirit is restless until it is one with Him. The first man is of the earth,
earthy, and he is your earthiness; the second man is the Lord from heaven, and this is the
true man of spirit. The beautiful, pure, and divine constitute his ancestry. His origin is
not, like the outer man who is perishing, in brute instinct and material substance. Spirit
has its primitive and ultimate source of being---God is his Father, and Life is the law of
his being. The first man is natural; the second man is spiritual. The first man contained
a "breath of life"; the second man "has life in Himself" even as the
Father has life in Himself. "For as the Father hath life in Himself; so hath He given
to the Son to have life in Himself” (Jn, 5:25). Both of these men, precious friend of
mine, are Y-O-U. And you may walk after the flesh and DIE, or you may walk after the
spirit and LIVE!
We have seen that father Adam
in the beginning had a conditional natural life (body and soul) which could have been
sustained forever by walking in obedience to the law of God. Death came by sin, and sin is
the transgression of the law. Furthermore, he could have possessed IMMORTAL life by being
joined to the Spirit. Jesus came to earth in that same wonderful potential of
manhood---but He not only walked in union with the Spirit, He brought His faculties into
union with the Spirit until soul and body were raised up into the full immortality of
God's divine life and nature. This realm of IMMORTALITY which He apprehended for the whole
man has by Him been made available to all who will avail themselves of it. We have already
seen that it is promised to the OVERCOMER and is a PRIZE to be gained by running for it.
It is called a CROWN OF LIFE. It is the RULE OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE. Now let me be very
clear--many shall attain to never-ending life as they continue to walk in faith and
obedience as Adam could have--but only those who PAY THE PRICE shall actually be raised up
into IMMORTALITY---completely beyond the capability of dying or ever again being corrupted
either spiritually, soulically, or physically.
I am sure that this thought
that not every Christian shall in the ages to come possess the full degree of life which
is IMMORTALITY will come as a shock to many. But the scriptures clearly indicate MORE THAN
ONE DIMENSION of everlasting life. One is the kind of life Adam could have had, a
SUSTAINED LIFE, and the other is the kind of life that ONLY JESUS has been raised up
into--INHERENT LIFE. The first raises men up in redemption to the quality of life Adam
knew before he sinned and the second goes far beyond "redemption" (a buying
back) to the ultimate purpose of God for the NEW CREATION, expressed in the nature, image,
glory and dominion of the last Adam, the Lord from heaven. One will never understand that
quality of life which is a "prize" to be won until he clearly sees that the
first Adam never did dwell in that dimension of life demonstrated by the last Adam.
Redemption means "to buy back" and involves a return to a former condition.
Redemption, therefore, does not guarantee an entrance into the full and complete glory of
the last Adam, the Lord from heaven; but it does purchase for men a return to the first
condition and state of man before he sinned. Redemption restores men to the Edenic state
of fellowship with God, human perfection, and eternal access to a SUSTAINED LIFE. But
those elect sons of God who lay hold upon the measure of the stature of the fullness of
Christ, many sons brought to HIS GLORY, become partakers of a life which far transcends in
wisdom, glory and power the sustained life of redemption's provision--even IMMORTALITY AND
INCORRUPTION! The wonderful everlasting life provided by redemption is the FREE GIFF of
God to all who believe on the name of the Lord, receiving Him as Saviour and Redeemer. The
dimension of life which transcends redemption is a glorious PRIZE to be sought after and
WON.
Let us consider a few
scriptures that speak of the life which is a FREE GIFT by faith. "For God so loved
the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not
perish, but have everlasting life" (Jn, 3:16). "For the wages of sin is death;
but the GIFT OF GOD is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 6:23).
"Therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even
so by the righteousness of one the FREE GIFT came upon all men unto justification of
life" (Rom. 5:18).
Now we shall examine other
passages that reveal a realm of life which is NOT A FREE GIFT at all. One previously
quoted is James 1:12, "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation (testing); for
when be is tried he shall receive the VICTOR'S CROWN (STEPHANOS) OF LIFE." This
"crown of life" is reserved only for the Victors --the overcomers! Consider how
great is the exhortation of Paul in 1 Cor. 9:24-45, "Know ye not that they which run
a race run all, but ONE receiveth the prize? So run that ye may obtain. And every man that
striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a
corruptible crown; but we an INCORRUPTIBLE. I therefore so run." "To him that
OVERCOMETH (not believeth.) will I give to eat of the TREE OF LIFE, which is in the
paradise of God" (Rev. 2:7).
That the great apostle
himself had not yet (in his opinion) qualified for this "crown of life" he
states plainly in his epistle to the church at
Fortunately, Paul gives us
some very vital information concerning this resurrection "out from" or
"from among" the dead, without which we would be very much in the dark. He tells
us just how he was planning to be included in it. He also tells us how others came to be
included in the same class with him, and he states that the revelation concerning this
great attainment and the way into it, is the sign of spiritual perfection (Phil. 3:11-15).
But the popular teachers of this day have totally missed these great truths. Let us
consider them very carefully. They are of the utmost importance. In Phil. 3:8-14, Paul
informs us that he had given up the world, given up everything, that he might suffer with
Christ, with his nature transformed to die even as Christ died, "IF BY ANY MEANS I
might attain unto the resurrection out from amongst the dead." In our King James
version this is rendered, "the resurrection OF the dead:" a pathetic, and
altogether misleading translation.
A moment's just reflection
will suffice to convince the reader that the apostle is not speaking here of the broad
truth of "the resurrection of the dead," inasmuch as everyone must rise again.
"There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust"
(Acts 24:15). In the Greek language the resurrection "of the dead" is NEKRON or
TON NEKRON and is applied to all classes of people because all will be raised. But the
term EK NEKRON--"out of the dead"--is not once applied to the unjust or the
ungodly, or in any general sense. The resurrection of which Paul spoke was not the general
resurrection of saints. Paul knew that he was a saved man, and as such knew there was
positively no way he could escape the resurrection of the just. Now, if there were but one
resurrection of the saved, as modern
Oh! dearly beloved brethren,
the resurrection "of" the dead is one thing, but the resurrection "out from
among" the dead is a mightily different thing. If ALL the people in a building leave
it at the same time, it is the coming out "of" the company; but if only SOME of
the people present leave, theirs is a coming out "from" the rest of the company.
It was for this resurrection "out from" the dead that Paul longed continually.
This was the bright and blessed hope that shone upon his soul and cheered him amid the
sorrows and trials, the toils and the difficulties, the buffetings and the conflicts.
Every soul who dies, both saint and sinner, must be in the resurrection "of' the
dead, for as in Adam ALL die, so in Christ shall ALL be made alive. There is no possible
way of avoiding it. But to be a partaker in the resurrection "from among" the
dead, that, Paul tells us, is a special blessing and distinction for those who FOLLOW ON
TO KNOW THE LORD. These not only are clothed with everlasting life in body, soul and
spirit: they are invested with such IMMORTALITY and INCORRUPTION as to be forever and
completely beyond the capacity to sin or the capability of death. There's is not merely a
SUSTAINED LIFE, but an INHERENT LIFE--God's own divine and eternal life in the fullness of
HIMSELF!
You will never know the power
of Christ's resurrection until you know union with Him.. There are a couple verses of
scripture that I would like to consider with you. If you will let these gracious inspired
words speak for themselves, you will be given to understand a mystery comprehended by very
few men or women who have walked the face of this planet. The following words of the
apostle Paul are freighted with meaning and spiritual significance. "For our
conversation is in heaven; form whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ:
Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body,
according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself"
(Phil. 3:20-21). The opening statement of this beautiful passage declares that "Our
conversation is in heaven." The word conversation is from the Greek word POLITEUMA
meaning "citizenship." It is not our words or our talk that are in heaven, but
our citizenship--our habitation and residence with full civil rights. We are citizens of
heaven. Our residence is in heaven. Heaven is our place of birth, our homeland, our native
sphere of habitation. We already dwell in heaven N-O-W. God is SPIRIT, and heaven is the
REALM OF THE SPIRIT in which God dwells. To be born of the Spirit is to be born in heaven.
To live in the Spirit is to live in heaven. To walk in the Spirit is to walk in heaven.
It will be worth our time to
examine prayerfully just what is actually stated in the passage of scripture now under
consideration. "For our citizenship is in heaven, FROM WHENCE WE LOOK.. ."
"We LOOK." I ask you to notice this particularly. 'From whence WE LOOK."
"FROM WHENCE we look." It does not say, “from whence we SHALL look.”
Nor does it say, "from whence the Lord shall come.” “From whence WE LOOK
FOR THE SAVIOUR, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST: who shall change our vile body.. .” It does
not at all say that the Lord Jesus Christ shall come from heaven, although that is how our
superficial reading and carnal mindedness has taken it. Nothing is said here about where
Christ dwells, or where He is coming from. The subject is not where Christ is, but where
WE ARE and WHAT WE ARE DOING THERE. Where are we? "Our citizenship (residence,
homeland) is in heaven.” This lovely passage shows the believer to be a heavenly man,
positioned in the heavenlies---living out of the realm of SPIRIT. And what are we doing
there? From that lofty vantage point and exalted state of consciousness we are LOOKING FOR
THE SAVIOUR to change our vile body. Just as a man may sit in a fire-tower steadily
looking for the tell-tale signs of smoke that alert him to a forest fire, so WE SIT IN
HEAVEN LOOKING FOR THE SAVIOUR TO CHANGE OUR BODY. The message is clear--we are not on
earth looking for our Saviour to come crashing down from heaven. Rather, from our exalted
seating in the height of heaven we look for this change, for we know the Christ there, we
belong to Him there, we are joined in one with Him there, we are heavenly because He is.
He will extend the work of salvation and exaltation to the body-realm, so as to present
the whole being in the power of eternal life in the true sphere and home of that life
above--a spiritual body. We are to possess a fully developed body which belongs to the
celestial world. This change from mortality to immortality takes place as Christ rises
from within us, coming out of heaven (spirit) to manifest finally in the visible world. As
we find CHRIST IN US as the source of our life, tremendous changes take place. Oh! the
mystery of it. It is not from earth that we look for heaven to swoop down and change us;
it is in heaven that we look for our outer man to catch up with our inner man. "FROM
HEAVEN we look.. ." Hallelujah!
This, my beloved, is that
resurrection "out from among" the dead, the "crown of life" which is
that FULL SALVATION that includes the plenteousness of His incorruptible life, nature and
power. It is the FULL SALVATION of spirit, soul and body, a victory so complete, so
powerful, so divine and eternal, that there is NO POSSIBILITY of ever sinning or dying
again. And while I have called it a "salvation," it is MORE than salvation, it
is something BEYOND salvation, an attainment, the P-R-I-Z-E of a quality and dimension of
life the first Adam has never known! These overcomers possess the very fullness of the
divine nature. They are not merely "saved by grace," but have totally laid down
their own lives and completely taken up HIS. They are an INCORRUPTIBLE and IMMORTAL people
spiritually, soulically and bodily. This, dear ones, is the TRUE ETERNAL SECURITY! Why is
this resurrection such a PRIZE? Why is it worth giving up everything to run the race?
Because it bespeaks of a REAIM OF LIFE and honor and glory and dominion in the fullness of
Christ which none others shall receive. It is reserved for OVERCOMERS alone---not for the
general run of Christians who have hob-knobbed with the world and taken the mark of the
beast by following and propagating the doctrines of anti-christ which are cherished by the
man-made churches.
The Lord seeks to bring His
overcoming remnant into THE POWER OF AN ENDLESS LIFE. It is greater than Pentecostal
power. Greater than power to speak in tongues, prophesy, heal the sick, cast out devils,
and do signs and wonders. It is greater than witnessing power, and even greater than power
to raise the dead. Pentecostal power lies within the "in part" realm of I Cor.
13:8-10. When that which is PERFECT is come, that which is in part shall be done away!
Soon, very soon, those powers will no longer be needed because the manifested sons of God
shall arise in the power of the Melchizedekian Priesthood to deliver creation from the
bondage of corruption. A ministry is coming where there is no limited measure of the
Spirit, no "in part" manifestation of the "gift" realm. There will be
no need to heal the sick, cast our devils, multiply bread and fish, or raise the dead---it
will be a ministry from the IMMORTAL REALM where everlasting life will flow fully and
freely to all creation. Death is not the grave or the coffin. DEATH IS THAT WHOLE DREADFUL
REAIM IN WHICH MAN HAS EXISTED EVER SINCE THE TRANSGRESSION IN
We can only speculate what it
will be like to be in the full power and glory of IMMORTAL life. God is moving to bring
His holy remnant into the power of an indissoluble life, even now. There will be a full
and complete severing from the earth realm, from the carnal mind, from the death realm and
all its claims, God wants a free, heavenly, celestial people, a body of sons totally
detached from all that is earthly, limited, and temporal. It is possible to move into a
resurrection realm in our consciousness that places us beyond time, beyond the thinking
and power of the world, beyond the bondage of health, security, and death itself. Is that
not the greatest power that God can give to mankind--to make him an eternal SPIRITUAL
BEING in the very glory of God? Ah, what a PRIZE! What a CROWN! "So let us
run..."
But note, precious friend of
mine, I did not say that God would make us SPIRITS--but SPIRITUAL BEINGS. What God is
creating is a NEW CREATION--something that has never been before! It is God (spirit), but
not just God. It is man (form, image), but not just man. It is God and man brought
together in a union producing a race of beings that are not God or man, yet God AND man!
It is the NEW CREATION. In the vast storehouse of truth embraced by the holy scriptures no
part nor phase thereof is in any way more outstanding or clear than the truth that man was
designed by his Creator to possess a body. Man is not designed to have his spirit flit
about through eternity without a body. The apostle Paul echoes the sense of revulsion
found in the heart of every man at the thought of being found "naked" or
disembodied. Speaking of the earthly tabernacle of flesh, he writes, "For we know
that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly
desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: if so be that being
clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, not for
that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of
life. Now He that hath wrought us FOR THIS SELFSAME THING IS GOD..." (II Cor. 5:
1-5).
There is another body, thank
God! formed of the incorruptible life of the resurrected and glorified Christ of God, the
last Adam, the God-man, the firstborn of the NEW CREATION species. This marvelous body is
from heaven even as my present body is of earth. It is the offspring of the last Adam,
just as my flesh body is the offspring of the first Adam. I do not hesitate to declare to
you that as a man PUTS ON CHRIST he puts on not only the spirit of Christ but also the
RESURRECTION BODY of Christ, and this body IS OUR HOUSE FROM HEAVEN. As the pure and holy
life of the Son of God is formed within us God shall also give us bodies worthy of such
divine life, bodies capable of expressing all the wisdom and nature and power of that
blessed realm beyond sin and death, yea, beyond time and space and matter! What a PRIZE!
What a CROWN! This is the CROWN OF LIFE--the crown which IS LIFE ITSELF! Ah, beloved
saints of God, let us
THE CROWN OF MERCY
There are several crowns
promised to the overcomer. In II Tim. 4:7-8 Paul says, "I have fought a good fight, I
have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a CROWN
OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not
to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing." It is my duty before God
to tell you that the VICTOR'S CROWN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS is not that "imputed
righteousness" accredited to your account at the time you placed your faith in
Christ, but an ATTAINED RIGHTEOUSNESS acquired as one's STATE OF BEING through the deep
processings of God in the life. Imputed righteousness justifies you from your sins;
attained righteousness transforms your nature, qualifying you to reign in righteousness in
the
Then there is the CROWN OF
GLORY. "And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a CROWN OF GLORY
that fadeth not away" (I Pet. 5:4). The
T. Austin Sparks has written:
"The crown of the incorruptible is glory. The Son, as the Lord of glory, is governing
everything in relation to glory. What a glorious statement that is; how much there is
gathered into that--GOVERNING EVERYTHING IN RELATION TO GLORY--the LORD OF GLORY! So we
have in our Bible a whole book containing the record of the activities of the Lord of
glory. Situations and positions seem at first sight all the work of the devil, all the
work of devil-inspired and devil-energized people--situations so difficult that they look
hopeless. And that book contains the verdict of the long run, that everyone of those
situations was turned to glory, something glorious came out of every hopeless and
impossible position. The LORD OF GLORY was seeing to that! Yes, there is much comfort in
that title 'the Lord of glory.'
"Glory is not some place
to which we are going presently, although glory may be a sphere in which everything is
glorious. Glory is for now. It is a part of the very life that we have now received. It is
the essence of Christ as 'in us, the hope of glory.’ May the Lord teach us how to
keep clear of this corrupted world, how to keep clear of that wretched., corrupt old man.
You remember that magnificent, though so very simple, picture Bunyan has given us--the man
with the muck rake, with the crown of glory over his head, but so occupied with his rake
and obsessed with what is down there in the mud, that he sees not the glory, he misses it
all"-end quote. Ah, beloved, that muck is our outer man, the flesh life, the carnal
mind, and we are always turning him this way and that to see if we can find something good
in him, some glory. May the blessed Spirit of Truth teach us now and forever that there is
no glory in this outer world of appearances, and we must end all the investigations in
that realm. Count it all but dung, but loss, and lift up your eyes to the Lord of
glory--and you will find the way of glory, and you will be crowned with the Crown of
Glory, even the Spirit of the Lord.
Another wonderful crown is
mentioned in Ps. 104:4, "Who CROWNETH thee with loving kindness and tender
mercies." In the Hebrew "lovingkindness" is HHESED; "tender
mercies" is RAHHAMIM, which is equivalent in power to our English word
"compassions." This is the God of all grace placing a crown upon those who rule
with Him. This is the God of love placing upon your head the insignia of anointing as one
of His King-Priests. What IS this crown, this kingly, priestly anointing, this power and
authority to rule? HHESED and RAHHAMIM --LOVINGKINDNESS and TENDER MERCIES! Or it can be
stated as: mercy and compassions.
Think of it! God's Crown,
God's Ruling Authority and Power! Crowned with MERCY! Ruling by MERCY! This is truth of
unfathomed depth. What kind of a crown do you have in mind when you think of "wearing
a crown" in the
This is often times difficult
for those priests-to-be who have come out of the church system with a heavy hangover of
condemnation and charging every man with guilt and shame. It was a sin to do this, it was
a sin to do that, and we were so sin-conscious that we were not able to kindle any
consciousness of the awesome power of HIS ABOUNDING MERCY.
This truth might well be
illustrated by the children's story of the sun and the wind. In the make-believe story,
the sun and the wind discussed which of them was the strongest. The wind said he could
prove that he was the strongest by blowing the coat off a man who walked on the road
below. So the sun slipped behind a cloud and Mr. Wind started blowing until the man
thought a tornado had come up. But the harder the wind blew, the tighter hold the old man
took on his coat. Finally the wind saw that he could not blow the man's coat off, so he
gave up in defeat. Then it was the sun's turn to try. The sun came out from behind the
clouds and smiled kindly on the old man. Presently the warm loving rays of the sun caused
the man to pull off his coat. The sun had proved that the power of love and light and
kindness is stronger than fury and force!
How we have ranted and raved
and stormed at men about their sins and judgment! But it has been well said that
"There is no difficulty that enough love will not conquer; No disease that enough
love will not heal; No door that enough love will not open; No gulf that enough love will
not bridge; No wall that enough love will not throw down; No sin that enough love will not
redeem. It makes no difference how deeply seated may be the problem, how hopeless the
outlook, how muddled the tangles, how great the mistake, a sufficient realization of love
will dissolve it all--if only you could love enough you would be the happiest and most
powerful being in the world."
Ah---perhaps now we can
understand something of the divine wisdom that, when it purposes to save a world gone
awry, says, "FOR GOD S-O L-O-V-E-D THE WORLD, that He gave His only begotten Son
..." Then to the bearers of that love He bids, "LOVE your enemies.. ." And
God in Christ has enough love to go around, praise His wonderful name! And by that love He
is CROWNING His King-Priests for the age and the ages to come with lovingkindness and
tender mercies! What a Kingdom! What a Throne! His Word declares it! The heavens declare
it! This is the CORONA BOREALIS--the Northern Crown, the dominion of the sons of God!
Chapter
15
SCORPIO--THE
SCORPION
The third scene in the great
prophetic drama of GOD'S BIBLE IN THE SKY (the Zodiac) is simply fascinating as we view
its related constellations as drawn on the ancient star charts. It is called SCORPIO (the
scorpion) by the Romans of antiquity and is the most brilliant of the twelve Signs of the
Zodiac. Unfortunately for observers in the northern-hemisphere, it cannot be properly
appreciated because part of it is below the horizon. A scorpion is a most malignant
insect. It is a noisome and deadly enemy that is most frightening. Its bite is not always
fatal, though it can be; still it is always extraordinarily painful, and the scorpion is a
dangerous pest. The star picture brings before us a gigantic Scorpion, larger than a man,
with its tail uplifted in anger, endeavoring to sting in the heel a mighty man, but is
crushed by the man, who has his foot placed right on the Scorpion's heart. If a little
insect puts fear in the heart of a large man, how much more would a Scorpion much larger
than a man!
The Hebrew name for the
constellation of Scorpio is AKRAB, which means "the conflict" or
"war". The word is used of the scorpion, but is also the word for war as in Ps.
144:1 where the sweet singer of
The second Decan is the
picture of a great and powerful man whose name is ORPHIUCHUS, meaning "the
serpent-holder." It portrays a mighty man who is struggling with a giant Serpent,
trying to keep him from accomplishing what he is attempting to do. The Serpent is putting
forth a mighty effort to reach up and grasp THE CROWN (CORONA), which is situated
immediately over the Serpent's head. You will discover that the strong man, Orphiuchus, is
restraining the Serpent while crushing the Scorpion! The man is grasping the Serpent with
both hands, disabling the monster by his superior power and effectually holding him fast
so that he cannot get the Crown. With one foot lifted from the Scorpion's tail as though
stung and hurt, he is in the act of crushing the Scorpion's head with the other. He thus
appears as the One who has power over the Serpent and over death, holding, conquering, and
destroying them, though himself wounded in His conflict with them. The scene is drawn from
the very heart of the Gospel -- the ages-long battle between the "seed of the
woman" and the "seed of the serpent." The very heart of the message of the
Bible talks about a great warfare between the forces of righteousness and the forces of
evil in this world; between faith and unbelief; between truth and error; between life and
death; between the carnal mind and the mind of Christ; between the followers of Christ and
the followers of anti-Christ; ultimately it is the battle between Christ and Satan. The
contest is for Dominion. ORPHIUCHUS is, first and foremost, our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ who at the cross was wounded in the heel, but in His resurrection, ascension and
glorification has crushed the head of the Serpent, conquering sin, sickness, limitation
and death! "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the
suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that He by the grace of God should taste
death for every man. For it become Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all
things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect
through sufferings. Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He
also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might DESTROY HIM that
had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death
were all their lifetime subject to bondage" (Heb. 2:9-10, 14-15). In that long ago
The third Decan in the house
of Scorpio is HERCULES, and describes more fully the out-working of Christ's triumph.
Because the pagan nations had lost sight of this original revelation, they began to assign
different people to the various figures and the men that are portrayed in these
constellations. What they really depict, in fact, is Christ in and through His body, the
sons of God, accomplishing the totality of the victory which He came into this world to
effect. Dr. Joseph Seiss has pointed out that "According to the mythic accounts,
Hercules was the god-begotten man, to whose tasks there was scarce an end. From his cradle
to his death he was employed accomplishing the most difficult and wonderful of feats laid
upon him to perform, and all in the line of vanquishing great evil powers, such as the
lion begotten from Typhon, the many-headed Hydra sprung from the same parentage, the
brazen-looted and golden-horned stag, the Erymanthean boar, the vast filth of the Augean
stables, the swarms of life-destroying Stymphalian birds, the mad bull of Crete which no
mortal dared look upon, the flesh-eating mares of Diomedes, the queen of the devastating
Amazons, the triple-bodied Geryones and his dog, the Dragon which guarded the apples of
the Hesperides, and the three-headed snaky monster which kept the gates of hell. Some have
argued that the story of Hercules is a purely Greek invention, but it certainly dates back
in all its essential features, in
The old Hebrew name (shown on
ancient star charts) for Hercules was GIBBOR, the word used of the "strong man"
in Ps. 19:5, and translated as "mighty" and "mighty man" throughout
the Old Testament. GIBBOR means "warrior, powerful, champion, valiant man."
Hercules (Gibbor) is shown on the star charts down on one knee; in his right hand he
wields a heavy club and in his left he grasps CERBERUS, the three-headed monster. He has
the skin of a lion, which he has slain, thrown around him and his left foot is set
directly on the head of the great Dragon. Ah, my beloved, beyond all the pagan distortions
and confusions, there is the glorious revelation of the great work of our God and Saviour.
How good it would be if God's elect people could comprehend the magnificent glory God has
in store for us! Jesus Christ is the forerunner, the pioneer, the apostle, the first Son,
the beginning, and the first born from the dead. He is the first Son to be exalted through
the terrible sufferings of the realm of death and, seeing Him, we know that the promise to
all others is certain, for it was not of Adam alone of whom God spoke, saying, "Let
us make man in our image and after our likeness, and let them have dominion," but the
promise was to ALL the sons of men, of whom the first Son, Jesus Christ, is now exalted
and has taken His seat at the right hand of power. We see Jesus and by seeing Him we know
the glory that is available for those who follow in His steps just as the first golden
leaves of fall are the herald of millions of flaming colors and hues to follow. It is a
glorious thing to see that in the unchanging stars of the heavens and the shining Signs
placed there by God in the night sky, we have a gallery of Truth, a picture of the
conquering Christ whose members we are. We see that the hand that made those Signs is
divine. It is the same hand which had penned the revelation which we have before us in our
scriptures. It is the same hand which formed and sent into this world the first born Son,
the Christ of God, and led Him through His mighty works on to
These inspired statements
become crystal clear once we apprehend God's purpose in His many-membered son. These
members of the Christ-body are members of His flesh and of His bones. These people have
drunk deeply of His Spirit, for it is in one spirit that all the members are united with
the body. These are members in particular of GOD'S CHRIST, God's anointed, God's Messiah,
GOD'S HERCULES, God's GOD-MAN, by whom He shall wield His victorious club, subdue all His
enemies, and plant His foot on the Dragon's head--obliterating the ancient Serpent of
error, sin, sickness, pain, sorrow, limitation and death. To these younger sons of God
Jesus has proclaimed, "Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and
scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt
you" (Lk. 10:19). "And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet
shortly". (Rom. 16:20). Of these the Psalmist David also prophesied, "Thou shall
tread upon the lion and adder, the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under
feet” (Ps. 91:13).
"Come, Lord, and burst
the captives' chains,
And set the prisoners free;
Come, cleanse this earth from all its stains,
And make it meet for Thee!
Oh, come and end Creation's groans--
Its sighs, its tears, its blood,
And make this blighted world again
The dwelling-place of God!"
THE SERPENT
The subject on which I now
write is one of both peculiar difficulty and solemnity. Of difficulty on more accounts
than one, but more particularly in view of the false, and, indeed, heathenish ideas that
have been bequeathed to us from times of spiritual darkness and superstition, and the
acceptance of which can only be due to a lack on the part of the Lord's people of the
spirit of wisdom and revelation from God. To sweep away the dust, and cob-webs of mere
tradition, or popular folly that have buried this truth, and given us a merely ridiculous
parody on this subject will incur the misunderstanding and wrath of not a few sincere
people.
Hardly had the human race
been called into existence, than we find a strange enemy making his attack upon it under
the guise of a serpent. Although the writer of this account gives no name to this
creature, except "the serpent," other scriptures leave us no doubt as to who it
was. Mere serpent, mere animal, it could not possibly be; for speech is the distinctive
characteristic of intelligent mind, and that this Serpent posessed the faculty of both
speech and reason was and is enough to prove that someone of a higher kingdom and order
than that of beasts and reptiles was acting. The preachers are always telling us that the
Serpent in the garden was one of these long, slender reptiles that have backbones and ribs
and scales on the outside of their bodies. Numerous pictures have been sketched of the
snake dangling from a tree limb, conversing with Eve. But the inspired Word of the
omniscient Creator contradicts the uninspired word of the tradition-ridden theologians!
John the Revelator stood transfixed in the visions of God on
Here Satan is called
"that old Serpent." The word "old" is from the Greek ARCHAlOS which
means "original" or "primeval". "Primeval" means FROM THE
FIRST AGE OR AGES. Phillip's translation reads, "Then I saw an angel coming down from
heaven with the key of the pit and a huge chain in his hand. He seized the dragon, the
SERPENT OF ANCIENT DAYS, who IS both the Devil and Satan.. ." Another version states,
"And he seized the dragon, the ORIGINAL SERPENT, WHO IS the Devil and Satan."
The Amplified Bible renders, "And he gripped and overpowered the dragon, that OLD
SERPENT OF PRIMEVAL TIMES, WHO IS the Devil and Satan." Man says that a fallen angel,
Lucifer, somehow got into the serpent and spoke through its mouth; but the almighty Father
declares that that original Serpent I-S T-H-E D-E-V-I-L A-N-D S-A-T-A-N!
Is there a Devil, a real
being with personality? If so, who created him, and why does an all-powerful God of
righteousness and love permit such a being to exist? Many answers have been given. On the
one hand, there is the view that the Devil is a hideous looking creature in a funny red
suit, with cloven hoofs and a forked tail, whose chief business is to tempt and endeavor
by all devious means to destroy Christians--and to preside over the alleged tortures of
the departed damned. On the other hand, some say the Devil never existed; that he is a
fiction of the imagination; a crude myth or superstition. Others tell us that the Devil is
dead.
"And so they've voted
the Devil out,
And of course, the Devil's gone;
But simple folk would like to know
Who carries his business on!"
There is a story told of an
aged Minster of the Gospel in a certain town who one morning was taking his usual walk by
the side of a river. A young man who had been away in a distant city attending college
where he had become an atheist, who used to attend this good man's ministry, and knew his
habits, thought he would have some fun with the "Preacher," as he called him.
Meeting the "Preacher" he said, "Good morning, Preacher." "Good
morning, my son," replied the Minster. "Preacher, I have just had bad
news," said the young man. "Well, what is it?” asked the Preacher.
"One of your great friends is dead," replied the youth. "Oh? and who is
he?" asked the old man. "It is the Devil," and he laughed long and loudly.
But there was no laugh on the face of the "Preacher." Putting his hands on the
young man's shoulders and looking straight into his face, he said, "Poor fatherless
child, what will become of you now that your father is dead”' Well--if the Devil were
dead we should not be sorry; and we shall one day join in singing a song of victory when
all the works of the Devil shall be destroyed completely and forever in every man
everywhere and upon the face of the whole earth. But meanwhile the Devil is not dead. He
is very much alive and very, very real. He lies, he talks, he thinks, he acts, he
deceives, he quotes scriptures, he promulgates religion, he tempts, and inspires every
evil in society and the world. I have with me the crushing facts of a world reeking in
crime and lust and war and misery; a world which in spite of science and education and
culture and modernity, is causing men's hearts to fail them for fear of the things which
are coming to pass; a world which according to the beloved apostle, "lieth in the
Evil One."
He is called "that old
serpent the devil." He is called Leviathan, the crooked serpent. He is called the
Dragon. He is called a Lion. He is called a Scorpion. He is called the Wicked One. He is
called the Accuser. He is called the Adversary. But let no one imagine that in writing
about the old Serpent the Devil, I am writing about the traditional Devil preached so
loudly by the church systems. If there are any who have the idea that I am speaking of the
"orthodox" Devil of popular religion, they will soon be undeceived.
Oriental imagery is never
more graphically displayed in all its eloquence than in the use of the biblical word
SERPENT as a figure of Satan, the Devil. This symbol, along with a number of other word
pictures, is very expressive of his nature and activity. Let us remember that there is
much language in the scripture that is figurative and much that is allegorical. When our
Lord Jesus said, "Ye are the salt of the earth," He was speaking quite evidently
in figurative language. He did not mean that Christians were to be put into a gigantic
salt shaker and shaken over the globe. Nobody would be so ridiculous as to believe that.
And when Christ said, "I am the light of the world," He did not mean He had to
be lit like a candle and put up somewhere where He would shine! There are figures of
speech in the Bible. In our everyday conversations we make numerous referrals to the
nature, character or personality of creatures or things, such as: "That guy is a real
turkey," "He is a snake in the grass," "She can swim like a
fish," "He is sharp as a tack," "She is neat as a pin." These are
all figures of speech designed to express an image we are seeking to convey. All of us are
accustomed to using symbolic language to communicate an analogous idea on a different
plane of understanding. When Satan is spoken of as a serpent it no more means a literal
snake than when Dan is so called in Genesis 49:17. "Dan shall judge his people, as
one of the tribes of
Let all who read these lines
thoroughly understand that when we discuss the Garden of Eden, the Serpent in the Garden,
and the fall of man, it is not with any idea of drawing an historical sketch. The past is
meaningless unless it relates to the present. It is because we see repeated all around us,
day after day, generation after generation, the same carnal, fleshly attitudes and
activities that brought about the original fall, and in the repetition of these attitudes
and activities there is the tragic and dreadful departure from REALITY and the LIFE of the
Spirit of God, even among the Lord's own people who dwell in the Garden of the Kingdom of
Heaven on earth. So obvious and incontrovertible is this fact that I do not hesitate to
say the Garden of Eden is not so much a past event as a present and continuing event. It
is a crisis leading to a process---a continuing unfoldment. This is the tragic effect of
man's first departure from God. It happened back there in the past... but it continues to
happen because the spirit of Adam is within us all! It is, then, for our own instruction
and learning that we draw on the lessons brought to us by that past event, which though it
occurred long millenniums ago, still finds a place of relevancy not only in our modern
society but among all who name the name of Christ and, sadder to say, within those who
have received the call to sonship and have gone "without the Camp," as well.
"And God said, Let us
make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion..." (Gen.
1:26). That man would bear the image of God and have dominion over all things is the first
announcement of God's intention regarding man and the first announcement of His purpose;
and locked up in that wonderful declaration is a universe of meaning that does not reach
the eye and that the mind has never understood. Furthermore, after God announced that man
should have dominion over all realms, He then commanded the man, saying, "Be fruitful
and multiply (reproduce the image of God), and replenish the earth and SUBDUE it"
(Gen. 1:28).
The word "subdue"
here is the Hebrew word KABASH meaning "to tread down; conquer; subjugate; bring into
bondage." Allow me to stir up your pure minds to think for a moment--what was there
in the earth that needed to be TREADED DOWN, CONQUERED, SUBJUGATED, and BROUGHT INTO
BONDAGE to Adam? When the Lord gave Adam this command to TREAD DOWN and CONQUER, sin had
not yet entered into man's experience, nor any of sin's results. There was no sin,
sickness, trouble, sorrow nor limitation. There was no death. What, then, was there for
Adam to conquer? Now, notice further the responsibility laid upon Adam in Gen. 2:15:
"And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and
to keep it." The word "keep" here is the Hebrew word SHAMAR which means
"to guard," as you can see in chapter 3:24 where this same word is used of the
Cherubim which God placed at the east of the Garden to guard it from man's presumptuous
entrance after he sinned. "So He drove out the man; and He placed at the east of the
garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword, which turned every way, to KEEP (or guard)
the way of the tree of life."
It seems to me that if Adam
was to guard the Garden against something, there surely must have been things that were
not in harmony with man in God's image! Would not divine sense, or human sense, or common
sense indicate that if Adam was to tread down and conquer and subjugate things upon earth,
there were things that were overtly hostile to him. It should be crystal clear that we
have had a false notion if we have been among those who assume that in the beginning
EVERYTHING WAS HARMONIOUS in God's creation. How could they have been when we read of one,
that ancient Serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, who was already in the earth in the
beginning, of whom it is written, "The devil sinneth from the beginning... he was a
murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in
him. When be speaks a falsehood, he speaks what is natural to him; for he is a liar and
the father of lies (I Jn. 3:8; Jn. 8:44, Amplified Bible).
I must confess that I used to
believe, as many folks do, that in the beginning Adam walked upon earth surrounded by the
beasts of the field---the lions, tigers, dinosaurs, cattle, dogs, snakes, scorpions, and
creeping things---and that these were so naturally peaceful and docile that Adam was able
to romp and tussle playfully with them all, without hostility or fear. Not so! These are
but typical representations, figures of spiritual things, but the principles in the
earthly things must correspond in nature to the spiritual things, Adam was told to subdue
the animal kingdom, to conquer and subjugate the fish of the sea, the fowl of the air, and
everything that moves upon the earth! If the tigers just naturally ambled up to Adam,
wagging their friendly tails, affectionately licking his face, what need would there have
been to subdue them? If the serpents were not poisonous nor the scorpions dangerous, why
would it have been necessary for Adam to guard against them or tread them down? If the
lions were not wild or ravenous, how could Adam conquer and tame them? If the dogs were
not ferocious, why the command to subjugate them?
And beyond all this, it is
evident that in nature all creatures are not savage by nature. But even the domestic
animals must be trained and guided. Proofs abound on every hand that God's creation needs
rule, like "the horse, or the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be
held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee" (Ps. 32:9). Good as the
ox is to labor, he needs a lord; man, therefore, is given to subdue and guide him. Dogs,
tame and friendly as they may be, need a leash and the restraining hand and command of
man. Have weak children never been knocked down and injured by friendly dogs? Can it not
be seen by this that God committed to Adam the wisdom, power, and responsibility to RULE
over the kingdoms around him? Before him lay the whole earth, the seas, the heavens, all
filled and swarming with creatures, myriad life forms, each declaring by type and shadow
that man was to exercise dominion over every realm BENEATH AND ABOVE that God had created,
and as creation bowed in obedience to his godly mind, and the dominion in his spirit, that
glorious reign of wonder and peace under the direction of a Son in the image of God was
but a prefiguring of the day when a whole FIRST-FRUIT COMPANY OF SONS IN GOD'S IMAGE would
reign over THE REGIONS BENEATH, and over ALL THE EARTH, and over THE HEAVENS ABOVE until
everything everywhere, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or
principalities, or powers, would be in submission to their godly minds and omnipotent
wills.
Ah! let us meditate deeply
upon the power and authority that God has given to the body of Christ. I make no apology
for declaring to you the truth that each and every creature of earth typifies a reality in
the realm of SPIRIT--good or bad, positive or negative. This can be seen clearly in the
words of Jesus when He says in Lk. 10:17-19, “And the seventy returned again with
joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through Thy name. And He said unto
them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give you power to TREAD ON
SERPENTS AND SCORPIONS, and over all the power of the enemy.”
Spake He of the serpents and
scorpions of the fields? Nay, my brother, He spake rather of SPIRITS possessing the nature
typified by serpents and scorpions, hidden and cunning, slithering about in the lowest
realms of man's earthiness, in the thoughts and desires and ambitions of the carnal mind,
full of deadly venom. There is a revelation in all nature, in light and darkness, summer
and winter, rain and drought, in fruits and harvest, in storms and sunshine. There is a
revelation in the lives of men, yea, even in beasts and birds and creeping things, each
saying something to us, and of us. Every law and wonder of nature speaks to our souls of
other higher things, and as the growth of seeds was to the spiritual eye of Paul a witness
of the development of the CHRIST LIFE WITHIN US, so the serpents and scorpions and beasts
and birds of earth and heaven above witnessed of higher things to Jesus, all figuring some
of the countless forms of NATURES.
The dove is the well known
figure of meekness, purity, perception, love and constancy, and so was a fit symbol for
the HOLY SPIRIT who at Christ's baptism came “like a dove” and abode upon Him.
The other fowls of heaven, as the law of Moses shows us, clean and unclean, each bespeak a
kind or quality of nature, expressing those characteristics that originate in the spirit
realm. Hence, in scripture unclean birds are a type of evil natures, as John the Revelator
shows in Rev. 18:2, “And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying Babylon the
great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of DEVILS, and the hold of every
FOUL SPIRIT, and a cage of every UNCLEAN AND HATEFUL BIRD.” I know the Lamb, the meek
and sacrificial nature of the Son of God, which is oppressed and afflicted, and yet
openeth not its mouth; but I have known also the nature of the beast, wild and ravenous,
that spirit, so obvious in the world, which stomps and rends and breaks in pieces and
devours, of whom Peter warns us, saying, 'Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary
the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" (I Pet.
5:8).
Man was created for the Holy Spirit to indwell, to
bear the image of God, but not all spirit is holy spirit, and all these unclean
spirits--the spirit of the Devil, and the myriad spirits which characterize the kingdom of
darkness find expression in man as he FAILS TO EXERCISE DOMINION OVER THEM. There is one
more thought that should be mentioned here. The birds of heaven represent those spirits
which have to do with the UNDERSTANDING, the mind of man. “If our gospel be hid, it
is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them
which believe not...” (II Cor. 4:3-4). The beasts of the earth are those spirits
affecting the WILL of man. Serpents, scorpions, and the creeping things of earth represent
those spirits connected with the EMOTIONS of man. “And these signs shall follow them
that believe; In My name they shall cast out devils... they shall take up serpents”
(Mk. 16:21-23). Then follows the lowest realm of all--the dragons, fish, and sea
creatures, those spirits finding lodging and expression in the BODIES of men.
All these, hostile to the
image of God in man, Adam was commanded to SUBDUE, TREAD DOWN, CONQUER AND SUBJUGATE! The
Spirit today is teaching us that when the Bible speaks of something being “under our
feet,” this is a symbolic phrase meaning that the thing had been put in subjection to
us, we rule over it, it does not rule over us. We find that there have been so many
attitudes and dispositions which have ruled within us---and as His Kingdom takes its
rightful place in our lives, these are subdued and brought to naught. In the soul-realm we
have the dominant spirit of self-will, impulses of evil which rise up out of the heart,
emotions of fear, anger, hostility, bitterness, hurt, pride, etc. which usurp unlawful
sway over our lives. In the body realm we have the fleshly appetites and desires, carnal
passions. And then there are those religious spirits of ironclad dogmas and creeds,
traditions, sectarianism, and commandments of men.
“Behold, I give you
power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing
shall by any means hurt you" (Lk. 10:19). The promise belongs to YOU and to ME, for
it is the
SATAN--A SPIRIT
What scientists have
discovered makes it relatively easy to believe in the existence of worlds, or spheres of
life, beyond the comprehension of human senses. In the realm of sound, for example, we
know that the human ear is quite limited, that sounds which are very real are inaudible to
us if they are below or above a certain range of frequency. And the same is true of sight.
The existence of radio waves, gamma rays, ultra-violet light rays, etc., also helps us to
realize the power of invisible forces which are beyond our comprehension. In Eph. 2:2
Satan is described as "the prince of the power of the air, the SPIRIT that now
worketh IN the children (sons) of disobedience." The Amplified Bible says, "At
one time . . .you were following the course and fashion of the world · . . following the
prince of the power of the air. You were obedient to him and were under his control, the
demon spirit that still constantly works (Gr.:energeo, energizes) in the sons of
disobedience . . . for we are not wrestling with flesh and blood---contending only with
physical opponents---but against the despotisms, against the powers, against the master
spirits who are the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of
wickedness in the heavenly (spiritual) sphere" (Eph. 2:2; 6:12).
The message is clear--we have
had the FALSE GOD in us! It came as a revelation to me when I saw that the Holy Spirit
lives in those who have been "begotten of God" and "born of the
Spirit." The spirit that is born of God is renewed in the image of God. But then I
read that if the Holy Spirit is in the children of God, there is also a spirit in the
children of the Devil. "The spirit that now worketh in the sons of
disobedience." Who can dispute the poignant words of the apostle John: "Ye are
of God, little children... because greater is HE that is IN YOU, than HE that is in the
world" (I Jn. 4:4). Then two verse later John clearly identifies these TWO SPIRITS
which are in the people of God and the people of the world: "We are of God: he that
knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby we know the
S-P-I-R-I-T OF TRUTH and the S-P-I-R-I-T OF ERROR." Paul adds to this his testimony:
"Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God;
that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God" (I Cor. 2:12).
This gives us a most
wonderful understanding of the workings of SPIRIT. SPIRIT, like everything else in nature,
has its opposites--positive and negative, good and evil, light and darkness. The negative
power, Satan, is an invisible spiritual influence--energy--which exerts itself upon the
mind, desires, emotions, and will of men. "IN WHOM the god of this world hath blinded
the minds of them" (II Cor. 4:4). The Spirit of God is the spirit of Truth; the
spirit of the Devil is the spirit of error. "To open their eyes, and turn them from
darkness (wrong understanding, perverted knowledge) to light (truth), and from the POWER
OF SATAN unto GOD" (Acts 26:18). Some teach that in all the universe there is only
ONE SPIRIT. And truly, in the sphere of the
The fact that a thing is
"spirit" does not necessarily make it equal to or of the same character as God.
God is not God, in fact, because He is spirit--neither is that which is spirit necessarily
of the same mind and expression of God just because it is spirit. There must be something
more than that to make it qualify for godhood. Using the physical body as an example, let
us note that although it is flesh from the very moment of its conception, it could not be
said that everything that is "flesh" is HUMAN! Thus it is that man's SUBSTANCE
is flesh, but his BEING is much more! Obviously, there are more than one kind of flesh.
What makes a man human is not the fact that he is flesh--he is human because he takes on a
particular shape and is endowed with an intellect and a certain set of emotions and
capacities. Paul stated it this way, "All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is
one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of
birds" (I Cor. 15:39). Learn this, O man, and you will know a great principle: ALL
FLESH IS NOT THE SAME FLESH! All flesh came from the same creative hand of God, but the
characteristics differ. What depth of meaning this adds to the statement of the apostle
wherein he says, "Know ye not that he which is joined unto an harlot is.. . ONE
FLESH?." (I COR. 6:16). Obviously, all flesh is not one flesh. The flesh of a fish
and the. flesh of a dog can never be one flesh. But any flesh which is of the same nature
and may be joined in a union of life with its own kind IS ONE FLESH. And may I add, though
there be gods many, and lords many, to us there is but one God, the Father; and though
there be spirits many, to us there is but ONE SPIRIT, and one body, even as ye are called
in one hope of your calling.
I am sure that it would be
correct to conclude that in the physical world a man's SUBSTANCE is flesh, but his BEING
is much more! So it is with God. His substance is SPIRIT--but His being is MUCH MORE THAN
THAT In connection with this truth I am deeply impressed to share the following thoughts
from a letter received from a friend of many years. She writes: “It is on this
account that I say that God is not God because He is spirit. God is, rather, God because
He is LOVE! He is God because He is UNIFIED! God is spirit—that is His SUBSTANCE. God
is love—that is His BEING! The very fact that God IS—as a state of
being—LOVE speaks of His plurality, for without that plurality, God could not be love
as a state of being. He could only have love for that which is outside Himself. God I-S
LOVE—and love is UNITY—because love is cohesive. When the holy men declared,
“Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is ONE LORD,” they were announcing the UNITY
within the Godhead—the LOVE and cohesive force among ELOHIM. This love, of course, is
far more than a sentimental virtue. LOVE is a very real power and is the very essence of
the BEING of God by virtue of the cohesiveness of His plurality, and the nature that makes
HIM all that He is. It is the LIFE-FORCE of God which makes Him ONE although He is MANY!
“I re-iterate:
God’s substance is spirit—but His being is love. ‘God is love (unity,
cohesiveness); and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him’ (I JN.
4:16). By the same token, whatever is not dwelling in love is NOT God though it be
constructed of the same substance—namely spirit. Where there is still EGO, dividing a
man’s spirit from the whole, there is not God but Adam. Spirit is not
good—neither is spirit evil. Spirit is just a type of thing, just as flesh is a type
of thing. For that matter, flesh is neither good nor evil. It is just there. That’s
all. Flesh becomes evil when its use is perverted. Flesh is good when it is properly used
as the temple of God or in another manner of speaking, when it is used to give visible
manifestation to the nature of God. As Paul said, ‘There is nothing impure of
itself’ and, again, ‘to the pure all things are pure.’ Spirit, then, like
anything else is neither good nor evil until it is expressed through usage. Only then does
it take on an evil or unrighteous character.
“Even though, the,
spirit came out of God and by virtue of its substance is like unto God, still it is not
God because God is LOVE AND UNITY—and the spirit of man is not even unified within
himself as an individual, much less on the corporate plane of existence. God is
unity—Adam is duplicity, he being that DOUBLE-MINDED MAN who is unstable in all his
ways. He is a ‘son’ of God, because he came out of God, but he is a BASTARD SON
(Heb. 12:8). He is an erring son, as depicted throughout scripture in the types of Cain,
Ishmael, Esau, and Adam himself—and in the firstborn of David and Bathsheba who died
and was superseded by Solomon. There is only ONE FATHER (Eph. 4:6) – but as seen in
Abraham, with Hagar and Sara, and in Jacob with Leah and Rachel, there are TWO MOTHERS.
The one is SENSE-KNOWLEDGE and she tendeth to bondage. The other is INSPIRATION,
REVELATION—the New Jerusalem which is above and is the mother of us all (who are born
of the Spirit). Bastard sons are born of Father-God, because mind can only issue from
Him—but they are born also of the SENSE-KNOWLEDGE mother and though they are allowed
to continue in the Father’s ‘house’ for a season there comes the time when
the word is given, ‘Cast out the bondwoman and her son.’ Let me make it
perfectly clear—the bastard son is the double-minded man: DUPLICITY-a mind divided
against itself—and the son who is the heir is that which is UNIFIED. If you can
receive it, duplicity is Satan; unity is Christ! Thus when man’s mind fell from that
SINGLENESS that is in Christ, from that place of unity into duplicity (soul and spirit),
it lost its godlike nature and became satanic.
“In Eze. 46:16-17 there
is a passage that reads this way: ‘If a prince gives a gift unto any of his sons, the
inheritance thereof shall be his sons’; it shall be their possession by inheritance.
But if he gave a gift of his inheritance to one of his servants, then it shall be his to
the year of liberty; after it shall return unto the prince: but his inheritance shall be
his sons’ for them.’ In this, I see that the gift of His (God’s)
inheritance is the gift of LIFE! This is given to every man, as is testified by John in
his Gospel, saying, ‘In Him was life and the life was the light of men… that was
the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world’ (Jn. 1:4,9). This
is that ‘breath of lives’ that is breathed into Adam to cause him to become a
living soul—not only in an even in the past but in an event that is ever occurring in
God’s eternal NOW. We see, however, in Ezekiel’s account that this gift is
merely ‘on loan’ to the servants (or bastard sons) who are allowed to keep it
until the year of LIBERTY—which is the time of death. At that time, the gift returns
to the prince, which is in keeping with the statement made in Ecclesiastes: ‘Then
shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit (of life) shall return unto
God who gave it’ (Eccl. 12:7).
“This gift, however, is
merely ‘on loan’ to the servants becomes the PERMANENT POSSESSION of those who
‘follow on to know the Lord’ and come into mature sonship. Thus, it becomes to
them ETERNAL LIFE! ‘The servant abideth not in the house ever, but the son abideth
ever’ (Jn. 8:35). That is why there must be a SECOND BIRTH—for the first birth
resulted in an ABORTION. Perhaps you recall that the root word for NEPHILIM (the giants;
Gen. 6:4) means ‘the fallen ones’ or the ABORTED ONES!
“When Adam (mind) was
born as a son, he was an aborted son—immature—an unripe fruit, an untimely fig.
In order, the, to come into that fullness and permanency of life, we must RETURN AGAIN TO
THE WOMB and be born out again, this time full-grown. That is why the Greek indicates that
the manchild of Rev. 12 is born a FULL-GROWN MAN. The first birth produces an ABORTED
CHILD--the second birth produces a FULL-GROWN SON. The first birth gives life 'on loan';
the second birth gives a permanent inheritance. That is why it is written, 'Ye MUST be
born again!'
"This second birth
involves a RENEWAL of the spirit. Paul said, 'Cleanse yourselves from all filthiness of
the flesh and of the spirit' (II Cor. 7: 1). If the spirit were always a holy thing, it
would not be at all in keeping with the truth for Paul to tell us to be cleansed in our
spirits. That there is filthiness in the spirit of man is testified by Job who said, 'My
breath is corrupt.' The word 'breath' is misleading, for it is the Hebrew word RUWACH:
spirit. 'My spirit is corrupt,' the original says. That is why David also said, 'Create in
me a dean heart, O God; and renew a RIGHT SPIRIT within me' (Ps. 51:10). The very fact of
the need for renewal speaks of a WRONG SPIRIT that needs to be set right.
"Now, we may also see
this in terms of resurrection. The spirit needs to be revived or resurrected. This, of
course, presupposes that the spirit within man is dead, which it certainly is--but not
dead in that it is non-existent. Dead, rather, in that it is UNRESPONSIVE to that sphere
from which it fell, which is the sphere of Godhood and the realm of LOVE. Its deadness
(unresponsiveness) is the result of INDIVIDUALITY in the form of EGOTISM, it having the
sense of its own god-likeness apart from the recognition of the CORPORATE GOD. EGO is not
in the soul, it is a matter of the spirit, and is nothing in the world but a remembrance
somewhere in the depths of man of his former nature of godhood and of that lofty state
from whence he fell. Ego states, 'I am God'--if not in words, at least in attitude---and
in action, for it always seeks to bring the spirits of other men into subjection to
itself. That is why demons are called in the Greek DEIFIED SPIRITS-- it is that godlike
thing in man that wants to be god all by itself, saying, 'I am God and will therefore
exalt my throne above the stars (spirits) of God and will be a god apart from fitting into
my place in a corporate life.' The truth that Ego fails to see is that there is One that
is greater--greater because it is plural and corporate and unified--the GREAT ELOHIM.
Thus, the very state of individuality, which is divisive, has robbed us all of the nature
of God and plunged us into that duplicity which separates man from himself, man from man,
and man from God. So the human spirit is dead--unresponsive to that cohesiveness which is
in the Godhead, unresponsive to the love principle that binds God together, unresponsive
to that law which is written eternally in the heavens in the VERY BEING OF GOD HIMSELF.
"The spirit, then, is
dead--UNRESPONSIVE--but not non-existent! It is a lamp that is not lit, lacking the
essence life of God. Lacking love, which is that which makes the Word alive, the human
spirit is the FORM OF GOD without being the ESSENCE of God. When the light of the wicked
(double-minded) was put out, Adam's spirit became a dead letter--a FORM of the Word--a
knowledge of good and evil--and because his spirit is dead, it became a DEAD WORD. A dead
Word is a lie because it does not contain the essence-life of the Truth. That is why the
Lord said to me those many years ago now what I have only come to understand completely in
the last year: SATAN IS A WORD. Jesus Christ, as the living expression of the nature of
God, is THE WORD, the LOGOS, the LIVING ONE--the SPIRIT-ESSENCE-WORD. Satan, on the other
hand, is A word, a fragmented, shattered, divided, scattered part of the whole--the DEAD
ONE the FORM as opposed to the essence! LEGALITY instead of life! DUPLICITY instead of
unity! SELF instead of love!" --end quote.
Chapter
16
SCORPIO
THE SCORPION
(continued)
In the great prophetic drama
of GOD'S BIBLE IN THE SKY the third scene is called SCORPIO--THE SCORPION. A scorpion is a
most malignant and deadly enemy. Its bite is not always fatal, though it can be; still it
is always extraordinarily painful and dangerous. The star picture brings before us a
gigantic Scorpion, larger than a man, with its tail uplifted in anger, endeavoring to
sting in the heel a mighty man, but is crushed by the man, who has his foot placed right
on the Scorpion's heart. The Hebrew name for the constellation of Scorpio is AKRAB, which
means "the conflict" or "war."
The whole scene of this
constellation is one of conflict. The first Decan, or minor constellation surrounding
Scorpio, is that of SERPENS---the struggling Serpent. The Devil is portrayed in the Bible
as the great antagonist in this battle. He is portrayed as a serpent; as a dragon; as a
scorpion; as Cetus, the water snake; as Leviathan, the serpent in the sea; as Hydra, the
many-headed monstrous snake. He is presented in many guises but always as a malignant,
venomous and hostile creature. The second Decan is the picture of a great and powerful man
whose name is ORPHIUCHUS, meaning "the serpent-holder." It portrays a mighty man
who is struggling with a giant Serpent, trying to keep him from accomplishing what he is
attempting to do. The Serpent is putting forth a mighty effort to reach up and grasp THE
CROWN which is situated immediately over the Serpent's head. The strong man, Orphiuchus,
is restraining the Serpent while crushing the Scorpion! The man is grasping the Serpent
with both hands, disabling the monster by his superior power and effectually holding him
fast so that he cannot get the Crown. With one foot lifted from the Scorpion's tail as
though stung and hurt, he is in the act of crushing the Scorpion's head with the other. He
thus appears as the One who has power over the Serpent and over death, holding,
conquering, and destroying them. Orphiuchus is, first and foremost, our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ who at the cross was wounded in the heel, but in His resurrection, ascension
and glorification has crushed the head of the Serpent, conquering for Himself and for all
creation sin, sickness, sorrow, limitation and death!
The third Decan in the house
of Scorpio is HERCULES, and describes more fully the out-working of Christ's triumph. What
it really depicts, in fact, is Christ in and through His many-membered body, the sons of
God, accomplishing the totality of the victory which He came into this world to effect.
The old Hebrew name for Hercules was GIBBOR, the word used for the "strong man"
in Ps. 19:5, and translated as "mighty" and "mighty man" throughout
the Old Testament. GIBBOR means "warrior, powerful, champion, valiant man."
Hercules (Gibbor) is shown on the star charts down on one knee; in his right hand he
wields a heavy club and in his left he grasps CERBERUS, the three-headed monster. His left
foot is set directly on the head of the great Dragon. Ah, my beloved, beyond all the pagan
distortions and confusions, there is a glorious revelation of the great work of our God
and Saviour. How good it would be if God's elect people could comprehend the magnificent
glory God has in store for us! It is a glorious thing to see that in the unchanging stars
of the heavens and the shining Signs placed there by our omniscient and omnipotent God in
the night sky, we have an immense gallery of Truth, a vast and awesome portrait of the
conquering Christ whose members we are. May the Spirit of God make it wonderfully real to
all who read these lines that the elect sons of God are members in particular of GOD'S
CHRIST, GOD'S ANOINTED, GOD'S MESSIAH, GOD'S HERCULES, GOD'S GOD-MAN, by whom He shall
wield His victorious club, subdue every enemy, and plant His foot on the Dragon's
head--obliterating forever that ancient Serpent of error, sin, sickness, pain, sorrow,
limitation and death. To these younger sons of God Jesus has proclaimed, "Behold, I
give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the
enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you" (Lk. 10:19). "And the God of
peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly" (Rom. 16:20). Of these mighty sons
of God the Psalmist David also prophesied, "Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder.
the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet" (Ps. 91: 13).
THE SERPENT A SPIRIT!
Oriental imagery is never
more graphically displayed in all its eloquence than in the use of the biblical word
SERPENT as a figure of Satan, the Devil. This symbol, along with a number of other word
pictures, is very expressive of his nature and activity. I make no apology for declaring
to you the truth that each and every creature of earth typifies a higher reality in the
realm of SPIRIT--good or bad, positive or negative. This can be seen clearly in the words
of Jesus when He says in Lk 10:17-19, "And the seventy returned again with joy,
saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through Thy name. And He said unto them,
I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven (the realm of SPIRIT). Behold I give you
power to TREAD ON SERPENTS AND SCORPIONS, and over all the power of the enemy." Spake
He of the serpents and scorpions of the fields? Nay, my brother, He spake rather of
SPIRITS possessing the nature typified by serpents and scorpions, hidden and cunning,
slithering about in the lowest realms of man's earthiness, in the thoughts and desires and
ambitions of the carnal mind, full of deadly venom. Even the fowls of heaven, as the law
of Moses shows us, clean and unclean, each bespeak of a kind or quality of nature,
expressing those characteristics that originate in the spirit realm. Hence, in scripture
unclean birds are a type of evil natures, as John the Revelator shows in Rev. 18:2,
"And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen and
is become the habitation of DEVILS, and the hold of every FOUL SPIRIT, and a cage of every
UNCLEAN AND HATEFUL BIRD." We know the Lamb, the meek and sacrificial nature of the
Christ within, the Son of God, gentle, kind, compassionate, redemptive, blessing all He
touches; but have we not known also the nature of the beast, wild and ravenous, that
spirit, so obvious in the world, which stomps and rends and breaks in pieces and devours,
of whom Peter warns us, saying, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the
devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" (I Pet. 5:8).
Some teach that in all the
universe there is but ONE SPIRIT---the Holy Spirit of God. I solemnly tell every person
who reads these lines that the scriptures are clear, and give us a wonderful understanding
of the workings of SPIRIT. SPIRIT, like everything else in nature, has its
opposites--positive and negative, good and evil, light and darkness. As was pointed out in
our previous message on this subject, spirit is not good--neither is spirit evil. Spirit
is just a type of thing, just as flesh is a type of thing. For that matter, flesh is
neither good nor evil. It is just there. Flesh becomes evil when its use is perverted.
Flesh is good when it is properly used as the
Let us mediate deeply upon
this word--SPIRIT. The English word "spirit" is from the Latin SPIRARE, meaning
"to breathe," the words respiration, expiration, and inspiration all being
derived from the same source. The word "spirit" in the Old Testament is the
translation of the Hebrew word RUWACH, the primary significance or root-meaning of which
is WIND. Similarly the New Testament Greek word for "spirit," PNEUMA, comes from
PNEO, meaning "to breathe or blow," the primary significance or root-meaning
being WIND. The English word "ghost" used in the King James Bible, though now
somewhat obsolete and not in general use, is derived from the Greek PNEUMA--meaning a
blowing or a wind. But let no one hastily conclude that we are about to attempt to prove
that the Holy Spirit is a holy wind, for nothing could be farther from our thought. Since
one cannot live without air and breathing in the realm of the physical, wind and breath
are used symbolically of the Holy Spirit, apart from whom there can be no life in the
realm of the divine. The Holy Spirit is God's breath, God's out-breathing, God's ENERGY
FORCE by which He accomplishes His purpose and executes His will. Many times we have
thought of the Holy Spirit as power, and certainly He has power, but power is basically
the ability or capacity to act or do things and it can be latent, dormant, inactively
resident in someone or something. Force, on the other hand, more specifically describes
energy projected and exerted on persons and things, and may be defined as "an
influence which produces or tends to produce motion, or change of motion." Power
might be likened to the stored energy in a battery, it is there, but inactive. Force,
however, could be compared to the current flowing from the battery, starting the car.
Force, then, more accurately represents the sense of the Hebrew and Greek terms relating
to God's Spirit, and this is borne out in a consideration of the scriptures.
It will greatly aid our
perception of the activity of the Holy Spirit once we understand the simple truth that all
spirit is ENERGY. Energy has many forms, but it is not something that you can see or hold
in your hand. You can think of energy as something that can make things change. For
example, a moving object has energy because it can change things by crashing into them.
Heat is another form of energy. Heat energy can change ice by melting it into water, and
heat it more, changing it into vapor. It can run the engine of an automobile, jet plane or
rocket. There is another kind of energy, called chemical energy. It is in the coal or oil
that heats buildings. It is in the food that nourishes your body and keeps you active.
There is atomic energy which can be set free from the atoms of some materials. And there
is the energy carried by light waves, called electromagnetic energy. It is the
electromagnetic energy in sunlight that warms the earth. Light waves, streaming out of the
sun, carry energy to us across nearly a hundred million miles of space. When the energy of
the light hits the earth, part of it changes to heat. Some of it is stored in plants as
chemical energy.
Another kind of energy of
which we, the people of God, are aware is SPIRIT ENERGY. In physics energy is known as the
capacity for doing work. The Greek noun for energy is ENERGEO and its verb form is
ENERGEIA. These words are used in the Greek New Testament several times. Because of the
association between "doing work" and "energy," the words are generally
translated into English as "work" or "working." Since so much has been
learned about energy in recent years it would now be far better to translate the words for
just what they mean--energy or energizing. Let us look at a few scriptures. "That ye
may know...what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according
to the working (energeia) of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised
Him from the dead" (Eph. 1:18-20). Yes, it was energy, God's energy, which RAISED
CHRIST FROM THE DEAD! And the record further states that He was raised up by the SPIRIT of
God! And not only did Paul say that it was God's energy (His invisible power-force) which
raised Christ up, but he went on to say in Eph. 3:7 that it was the same energy of God
which transformed his own life and made him a minister of Jesus Christ. "Whereof I
was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the
effectual working (energeia) of HIS POWER.” Then on top of this Paul declares that it
is this SPIRIT ENERGY of God which is WORKING WITHIN US to bring us unto the measure of
the stature of the fullness of Christ “From whom (Christ) the whole body fifty joined
together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual
working (energeia) of every part, maketh increase of the body...” (Eph. 4:16). And
furthermore he states that “He that is joined unto the Lord IS ONE SPIRIT” (2
Cor. 6:17). ONE SPIRIT! ONE ENERGY SOURCE! ONE ENERGY FORCE! YOU AND THE LORD! “There
is one body, and ONE SPIRIT” (Eph 4:4). You will know a great truth when you
understand the simple fact that in the Kingdom of God there is ONLY ONE SPIRIT. In union
with the Lord you are that one spirit. All spirit is energy, exerting a force, or
influence upon creation. GOD is the supreme source of energy, the highest and purest form
of energy, and the wonder of it is beyond comprehension, but in union with God Y-O-U ARE
THE ENERGY SOURCE FOR ALL THINGS! All creation stands on tip-toe to see the wonderful
sight of the sons of God pouring fourth the energy of divine spirit love, joy, peace,
righteousness, provision and power! Through this ministration ALL THINGS SHALL BE
C-H-A-N-G-E-D! “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev. 21:5).
The Holy Spirit is God's
ENERGY FORCE. It is God's energy force projected and exerted upon creation. It is God's
motion, action and influence in one measure or another upon, in, and through man. Yahweh
accomplished the creation of the universe by means of His Spirit or ENERGY FORCE.
Regarding the planet earth in its early formative stages, the record states that "The
Spirit (energy force) of God was moving to and fro over the surface of the waters"
(Gen. 1:2). Psalm 33:6 says, “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all
the host of them by the breath (spirit) of His mouth.” Like a powerful breath or
living wind, God's Spirit can be sent forth to exert power even though there is no bodily
or visible contact with that which is acted upon. Where a human craftsman would use the
force of his hands and fingers to produce things, God uses His Spirit. Hence that Spirit
is also spoken of as God's “hand” or “fingers.” Jesus told the
Pharisees, “If I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the Kingdom of God is
come unto you” (Mat. 12:28). But Luke, in recording the same event, expresses it
thus: "If I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the Kingdom of God is
come upon you” (Lk. 11:20). The Spirit of God is the finger of God, the working, the
activity of God usward. How great is His working!
There are two basic
characteristics of the wind which qualify it to so fittingly serve as the supreme symbol
of the Holy Spirit. The wind is first of all a powerful force, and secondly it is
Invisible. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but
canst not tell whence it cometh, or whither it goeth: so is everyone that is born of the
spirit (Jn. 3:8). You cannot see the wind, and yet you are aware of its reality because of
its power with the visible effects of that power manifested all around you. In earlier
times the wind was used broadly as a source of energy. Man has always known how to use
sails on a boat or ship. Later, he learned to use the same principle to construct a
windmill, using the force of the wind to turn grindstones, pump water, and do many other
kinds of work.
Because the wind is both
invisible and powerful, the biblical words RUWACH (Heb.) and PNEUMA (Gr.), meaning wind,
gradually took on much wider meanings, and came to represent any invisible power or
influence, good or bad. And since God's power, within or without, is exercised through
channels and by agencies beyond human sight or perception, therefore this word
“spirit” came more and more to be applied to all of the Lord's dealings and
operations. The invisible and powerful INWARD ENERGY FORCE which motivates and transforms
our lives into the image of God is the HOLY SPIRIT. Only by the Holy Spirit are we guided
beyond the outer senses, and beyond the letter of the Word, into the glorious and eternal
reality of “the deep things of God,” even all those things which God has in
reservation for them that truly love Him, which the human eye hath not seen, the human ear
hath not heard, neither hath entered into the human heart to understand and appreciate.
That spirit is a proper term
for nature, ideas, thoughts, attitudes, desires, mind, will, and all such characteristics
is illustrated by a story I read one time. An eider was telling of a young lad in a
certain congregation. This boy was a devotee of baseball. He was a little leaguer. When
the world series ran he came to the meeting of the church dressed in a baseball outfit, a
glove on one hand and a small transistor radio in the other. His pocket was stretched by a
ball. He didn't hear the ministry that came forth in the meeting. His ear was glued to
that radio. He refused to miss one word of the announcer's description of the game. Now,
that boy was FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT OF BASEBALL. He thought baseball. He talked baseball.
He even took his bat to bed. It was all he cared about. He was filled with it. It was his
life!
As I am writing, equal rights
is still an issue in our land. There are people filled with the spirit of equal rights.
They don't have time for anything else. They are consumed with a desire to petition,
lecture, organize, march. Nothing else matters. They eat, sleep and dream equal rights.
Their money, time, talents and energies are exhausted as they pour themselves into the
struggle for equality. They are FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT of equal rights for all people.
These people are filled with an attitude, a mind, a disposition, a will, a passion, and
all these characteristics produce a tremendous INFLUENCE upon the thinking, attitudes and
actions of multitudes of citizens. Perhaps now we can understand what it really means to
be FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT. It means to not only be filled with the consciousness of the
Person and presence of the Holy Spirit of God, but with all the characteristics within
that Spirit: His nature, will, mind, ways, virtues, disposition, purpose, etc. How many
believers settle for something far less than this! We are living in an hour when it is
popular, the “in thing,” to be a "Spirit-filled" Christian. But truly
I say to you that multitudes have settled for a superficial experience of
“tongues,” or some “gift,” or “feeling,” and have never even
dreamed of what it means to become literally filled with each and every characteristic of
the divine nature and power of God! Becoming filled with the Holy Spirit must do far more
for us than cause us to repeat some foreign syllables suggestively whispered in our ear,
or to become ecstatic in our emotions. To be Filled with the Spirit means to be filled
with ALL THE SPIRIT IS. It means that the life and nature and power of the indwelling
Spirit must control and swallow up completely soul and body until there is no
manifestation but of the Spirit. Jesus, that blessed firstborn Son, was so filled, for He
possessed the Spirit “without measure.” And Paul prayed for the saints that they
might be FILLED WITH “A-L-L THE FULLNESS OF GOD” (Eph. 3:19). This measure is
reserved for all who will go all the way with God, to be sons even as Jesus was “the
Son of God.” Sonship is the hope of creation, and the SPIRIT WITHOUT MEASURE is the
hope of the sons! It is there that sin, sickness, limitation and death are swallowed up,
and the wisdom, nature, life, power and glory of the living God is revealed through His
people.
Let us take a closer look at
some of the characteristics of the Holy Spirit. He is variously defined as –
“The Spirit of God,” “The Spirit of Christ,” “The Spirit of
Holiness,” “The Spirit of Truth,” “The Spirit of a Sound Mind,”
“The Spirit of Liberty,” "The Spirit of Burning," “The Spirit of
the Father,” “The Spirit of the Son,” "The Spirit of Promise,"
“The Spirit of Meekness," “The Spirit of Understanding,” “The
Spirit of Wisdom,” The Spirit of Glory," “The Spirit of Counsel,"
"The Spirit of Grace," “The Spirit of Adoption," “The Spirit of
Prophecy,” “The Spirit of the Lord,” etc., etc. These various titles,
repeated many times, and used interchangeably, give us a full. proper assurance that they
all relate to the same HOLY SPIRIT--indeed, frequently the word “Holy is added in,
combined, as for instance, “The Holy Spirit of God.” “The Holy Spirit of
Promise," etc. These various expressions are descriptive of the spirit, nature,
disposition, power and glory of one God, the Father; and also the spirit, nature,
disposition, power and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, because He is the expression of the
Father; and also it is the spirit, nature, disposition, power and glory of all who are
truly the Lord's in proportion as they have been made ONE IN HIM. "He that is joined
unto the Lord is ONE SPIRIT" (I Cor. 6:17).
Each of these characteristics
is a form of the energy of God. This energy is transmitted from the spirit into soul and
body to produce its power within us, just as electricity is transmitted from a battery to
an engine to make it function in a certain way. When the “Spirit of Holiness” is
transmitted into our lives and consciousness we begin to function in our personality in
that characteristic of God's holiness, thus becoming holy. When the “Spirit of
Wisdom” is transmitted into our consciousness we cease from our own natural reasoning
and commence to act in accordance with the higher wisdom of God. When the "Spirit of
Life" permeates our being even our bodies shall be quickened by His life within until
this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal shall have put on
immortality. Then shall be fulfilled the word which was spoken, "We shall not all
sleep, but we shall all be changed” (I Cor. 15:51).
Our failure to see that the
Holy Spirit of God is not the only form of spirit in the world leads us into all manner of
error and misunderstanding. There is another spirit mentioned frequently throughout the
Word of God, and in opposite terms, namely, “The Spirit of Fear,” "The
Spirit of Bondage," "The Spirit of the World," "The Spirit of
Error,” "The Spirit of Antichrist," "The Spirit of Jealousy,"
"The Spirit of Slumber," etc., etc. These terms signify the WRONG SPIRIT--the
spirit, nature, disposition, power and will which has its chief exemplification in Satan,
the Devil, the Serpent, the Adversary; the same spirit manifesting itself in all who walk
in and live out of the carnal mind. Sin, error, darkness and death are all characteristics
of the SPIRIT OF THE NEGATIVE REALM, even as holiness, truth, love, life, etc. are all
characteristics of the one Holy Spirit.
As mentioned previously,
there are brethren who are convinced that all spirit is the same spirit and that there is
only one spirit in the world, which is the spirit of God in every man. But we are
constrained to take heed to the testimony of the Holy Spirit wherein He says,
“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but TRY THE SPIRITS WHETHER THEY ARE OF GOD:
because many false prophets are gone out into the world" (I Jn. 4:1). Both the HOLY
and the UNHOLY spirit bear the characteristics of personality, both alike are invisible,
both are powerful, both are spirit, both are energy!
It is true---for the child of
God there is only ONE SPIRIT, and that is GOD in every man born of the Spirit, for
“he that is joined unto the Lord I-S ONE SPIRIT.” It should be equally obvious
and self-evident that the man who is not joined unto the Lord is N-O-T OF THE ONE SPIRIT.
Why else would the apostle differentiate between the spirit of man and the Spirit of God
saying. “For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in
him. Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God” (I Cor. 2:11).
Even for the redeemed, before they are brought to that full union with God, there is the
distinction between the spirit of man and the Spirit of God. “For as many as are led
by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of
bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, where by we cry, Abba,
Father. The Spirit Itself beareth witness with our spirit; that we are the children of
God” (Rom. 8:14-16). It is only when OUR SPIRIT is quickened by HIS SPIRIT and
brought unto UNION WITH GOD that you have the ONE SPIRIT.
I would draw your reverent
attention to some of the characteristics of the unregenerated spirit of man. Duet. 2:30
speaks of a certain Sihon, king of Heshbon, of whom it was said, “The Lord thy God
hardened his spirit (RUWACH) and made his heart obstinate.” Dan. 2:1 shows
Nebuchadnezzar dreaming dreams “wherewith his spirit (RUWACH) was troubled and his
sleep brake from him.” David had this to say: “Blessed is the man unto whom the
Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit is no guile." The latter statement
would indicate that there are those in whose spirits there is guile. That is why Paul had
to say, “Cleanse yourselves from all filthiness of the spirit. (ll Cor 7:1) If the
spirit were always a holy thing, it would not be at all in keeping with the truth for Paul
to exhort us to be cleansed in our spirits. That there is filthiness in the spirit of man
is testified by Job who said, “My breath is corrupt.” The word
“breath” is misleading, for it is the Hebrew word RUWACH—spirit. “My
spirit is corrupt” would be a more literal translation. That is why David also said,
“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” (Ps.
51:10). The very fact of the need for renewal speaks of a WRONG SPIRIT that needs to be
set right. Who can deny that the spirit of man has been contaminated?
“The Lord is nigh unto
them that are of a broken heart and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit." (Ps.
34:18). On the other hand, “pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit
before a fall” (Prov. 16:18). There is a generation with whom the Lord is not
pleased, as this is His testimony against it. “They set not their heart aright and
whose spirit was not steadfast with God” (Ps. 78:8). Another contrast is drawn in
Eccl. 7:8 where the Holy Spirit says, “The patient in spirit is better than the proud
in spirit.” It is all SPIRIT-but one is separated unto God, as seen in the fruit it
bears, and the other is not. How awesome this indictment by the Lord, “Thus saith the
Lord God: Woe unto the foolish prophets that follow their own spirit and have seen
nothing” (Eze. 13:13). Malachi warns, “Take heed to your spirit that ye deal not
treacherously” (Mal. 2:15). And to cap it all off (though scripture could be piled
upon scripture), James says, “The spirit (pneuma) that dwelleth in us LUSTETH TO
ENVY!” (James 4:5). That cannot in any way be the spirit of the New Creation, nor can
it be of the spirit of the image of God in every man. It is in this passage that James
goes on to say, “RESIST the devil,” and the method whereby we resist that
“spirit within that lusteth to envy” is shown in the following verse: “Draw
nigh unto (be separated unto, enter into union with) God... purify your hearts... ye
DOUBLE MINDED!” (James 4:5-8).
Well did Jesus know the
limitation of the spirit of man apart from the Holy Spirit. Well did He know that our
understanding could not possibly ascend beyond the things of man. He did not leave us thus
comfortless and confined, but promised in words that cannot fail, “When He, the
Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth.” And yet again,
“When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the
Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of Me" (Jn.
15:26). And not only is there the Spirit of God and the spirit of man, there is also a
spirit in the children of the Devil, "the prince of the power of the air, the SPIRIT
that now worketh IN the children of disobedience” (Eph. 2:2). How significant and
full of meaning are these words of the apostle John: “Ye are of God, little
children... because greater is HE that is IN YOU, than HE that is IN THE WORLD” (I
Jn. 4:4). Then two verses later John dearly identifies these two spirits which are in the
people of God and the people of the world: “We are of God: he that knoweth God
heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby we know the S-P-I-R-I-T OF TRUTH
and the S-P-I-R-I-T OF ERROR.” Paul adds to this his testimony: “Now we have
received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know
the things that are freely given to us of GOD” (Cor. 2:12).
In words fraught with eternal
significance the inspired apostle exhorts, “Be renewed in the S-PI-R-I-T OF YOUR
MIND” (Eph. 4:23). One has so aptly written, commenting on this verse: “Note
that it reads: in the SPIRIT of our mind, for this is far more than just mental gymnastics
of our own self-efforts. It is the energizing of His Spirit upon our human spirit which in
turn takes dominion over our mind and brings our mind into subjection to the Spirit of
truth. There is beneficial results in the power of positive thinking, even on natural
realms. But true transformation comes when it is in THE S-P-I-R-I-T OF YOUR MIND. Oh, it
may become the norm of our life to just be thinking HIS thoughts, because of the
enlargement of His Spirit force within us. It is more than merely a renewing of the
mind--it is the renewing of SPIRIT--the spirit of the mind. It is an absolute must to
receive from a realm higher than Adam can give in order to have our minds renewed. The
change comes from the Lord from heaven, out of the spirit realm of God, uniting with our
spirit. It is the heavenly Jesus dwelling in our hearts, making us ONE IN HIM.”
Elwin Roach has shared this
illuminating thought concerning the transformation of the mind: The word, renewing, is
adequately rendered in Rom. 12:2; however, to be a little more accurate, the word could be
translated RENOVATION (see Strong's Exhaustive Concordance). We are then transformed by
the renewing of our minds. There is only a slight difference in the two words, but when
renovation is used, we get the thought of a complete house rearing, house cleaning, and
then a total refurbishing. Everything old is removed and replaced with all new
furnishings. God, however, does something differently in His renovation. He does it just
the opposite. He does not clear out the old things and leave our minds a total void and
then start filling them with new thoughts. He starts bringing in the new thoughts first,
and with this the old passes away and gives place to the new--and all this is of God.
Think about it!"
The activity of the mind is
primarily in the realm of THOUGHTS. Thoughts are very real and alive. Thoughts are
SPIRITUAL REALITIES, transmitted energy, coming upon your person via the gate of your
mind. This energy (thoughts) is transmitted into your conscious mind from the unconscious
to cause you to act and react in a certain way. Thoughts do not originate in mortal brain.
Thoughts are invisible and powerful entities which have their origin in the dimension of
SPIRIT. Thoughts do have an objective! You should know and become aware of the objectives
of the thoughts that enter your mind. Every decision you have ever made or ever will make
has its origin, intent and power in the INVISIBLE REALM, the realm of spirit. You will
never understand the mystery of life until you thoroughly know that there is a negative
and a positive spirit force. The negative leads to death; the positive to life. The mind
is the gateway, the channel through which these energy forces affect our lives. The
thoughts that come to us bear the characteristics of the spirit force operating in us. Let
us list some of the characteristics of the negative realm: "...unrighteousness,
fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, envy, debate, deceit, malignity,
whispers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil
things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural
affection, implacable, unmerciful" (Rom. 1:29-31). What a list. Search your
mind...stop and think! Are some of your thoughts carrying these characteristics? They
carry within them the power of death!
Now let us list some of the
characteristics of the spirits (thoughts) which come from God. "But the fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness,
temperance" (Gal. 5:22-23). Thoughts carrying these characteristics come from God,
the author of life. Each of these characteristics will cause you to take on and express
the very NATURE OF GOD, for they are the energy producing the very power of God's nature
in the life. What frame of mind do you find yourself living in much of the time? Think
now! Is it creative, holy, virtuous, joyful, confident, loving, life-giving, humble,
temperate, peaceful? Or is it depressed, discouraged, uncertain, frustrated, angry,
fearful, hateful, proud, self-centered, intolerant You
are what you are because of what you have been THINKING! We are constantly entertaining
and being influenced and shaped by thoughts which have an origin. They are spirit. They
are like the wind--they just "blow" into your mind. They are energy: motivating,
directing, compelling your actions. They are POWERFUL, INVISIBLE FORCES that shape your
destiny!
Prov. 23:7 says, "For as
a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." Well did the prophet assert: "Thou wilt
keep him in perfect peace, whose MIND is stayed on Thee" (Iss. 26:3). To which is
added the inspired testimony of the apostle Paul: "If ye then be risen with Christ
seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your
affections (thoughts) on things above (spiritual, heavenly), not on things on the earth
(natural, carnal)" (Col. 3:1-2). And again, "Finally, brethren, whatsoever
things are true, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things
are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be
any praise, THINK on these things!" (Phil. 4:8). This we can do, praise His name, for
"the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling
down of strongholds; CASTING DOWN IMAGINATIONS (thoughts), and every high thing that
exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity EVERY THOUGHT to
the obedience of Christ" (II Cor. 10:4-5).
Beyond the effect of spirit
upon us and the energizing of spirit within us, there is that ability to MINISTER SPIRIT.
Every child of God should seek that God would open his eyes to show him this wonderful
ministry of the Spirit. Paul spoke of it in these inspired words, "Who also hath make
us able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the SPIRIT: for the
letter killeth, but the SPIRIT giveth life... if the ministration of death... was
glorious... how shall not the MINISTRATION OF THE S-P-I-R-I-T be rather glorious" (II
Cor. 3:6-9).
This passage contains two
significant phrases: "Who hath make us able ministers of the New Testament... OF THE
SPIRIT” and “the ministration of... SPIRIT." The New Testament is not the
black, leather covered, book called the Bible. This book is what Paul calls "the
letter." It is the law, the record, the history, the form which tells us many things
about the historical man called Jesus. The twenty-seven books called the New Testament are
merely the guide given to point us to the TRUE NEW TESTAMENT, Jesus, the Christ of God!
"Search the scriptures," said Jesus, "for in them ye think ye have eternal
life: and they are they which TESTIFY OF M-E.” (Jn. 5:39). Our scripture says that
God has made us able ministers of the New Testament! To minister the New Testament does
not mean to minister sermons, doctrines, laws, commandments, or facts about Jesus Christ.
To minister the New Testament is to minister the very life of God which is CHRIST IN OUR
SPIRIT. “He hath made us able ministers of the SPIRIT." The word minister
implies the thought: to serve, impart, give out or wait on. As a member of the New
Creation you have been called to be an able minister of the New Testament--a minister of
the SPIRIT!
You may say, "Who, me?
Me a minister of the SPIRIT? Why, I can't even testify without stuttering and my knees
knocking!" How can we minister spirit? We know how to minister tangible things: our
hands minister food to our mouths, they wash our bodies, clothe our bodies, minister
ointments and medicines to diseased or painful members, and serve others in a multitude of
ways. This is not hard to understand but how can a person minister SPIRIT? We minister
spirit when we minister WHAT THE SPIRIT IS within us! As we walk in the attitude and will
of God, speak the words of God, act in the wisdom of God, express the character of God,
manifest the nature of God, there is transmission of spirit energy to the people, events,
and circumstances about us.
How can we describe that Holy
Spirit which is within us? We can describe the fruit of the apple tree in terms of the
characteristics of the apple, i.e., peeling, meat, stem, core, seeds, texture, flavor,
etc. The characteristics make up the description of what an apple is, what it is like.
Similarly, we may describe the Holy Spirit in terms of the virtues or attributes of the
Spirit called "the fruit of the Spirit." Now the fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance" (Gal.
5:22-23). This is the image of God, what God the Spirit is like! And the new man of our
spirit is created in the image and likeness of God (Eph. 4:23-24). Here are nine
individual realities which are not visible to the natural eye, yet we know they exist, for
like the wind we have observed their influence and effect. They are Spirit, YOUR SPIRIT,
and you can minister out of that realm!
What kind of fruit does a
natural tree bear? You will answer, "Natural fruit, of course.” That is right.
In nature everything produces "after its kind." Apples produce apples, oranges
produce oranges, vegetables produce vegetables, etc. If natural trees produce natural
fruit, what kind of fruit should we expect from SPIRIT?. The answer is simple: SPIRIT
FRUIT!. The fruit is of the same nature and substance as that which produced it. If God is
Spirit, Holy Spirit, then it follows that the fruit of the Spirit is likewise Spirit. To
minister Spirit, therefore, means nothing more nor less than to minister the virtues of
the fruit of the Spirit to another person. It does not mean to minister the letter of the
Word, or pronouncements of judgment, to preach sermons, or convince people through
argument of a doctrine, or show people where they are wrong, ungodly, or under
condemnation. NO! That is all the ministry of the letter which killeth! We are called to
minister the SPIRIT WHICH PRODUCES LIFE!
God is not complicated.
Spirit is not complicated. God is Spirit, and God is love. Love is not complicated. Love
has no problems communicating, influencing, ministering. When those around us are
discouraged or distraught, we can minister encouragement to them by our word, attitude and
action. When people are sad and sorrowful, as ministers of Spirit, we will minister joy
and faith unto them. In the presence of fear we will exude and speak peace. When our
enemies hate us we will love them in return. When men curse us we will do good to them,
when they revile us we will bless them. When our friends are depressed, uncertain, and
frustrated, we will manifest such calmness and confidence that will lift them from the
shrouding gloom of despair into faith and victory.
It is a significant fact that
all the virtues and characteristics of the Holy Spirit are spirit, and therefore ARE
ENERGY--POWER! In the area of will, attitude, nature, mind, disposition, etc., there is
always a transmission of energy. Haven't you noticed how one person's attitude will
"rub off” on to another person? One can begin complaining and soon everyone is
complaining. One begins to be argumentative and before you know it everyone in the room is
in a heated argument. Or a whole group of people may feel frustrated and hopeless in a
situation, and just one person can enter the room with a cheery smile, radiating the aura
of confidence and assurance, speaking a positive word of encouragement and victory, and
soon the whole atmosphere changes, becoming charged with this new expectation, the spirit
of the whole group being raised up into hope and anticipation. What is this? It is the
work of spirit-invisible, intangible energy - POWER! Invisible, but very real. And very
powerful! There is constantly, in this world, the definite transference of spirit energy
from person to person, negative or positive. The rise and success of false religions,
ideologies like nazism and communism, rock music, immorality, etc., are the direct result
of negative spirit influence transmitted to the masses through faithful ministers of
unrighteousness who have become FILLED WITH THE UN-HOLY SPIRIT, and consequently
transmitters of the same.
Think not, dear friend, that
in order to minister the Holy Spirit you must speak idle words, put on a front, or exert
some self-effort to impress someone. We are not subscribing to Dale Carnegie's concepts of
HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE. Such methods are soulish pretense and carnal
hypocrisy. But you do have a right to know that since your spirit has been quickened by
HIS Spirit all the virtues and abilities of the Holy Spirit actually are inherent within
your nature. By recognizing the reservoir of life, ability, power and nature within (our
true identity) we are enabled at any and all times to appropriate it for ourselves and
minister its realities to all whom we contact. And this is P-O-W-E-R--the very POWER OF
THE SPIRIT OF GOD!
One thing must be very clear.
There are three dimensions of spirit energy which daily touch our lives: God, the satanic,
and the human. Every thought, word and action of mankind emanates from one of these three
invisible but powerful sources. As sons and daughters of the Most High we are called to
the high calling of being transmitters of the life-giving energy of God here upon this
earth! Yes, you can minister SPIRIT--HOLY SPIRIT! Hallelujah!
THE SERPENTS MEAT
The ancient Serpent, having
beguiled Eve, became the recipient of the first curse in history. Most students of the
Word know that man was cursed, the woman was cursed, the ground was cursed, the earth was
cursed, but few remember that before all this the Serpent was cursed. The curse is first
mentioned in Gen. 3:14. "And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast
done this, THOU ART CURSED above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy
belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life."
It will prove most
instructive to note God's order of speaking, and then the judgment, or sentence passed.
The Lord called unto the man, inquiring, "Where are thou?" And Adam answered
that they had hidden themselves, because of their shame as they realized they were naked.
Then God said to the woman, "What is this that thou hast done?" And Eve replied
that the serpent had beguiled her, and she did eat of the forbidden fruit. Then God spoke
to the serpent, and said at once, "Because thou hast done this, THOU ART CURSED. Most
of us have thought that he was cursed long before this! In the passing of the
judgment-sentence, God began with the serpent, then to the woman, and ended with the man,
reversing the order from when He first spoke to them. In the curse to the serpent, He
said, "Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days Of thy
life." The serpent, being called before the tribunal of the Almighty, received a
two-fold curse, recorded here in strong figures of speech which sternly emphasize the
power of the judgment: UPON YOUR BELLY SHALL YOU GO and DUST YOU SHALL EAT.
Science will tell you that
snakes which crawl upon the ground do not eat dust. They eat frogs, insects, rats, birds,
rabbits, fish and eggs. When God inspired Moses to write Genesis the latter certainly knew
that snakes do not eat dust These terms are symbolic and spiritual. This is not speaking
of a literal snake dangling from a tree limb in some ancient paradise. The serpent in Eden
had not only the faculty of speech, but reasoned upon matters relating to God and man; he
speaks of good and evil as though possessed of a thorough knowledge of the laws of the
Kingdom of God; he argues against the divine prohibition; steals upon the woman with the
most alluring subterfuge, and finally persuades her to disobey the commandment of the
Lord. No mere animal, it is evident, could be capable of what is here attributed to the
serpent! Furthermore, loss of speech was not part of the curse; if the serpent in
This is a symbol and the
Deceiver, Satan, that old Serpent, the Devil, has to eat dust! What is the dust? Not the
dirt of the ground. Not even the dust of the frogs, rabbits, field mice, etc. In the
passing of the judgment-sentence, God began with the Serpent and said, "DUST shalt
thou eat." Then to the man, God said, "In the sweat of thy face shall thou eat
bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for DUST THOU ART,
and UNTO DUST shalt thou return" (Gen. 3:19). So that first Adam, fleshly, sinning,
and cursed is declared by the counsel of the Lord God to BE DUST. Said the wise man,
"For He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust” (Ps. 103:14). That
we are DUST! Not very flattering, not very complimentary, is it? This great gob of mud
called man, strutting his superior know-it-all attitude even in the face of the Almighty!
Dust! Our FRAME! DUST! What for value is a frame of dust? HE remembers that we are dust
whether we do or not.
Words are helpless, hopeless,
and inadequate when necessity demands that we explain the things pertaining to the
spiritual realm. Only in spirit can we understand the incomprehensible. The spirit of
wisdom and revelation from God must enlighten the eyes of our understanding. Here we have
a word picture describing the relationship which exists between "that old Serpent the
Devil" and the realm of death. Just as "dust" speaks of a waterless soil,
so the realm of the Serpent is separated from the realm of the Holy Spirit. Adam was
formed of the dust of the ground, of the physical, carnal, earthly sense-realm, and as
such, became the rightful food for the Serpent. This means that the Serpent--the negative
spirit realm---now finds its base of operation and fulfillment of its nature, desires, and
purposes in and through mankind. By the very nature of things, when the Serpent eats, he
seeks to SATISFY HIS APPETITE and GRATIFY HIS DESIRES. Originally he found pleasure and
purpose in higher things and had access to higher realms (of spirit), but the curse of
"eating dust" limits the object of his devouring. Today, the sphere of Satan's
activity is earth, and the object of his devouring is the man of the earth. "Be
sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the Devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about
seeking whom he may devour" (I Pet. 5:8). As the creatures of the forest are
constantly alert lest some other animal of prey catch them unawares and devour them, so
are we admonished to be sober and vigilant--for as sure as the snake swallows the rabbit,
so certain is it that Satan seeks to DEVOUR YOU! Your dust, your earthiness, your flesh,
your carnal Adam-man-nature is the Serpent's meat! By feeding upon the dust-man who loves
earthly things, Satan devours him - makes him part of himself. It means your whole being
swallowed up into the negative spirit-realm, captive to and expressing the negative energy
of that realm. This gives fresh and clear meaning to the statement of the apostle,
“The whole world lieth in the Wicked One" (I Jn. 5:19). The whole world has been
consumed--is captive to and living out of the NEGATIVE REALM! Who can deny it?
The message is clear. Adam
and those belonging to him are of the earth, earthy. The Holy Spirit bears witness:
"And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was
made a quickening spirit The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord
from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that they are earthy: and as is the
heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the
earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly” (I Cor. 15:45-49). The
Amplified Bible reads, 'The first man was from out of the earth, made of dust
earth-minded; the second man is the Lord from out of heaven. Now those who are made of the
dust are like him who was first made of the dust---earth-minded; and as is the Man from
heaven, so also are those who are of heaven--heaven-minded. And just as we have borne the
image of the man of dust, so shall we and so let us bear also the image of the Man of
heaven.'
Ray Prinzing has aptly
written: "The curse was on the serpent, for deceiving, and the seed of the serpent
still carries that curse, and the nature of the deception that caused it. There are two
seeds which are spoken of, the woman's seed, and the serpent's seed. One bespeaks of the
positive realm, the other bespeaks of the negative. However, it is to be pointed out that
if the woman's seed has a literal fulfillment, personified in a man, and a people, so also
the serpent's seed has to be literally fulfilled in a man, and a people. A seed line that
is evidenced in those 'after his own kind.' That the serpents seed was also expressed
through people is evident when we read that Cain 'was of that wicked one' (I Jn. 3:12).
This is more explicit in the Greek text, where the word 'of ' is 'ek', literally OUT OF
the wicked one. Then Jesus spoke of some, saying, 'Ye are of your father the devil, and
the lusts of your father ye will do' (Jn. 8:44). If they are of the same spirit, then they
will do the lusts of that spirit realm. Obviously Cain, who was OUT OF the wicked one,
received the curse reaffirmed on him, for he slew the truth and propagated a false system.
Righteous Abel fell victim to the cursed one, for a time, but there is One, whose blood
now speaketh better things than the blood of Abel, and through Him victory comes.
"It is not the creature,
but the negative spirit force motivating the creature, against whom we take dominion. When
the 'spirit of the world' is now energizing to disobedience, there is an immediate
conflict between that spirit, and the Spirit of God dwelling within us. In some this is
but a small thing, and the 'contrary spirit' is held in control by their normal, congenial
disposition. But in others, this serpent spirit is so aggressive, that when you walk into
their presence, or they come into yours, there is an immediate clash without either one
saying a word. Our warfare is not with the various races on earth today, nor yet with men
of our own lineage, but we do contest the spirit of the deceiver that motivates them. It
is not the man or woman--but there are natures, spirits, curses that remain in the earth
today, that the CALLED - OUT-OF-THE-LORD are facing in this conflict of the ages. That is
why we need to be filled with the Spirit of God, lest we become carnal and start fighting
flesh on a carnal realm" - end quote.
Whenever we live in the
earthly life of Adam, we are earthly and also on earth and fall into the sphere of Satan's
activity, becoming the object of his devouring, drawn deeper and deeper into that negative
realm. Dear saints, you wonder why Satan tempts you, pressures you, torments you, and you
have constant battles with that realm? It is because you are still bearing at least a
portion of that image of the first Adam, the man of dust. And dust is the Serpent's meat.
He has the power to eat on you as long as you have that nature of Adam in you. On the
other hand, whenever we live in the heavenly life of Christ, the identity of the image of
God, we are heavenly and in heaven. Thus, we TRANSCEND SATAN'S SPHERE of activity and are
no longer subject to his devouring. This is the son realm where no dragon abides, for he
is cast out of this heaven where the manchild reigns! Would you, dear reader, like to
starve that old Serpent, the Devil? Then get rid of the dust! Stop bearing the image of
Adam, renounce that mistaken identity, and as Paul exhorts, "Let us bear the image of
the Man of heaven." When you have been completely transformed into the image of Jesus
Christ, then you will have nothing in you for Satan to feed upon, nothing to satisfy his
appetite or gratify his desires. And it is there that death will be conquered! As a
brother once wrote: “I can tell you, beloved, that already Satan is finding short
rations and skimpy meals in some of God's sons that are pressing on to the High Calling.
Victory after victory they are gaining, because they are crucifying that earthy nature.
They are letting the Christ come forth in His fullness in their lives, and beginning to
bear more and more of His blessed image. They have no fear of Satan or of his weapons.
They could walk through the midst of hell itself, and no devil could touch them. Thieves,
murderers, drunkards, gamblers, and harlot's cannot contaminate them. Filthy lucre cannot
tempt them, apostate religion cannot attract them, nor fleshly methods or soulish ministry
ensnare them. They are Overcomers, witnessing to the world of the image and power of the
Living Christ! This is the purpose of God for His sons! It is for you, beloved...believe,
and enter in!"--end quote.
Can we not see that the more
we live and walk in the Spirit, the less we are disturbed by the agitations of the soulish
realm, or the shenanigans of the flesh? Caught in the lowlands of the flesh, one is an
easy prey for the serpents and scorpions and creeping things which inhabit that low realm.
Rising up to walk in the Holy Spirit a new perspective is found, flesh is both seen and
recognized for what it is, and left behind, while the horizons of the Spirit beckon
onward, and upward, in the realm of the heavenly where no dragon dwells. So many of God's
precious people dwell in the dust realm, and, as someone has said, there is no need to
describe at length the "dust storms", we have all faced them far too often --
the jealousies, the envyings, the back-bitings, gossipings, anger, agitations, lusts,
fears, bitterness, strivings, and all the other expressions of the carnal nature, the
realm where the Serpent dwells and eats to the full!
UPON YOUR BELLY YOU SHALL GO...
It's not news to any of us
that we are in the midst of a war between two kingdoms: the Kingdom of God and the kingdom
of Satan. Neither is it news to us that WE are the battleground! More particularly, the
major focal point of the battle is our mind. There the battle rages at its greatest
intensity, because the war is a struggle for our hearts and loyalties--the very souls and
lives and beings of men. This fact is highly relevant to the subject I am dealing with in
this message--the Serpent that dwells within us. It is that force within us that opposes
the ways of God in our lives and tries to keep us from seeking those things which are
above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God.
This brings us back to the
curse laid upon the Serpent in the beginning: "Upon your belly shall you go."
This judgment speaks of infinitely more than a literal snake slithering along upon his
literal belly, just as the word "heel" speaks of infinitely more than a location
on the foot, and the word "head" speaks of something greater far than a mere
physical head in the words of the next verse: "And I will put enmity between thee and
the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; and it shall bruise thy HEAD, and thou shall
bruise His HEEL" (Gen. 3:15). So, “upon your belly you shall go," paints
for the eyes of our understanding the picture of the Serpent crawling in humiliation,
prostration, limitation, and subjection upon the ground. The Psalmist uses a similar
expression in Ps. 44:25, "For our soul is bowed down to the dust, our belly cleaveth
unto the earth." Such denotes a prolonged prostration and a depth of subjection as
could never be conveyed or expressed in normal terms.
The very fact that God states
that the Serpent was now to crawl upon his belly, which obviously he had not done before,
reveals that there was a descending from one realm to another, from a greater to a lesser,
from a higher to a lower. Moving on his belly limits the sphere of the Serpent's activity,
now he can only creep along the ground. Previously he had access to loftier realms, his
sphere of activity extended to higher domains--exalted realms of pure spirit
expression--but he is now lowered into the dust-realm, into the world of man, and confined
to the earthy, restricted to action upon and expression through THE MAN OF THE DUST How
truly this accounts for the words of the apostle in Eph. 2:2, "And you hath He
quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins: wherein in time past ye walked according
to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, THE
S-P-I-R-I-T THAT N-O-W WORKETH I-N THE CHILDREN OF DISOBEDIENCE."
Ah, yes, this evil spirit is
IN MAN! When the serpent was lowered into the dust realm, man became the base of operation
for his activity. I do not hesitate to declare to you, my beloved, that you will find
Satan operative in NO OTHER REALM in the whole universe! You do not meet the Devil in
rocks, trees, fish, mountains, rivers, clouds, birds, nor on far-away planets, in distant
galaxies, in flying saucers, nor in any other object or location outside of man. You don't
have to worry about the Devil stealing the keys to your car and driving off with it! But
you may have to worry about the devil in men doing so! You need not fear the Devil walking
into your living room with a shot gun and blowing your brains out, but the devil in men
has done so tens of thousands of times! The Devil as an invisible spirit, or a hideous
creature in a funny red suit will never try to seduce your wife, but the devil in some man
may surely attempt it. I must tell you frankly that have not had any problem with that
Devil out there someplace, but I have had a great deal of difficulty with that Devil whose
countenance I behold when I look in the mirror!
Can we not see that under the
curse God limited Satan to the dust of the earth, to the realm of the First Adam--the man
of dust? Many have seen the connection between Satan and the carnal mind and , not
understanding by revelation the origins of these things, have assumed that the carnal mind
is Satan. The truth, however, runs deeper than that--it goes to the spirit of the mind.
Through the curse Satan became one with man, the energy force of human nature, the spirit
of the carnal mind, slithering about in the lowest realms of man's earthiness, in the
crooked thoughts, selfish desires, distorted emotions, in the illusions and delusions of
the sense-realm of the world of appearances, and in all the corrupt motions of the flesh.
May God graciously give us enlightenment to see that included with Satan is the
The reason why so many fail
when it comes to the wiles of the Devil is that they don't really want to resist him. You
see, Satan never appears as a monster with horns and a forked tail, carrying a pitchfork.
HE COMES IN YOUR THOUGHTS! HE APPEARS IN YOUR DESIRES! HE COMES IN YOUR IMAGINATIONS AND
REASONINGS! Some people are always saying, “I hate the Devil.” Well, you may as
well say, "I hate myself." One day I asked God, “God, why don't you just
kill the Devil and let it be over with?" You will never guess the answer I received.
The Lord said, “If I kill the Devil, YOU WILL DIE!” And verily I say unto you,
Except a man hate his own life, and will count all things but loss, and reckon himself
indeed to be crucified with Christ, he will never know victory over the Wicked One.
You will find men and women
who claim to hate the Devil and all he stands for, but no man ever yet hated his own
flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it. In so doing he gives place to the Devil. It is the
flesh that lusts against the Spirit! The flesh unceasingly wars against the King and His
Kingdom that is within you. Just as the religious leaders of the Jews cried, “We will
not have this man to rule over us," so the flesh, your flesh, and my flesh,
desperately striving to perpetuate the corrupt nature of Adam within, would push Christ
from the throne of the heart and reign in his stead. The energy force and motivating power
of the flesh is the ancient Serpent of Eden. Multitudes do not understand this mystery,
and few will proclaim this truth. The sacred mysteries of God are revealed only by the
Holy Spirit of Truth. This is one of those mysteries which I unfold before you today. It
is never our striving against the evils of the world, the flesh and the Devil that gains
any victory at all; the almighty Christ within us would destroy them all in one smashing
defeat; but we have the wretched habit of refusing to yield our hearts to the King. Christ
alone can put the adversary under foot and forever bruise his head! Our responsibility is
to resist the Devil and YIELD OURSELVES UNTO GOD THAT HE MAY REIGN.
Praise God! The heavens
declare that God has a man--ORPHIUCHUS the serpent crusher- HERCULES the strong man, the
mighty man, the valiant champion who slays the three-headed monster and crushes the head
of the dragon. It is a glorious thing to see that in the unchanging stars of the heavens
and the shining Signs placed by God in the night sky, we have a gallery of divine truth, a
portrait of God's TRIUMPHANT CORPORATE MAN, THE CHRIST OF GOD. Ah, He's a wonder--this
CHRIST WITHIN! Just as surely as Satan is incarnated in mankind, so is the living Christ
of God enthroned within the saints! The greater, grander, transcendent truth is, beloved,
that THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS WITHIN YOU! The Christ that we preach is nigh at hand. “He
is not far from every one of us,” the apostle Paul says. “Say not in thine
heart, Who shall ascend into heaven (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) or, Who
shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead.) But what saith
it? The Word (Christ) is NIGH THEE, EVEN IN THY MOUTH, AND IN THY HEART” (Rom.
10:6-8). “Jesus Christ the same, yesterday, today, and for ever.” Unless we are
sure that He is unchanged and unchangeable, that He is right here WITHIN US in every rum
of life as really as He was in the body of Jesus of Nazareth, unless we live daily in the
power of this, our life will never be pure, we will never see His works, we will never
know His quickening, we will never conquer sin and death, and be brought to the Father.
Therefore, why strain your eyes to pierce the clouds? The cloud that hides Christ from us
is in ourselves, in our love of self, in our blind adherence to traditions, in our
devotion to the outer world of appearances. Let us ask God to send the living wind of His
Spirit from the innermost part of our being, that bloweth where it listeth, to sweep it
aside, and then we will see Christ as our life at every step of the journey. You can never
overcome your seducing enemy by your own wisdom or strength. Christ alone can put him
under foot and forever braise his head. AND CHRIST IS YOUR LIFE! Arise, 0 ye mighty ones,
and conquer--for the MIGHTY ONE I-S W-I-T-H-I-N Y-O-U!
Chapter
17
SCORPIO—THE
SCORPION
(continued)
We continue with our study of
the Sign of SCORPIO — THE SCORPION. This Sign of the heavens brings before us a
gigantic Scorpion, larger than a man, with its tail uplifted in anger, endeavoring to
sting in the heel a mighty man, but is crushed by the man, who has his foot placed right
on the Scorpion's heart. The minor constellations around Scorpio enhance this scene of
obvious conflict. The first is that of SERPENS — the struggling Serpent. The second
is the picture of a great and powerful man whose name is ORPHIUCHUS, meaning "the
serpent-holder." It portrays this mighty man struggling with a giant Serpent, trying
to keep him from accomplishing what he is attempting to do. The Serpent is putting forth a
mighty effort to reach up and grasp the CROWN which is situated immediately over the
Serpent's head. The strong man, Orphiuchus, is restraining the Serpent while crushing the
Scorpion!
The whole scene is one of
conflict — the conflict of a great and mighty man, a warrior, with the Serpent, the
Monster, and the Dragon. Oriental imagery is never more graphically displayed in all its
eloquence than in the use of the biblical terms SERPENT, SCORPION, and DRAGON as figures
of Satan, the Devil. The Devil is portrayed in the Word of God as the great antagonist of
God's people and of the
The book of Genesis is
probably the most important book ever written. The word "genesis" of course
means origin or beginning, and the book of Genesis gives the only true and reliable
account of the basic entities and conditions of the universe and of life. Genesis yields
vital information concerning the origin of ALL THINGS — and therefore the meaning of
ALL THINGS! Let every man know that in the whole of the universe there is no greater truth
than this one sublime truth that THE FUTURE IS BOUND UP IN THE PAST. A man's belief
concerning his origin will inevitably determine his belief about his purpose on earth and
his eternal destiny.
The first several chapters of
the book of Genesis lay a ground-plan for the entire revelation of God's purposes in
relation to man. As a piece of literature the story is sublime; magnificent in range, in
profundity of design, and the unparalleled heights of spiritual revelation it attains. I
can confidently say that every revelation of Himself and His purpose that God has ever
given from the foundation of the world can be found in these opening chapters of Genesis.
There is no revelation of scripture, spoken by holy prophet or apostle, or revealed to the
spirits of worshipping men who have come into holy contact with the presence and power of
God, that cannot be found in seed form as type, shadow, parable, or allegory in the book
of Genesis. The entire plan of the ages is there portrayed from its majestic beginning to
its triumphant conclusion. Each and every experience, situation, condition, capacity,
potential and destiny of mankind, with all the principles and processes by which God shall
bring man to perfection in the image of God is there set forth in awe-inspiring wonder.
And nowhere is this more obviously true than in the account of Adam and Eve in the Garden
of Eden.
The story of Adam and Eve in
the Garden of Eden is the greatest parable in the Bible. How shall we speak of God's great
and wonderful purpose in man except in the language of parables? God prepares an
exceedingly beautiful and fruitful garden for man, whom He has created with His own hands.
Precious stones, rare odors, refreshing streams, trees full of fruit and splendid colors
surround that first man. Who can speak of the marvelous realities there initiated except
in the language of pictures? Pictures are not lies: they denote things, realities; they
let the things that are meant shine through. When we come to the Garden of Eden it is
evident that this is more than merely a piece of real estate somewhere over in
Against the background of
this picture of the Garden of Eden it is related how man was put into this Garden in order
to live in it and how two trees stood in the middle of the Garden: one the tree of life,
the other the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And upon these two trees IN THE
MIDDLE OF THE GARDEN the destiny of man was to be decided. There were, indeed, three kinds
of trees in the Garden. There was the tree of life, the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil, and then all those other trees denoted as "all the trees of the garden."
Man began his sojourn upon earth living in the realm of "all the trees of the
garden." But man's future experience and destiny were to be decided by his
relationship to the two trees in the middle.
Two trees in the middle.
First of all there is the tree of life. It is clear from the context that man was not
forbidden to eat of it. It was there, revealed, offered, available: LIFE, abundant,
immortal, incorruptible, eternal! For this reason the tree of life is mentioned very
casually in Gen. 2: 8-9. It was IN THE MIDDLE — that is all that is said about it! It
was right there in man's consciousness, in man's nature. The life that comes forth from
God is in the middle. This means that God, the source of life, is in the middle. In the
middle of the world which is at Adam's disposal and over which he has been given dominion
is not Adam himself but the tree of God's eternal and incorruptible life. Adam's life was
to come from the middle which was not Adam in his self-consciousness, but in his
God-consciousness. This means that with God as his center man would have life. It means
that man was created and formed with the wonderful capacity to LIVE IN THE SPIRIT and WALK
AFTER THE SPIRIT. "For. . . to be SPIRITUALLY MINDED is life and peace" (Rom. 8:
6). One of man's inherent potentials was to know God within as the source and center of
his life.
But, like the tree of life,
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil also stands in the middle of the Garden! To
this tree is attached the command not to eat of it upon penalty of death. Death in the
middle. Within. In man's very nature. Thus is it declared with unquestionable certainty
that man was formed with the capacity to LIVE IN THE FLESH and WALK AFTER THE FLESH.
"For to be CARNALLY MINDED is death” (Rom. 8:6). One of man's inherent
potentials was to know Self as the source and center of his life. But alas! Self would not
bring life, it would mean death. Man could make the world of appearances, the physical
realm, mortal consciousness, the bodily senses and appetites his center but death would be
found to dwell in that center. Life and death were in the middle. Two trees, two realities
IN THE MIDST of the Garden of man's experience and being. Both realities are in the middle
— within man. One or the other is every man's center, the plane of his consciousness,
the sphere of his existence. But mark it well — both cannot be the center of any
man's life! He who eats of the tree of life will find that the death realm will come to
have no more dominion over him. And he who eats of the tree of death will discover that he
becomes alienated from the tree of life. Thus, both trees, both realities are in the
center of man's life but both cannot be the center of his life! "For if ye live after
the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye
shall live" (Rom. 8: 13). "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not
fulfill the lusts of the flesh" (Gal. 5: 16). How simple! God would at once be the
limit and the middle of our existence.
But how could Adam grasp
these mighty realities? How could Adam, living as he did in the "soul realm" of
"all the trees of the Garden" understand what divine life is when he had not yet
tasted of the tree of life? How could Adam comprehend what death is when he had never yet
experienced anything of its dread power? How could Adam even know what difference there is
between life, good, evil, sin, and death, living as he did in the unblemished innocence of
his child-like beginning? As well explain the mysteries of biology or astronomy to a
new-born infant! Could all of this really mean anything more to Adam than empty words? No,
Adam could not be expected to understand such awesome things, but under the gracious and
skillful hand of God he would be instructed and taught. To this end man was placed on
earth in a Garden with two trees in the middle — and with both God and a Serpent
walking and talking with him!
The drama of Adam and Eve in
the Garden is of supreme importance because it explains the real nature of our life here
on earth. It is the portrait of ourselves, our state of being, and how we fashion the
environment in which we live. It is the Creator's instruction manual on spiritual and
psychological anatomy. When you thoroughly understand the teaching of the Garden of Eden
you will understand the nature of God, the nature of man, and the nature of Satan. This
parable is placed at the outset of human history and in the opening scenes of God's divine
record because it is the foundation of all understanding, the blueprint of man's
experience on earth and his destiny in God. Adam and Eve in the Garden represent the whole
of humanity in the first Adam. They represent you and me and every man and woman who has
ever lived or shall live. What happened to him happens to us. What he was we are. His
experience is our experience. His destiny is our destiny. May the mighty spirit of wisdom
and revelation from God give enlightenment to the eyes of your understanding that you may
see and know of a truth that what was happening to Adam in the Garden speaks of spiritual
realities even in the beginning of history, before history, beyond history and yet in
history; it is we ourselves of whom the Garden speaks, it is we ourselves who are
confronted, intended, addressed, accused, expelled, instructed, and redeemed. GOD HIMSELF
is the One who blesses and curses. It is our pre-history, truly our own. It is the
beginning, innocence, guilt, redemption and perfection of every one of us. What happened
to Adam there is what is happening to us here! Adam and Eve stand for what man is, how man
is, why man is.
THE DEVIL IN MAN
Now it was in the midst of
the Garden that man first encountered the ancient Serpent. It is not news to any of us
that we are in the midst of a war between two kingdoms: the Kingdom of God and the kingdom
of Satan. Neither is it news to us that WE are the battle ground! More particularly, the
major focal point of the battle is our mind. There the battle rages at its greatest
intensity, because the war is a struggle for our hearts and loyalties — the very
souls and lives and beings of men. This fact is highly relevant to the subject I am
dealing with in this message — the Serpent that dwells within us. It is that force
within us that opposes the ways of God in our lives and tries to keep us from seeking
those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God.
This brings us back to the
curse laid upon the Serpent in the beginning; "Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust
shalt thou eat all the days of thy life" (Gen. 3: 14). These terms are symbolic and
spiritual. This is not speaking of a literal snake dangling from a tree limb in some
historic paradise. This is a symbol and the Deceiver, Satan, that ancient Serpent, the
Devil, has to eat dust! He was cursed to this low realm of eating dust because that is
exactly what he was doing when he tempted mother Eve. Adam was formed of the dust of the
ground and bore the image of the earthy — and as such became the rightful food for
the Serpent. The Serpent — the negative spirit realm — now finds its base of
operation and the fulfillment of its nature, desires, activities and purposes IN AND
THROUGH MANKIND. By the very nature of things, when the Serpent eats, he seeks to SATISFY
HIS APPETITE AND GRATIFY HIS DESIRES. Today, as in
The very fact that the
Serpent was now to crawl upon his belly reveals that there was a descending from one realm
to another, and man, with the Serpent in him, now grovels in the dust, trapped in the
humiliating quagmire of trouble, pain, sorrow, sin, sickness, limitation, fear and death.
Moving upon his belly limits the sphere of the Serpent's activity, now he can only creep
along the ground, lowered into the dust-realm, confined to the lowlands of the earthy and
material, restricted to expression through THE MAN OF DUST. Truly he is "the
S-P-I-R-I-T that now worketh in the children of disobedience" (Eph. 2: 2). Because of
this remarkable curse you will find Satan operative in NO OTHER REALM in God's vast
universe! Satan is one with man, the energy force of human nature, the spirit of the
carnal mind, slithering about in the lowest realms of man's earthiness, in the crooked
thoughts, perverted desires, depraved emotions, in the illusions and delusions of the
outer world of appearances, and in all the corrupt motions of the flesh.
I want to tell you where
everything is — everything is right there where you are — WITHIN YOU.
Everything. On the positive side — God is in you, Christ is in you your hope of
glory, the Word of Christ dwells in your heart by faith, your body is the temple of the
Holy Ghost which is in you, the glory of God has come upon you and is arising upon you
from within, the wonderful mind of Christ is in your mind and the Kingdom of God is within
you. On the negative side — the spirit of antichrist is in you, the man of sin sits
in the temple of God which is your body, the beast rages in the ravenous emotions of your
soul, the image of the beast is seen in you by your outer actions, the nature of the great
whore that sitteth upon many waters (peoples) is in you, and that ancient Serpent, the
Devil, and Satan is within you, the spirit that now worketh IN the sons of disobedience
(Eph. 2: 2).
Men dream of a Devil — a
hideous and obscene monster in human form; a short, skinny elf in a red body suit, with
impish face, horns, pointed ears, a spade beard, thin mustache, having a long forked tail
and a pitchfork in his hand. If you ask one thousand church-going professing Christians to
describe for you, the Devil, would not all of them describe him in the fashion portrayed
above? Or would they describe him to you as a snake? Millions of professing Christians
suppose they would recognize the Devil instantly. But would they, really? I do not
hesitate to tell you that the Devil of Christianity is a myth. The famous preacher,
Charles H. Spurgeon, was once correcting the sermons of a class of preacher boys. One
young man waxed eloquent on the subject: "Putting on the whole armor of God",
and dramatized each piece put on. Then when the armor was on, he cried out: "Now
where is the Devil!" Mr. Spurgeon cooped both hands around his mouth, and whispered:
"inside the armor." Let me illustrate. The following story has been chronicled
by another. The year was 1941.
But go with me now into that
long ago when Jesus walked the dusty trails with His disciples. He had asked the twelve
disciples who they thought He was. Peter promptly answered, "Thou art the Christ, the
Son of the living God!" Then Jesus said to him, "Peter, flesh and blood did not
reveal this unto you, but My Father which is in heaven." In other words, "This
understanding didn't come from your fleshly mind. You didn't think this up by yourself.
This is not the product of your own nature, or the result of your reasoning and logic;
this came to you from My Father." So remarkable was this revelation to Peter that the
Lord said to him, "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona!" So here we have an
instance of the Father working in Peter, imparting His thoughts and understanding to
Peter.
Only minutes later Jesus
began to introduce to His disciples the subject of His coming suffering and death on the
cross. The possibility of the death of their beloved Lord was a prospect so foreign to the
thinking of the disciples that they were hardly able to comprehend His presentation of
this unspeakable fate. Was He not the Messiah? Was He not the Son of God? Did He not come
to establish a great Kingdom? Were not they, the disciples, to reign with Him in that
Kingdom? With these questions in mind, they could hardly endure the dark foreboding which
grew in their minds as Christ talked about the future. Then Peter, who had just been
pronounced blessed, took Him, and began to rebuke Him, saying, "Be it far from Thee,
Lord: this shall not be unto Thee!" Ah, when Jesus mentioned the cross and dying,
Peter began to rebuke Him. Where did he find the senseless courage that would dare to
rebuke the Lord? The answer is disturbingly evident — far, far too clear to be a
comfort to any of us! The Lord Himself gives us the answer, for He turned and said unto
Peter, "Get thee behind Me, SATAN! thou art an offence unto Me; for thou savorest not
the things that be of God, but those that be of men." What a shocking way to talk to
the great apostle Peter, the one possessing the revelation of the Christ's identity, the
one called blessed, the one to whom the Lord had just given the keys to the Kingdom
Heaven! Attrocious to say to this man of deep revelation and keen perception, "Thou
savorest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men!" Indeed, "Get
thee behind Me, S-A-T-A-N!" How unthinkable!
Hearing Peter's entreaty to
the Lord, which of us would not have said that this was the language of genuine affection,
tender solicitude, and loving concern? No doubt we would have chimed in and said,
"How kind! How true! How good! Amen!" But Jesus replies, "Get thee behind
Me — SATAN!" And our Lord was not merely on a name-calling spree when He uttered
these words, either. He never uttered words in vain, without a definite meaning. Jesus did
not speak merely to Satan in Peter, neither did He say, "Peter." Furthermore, He
did not tell Peter that his words sounded like the words of Satan. He simply addressed
Peter AS SATAN. Peter as Satan — on what basis? That he was demented, insane? That he
was a medium, bringing spirits out of the supernatural sphere? No — merely that he
SPOKE AS A MAN!!! "Get thee behind Me, Satan, you who think and speak like a
man!" Is this not also what James was saying when he described the wisdom of man in
these words: "If ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie
not against the truth. THIS WISDOM descendeth not from above, but is EARTHLY, SENSUAL and
D-E-V-I-L-I-S-H!" (James 3:14-15). Here we see that that which is earthly and sensual
is that which is considered by the Spirit of God, DEVILISH!
On the surface there doesn't
seem to be anything wrong with what Peter said. It was a good thought, a kindly thought.
He didn't want to see His Lord and Master suffer and die, and he said so. What was wrong
with that? Wasn't that a good sentiment for him to have? What was wrong with it was that
it was the product of Self, it emanated from human sympathy and not from the heart of God.
Anything that proceeds from Self, by the very nature of things, is bound to be opposed to
the mind and will of God, for if His thoughts, and His ways, are as far from being like
ours as the heavens are above the earth, there can be no unity in them at all. Self and
Satan despise and hate the cross. They will scamper wildly in any direction to avoid it.
They will turn their backs upon it, dig under it, try to go around it or climb over it,
but they will never embrace it. The cross is the death knell of Self, and Self is the arch
enemy of the cross. The friendly sympathy of Self is the cunning mind of the Serpent.
Again in Jn. 6: 70 we read,
"Have I not chosen you twelve, and one of you I-S A D-E-V-I-L?" Here our Lord of
course referred to Judas. In the scriptures we have some very plain statements to the
effect that certain men WERE SATAN or DEVILS. Please, let us not forget that we are still
studying the fully inspired Word of God, and not some infamous fairy tale. The Devil,
about whom we are studying, hates above all else to have his real identity and location
made known. The only way he can carry on his business is to deceive men and women into
thinking he is what he is not. As long as we think he is some funny little man with horns
and a pitchfork we can never be deceived by him! I fearlessly declare, beloved that Satan
and the carnal mind are so ONE that you cannot have one without the other! Satan and Self
are so ONE that they are indivisible! Satan and human nature are so ONE that they cannot
be separated! Is it any wonder, then, that the friendly hand of Self, yea, the friendly
hand of Satan, was so quickly extended to prevent our Lord from going to the cross?
"This shall not be done unto Thee," exclaimed Peter. "You must not talk
that way, Lord. You are the Christ, you can never go to the cross! You must save yourself.
Don't go to
And now we uncover some other
startling facts. The Greek word DIABOLOS is the Greek word for "devil." In all
the Greek New Testament it is never used for anything or anyone else. But in three
appearances of the word in the New Testament, the men who were supposed to translate that
original, instead of translating it in harmony with every other use of the word rendered
it in such a way as to mystify and hide the truth. When translated in harmony with the
rest of the scriptures, here is what I Tim. 3: 11 actually says. It is talking about
deacons. And it says this, "Even so must their wives be grave, NOT DEVILS (diabolos),
sober, faithful in all things." Just imagine a deacon marrying a funny black thing
with horns, a pointed tail and cloven hoofs! In Titus 2: 1-3 Paul is giving some
instructions concerning the churches and the believers in those churches. And here is what
he writes to Titus: "The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh
holiness, NOT DEVILS (diabolos), not given to much wine, teachers of good things." In
Tim. 3: 1-5 we read this: "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall
come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers,
disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers,
DEVILS (diabolos), incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady,
high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but
denying the power thereof." What an indictment against human nature, and against
modern religion! "In the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be
...DEVILS...having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.”
Jesus, on many occasions,
drew this analogy of men as serpents — devils. In my mind when Jesus uttered the
following parabolic phrase, He was revealing one of the most important and foundational
truths of all times. "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Ye serpents,
ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?" (Mat. 23: 25,33).
John the Baptist used the same terminology. "But when he saw many of the Pharisees
and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, 0 generation of vipers, who hath
warned you to flee the wrath to come?" (Mat. 3: 7). Various translations render this
passage..."Ye generation of vipers," "Ye offspring of vipers,"
"Ye broods of snakes," "Ye serpent's brood," etc. You see, Christ and
John were well aware of who and what and where the Enemy was and ever shall be.
As in Christ's day, so today,
the churches are, indeed, full of devils. And they have no more desire to go to the cross
than Peter did. Well does this enemy of God, enthroned in the human heart, this adversary
of redemption and of all mankind, know that, in the blessed hour when the "I" is
crucified and brought to death, all his power and all his authority and sway in that life
is broken forever. His appetite is denied, his desires are rejected, his base of operation
is destroyed, and his work is abolished in every life that has become identified with
Christ in the cross. Once a man has embraced fully the cross of Christ and Self has become
forever dead with Him, then it is with him even as the firstborn Son in triumph declared:
"I will not talk with you much more, for the prince (evil genius, ruler) of the world
is coming. And he has no claim on Me, there is nothing in Me that belongs to him, he has
no power over Me" (Jn. 14: 30, Amplified). Satan has no power at all when SELF is
gone. Then he has no more power in your life or mine than he had in the life of our Lord
Jesus Christ. How unspeakably wonderful the hour for any man when Satan shall find nothing
in him upon which he can feed or lay hold, nothing upon which he can satisfy his evil
desires or his corrupt nature, nothing that responds or corresponds to him! When Self is
crucified with Christ the lust of the flesh is mortified, the lust of the eyes is dead,
and the pride of life is nailed to the cross. The man of dust exists no more and from then
on it is NOT I, BUT CHRIST!
OUT OF THE HEART
Do you believe, precious
friend of mine, that Satan can work in someone right there where you are, and in someone
in New York City, in someone in London, in someone in Moscow, in someone in Hong Kong and
in someone in Nairobi all at the same time? It is true — but how? Can he travel at
the speed of light and be in that many people around the world at the same instant? Is he
omnipresent? Absolutely not! He dwells IN MAN — he is right there in every man's mind
and heart and nature.
We see this principle
fulfilled in the story of Job. "Now there was a day when the sons of God came to
present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them" (Job 1: 6). May I
reverently add that every time the sons of God present themselves before the Lord —
Satan comes also among them! It bespeaks of a condition within these sons — our minds
vs. His mind, our will vs. His will, our ways vs. His ways. It is a heavenly place within
the sons of God wherein we must be tested to show whether we be sons indeed. This impudent
Devil of self-will is in every man, and even our Lord Himself surrendered His own will to
the Father's, saying, "Father, if Thou be willing remove this cup from Me:
nevertheless, not My will, but Thine, be done" (Lk. 22: 42). Until every son has been
completely perfected and thoroughly tested it is not possible for the sons of God to come
and present themselves before the Lord without Satan coming also among them. Does he not
walk in the natural mind of every man? It is written, "And the Lord said unto Satan,
Whence cometh thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the
earth, and from walking up and down in it” (Job 1: 7). Now the Lord's questions are
never for His own enlightenment. He knew well whence Satan came. Oh, yes, Satan had been
walking to and fro throughout the earth — God knew this — for he walks in our
earth, even that earth which we are, from the east to the west, from the north to the
south, from sea to sea and from pole to pole he walks in the earthly planes of our souls,
in the secret chambers of our minds, in the fleshly motions of our bodies; he travels up
and down in us from the heights of our heavens to the depths of our hells. There is not a
day that he leaves us! Dust is his habitation.
All the way to glorification
this inner antagonist is present. This is why every revival God has ever sent through the
ages ended in apostasy. Satan — not the Devil with horns and pitchfork — but
that inward Devil of fleshly wisdom, sense-knowledge and carnal zeal — has a subtle
way of identifying himself with every move of the Spirit of God, so as to corrupt it from
within. Many years ago F. J. Huegel wrote: "Students of the great Welsh Revival
(1900-1903) say that the wonderful stream of Divine Life little by little lost its saving
efficacy, as another stream from a very different source, naturally very filthy, began to
mingle with the River of Water of Life proceeding from the Throne and from the Lamb.
'Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord,
and Satan came also among them' (Job 2: 1). Beware of false fire. Beware of the
counterfeit glow. When the soulish takes the place of a pure working of the Holy Spirit,
you have a 'revival' whose fires, though they purport to be from Heaven are more likely to
be from Hell. There are any number of 'doors' through which Satan may enter to get control
of revival. An undue stressing of the emotional; excitement which grieves and suffocates
the Holy Spirit who works quietly; a glorying in the evangelist rather than in the Saviour
he preaches; clap-trap methods; self whatever the form in the ministry itself, obstructing
Christ, veiling His cross and His glory; these are some of Satan's keys" — end
quote.
The same sad story has been
chronicled for us in our generation by George Hawtin in his excellent booklet, MYSTERY
BABYLON. Speaking of the events that surrounded the great Latter Rain outpouring of the
Spirit in 1948, he says, "The spirit of
"Perhaps it was a
miracle. I do not think it was chance. I learned that men could be baptized with the Holy
Spirit. So I sought and found this blessed new experience in God, and joys flowed like a
river as the Comforter came in. But here again the arms of another daughter of
"God does not leave you
in a dry land for long if you are bound to be one with Him. Should my life be very long on
earth, I shall never be able to forget the glory, the awe, the reverence, the holiness,
and the power that came to our classroom as we waited on God that glorious 13th of
February, 1948, when God began to do a new thing that was destined for a time to shake the
church all over America. How we sang the songs of deliverance! How the praises of God
echoed down the corridors of the soul and re-echoed among the battlements of heaven! Music
of heavenly choirs on earth went sweeping up the sky steeps while angels stood at heaven's
gates and swept their harps of gold. Day after day, month after month the celestial wonder
continued. Heaven came down our souls to greet and glory crowned the mercy seat. People
came for thousands of miles to drink at the ever flowing fountain of life and it looked
for a time as though the walls of
"But the Babylonian
captivity was not over yet. As I look sadly in retrospect now, I can see with great
clearness that the great and blessed move of God was not two years old before the
sectarian spirit began to show its ugly head and men began to hide the Babylonish garment
in their tents together with the silver and the wedge of gold. The old Babylonish garment
was well hidden deep beneath the earth of the tent, but it was there nonetheless, and the
whole move was becoming more and more enfolded by another tentacle of the great octopus.
Stricter and more rigid became the teaching and the discipline. There was to be no
fellowship with anybody who was not within the confines of our ever narrowing circle. We
were the true church. We were the elect. We stood on the foundation and all other men
stood on sinking sand. No man must cast out a devil unless he followed us. No teaching was
worth the time it took to tell it unless it originated with us. We were the most spiritual
people in the world. We were going to reign in the kingdom and even now we were beginning
to reign. We had the gifts of the Spirit, and we were going to 'call the shots' in the
tribulation. The elders were no longer fathers, but men who were to carry out the will of
those who were lords over the heritage of God. Everything was cut and dried and firmly
enfolded in the arms of another of the harlot daughters of the Babylonian system. We
boasted of the gifts of the Spirit, but what had become of them? Where were the healings?
Where were the miracles? Where was the faith, the gift of languages, the word of wisdom,
the word of knowledge? The only thing that was left was prophecy and it became a weariness
to the flesh, flowing continually from the mind of man and scarcely ever having any
fulfillment. Prophecy that has no fulfillment comes from one of two sources: from the mind
of Satan or from the mind of man, but never from the mind of God. How often I have
listened to people fumble for words as they prophesied thus giving the lie to their words
having been inspired of God. How is the faithful city become a harlot!" — end
quote. To this faithful testimony I would add — again the sons of God came and
presented themselves before the Lord, and how clearer can it be that SATAN CAME ALSO AMONG
THEM!
The entire religious world is
today walking in fleshly wisdom which seems so logical to the carnal mind. Fleshly wisdom
always seems to "make more sense" than does the wisdom of God! Satan causes
carnal wisdom to prosper because it is denial of the life of the Spirit, so that many
times Christians and churches operate contrary to the Spirit with the argument, "It
works!" Their method of evangelism is contrary to the ways of the Spirit, but since
it works they continue in it. The "program" of the church is contrary to true
spirituality, and is built generally around flesh-appeal activities of ceremonies,
concerts, social activities, sports, Sunday School contests, puppet shows, movies, special
speakers, sensationalism and other carnal tactics and techniques, but the organizations
continue in it because "it works" and causes the "church" to prosper
in numbers and in finances, while their spirits remain dwarfed and hideously shriveled and
stunted, if indeed they have been quickened at all! It must be remembered that if anyone
or anything prospers on principles other than the life of the Son of God, that person or
thing is being prospered by the Devil and not by God!
Turn with me to two verses of
scripture in Gal. 3: 3 and Phil. 3: 3-4. "Are ye so foolish? Having begun in the
Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" "We are the circumcision, who
worship God in the Spirit… and have no confidence in the flesh.” The flesh is
the name by which the Word designates our fallen condition — Satan in man. Well did
William Law write these words of keen insight: In this antagonism of the flesh to the
Spirit the flesh has TWO DISTINCT STRATEGIES. On the one hand, the flesh lusts against the
Spirit in its committing sin and transgressing God's commands. This is the evil of the
flesh. On the other hand, its hostility to the Spirit is no less manifested in its seeking
to serve God and do His work! This is the good of the flesh. In yielding to the flesh, the
soul sought itself instead of the God into whom the Spirit could have raised it.
Self-effort and self-development prevailed over God's life. And now, so subtle and mighty
is this spirit of self, that the flesh, not only in sinning against God, but even when the
soul learns to serve God, still asserts its power, refuses to let the SPIRIT ALONE LEAD,
and in its effort to be religious, wants to serve God independent of the Spirit and is
still the great enemy that ever hinders and quenches the Spirit. It is because of this
cunning deceitfulness of the flesh that there often takes place what Paul speaks of to the
Galatians; "Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?"
Unless the soul is brought into absolute submission to the Spirit, the surrender to the
Spirit being very entire, and the holy waiting on Him be kept up in great dependence and
humility, what has begun in the Spirit, very early and very speedily passes over into
confidence in the flesh.
Just where the flesh seeks to
serve God, there it becomes the strength of sin. Do we not know how the Pharisees, with
their self-righteousness and carnal religion, fell into pride and selfishness, and became
the servants of sin and the children of the Devil? Satan has no more crafty device for
keeping men out of life than inciting them to a religion, even a serving of God, in the
flesh. He knows that the power of the flesh can never conquer sin nor please God, that in
the flesh and the serving of the flesh no one will ever become a son of God, for those who
become sons not only defeat the Devil in the wilderness of temptation, but also deny their
owns souls, wills, plans, abilities, desires, ambitions, hopes and dreams to declare:
"I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. And
He that sent me is with me; for I do always those things that please Him. The Son can do
nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things so ever He doeth,
these also doeth the Son. The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the
Father that dwelleth in me, He doeth the works" (Jn. 8: 28-29; 5: 19; 14: 10).
If there is one lesson a son
of God needs to learn it is this: If I am to deny self in my relationships with others, to
conquer selfishness, anger, and lack of love, I MUST FIRST LEARN TO DENY SELF IN MY
RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD! There the soul, the seat of Self, must learn to bow to the Spirit,
where God dwells. Listen, my brother, my sister, to the voice of the blessed Spirit of
God. It is confidence in the flesh that motivates men to busily and craftily work for God
rather than seeking the Lord until He works. It is Self doing what the Spirit alone can
do; it is the Soul taking the lead, in the hopes that the Spirit will second its efforts,
instead of trusting the Holy Spirit to lead and to do all, and then waiting on Him. Oh,
brethren! How we need to watch this! All that is not of life, of the Spirit, is merely the
good of man—soulish. How much of our religious exercises have been soulish! I can
tell you of a truth that most of the "power" in the modern "revival
meeting" is nothing at all but soul power. Have you not noticed yourself that in many
church services, revival meetings and crusades a kind of atmosphere is first created
psychologically to make the people feel warm and excited? A chorus is repeated again and
again to warm up the audience. The people are feverishly urged to "get into the
spirit" of the meeting. Some stirring stories are told. Special music is sung. The
people are instructed to stand up, sit down, say "Amen!" and "Praise the
Lord!" When the atmosphere is thoroughly heated up, the preacher will then stand up
and preach. If he does his job skillfully he can anticipate a large "altar
call." These are methods and tactics, but they are not the power of the Holy Spirit!
Many preachers today think they have power (even many so-called sons of God); but they are
merely employing psychological soul power to influence people and manipulate
congregations. Many have become self-made experts in manipulating people and crowds. The
Bible Schools of
There is no life in methods,
techniques, or formulas. How much better it would be if the Lord's servants would expend
their energies, like Mary of old, at His feet, learning to know Him and to know His ways.
How much better it would be were the time spent on our knees, low and humbled before God,
that He might place within a deep distrust of the flesh. How I pray that God would truly
reveal to all those apprehended to sonship that the one great hindrance to the life of
sonship is the power of the flesh and the efforts of the self-life. Open our eyes, we pray
Thee, to this snare of Satan. May we all see how secret and how subtle is the temptation
to have confidence in the flesh, how easily we are led to try and perfect in the flesh
what has been begun in the Spirit. May we learn to trust Thee to work in us by Thy Holy
Spirit, both to will and to do only those things which THOU ART DOING! Today, after
hearing the Father's call to sonship, after partaking of the deep and vital dealings of
the Spirit of God, I have had to totally repudiate all such soulish wisdom of the carnal
mind, all such fleshly tactics of Babylon's kingdom to bend low before the disciplines of
the Father of sons, to travail mightily that God would bend me, break me, bind my soul
power, bridle my Self, and block all that would proceed from my carnal mind. If I have
learned anything of the ways of the Father I have learned this one thing: He who would be
a son of God must be able to discern what is done from his soul power and what is done by
the Spirit of God; further, he must confess and utterly forsake all that pertains to his
own soul power, nailing it to the cross of Christ, that ultimately his own faith, as well
as that of his hearers, may be found to stand solely in the power of God and not in the
wisdom of the flesh. This is the only route, my dear brother and sister, into the glorious
reality of sonship to God. All the good works of the soulish realm can never, in a billion
years, deliver the creation from its bondage to the tyranny of corruption. Only the mighty
working of THE LIFE OF THE SON OF GOD can accomplish this. It is the Spirit that
QUICKENETH; the flesh PROFITETH NOTHING. Therefore—"Get thee behind me,
SATAN!"
Can you not see now how it
is, my beloved, that when the sons of God present themselves before the Lord, Satan comes
also among them? This very same experience happened to none other than our blessed Lord
Jesus—the Pattern Son. Did you notice how strangely Matthew and Mark speak of
Christ's temptation? "And immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness to be
tempted of the Devil" (Mk. 1: 12; Mat. 4: 1). What a strange statement! The Holy
Spirit of God drives the sinless Son of God into the wilderness to be tempted of Satan,
the arch enemy of all righteousness, a murderer from the beginning, and the father of
lies! Ah, but it was necessary for the Son to be PROVEN, to be made STRONG, to OVERCOME in
these realms before proceeding on into His glorious ministry and the agony and death of
the cross.
Do you suppose the Devil came
to Jesus there as a weird-looking figure, with little, evil-looking horns protruding from
his temples, and a pointed tail? How often with our childish and distorted understanding,
have we pictured Jesus confronted by that legendary figure in the red suit, with a
pitchfork in his hands! This is naught but foolishness, for Satan is spirit, and spirit is
INVISIBLE ENERGY! How many times have you been tempted by the Devil? Can you count the
times? How often has he spoken to you, enticing, suggesting, compelling? Have you ever
seen him? Have you ever heard his audible voice? Certainly not! And yet—you HAVE
sensed his presence, you HAVE heard his voice, you HAVE felt his power! It was all in your
MIND, in your EMOTIONS. And does not our Lord, the Spirit of Truth, speak to us in the
same way? That still small voice, the inner urging, the inward knowing, the spiritual
consciousness—all from a dimension beyond the natural senses. Because it is all in
our mind and heart does not mean that it is imagination or hallucination! In the depths of
my spirit I am absolutely certain that there was not some hideous spirit-being
materializing before the eyes of Jesus in that Judean wilderness. Remember—-Jesus was
not only the Son of God, He was the Son of man. And being both He was capable not only of
hearing from God, but hearing those things that be of man. So when we speak of that
ancient Serpent which is the Devil and Satan, we are not talking about some mighty fallen
angel, but that mind which savors the things of man—the carnal mind. The apostle
James put it this way: "But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own
lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it
is finished, bringeth forth death" (James 1: 14-15). The Moffat Translation reads,
“Everyone is tempted as he is beguiled and allured by his own desire, the Desire
conceives and breeds sin, while Sin matures and gives birth to death." Everyone has
desires of one kind or another, and that really can be quite natural. When we see the word
"lust", most Christians think it is used exclusively in a negative, sensual, or
sexual context. The word simply means desire, and a person's desires are not always evil.
The Greek word EPITHUMIA is translated primarily as "lust" in the King James
Bible, but the same word is also translated "desire" in Lk. 22: 15 where our
Lord Himself told His disciples how much He longed (desired, lusted) to eat the Passover
with them. A related Greek word, EPITHUMEO, is often translated as "desire" and
is used in several places in a positive context, as in desiring to know the things of God
(Mat 13: 17). Even in the things of the Spirit one must keenly discern between his own
desire and the desire of the Spirit.
The record states that after
fasting for forty days, Jesus hungered. When you're hungry, what kind of desire do you
have? You want to eat! In that crucial moment the Tempter came to Him. He began to feel
the physiological pangs of hunger, and then the thought occurred to Him. Jesus dropped
down from the high and holy thought of God, into the reasoning of the human mind. He
descended in consciousness from the Son of God to the Son of man. He said, "I know
who I am; I can turn these stones into bread." And in His natural mind the voice
cunningly suggested, "If you are the Son of God, go ahead and do it! Use your sonship
to fill your belly! Use it to satisfy your own needs and desires!" But Jesus quickly
discerned that wily Devil and knew how to nip that idea in the bud before it had time to
blossom. He got to it before it could conceive, before it could start making a baby of
sin. Jesus answered out of the depths of His spirit, "It is written—man shall
not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God"
(Mat. 4: 4). And that ended that temptation! The battle lay not with some mythical
personage outside of Himself. The conflict was within. The voice was an inner voice. The
suggestion was in His mind, its power in His emotions and will. God speaks to us in our
mind and spirit. Satan also speaks in our mind and heart. There is no monster without.
There are three things in this vast world, and only three— the lust of the flesh, the
lust of the eyes, and the pride of life; briefly, appetite, avarice, and ambition. I do
not think you will be able to avoid the conclusion that all the inventions, creations, and
contrivances of man are in existence to cater to these three things. It was with these
three things that Eve was tempted. She saw the tree was good for food (the lust of the
eyes), a tree to be desired (the lust of the flesh), a tree to make one wise (the pride of
life), and the temptation was not from without but from within. How remarkably the three
temptations of Jesus in the wilderness parallel these three! Every temptation of the Devil
comes to us through the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life.
There are no others. Not for Adam and Eve, not for Jesus, and not for us.
Humankind has an enemy—a
wily Nemesis, an adversary, described in God's Word as desperately wicked, deceitful above
all things. This enemy has adversely affected every generation of humankind from the
Garden of Eden to the present. Just who, or what, is this inimical deceiver? The prophet
Jeremiah unmasked this enemy in these words of inspiration, "The HEART is deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked," and he went on to ask the searching
question, "who can know it?" To the enlightened mind of this prophet, the depth
of iniquity of which the human heart is capable is so great that it is beyond the ability
of any man to comprehend. How many times have you heard it? Someone perpetrates an
unbelievably ghastly crime; like the axe murders of an entire family by a young lad barely
in his teens, or the brutal murder of a father and a mother by a teenager a few years ago,
who buried them in a shallow grave, and then repeatedly drove a tractor over the site, in
an attempt to cover the crime — and yet relatives, close friends and near neighbors
all said, in a state of bewilderment and shock, "But he was such a nice, quiet,
decent boy!"
A motion picture some years
ago portrayed the dual lives led by a judge, who had two families, some distance apart! He
had "married" two different women, was actually living with each for a certain
number of days each week; would then disappear, as if he had some important
responsibilities in a distant town, when in actuality he was going to spend the remainder
of that week with a second family. Obviously, each wife thought she knew this man,
thoroughly! After all, just how well do you know you own spouse? Interesting, isn't it? We
feel we truly know our husbands, wives, children; our closest and dearest friends. But
according to the word of God we don't even know ourselves. We, perhaps above all people,
are most often deceived by our own hearts! There is a deeper part to all of us—a part
that only God knows! As a friend has so aptly written: "We should not find this so
amazing a passage of scripture if it were not for one important thing. Jeremiah did not
list an exception, saying, The heart is deceitful above all things except the Devil. He
merely stated that the heart is deceitful above all things, PERIOD! Since Jeremiah spake
by the Spirit of God, this could not possibly have been a slip of the tongue or something
uttered before it was thought through. If the heart is deceitful above all things, it
naturally follows that there is nothing more deceitful. The heart of man, then, is the
MOST DECEITFUL THING IN THE WORLD!
"There is no doubt
whatever in my mind that Jesus had this very scripture in mind when He spoke the words
recorded in Mk. 7: 15-23. ‘There is nothing, ' He said, 'from without a man that
entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, these are they
that defile the man. ' Having said that, He uttered the statement that so often followed
His teachings when there was contained in them a mystery. ' IF any man has ears to hear,
let him hear. ' If we will be honest with ourselves, we will have to admit that we have
fostered and taught for generations a concept that directly contradicts the words of Jesus
Christ, for we have, indeed, declared that there IS something from without a man that can
enter into him and defile him. We have called him Satan (an adversary), and so he is! We
have called him a murderer and a liar, and so he is! We have had much truth about him
— but the one thing we have NOT known about him is his LOCATION! We have said that he
was without — Jesus said that he is within! If there is nothing from without a man
(and in the Greek that reads: not one thing) that entering into him can defile him, then
we must conclude the Satan's activity is not without, but within.
"As we continue to read
this passage, we hear Jesus say, 'For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil
thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit,
lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these things come from
within and defile the man. ' Every sin category imaginable is contained in this discourse.
Everything that a man could ever think or do that is evil is said by Jesus to come —
not from outside of man but from within! In our consideration of this passage, there is
one all-important phrase that we must be careful to note, for it is the key to the true
nature of Satan and the heart of man. Jesus said, 'For from within out of the heart of
men. . . ' It is imperative that we notice the grammatical number of the two words here.
The word 'heart' is singular being in the Greek in the genitive singular case. The word
'men' however is plural being in the genitive plural case. We have, then, ONE HEART but
many men!" —end quote. This heart is the heart of the Self, the inward nature of
man, one great nature shared by all the inhabitants of the world, the very heart of Adam
shared with his many-membered body!
The natural mind is the mind
channeling the condition of the human heart. It is not the same mind that understands how
to drive your car, or lusts after someone of the opposite sex, that also understands the
mysteries of the
There is still a fierce
battle raging between these two hearts, these two spirits, these two minds, these two
conditions, these two natures. This is the conflict so graphically portrayed by the Sign
of Scorpio in GOD'S BIBLE IN THE SKY! Praise God, the mighty man, God's Orphiuchus, God's
heavenly Hercules, that blessed company of the sons of God, is disabling the Serpent,
crushing the head of the Scorpion, and placing his foot determinedly upon the Dragon's
head. Today, although the Kingdom of God has not yet completely triumphed upon this earth
in all realms, although God has not yet gained a sphere wherein He can express the
authority of His life in a full way, and although His glory has not yet been fully
manifest, nevertheless there is a place, a small sphere, thank the Lord, where there
exists the condition of God's reign, which thereby manifests God's glory, wisdom and
power. This is the body of Christ! Today the Spirit-filled and Spirit-led members of
Christ's body are the expression of God's reigning here on earth. What God desires today
is to perfect and expand and intensify His reigning sphere within His people and through
His people. It is through the body of Christ, the sons of God, that God will bind Satan
and destroy his power of sin and death in all men. It is through the sons of God that
life, yea, incorruptible life, and blessing shall be ministered so that all the families
of the earth shall be blessed and made to live unto God. Thus His name will be honored in
the whole earth, His Kingdom come, and His glorious will done. This is the commission of
God's sons—God's MIGHTY MAN! This is the grand conclusion of the ages-long conflict
of Scorpio!
Chapter
18
SCORPIO
--THE SCORPION
(continued)
The Sign of Scorpio portrays
the conflict between the "Mighty Man" and the "Scorpion" and the
struggle between the great and powerful Orphiuchus (the serpent-holder) and the Serpent.
The scene is right out of the pages of the opening chapters of Genesis, and the closing
chapters of the book of Revelation. Its wonderful message, in fact, runs like a scarlet
cord through all the pages of the Word of God —for it is a picture from GOD'S BIBLE
IN THE SKY.
In Genesis 3:1 we read,
"Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had
made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of
the garden?" The word serpent in our language comes from the Latin "serpo"
meaning "to creep," but the Hebrew term has no relation to the form or motion of
any external attribute of a serpent. The word used here for serpent is the Hebrew word
NACHASH which is a primitive root meaning "to hiss or whisper." It, furthermore,
means "to search or scrutinize closely, to find out by experiment, to practice
divination, augury, incantation or enchantment." According to Webster incantation
means "the chanting of special words or a formula in magic spells or rites,"
Incantation may speak in addition of hypnotism. The Serpent, then, is a HISSER, a
WHISPERER, a DIVINER, an EXPERIMENTER, an ENCHANTER, a MAGICIAN, and a HYPNOTIST! And, I
might add, so is the carnal mind!
In Isaiah 8: 19 the Holy
Spirit has recorded for our learning a most significant exhortation. "And when they
shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep,
and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? For the living to the
dead?" The same inspired prophet penned a prophecy concerning Jerusalem under the
prophetic term "Ariel," saying, "Thou shalt be brought down, and shalt
speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall
be. . . out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust" (Isa. 29:
4). Here we read of spirits that "peep and mutter," which speak "out of the
ground" and "whisper out of the dust." Is this not reminiscent of the
Serpent in
Whisperings out of the dust
— there is something sinister in the thought, but beyond the evil that is suggested,
there is also the thought of subtle suggestion — a whispered temptation —
something so subtle one could wonder from whence it comes, a word so low and so whispered
as to be almost imperceptible —or is it a thought, a desire, a command from an inner
nature? These whisperings ARISE FROM THE DUST OF THE CARNAL MIND, OUT OF THE GROUND OF THE
ADAM NATURE where lies the Serpent! It is significant to note that "the serpent was
more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made" (Gen. 3: 1). The
contrast is drawn between the Garden and the field. Adam lived and walked in the Garden,
and his responsibility was to "dress and keep it." Garden is from the Hebrew
GAN, meaning a fenced or protected area. It was, furthermore, cultivated and tended. Field
is from the Hebrew SADEH, indicating that which is spread out; flat land; wild farm or
wilderness. The field where the Serpent dwelt was an unfenced and uncultivated area. This
field bespeaks of the mind of the flesh — the unbroken, unharnessed, unbridled,
untended, unplowed, unprocessed, undisciplined, unprotected sphere from whence the Serpent
"whispered out of the dust" — the subtle voice whispering enticingly from
the unexplored wild lands of the FLESH! This whisper, this tantalizing hiss is
communicated through the thoughts, reasoning, desires, passions, plans, hopes, fantasies
and cravings of the CARNAL MIND! In the first age of Adam's creation, God used the Serpent
to reveal what lay dormant, undiscovered and uncultivated within man's innermost being
— a CUNNING NATURE — EGO — SELFHOOD independent of God. If by the grace of
God you can see the truth of this, you will then plainly discern in all the propensities
of the carnal mind the CREEPING, SLITHERING, WHISPERING, DIVINING, ENCHANTING, HYPNOTIZING
SERPENT OF EDEN!
Before pursuing this thought,
we do well to consider also the word translated "subtle" in this passage.
"Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field." The Hebrew word
for "naked" in Gen. 2: 25 is AROM. The English word that describes the Serpent's
nature in Gen. 3:1 is "subtle," and the Hebrew word here is ARUM. Both AROM and
ARUM are derived from
In this connection a friend
has written, "There was a tree set in the midst of the garden called the Tree of
Life. God had given man the right to eat of that tree and in eating of it, man would enter
into eternal life. The tragedy that we have seen is, however, that man did indeed eat of
that tree — for if one will read carefully he will find that the Tree of Knowledge of
which man ate was also in the midst of the garden, which can only mean that the Tree of
Life and the Tree of Knowledge are ONE AND THE SELFSAME TREE. The Tree of Life, however,
is the essence of the truth and the Tree of Knowledge is the form of truth!" Here is
the key —form vs. essence. It is just the difference between the letter of the Word
and the spirit of the Word; between law and grace, between ritual and reality, between
doctrine and life, between shadow and substance, between facts and truth. And vast
multitudes of Adam's descendants today have not learned the difference between these two
trees, or between the voice of the Lord God in the Garden and the hissing of the Serpent
from the field. So many of the Lord's people have not to this day discerned between flesh
and spirit, between the letter that killeth and the spirit that giveth life, between the
external ritual and the internal reality, between the outward shadow and the inward
substance, between facts and truth, or between form and essence. Jesus never said,
"Ye shall know the facts and the facts shall make you free." He stated, rather,
"Ye shall know the TRUTH!" And what a difference there is! Facts are merely the
FORM OF TRUTH, the husk of the kernel, truth held by the carnal mind in the intellect as
dead-letter doctrines, laws, creeds, forms, rituals, ceremonies, ordinances, works,
activities, etc. — all figures representing or standing for truth and reality, but
within themselves containing NO LIFE. "The letter killeth, " the apostle assures
us. "The spirit giveth life." "The words that I speak unto you, they are
spirit and they are life," saith the Lord. Jesus proclaimed, "I am the truth, I
am the life" The Serpent said, "God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof,
your eyes shall be opened!" That was a fact — and "ye shall be as GODS,
knowing good and evil" was also a fact, for after Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of
the tree, the Lord God Himself verified the Serpent's statement as being a fact.
"Behold, the man is become AS ONE OF US to know good and evil," God said (Gen.
3: 22).
Again a friend has aptly
written, "In form, then, the serpent had the truth. He had, in fact, drawn on the
very Word of God itself to tempt Eve, for the Lord had said, I will create man in My own
image. ' What the serpent failed to reveal, however, was the essence of the form which is
that INDEPENDENTLY OF GOD man can never be a partaker of the divine nature! This should
have been a self-evident truth, but man failed to see it. He was deceived by the very form
of truth — taking the Word of God which had promised to make him in the image of God,
receiving it as a doctrine rather than a revelation, as form rather than life, and was
thereby brought to ruin, cheated out of the very thing he sought. Man became a god,
alright, in the eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil — but he became
a god in the wrong realm, for at the same time that God acknowledged man's 'deity' He also
CAST HIM FORM THE GARDEN — cast him from the heavenly realm — and set him in the
earth 'to till the ground from which he was taken. ' Musing upon this incident years
later, the prophet David wrote, 'What is man that Thou art mindful of him. . . for Thou
madest him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands. . . ' It was as a god that man
had dominion, but a further reading of this passage reveals that the works of the hands of
God over which man was given dominion under the first covenant was limited to the earth
realm. Thus, we find that Adam truly became a 'god' — as the serpent promised and the
Lord confirmed — but he was not an heavenly god. He became, rather, the 'god of this
world' (1 Cor. 4: 4)" — end quote.
The Serpent did not preach
truth, he preached facts. Form apart from essence. Dead doctrine about God instead of
participation through union with God. Man came into knowledge, but he lost his life. In
fact, man became a partaker of that wisdom possessed by the Serpent, the wisdom of this
world. It is significant to find that in the contrast of the wisdom of the world, as over
against the wisdom of God, James says, "This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is
earthly, sensual, devilish" (James 3: 15). This is always the Serpent's approach to
us. EARTHY — that which appeals to the flesh, the natural senses. SENSUAL —
literally, soulish, that which appeals to the ego and the mind. DEVILISH — that which
touches the human spirit realm to defile with the negative spirit of the world. But, thank
God! there is also "the wisdom that is from above" which is "first pure,
then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without
partiality, and without hypocrisy" (James 3: 17).
THE GOD OF THIS WORLD
In his first epistle, the
apostle John informs us that "the whole world lieth in wickedness" (1Jn. 5: 19).
"This present evil world (Gal. 1: 4)" is now governed by those who obey the
carnal nature, the Serpent within them. Satan, "the god of this world," rules
through carnal individuals (old Adam), thus filling this world with the wickedness and
corruption so evident everywhere. The result of the Serpent's work, through the carnal
nature in mankind, is the conglomerate world system — economic, political and
religious — prophetically called
To properly understand the
"wisdom of this world" which is "foolishness with God" we must first
understand what is meant by the "world." The Greek word for world is COSMOS,
which means system, arrangement, or organization. There are two things which have captured
our attention, having been quickened for our consideration by the Spirit of God. These two
are sin and the world. Because both are contrary to the Spirit of God, they must be dealt
with and purged from all who would walk in sonship to God. However, the defilement of
these two aspects differs. The contamination of sin is savage, hurtful and ugly, while the
contamination of the world is cultured and refined, appealing to the intellect and the
artistic in man. The contamination of sin is like dirty motor oil poured on a beautiful
white wedding gown. But the contamination of the world is like a colorful pattern printed
on white doth. From the human standpoint, a wedding gown with dirty motor oil splashed on
it is considered filthy and undesirable, whereas a cloth with a colorful design is not
dirty, but rather desirable. However, in the sight of God, BOTH ARE UNDESIRABLE! God's
standard has always been neither a stained garment nor a colorful piece of cloth, but a
pure white garment. "And to her was granted that she would be arrayed in fine linen,
clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints" (Rev. 19: 8).
"He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment' (Rev. 3: 5). Just as
a dirty spot is not pure white, even so a colorful design detracts from the pure
whiteness. Likewise, the world appears better than sin, but when related to the divine
nature, both are contaminating and require purging.
Furthermore, the effect of
sin and the world upon man differ greatly: sin defiles and degrades man, whereas the world
possesses man. It is just as serious for man's life to be controlled and dominated by the
world as to be defiled by sin. If Satan only uses sin to contaminate man, he only causes
man to be perverted and shamed, but if he uses the world to possess man, then man is
alienated from God into a realm of ego-centric self-sufficiency and self-deception. Sin
may be defined as an act of disobedience to God, while the world may be defined as man's
organized system or kingdom by which he lives in independence from God.
A study of Genesis makes the
difference apparent. Although Adam was corrupted by sin, he was still living in the
presence of God. It is not until Genesis 4 that we read of Cain: "And Cain went out
from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the
Sin began with Adam in the
Garden, for Adam sinned and was corrupted by sin and overcome by death, but he did not
fall into the world at that point, neither was he possessed by the world then. The word
"world," as we have pointed out, translates the Greek word COSMOS meaning order,
arrangement, system of things. The world is a negative thing in relation to God. James
declares, ". . .the friendship of the world is enmity with God, whosoever therefore
will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God" (James 4: 4). The apostle John
adds his testimony, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If
any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the
world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the
Father, but is of the world" (1 Din. 2: 15-16). Many Christians have the mistaken
notion that the world is the movie theater, the dance hall, stylish clothing, and such
like. Others confuse the world with the earth. But the world is the present system of
things upon this earth conceived by the carnal mind and generated by the natural man. The
world consists of all that man has instituted that replaces God in his life. The present
political, economic, educational and religious systems are not of God, but of the world.
When people, activities, or things — whether good or bad, beautiful or ugly —
enslave man and usurp God, they comprise the world. Anything that causes man to disregard
the Spirit, be removed from the anointing, or be independent of God is the world. All that
does not come from the Father, all that originates outside of the consciousness of God,
all that man institutes by his own carnal wisdom and fleshly activity is of the world, and
is contrary to the life, nature and ways of God. There is an interesting statement in Eph.
1: 4. "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." The word
"foundation" translates the Greek word KATABOLE which is a compound word made up
of BALLO meaning "to cast, to throw" and KATA meaning "down." When man
fell from his high and holy relationship with God and was cast down into the carnal realm
of existence, the "foundation" of the world was laid in his heart and actions.
But — blessed be God! The apostle Paul informs us that God the Father elected some
sons in Christ "before the foundation of the world"! The word "before"
translates the Greek word PRO meaning "to go before, to precede." Hence, the
Father's act of choosing us in the Christ preceded the fall of man and the establishment
of the world system. We are not told how many days, years or eons this choosing preceded
the world, but methinks it was away back there when the morning stars sang together and
all the sons of God shouted for joy!
Since the world is in such
opposition to God we must consider its origin and process of development. The world began
with Cain. Cain built the first city — organized society, civilization — which
typifies the worldly system of independence from the SPIRIT. The world did not exist when
man was created (except in abstraction), but developed gradually after the fall, as man
removed himself from the anointing and walked in his own carnal way. When man was brought
forth from the formative hand of God there was already the universe, the heavens and the
earth, and all created things; but the world did not exist. Following the fall, when
unregenerated man began to multiply upon the earth the Serpent in man gave direction and
character to the "New World Order" of man, thus the scripture speaks of the
natural man as walking "according to the course of this world, according to the
prince of the power of the air, the SPIRIT that now worketh IN the sons of
disobedience" (Eph. 2: 2).
There are three primary
requirements for man's existence and well-being on earth: provision, protection, and
pleasure. For man to live an abundant and fulfilled life in the earth realm he needs the
provision of food, clothing, shelter, etc., a means of defense to protect himself from
adversaries, and a form of recreation and amusement for his happiness. Prior to the fall
GOD WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR PROVIDING THESE THREE NEEDS OF MAN, and they were supplied
abundantly in the Garden of Eden experience. After Cain's departure from the anointing,
the scripture describes him as "of that Wicked One" (I Jn. 3: 12). The
preposition "of" is in the Greek EK — "out of" — "Cain
was OUT OF that Wicked One" — the seed of the Serpent! Out of the descendants of
Cain were produced the founders of man's own system of supply for these three great needs
of life. These were the three sons of Lamech. Jabal was the father of tent dwellers and
cattlemen (Gen. 4: 20). Tents and cattle are for the supply of man's living and therefore
belong to the category of provision. In the beginning God intended that HE should be our
provision and so made Himself available to man in the Tree of Life, that in union with Him
we should have all things, even the supply of God Himself. Jabal represents man's own
efforts, apart from the anointing, to make provision for himself. Spiritually, this
symbolizes the carnal religious systems with their rituals, ceremonies, and ordinances
designed to "feed" God into man. All religion is the invention of man in his
effort to meet man's spiritual need — apart from the anointing! Alas! they understand
not that the reality of God's life is not contained in, nor ministered through, doctrines,
programs, rituals, ceremonies or ordinances. Those who live in that realm know nothing of
the mighty power of the indwelling Christ of God. Man's religion is of the world, for it
is outside of God, being not of the Spirit, nor by the anointing.
Another of Cain's sons,
Jubal, was the father of all that handle the harp and organ. Playing harp and organ is for
pleasure and inspiration and thus pertains to the category of pleasure. This worldly
aspect is fulfilled, spiritually, in the maze of social activity in religion, as well as
in much of the music, programs, and sermonizing, all of which is designed to be pleasant,
acceptable and entertaining to the people. I personally have little use for most of the
concerts, programs, and pulpit showmanship which constitutes much of the so-called
"ministry" among God's people today, for it is, without doubt, very appealing to
the carnal mind which is ever wont to feed upon soulish entertainment rather than with
reverential awe and holy brokenness to drink at the fountains of living water from the
throne of God. I am convinced that our faithful heavenly Father has given the ministry of
the blessed spirit of Truth for the perfecting of the saints, whereas the worldly church
system has given us a veritable smorgasbord of religious shows for the entertaining of the
saints. Most solemnly do I declare unto you that all such ARE OF THE WORLD, and not of the
Father, for their methods and means lie outside of the anointing of the Spirit and can
never lead God's people beyond the husks of man's own vanity. Thank God! a people is
arising who are finding their way out of Cain's pleasure land of entertainment and
sentimentality, back to the Paradise of God, back to the Tree of Life, where they partake
deeply of this sublime truth: ". . . in Thy presence is fullness of Joy, at Thy right
hand there are pleasures forevermore!" (Ps. 16: 11).
The third son, Tubal-Cain,
was the instructor of every artificer in brass and iron instruments. These instruments
were formed for the purpose of defense, thus referring to the category of protection.
Ignorant of the power and sufficiency of the indwelling Spirit, with what pompousness do
the religious systems construct about them their walls and implements of defense! Church
history is replete with examples of revival after revival in which men were sovereignly
caught up into heavenly places of glory and power, only to have man put his hand of flesh
upon the workings of God, to control, protect and preserve it, as though the omnipotent
Spirit needed man's useless wisdom and regulations to preserve His mighty work! Out there
in Cain's world you must have the earthly brass and iron implements of Tubal-Cain —
the implements of organization, denomination, creed, coverings, fellowships, rules,
regulations, boards, etc., to defend and preserve the work; but, blessed be God! as one
moves westward into the anointing of God's presence and life the omnipotence of the
indwelling Spirit Himself becomes our fortress and exceeding strong tower! With what deep
comprehension of the ways of the Lord did the Psalmist pen the words of faith in the power
of God alone when he wrote, "Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they
shall walk, 0 Lord, in the light of Thy countenance. For THOU art the glory of their
strength: and in Thy favor shall our horn be exalted. For THE LORD IS OUR DEFENSE; and the
Holy One of
In these three important
inventions of the sons of Cain man found within himself the answer to his need of supply,
defense and amusement. Man found no need of God, of the anointing, for he set about to
establish his own world, independent of God. This was the civilization produced after
mankind departed from the presence of God — a godless life created by men. This
present world system of things is patterned after the order of Cain. It is all outside of
God. That does not mean that it is all evil. It simply is not of the Spirit! How clear
that in this earth the politics, economics, education and religion is outside of God! When
we have learned how the world was formed, it is easy to define the world. Originally, man
was in the family of God, lived by God, relied entirely upon Him, and had at his disposal
ALL THE FULLNESS OF GOD. Now the Serpent, through subtlety, sophistry, the carnal mind,
the wisdom of this world, has systematized the world to replace God in being all to man.
Man, having forsaken his inheritance, having departed from the presence, and having lost
the anointing relied upon the world and was overcome by the world. Therefore, the world
consists of everything that replaces God and possesses man.
Cain built a city — as
did Nimrod after him. "And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and
he builded a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch"
(Gen. 4: 17). There was no city in
He who makes God's house of
living stones depend on mere outward forms; he who confounds Truth with the shibboleths of
sects and denominations, or the usurpation of preachers, builds upon the baseless and
shifting sands. The true and eternal church depends solely on the presence of Christ.
Sweep away from your spiritual walk as much as you will the infinite cobwebs which the
ambition and the ignorance of men have spun for centuries over the surface of the faith.
Fling to the four winds the voluntary humility and all the vain deceits, traditions, and
ordinances, which, like those of the Pharisees, are but "weak and beggarly
elements." It is not the form but the essence which constitutes true religion. Christ
knew nothing of external paraphernalia, and those who follow the Lamb know nothing of it
either. Distinguish between the flickering shadows of outward symbols and the verities of
eternal life. Distinguish between the valueless injunctions of touch not, taste not,
handle not, and the divine nature which produces love, joy, peace, righteousness of heart,
and all the fruit of the Spirit. The Kingdom of God standeth not on food and drink, but in
righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. You will not find Christ by following the
sects and self-promoting ministries who shout with anathemas, “Lo, He is here!”
or “Lo, He is there!” but if you faithfully walk with the Christ you will
discover that He is within you. Seek truth and you will find it, because God is the God of
truth. If you desire heaven you must win it; for heaven is the realm of the Spirit and a
state of being, not a place. No preacher can give it you; no ritual can give it you; no
creed or message can give it you; no mere ordinances of men can open its doors for you so
much as a single inch. You must find it by forsaking the world and self, and all the
carnal religious exercises of the world, to hear the quickening voice of the Spirit, to
walk after the Spirit, to live in the Spirit. The home and heaven of God is within you,
precious friend of mine, for you are the temple of the living God, as God hath said. Apart
from this all else is but fringes and phylacteries. If, by the aid of God’s Holy
Spirit, you have discovered the King and the Kingdom which is within you, though all
parties excommunicate you, and all priests and preachers anathematize you, nothing can
harm you; and when you pass from the babble of the world’s malediction, and the
falsehoods of erring religion, and have passed through the portals of Eden, and scaled the
heights of Mount Zion, clear and high for you shall peal the eternal verdict, “This
is My beloved son, in whom I am well pleased!”
The world today has its own
religious dictionary of definitions of “God” and “Spirit” and
“Church” and they think and speak in the framework of those definitions. But GOD
SPEAKS A DIFFERENT LANGUAGE and has a different dictionary of definitions by which He
speaks to His people and according to which He works. If all the multiplied practices and
methods employed by the churches today were suddenly swept away, it would in all
probability cease to function If the churches had to drop all their rituals, forms,
programs and ceremonies; all their confirmations, baptisms, and communion services; all
their special singing, organ music, and altar calls, they would feel as though they had
been stripped naked and could not serve God in any way. All this simply demonstrates the
terrible fact that the faith and dependence of the churches is not in God, but is in the
trappings they have accumulated to themselves throughout the centuries. The thought that
God is perfectly able and fully willing to run His church without the aid of anything in
the way of fleshly contributions, is found to be abhorrent to the average church member.
God's true church, in
contrast to the false religious system of
The truth that is set like a
diamond in the pages of God's Word is the absolute and total sufficiency of the Christ
within. To say that the Christ Himself is not sufficient for our whole life as sons of the
Most High, that the indwelling spirit of life is not enough, that there is something the
outer man must do to add to, supplement, or improve on what He is within us is an insult
to God and a blasphemy against our Lord Jesus Christ. Yet we see men doing this on every
hand. The carnal mind is never able to take God at His word! It continually seeks to
initiate some additional actions or services on the natural plane to take the place of
pure spiritual reality.
When Jesus came in the flesh,
He came into a world steeped in religion. He came into a condition brought about by
centuries of teaching the law and the rites and sacrifices of the temple worship. Into
this had been woven the traditions of the elders, an accumulation of those same centuries.
It had come to include also even the washing of pots and cups, together with ceremonies of
washing of hands before eating and a multitude of other practices imposed upon the people
by their leaders. The temple in the city of
The people were constantly
taught and instructed that they must observe all the things the priests and Pharisees told
them, or they would perish. Jesus came into their midst and said that all those things
would do them absolutely no good whatever, but if they wanted life they should come unto
Him and drink — merely by believing into Him! He was placing the Christ and faith in
the Christ against all the accumulated tradition of the nation. He was assuring them that
they would NOT LOSE A SINGLE THING by coming unto Him, and casting all else away from
them. And they would gain life. But who could hear such a thing in the day of Christ. In
fact Jesus Himself said that no man could come unto Him, except the Father who had sent
Him, would draw that man. It is just as true today! Ah, beloved, if you were to go into
any church on any Sunday and say to the people, "If you will cast aside all your
form, all of your traditions, all of your rituals, all of your ordinances, all of your
cherished and time-honored creeds, all of your solemn assemblies, all of your myriad
activities, all of your committees, and SIMPLY COME UNTO THE CHRIST AND BELIEVE INTO HIM
AND DRINK OF H-I-M, YOU WILL LOSE NOTHING, but you will gain the glorious and eternal
reality of God forevermore," what kind of reception would you receive? You would
actually be asking the people to give up everything they are doing and all the things they
have been given by their ministers and church orders with which to serve and worship God
— exchanging it all for GOD ALONE. What an unbearable burden it would be for the
people to be REDUCED TO GOD, to possess nothing but GOD HIMSELF! You would find this an
almost impossible thing to accomplish. Truly Christ has been usurped by the world!
THE TRADUCER
As we have pointed out, the
most outstanding characteristic of the Serpent is his ability to deceive. From the very
dawn of human history, as recorded in the Bible, he is depicted as a liar and deceiver.
"The Serpent beguiled me and I did eat," was Eve's plaintive cry, and in the
closing book of the Bible, the fact of his deceiving nature is further emphasized in the
words of the Revelator who described him as "that old Serpent called the devil and
Satan, which deceiveth the whole world" (Rev. 12: 9). The apostle is referring back
to that significant statement in Gen. 3: 1 wherein we read, "Now the serpent was more
subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made."
The Bible was not written in
English, but Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic. It is to the ancient Hebrew words we will refer,
to glean the truth from this passage. From a casual view of these words comes the ancient
myth of a snake wound around a tree in the Garden of Eden. However, the Hebrew word
translated "serpent" is NACHASH. This word NACHASH means "to hiss, mutter,
whisper; as do enchanters." Secondary meanings are "to divine,"
"enchant." It is because of these expressions that the noun "serpent"
appears. An allied Chaldean word means brass, actually polished brass, from a root word
meaning to be bright. Dr. Bullinger, in the Companion Bible, says, "the Hebrew term
probably includes the sense of fascinate, enchant" This element of fascination
connects with the later use of Nachash as "serpent." Satan, then, is a
WHISPERER, an ENCHANTER, a FASCINATOR, and a SHINING ONE! He is a speaker, a teacher, a
diviner, a creator of illusions and appearances — a deceiver!
And just how does Satan
deceive? A key is found in the Greek New Testament name for Satan — the devil The
Greek word is DIABOLLOS. DIABOLLOS is a compound of two words — DIA and BOLLO. DIA
means "a channel of an act" and BOLLO means "to throw — either with
force, or without force, yet with a purpose, or even carelessly." Hence, the Devil is
A CHANNEL SOMETHING PASSES THROUGH. The pipe through which water enters your home is a
channel — a means of passage. The frequency bands assigned to a single transmitting
station for either radio or television is called a channel — the frequency or means
of passage of communication from the station to your receiver. Any channel is the vehicle
through which a thing passes from one location or state to another. And, may I add, the
Devil is the channel (DIA) through which a carnal thought, idea, concept, desire, passion,
etc. passes before it reaches your CONSCIOUS MIND. This explains very well why Strong's
Analytical Concordance has rendered the compound word DIABOLLOS as "a traducer."
The English word "traduce" means "TO TRANSFER FROM ONE ORDER OF REASONING
TO ANOTHER ORDER OF REASONING, as to translate from one language to another
language." Hence, the Traducer, the Devil, the Translator, the Interpreter sits
enthroned in the mind of man and his primary job is to transfer or translate KNOWLEDGE!
I have a photo of an ancient
Phoenician coin, which was minted long ago in the bustling commercial city of Tyre, which
bears a curious image. The coin shows a serpent entwined around a tree stump. To the left
of the stump stands an empty cornucopia. To the right, a flourishing palm tree. Curious,
yes. But is it significant? Amazingly, the story these symbols tell is of great relevance
to our spiritual understanding!
To classical scholars, the
symbols on the coin are familiar ones. They are found in the art and mythology of many
civilizations through the millennia. What do they all mean? First, consider the snake. The
snake on the Phoenician coin is the symbol of a powerful god whom the Romans called
Aesculapius, the Greeks Asklepios. Who was this personage? Aesculapius was an ancient
pagan god of healing. To his temples sick people came from all over the world. His symbol
was the serpent! This symbol has come down to us today in the two snakes which intertwine
the staff on the shields of the medical profession. Persons wishing healing from this god
were instructed to lie down in his temple so that the tame snakes of the priests could
slither over them. The sufferer who was "fortunate" enough to have this dubious
honor take place was said to have been touched by the hand of the god of healing! His
healing powers are reflected in the meaning of his name, Aesculapius. It means, literally,
"THE MAN-INSTRUCTING SERPENT." Now we see a significant connection! The Serpent
who sought to teach mankind is mentioned, of course, in the third chapter of Genesis,
where he seduced our first parents, Adam and Eve. It is none other than man's adversary,
"that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world"
(Rev. 12: 9). In mythology, Aesculapius was believed to be the child of the Sun, and thus
the "enlightener" of mankind. He was often represented in art by a serpent or as
an old man holding a staff around which a snake is entwined.
This "Traducer," or
"Translator," or "Enlightener," is nothing more nor less than the
spirit of your mind! Those elect saints who read these lines know that the metaphysical
and occult "channelers" have no light of truth or Holy Ghost power to set men
free or transform into the image of God, but how often we fail to realize that there is a
MASTER CHANNELER sitting as a god right within our own minds, and how often we yield our
lives into his hands of illogical reasoning — deception and delusion. The words
coming from this Translator may be enticing and exciting — but only to the natural
man; and, my beloved, they minister death! Hence the need to heed the apostle's inspired
admonition, "Put off the old man. ..and be renewed in the spirit of your mind"
(Eph. 4: 22-23). The simple truth is: YOU CAN'T TRUST YOUR INTERPRETER! Of him our Lord
stated plainly, "There is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his
own: for he is a liar, and the father of it" (Jn. 8: 44). And he is "that
crooked serpent" (Isa. 27: 1).
The magicians of
Again I would quote the
timely words of a friend who has shared with us her keen insight into the mysteries of
God. "Paul in II Cor. 11: 3 warns the church at
"We find, then, that in
cheating Eve out of her inheritance, in causing her to fall from the Glory, the serpent
employed the use — NOT OF AN OUTRIGHT LIE—but of a TRUTH! He used an argument
that is correct in form, but because it was only form and had lost the essence, Eve was
deceived by it. What was the argument, that he used that was 'correct in form but was
actually invalid'? Hear it! 'God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes
shall be opened.' That was a truth — and 'ye shall be as gods' was also a truth, for
after the man and the woman had eaten, the Lord God Himself verified the serpent's
statement as being absolute truth. 'Behold, the man is become as one of us to know good
and evil, ' God said. In form, then, the serpent had a truth. What the serpent failed to
reveal, however, was the essence of the form which is that INDEPENDENTLY OF GOD man can
NEVER be a partaker of the divine nature! This should have been a self-evident truth, but
man failed to see it. He was deceived by the very form of truth and was thereby brought to
ruin, cheated out of the very thing that he sought. Man became a god, alright, in the
eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil — but he became a god in the
wrong realm, for at the same time that God acknowledged man's 'deity' He also CAST HIM
FROM THE GARDEN — cast him from the heavenly realm — and set him in the earth
'to till the ground from which he was taken. ' It is one thing to be 'a partaker of the
divine nature' and it is quite another thing to be the 'god of this world!’ In the
former, there is contained the thought of TOTAL DEPENDENCE — in the latter, the
principle of INDEPENDENCE. Though the terminology is the same — that is, 'ye are
gods' — the essence is not. 'The man has become as one of us' but he did not become,
in his rebellion, an actual partaker of divinity. The serpent, then, through reasoning
that is superficially plausible but is actually fallacious, beguiled Eve. It was through a
mere intellectual grasp of the word of God that Eve was 'cheated out' of her inheritance
in the Living One and fell into the realm of death. We must not, as we consider these
things, lose sight of the fact that the apostle Paul had a fear for the church that BY THE
VERY SAME DECEPTION, our minds should also be corrupted!’ I fear,' said he,
‘lest... as the serpent beguiled Eve through SOPHISTRY (the form of truth without the
essence), so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.' May we
have ears to hear!" — end quote,
The apostle Paul, in speaking
of Christ as One in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, hastily adds:
"And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words." The word
"beguile" here is in the Greek PARALOGIZOMAI meaning "to mis-reckon, to
wrongly reason." It is a compound word consisting of PARA meaning "along side
of” from which we get our English terms paralegal and paramedic. In medicine the word
PARA is used to denote something disordered or abnormal. The second half of the word is
the Greek LOGOS which is translated to mean the WORD OF GOD, as in Jn. 1: 1. Ah—the
great Traducer, the Translator, the Interpreter, the Beguiler is he who causes us to NOT
REASON GOD'S WORD CORRECTLY. The deceiver adds an idea along side of God's Word — the
form added to the essence, the letter added to the spirit, the shadow promoted instead of
the substance, and the results are very DISORDERED AND ABNORMAL! Eve did not correctly
reason the things the Traducer communicated to her conscious mind and this whole world of
illusion, deception, sin, pain, limitation, sorrow and death is the tragic result!
Earlier I pointed out that
the second half of the Greek word DIABOLLOS (Devil) means "to throw or to cast, or to
cast right through." Another word that has been quickened in my spirit is
"input". We get "input" from the negative realm of spirit — the
spirit of our carnal mind. This dart throwing of the adversary refers to thoughts,
beliefs, concepts, ideas, feelings, moods, desires, etc. injected into your conscious mind
out of the invisible realm. Though we may be alert for danger from without, the greatest
danger always lies within ourselves. Both our ability and our wisdom are but foolishness
in the sight of God, and should we consciously or unconsciously set our hearts upon them,
we find ourselves leaning upon our own meager resource, devoid of the Spirit of God, and
abandoned to our own devices. With what holy unction does the apostle Paul exhort the
saints, "Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to
withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand, ..above all, taking the shield
of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked"
(Eph. 6: 13,16).
You want to watch that crafty
Translator within! In the temptation of Jesus we discover this wily adversary-coming upon
the Master with Bible in hand, so to speak. "It is written!" — this was the
glittering weapon, the fiery dart, the master-stroke of the Traducer. "If Thou be the
Son of God, command these stones to be made bread." "It is written!" he
thundered as he offered the kingdoms of earth to Jesus if He would bow to the shrewd
worldly wisdom the Traducer outlined in His mind by which He could have conquered even the
might of the Roman empire. An easy way to popularity was pointed out — it was
suggested that He cast Himself from the pinnacle of the temple. No harm would come to Him
for God had promised to send His angles to care for Him. And the multitude, amazed, would
follow Him. What gave immeasurable force to the Traducer's suggestions was his appeal to
the awful authority of God's Word. He cast about the things he offered the glow of Divine
approval. He enforced his ideas with the sacred sanction of the scriptures. It was with
the Bible in hand that he approached the Son of man. "It is written!" If the
Word of God supports it, if the Bible sanctions it, why it must be good. How the Traducer
loves to come to us with the Bible in his hand! It casts about him such a holy air. But
here is where we discover the awful depths of the Traducer's duplicity. He is no stranger
to the scriptures, and he will quote the Word when such a procedure will serve his
purpose. When he deals with a chosen one of God, obviously, he must meet such a one upon
the high plane on which he lives. He could get nowhere by suggesting the gross sins of the
flesh to one separated unto God. It must be through the Word. It must be through a carnal,
twisted, literalistic and erroneous understanding of that Word — the letter that
killeth. The letter killeth, and Satan has the power of death! The tree of life and the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil are the same tree in the midst — the tree of
knowledge is the outer form of truth, whereas the tree of life is the spirit of truth. To
be carnally minded is death, says the apostle. How much plainer can it be that the
crowning work of the Traducer is to put a natural, carnal, reasoned, intellectual
interpretation to the Word which is spirit and life. He takes the language of SPIRIT and
translates it into the perverted, garbled dialect of fleshly wisdom and carnal
understanding. People sometimes accuse me of spiritualizing away the Word of God. How, I
ask, can you spiritualize something that already I-S SPIRIT AND LIFE? The danger lies not,
precious friend of mine, in spiritualizing away the Word — it is, rather, in
canalizing away that which is SPIRITUAL! To bring the spiritual thrust and essence of the
Word down to the low lands of carnal forms of religion is the subtlety of the Serpent. Ah,
what a Translator he is! What a liar and deceiver! And all the time he is quoting the Word
of God and rejoicing in what a really sound "fundamentalist" he is.
There isn't a vice you cannot
justify, there isn't a doctrine, however contrary to the heart of God, you cannot prove,
there isn't a religious methodology you cannot deify, there isn't a Babylonian garment you
cannot glorify, by appealing to the scriptures. All have an, "it is written" to
fall back on. The damnedest lie can be made to appear true. All the Traducer needs to do
is to quote scripture. Every dirty heresy abroad, every false cult, all find in God's Word
their foundation. "They that are unstable and (spiritually) unlearned wrest the
scriptures unto their own destruction" (II Pet. 3: 16). I have learned that one can
prove or disprove anything with scripture. Brethren sometimes write to me trying to engage
me in lengthy debate over some point of doctrine—the letter that killeth. The hour is
too late, the time too short, the purposes of God too urgent, my friend, to give myself
and the precious time and energy Father has placed in my care to such foolish wranglings
and carnal disputations. This is not a moment to jot every doctrinal "i" and
cross every creedal "t". There is a truth that runs like a golden thread
throughout all the pages of Holy Writ, teaching us that the elect whom God has chosen must
become aware of the abiding presence and indwelling life of the Spirit. Students of
theology, poor souls, pour over their musty volumes, they learn all the arguments and
proofs of the doctrines about God, but the almighty God Himself they do not know. They
become ineffective and spiritually impotent because they have separated Truth from the
Person, knowing the form, standing on the letter, reciting the doctrine, articulating the
facts, but having no vital, living relationship with Him who alone IS THE TRUTH. A
lifetime of walking with God has taught me that it is possible for one to know all the
arguments and appear to have all the answers, but still be a stranger to the heart of God.
I testify to every man who reads these words, however, that the moment any man begins to
know Him wonderful changes take place in his understanding, for to know Him is to be like
Him. "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are
changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord"
(II Cor. 3: 18). His Word is SPIRIT, His Spirit is LIFE, and His Life is POWER to
transform, to awaken our consciousness to the abiding reality of Himself, to raise our
being up into that heavenly, eternal sphere where I AM THAT I AM.
My good friend Elwin Roach,
in his PATHFINDER PUBLICATIONS, some time ago wrote a series of timely articles on this
subject of The Traducer. In closing I would share a portion of the wisdom that flowed from
his anointed pen.
"When we hear religious
teaching and acquire knowledge, if the thoughts are not coming from the Spirit of Christ
(the anointing), they are passing through this soothsayer (traducer) before reaching our
minds. This is the sayer who is soothing, he is lying, and is calculating. He is the
translator for the humanistic, Adamic mind. The Traducer is very accomplished at what he
does. Therefore, we should become more cautious WHAT we are hearing and HOW we are
hearing, as Jesus warned in Mk. 2: 24 and Lk. 8: 18. Men and women alike have the tendency
to try and grasp any and all things with their own minds that has been so logically put
together by this brilliant Traducer, but let us be reminded of this: The carnal mind
cannot receive the things of God, for they are spiritually discerned, and there is nothing
about it which desires the things of God, for that mind is enmity against God (I Cor. 2:
14; Rom. 8: 7). However, as we have already mentioned, the Traducer does make the word of
God pleasing and understandable to this dusty mind. Very often, when we read the Bible,
the words coming off its pages go through the channel, through the dia, that thing in the
mind called the traducer, the translator. This is what has produced so many fictions,
frictions and factions in the church. The Traducer has helped to form many thoughts,
ideas, reasonings, imaginations, images and idols — in other words, A LOT OF WIND, A
LOT OF WINDY DOCTRINES! This translator is very consistent, for he can only translate one
way. He always conveys dusty thoughts and carnal revelations, because this is all that the
mind of man can receive. All scriptural truth (the reality of God) comes from above, even
from Jesus who is the truth, the Lord from heaven. In other words: THE TRADUCER VEILS THE
TRUTH, while JESUS IS TRUTH REVEALED!"
Chapter
19
SCORPIO—THE
SCORPION
(continued)
In this message we continue
our meditations upon the great drama portrayed by the Sign of Scorpio, the conflict
between the "Mighty Man" and the "Scorpion" and the struggle between
the great and powerful Orphiuchus (the serpent-holder) and the Serpent. It shows this
mighty man struggling with a giant Serpent, trying to keep him from accomplishing what he
is attempting to do. The Serpent is putting forth a mighty effort to reach up and grasp
the CROWN which is situated immediately over the Serpent's head. The strong man,
Orphiuchus, is restraining the Serpent while crushing the Scorpion! It is interesting to
stand in the still darkness of the early morning and watch the breaking of the dawn: first
the gray streaks in the East, and then the brighter light, until the full-orbed sun
ascends above the horizon. There is a sunrise with its dawn like that in the Bible. The
fore gleam begins with the promise in the curse upon the Serpent, that the seed of the
woman should bruise the Serpent's head. It grows brighter as God calls Abraham and
covenants to make of him a great and holy nation, who should bless all the nations of
earth. We see it in the miracles and authority exhibited by Moses as he challenges the
tyranny of Pharaoh and by a mighty hand leads the children of
The disciples were greatly
perplexed when Jesus died. But then He arose the conquering Christ! The fact of the
Christ's resurrection is historic. The man who disputes it disputes the best established
fact in history. He was seen by those who had despaired of His existence. He ate with
them. He drank with them. He walked with them in a bloodless body. He talked to the
despondent and broken-hearted apostles, the eleven, for nearly forty days. It was
impossible to be deceived. He spoke, and was seen and heard on one occasion by five
hundred, the most of whom were living at the time that Paul made the declaration that they
knew Christ and had seen Him after His resurrection. He proved His resurrection by telling
them that if they would go to
The day had dawned, the
shadows were fleeing away, darkness dispelled. We would but deceive ourselves were we to
conclude that the conflict of the ages between Orphiuchus and the Serpent, between Christ
and Satan, between truth and error, between light and darkness, between righteousness and
unrighteousness, between life and death has ended. The second thousand years is drawing to
a close since Jesus came, died, conquered death, and poured out His life-giving Spirit
and, blessed be His name! He pursues His mission still and reigns in majesty over His
Kingdom by entering into these temples of clay, and filling our spirits and souls and
bodies with His own eternal presence and power, making us one with Him, members of His
very own body, of His flesh, of His bone, and of His blood. He is redeeming a vast company
of sons into whom He is putting His mighty Spirit, inworking His glorious mind and nature,
inscribing upon the heart His Law of Life. And the hour is wonderfully nigh at hand when
there shall be a further transformation, the bodies of His elect sons shall be changed in
likeness unto His body of glory as this mortal puts on immortality and this corruptible
puts on incorruption, so that we, who were destined from the beginning to be the
revelation of HIMSELF to creation may complete His mighty work for the redemption of
humanity.
A new day has dawned! Thank
God, a few of His chosen ones have arisen to behold the dawn and to drink in the
intoxicating freshness of the morn. A new age has arrived. "And God shall wipe away
all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying,
neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And He that
sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He said unto me, Write: for
these words are true and faithful. And He said unto me. It is done" (Rev. 21: 4-6).
Blessed promises of a mighty deliverance, which we even now begin to see fulfilled. The
time has come for the nations to hear the voice of the Son of God and live. There shall be
a glorious victory as the head of that ancient Serpent is crushed and he goes not out any
more to deceive the nations. The un-deceiving of the nations means a new mentality, new
understanding, new thought processes, the unveiling of the truth about all things in the
minds of the vast multitudes of earth. What anticipation this evokes in our hearts!
"And it shall come to pass, that...all the nations...shall even go up from year to
year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles"
(Zech. 14: 16). "And the nations.. .shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of
the earth do bring their glory and honour into it... and there shall be no more
curse." (Rev. 21:24; 22:3).
HIS MAJESTY THE DEVIL
Down through the centuries
many books have been written, many songs have been sung, many sermons have been preached,
and many things have been said about the Devil. Satan
has been blamed for everything from ingrown toenails to the disappearances in the Bermuda
Triangle. It pains me to say it, but to most
Christians Satan is their GOD ALMIGHTY, for they fear him more than they do the Lord of
glory. I do not believe, as the above title
suggests, that Satan is worthy of one iota of respect or honor, but none can deny that the
vast majority of Christians certainly do, by word and action, ascribe to him the attribute
of omnipotence. Most professed Christians do
not believe in ONE GOD -- they honor at least two, one good God and one evil God. And to hear them articulating their esteem of these
Gods you would be led to believe that the Devil is certainly the more accomplished and the
most powerful of the two, for they talk far more about the Devil, and spend more time
lauding his praises, ascribing to his negative realm dread of mammoth proportions. Some continually worry that he is lurking around
every corner, and when they least expect it he is going to hit them from behind with
everything he has. The average testimony
meeting is full of praises for the Devil. If a
score were kept, the Devil would come out the winner by about two to one over the Christ,
relative to what has been done. I heard the
story once of this certain minister who dreamed one night that on his way down the road he
met the Devil. "Alright, you old
Devil," he shouted, "I am going to kill you and put and end to you for all those
nasty things you've been doing. I am going to let you have it, you old Devil!" As he
drew near to the Devil with fists clenched, ready to smash the Devil's face, the Devil
said, "Hold it! Don't do that! Remember — if you kill me, you will have nothing
to preach about." What a word!
The good God, according to
the common testimony of church goers, is ever trying to do this and that, while the Devil
is continually interfering with His plans, frustrating His purposes, usurping His
instruments and defeating the issue. On some good days the good God wins, on some bad days
He loses. They go about continually talking to the Devil, praying to the Devil (though
they call it commanding and rebuking), and give place to him over and over again. They
"bind" him in this meeting or in that situation, but, like Samson breaking the
cords of Delilah, he bounces right back in full regalia at the next meeting or occasion.
These "devil-worshippers" ever beat the air against him and do occasionally,
they claim, win a battle against him, but the war rages on. If they do not get an
immediate answer to their prayer, they are sure the Devil is hindering. If everything does
not go according to plan, the Devil is interfering. If obstacles appear along the way, the
Devil is fighting them. The outcome of this battle exceeds the ludicrous —it is a
terrible blasphemy. Not only are most Christians constantly defeated in their spiritual
life, but they actually consign to the Devil the final victory in God's creation. The
majority is thoroughly convinced that in the end the Devil wins at least 90% of humanity
and carries them down with him into everlasting damnation and hell-fire. The picture drawn
is of a frustrated God who so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son to be its
Saviour, but alas! only a handful of the teeming billions of earth can be persuaded to
take advantage of His gracious provision, the rest led captive by the ruthless and
unrelenting grasp of the Devil. The bad God is thus far more effective in his designs for
mankind than the good God. I long with intense longing that the Lord's precious people
will repent of ever having believed the insipid and useless traditions that make the
almighty God seem to be a victim of the will of His own creation. It is my opinion that
most of the theology of the Christian world is stupid prattle that seeks to render the
almighty God impotent by robbing Him of His omnipotence. It teaches that God gave His Son
that all the world through Him might be saved and then renders His sacrifice hopeless by
leaving ninety-nine percent of all His creatures in the hands of the Devil for all
eternity. In this view God finally gives up, throws up His hands in defeat, and says,
"I've had enough!" He then turns the billions of souls over to the Devil,
consigning them all to banishment from His presence into the unending torments of fiery
damnation. The fact is, precious friend of mine, a scene such as this would be comparable
to the President of a country handing the masses of his nation over to the enemy as
punishment because his General lost the war— while he (God), his General (Jesus) and
the army (the saints) are rewarded with peace, wealth and pleasure forevermore. Everyone
becomes a prisoner, burning forever in torment, EXCEPT THE ONES WHO HAD THE RESPONSIBILITY
OF WINNING THE WAR! I tell you solemnly and reverently that the God I serve is not the
author of this kind of nonsense. Such a doctrine as that belittles the power and wisdom of
God and does despite to the spirit of grace, the atoning work of Christ, and the precious
blood that He shed so that the world through Him might be saved. Such a doctrine as that
is, undoubtedly, one of the "doctrines of devils" of which Paul warned. I say
that because I cannot think of anyone outside of the Devil himself who would be happy with
the prospect that
I say to all who read these
lines that OUR GOD IS SOVEREIGN AND OMNIPOTENT. If ever there will come victory over the
negative realm, the adversary, it will be when we come to KNOW THAT GOD IS GOD, AND THERE
I-S N-0 0-T-H-E-R GOD. He is sovereignly in control of all that touches our life, and of
the march of history and the final outcome for all creation. The nations know not this
God, nor do the professing Christians in the church systems know Him. So the Lord almighty
within must bring forth those who can be His witnesses — people who have come to
experientially KNOW THAT HE, and HE ALONE I-S GOD. Those whose very lives convey the
message and bear the evidence that there is but ONE GOD. We have had enough of the world's
stupid witness, those who believe in a God for good, and another God for evil, and oft
times it is not clear which "GOD" they are declaring, especially when they spend
more time exalting the prowess of the Devil than they do proclaiming the praises of their
Creator and Redeemer. Let all men know — God is even now producing His witnesses WHO
KNOW that HE alone is God, that HE controls the interplay between good and evil, that all
is by HIS design and at HIS word, and the evidence of this reality is demonstrated by
their lives. Once Christ truly and experientially becomes LORD OF ALL IN YOU, then He will
have abolished for you all Devil-consciousness and HE will be both the Center and the
Circumference of your reality. In that day, my beloved, for you, THERE IS NO DEVIL
ANYMORE!
I do not wonder sometimes
that those who only read my writing think that I am a hard and vindictive man, especially
as I warn men of the error and abominable apostasy of the nominal church systems. But if
you only knew, I am one of the most peaceable and gentle men in the world. I am a very
quiet man (except in the pulpit!), and believe that I am merciful and compassionate toward
every sinner, I have only been a fighter because I had to fight. Was Jesus Christ not a
great fighter? Is He not a great fighter still? And is He not the Prince of Peace? Is He
not God's Lion, the Lion of the tribe of
Oh, that is such a sublime
verse where Jesus said, "ALL AUTHORITY is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye
therefore and teach all nations..." (Mat. 28: 18-19). Do you see that? There is a
tremendous power in that "Therefore," I am with you. I will back you. Every
angel in heaven if needful will come forth and surround you. Fight! What does it matter,
the puny governments and armies and courts of THIS WORLD? All authority is given to the
Christ of God, and we are the members of God's Christ! The hosts of God will troop over
all the skies, ten thousand times ten thousand millions, if need be. Embrace TRUTH! Speak
TRUTH! Live TRUTH! "I COMMAND...Go ye therefore, you poor fishermen, and
tax-gatherers and discredited rabbis, go, I am with you." If only we realized what
power there is behind us!
God is raising up a SONSHIP
COMPANY that will go for the Devil's fortresses, to batter him, shatter him and break up
his kingdom. God is even now preparing an army of OVERCOMING ONES, transformed in the
spirit of their mind, triumphing over sin, error, limitation and death, who shall go forth
in the power of the SPIRIT to pull down the strongholds of creed and ritual and religious
foolishness and ignorance and set the captives free; who will beat down the strongholds of
miss-conceptions, miss-information, miss-understanding — sin and death — and let
the prisoners go free! Satan is not a God like unto the Lord my God. He does not interfere
with God's purposes nor frustrate God's plans. ALL AUTHORITY is given to the Christ of God
— in heaven and in earth! How much authority is "ALL" authority? I shall
fight that battle against the lies of religion and for the supremacy of the Christ while
there is a drop of blood in my body. I shall claim that every foot of this earth and every
man upon this earth and under the earth belongs to Christ, for He made the earth and He
made every man. He tasted death for every man, and therefore, every foot of the earth; and
every man on the earth and under the earth belongs to Christ my Lord. They are His by
right of creation and they are His by right of redemption. No Devil anywhere can gainsay
that fact. I claim for Him this great and universal Kingdom. The church has forgotten that
Christ came to establish a Kingdom and that it must break in pieces and CONSUME (take into
itself) every other kingdom including the Devil's kingdom. The Gospel which Christ
preached was the Gospel of the
We must have it! We shall fight it out to the end,
and we will win. The Christ in us shall win. Sin shall be abolished. Disease, death, pain,
and hell shall pass away. This victory must be fully accomplished in the firstfruits
first. The Day is at hand. Then, 0 Christ, and then alone, wilt Thou see the travail of
Thy soul and be satisfied. Then, 0 Christ, and then alone, can we be satisfied; when the
last rebel has bowed at Thy feel, and there is no more Fight; for there is no more Devil
anywhere. Hallelujah! God shall reign forever, the reality of creation! It is a living
hope; this hope that, at last, every poor sinner will have heard the glad sound, and that
at last every poor spirit in earth and heaven and hell will bow before the Christ, and
will own His sway, and there shall be harmony and peace and unity everywhere, for God
shall be All in All. That is my hope.
WHO MADE THE DEVIL?
Yes, my friend, there is a
Devil — but the Devil of orthodox Christianity is but an invention of the imagination
of man. What people say about the Devil and the testimony of scripture about him are two
altogether different things. Well did the apostle warn, "Now the Spirit speaketh
expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to
seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils" (I Tim. 4: 1). "Doctrines of
devils" does not mean necessarily doctrines spawned by devils, rather, doctrines
about devils. The theologians and saints of the middle ages spent aching hours working out
the shapes, sizes and special responsibilities of the various demons that Satan commanded.
There was even a demon called Ukobach, who was credited with the invention of fried food!
Many of the contemporary teachings on demonology are straight out this Dark Ages
superstition. The whole system of demonology which came to us from medieval times had its
origin in the idea of animism which influenced the thinking of the pagans in early
history. They believed that all nature was commanded and controlled by invisible spirits
upon whose capricious whims all events relied. Life in those ancient times was a constant
struggle with the elements over which men had no control. The unpredictable behavior of
the sea, periods of drought or storm, the appearance of volcanoes and the titantic
upheaval of earthquakes were all viewed with awe and fear. All these phenomena, benevolent
or destructive in turn, were gradually seen to be under the control of spirits that had
different areas of responsibility – one looked after the sea, another the wind,
another the rain, and so on. In this way man began to identify and visualize the various
spirits. These spirits were equally capable of good or evil. The wind could be smooth and
kind, or could appear as a raging hurricane. Rain fertilized crops and made them grow, but
its controlling spirit could produce a ruinous deluge, or by withholding its fall produce
an even more disastrous drought. The individual spirits had, therefore, to be placated and
put into an agreeable frame of mind. Even today the fishermen of the Mediterranean will
sometimes pour a glass of wine into the sea to propitiate the sea spirit and prevent a
storm. From these roots a system of dualism emerged with two kinds of gods – the gods
responsible for good and the gods responsible for evil – equal in power and divinity.
The churches today have in great measure unwittingly adopted this very pagan concept of
duality – two all-powerful and co-existing gods – God and the Devil!
From whence came the Devil?
Did GOD create the Devil? Well, we know he did not create himself! And he did not
"just happen"! The reason some have held the view that Satan was originally an
angel is because it seems to relieve God of the responsibility for evil and sin in the
world. When they are asked whether a good God created a bad Devil, they can reply:
"No, He did not create the Devil; He created a beautiful and powerful angel who later
became the Devil!" This sounds good on the surface, but when the searchlight of the
spirit of wisdom and revelation from God shines in our hearts, this line of reasoning is
seen to be but shallow inductions of the natural mind.
How COULD an all-wise and
holy God create an evil Devil? Our reply to that is another question: If God, all-wise and
all-knowing, created a being and designed within this being the inherent ability and
potential to become evil — a will capable of rebelling against Him — and if in
His omniscience He knew beforehand that this creature would become evil, is God then any
LESS responsible for the Devil? If, on the other hand, we say that God created a holy
being and did not know he would become evil, then God is not omniscient and the Devil got
a step ahead of God! If the Devil could do something back there that was outside of God's
plan, which God did not know he would do, then HOW CAN WE BE SURE HE MIGHT NOT PULL A FAST
ONE ON GOD AGAIN! Ah, beloved, such carnal reasoning is an affront to the majesty of the
Most High God! Is it any less thinkable that God would create an evil one than to suppose
that He would create a holy one with the God-given ability to become evil? In either case,
there is absolutely no way to absolve GOD from the responsibility for the existence of the
Devil!
That "all things are of
God" is declared again and again in the Bible. Did not the Lord say to Pharaoh, that
man of rebellion against all that was of God, "Even for this same purpose have I
RAISED THEE UP, that I might show My power in thee, and that My name might be declared
throughout all the earth." (Rom. 9: 17). The infinite wisdom of God's mind cannot be
searched out by these puny little heads of ours. We must discard our childish theology and
bring our minds into harmony with the mind of Christ. We must begin to peer through the
mighty telescope of God's wisdom as it looks through the vast universe of good and evil
until heavenly light bursts with blazing brilliance upon our inquiring spirits and we see
with crystal clear vision that God is in all things, and is responsible for all things,
including the so-called evil things as well as the good things. Is it not a fearful thing
to say that evil is of God? There is nothing fearful about this view unless the TRUTH be
fearful! I would not be surprised if some of the compatriots of the prophet Amos may have
thought he was speaking blasphemy when by the Holy Spirit he said, "Shall a trumpet
be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? Shall there be evil in a city, and THE
LORD HATH NOT DONE IT?" (Amos 3: 6). There are untold millions of Christians who do
not like to believe that A-L-L- T-H-I-N-G-S A-R-E O-F G-O-D — including evil. They
much prefer to believe, as the harlot system has taught them, that in the beginning God
made everything "perfect," then one of the "perfect" angels made
himself into the Devil, and proceeded to wreck the works of God's hands, so degrading
God's beautiful and perfect creation until the Lord Almighty Himself was hard put to the
test to discover some way to restore the creation from the clutches of the Devil. And
after six long and tortuous millenniums of conflict and struggle, contest and effort, the
battle still rages on year after year and generation after generation, the Devil
out-foxing God at times, and God getting the upper hand eventually. Childish prattle! Vain
imaginations! Carnal-minded stupidity!
Why, oh why can men not
believe the simple, unvarnished Word of God. Ah — we have God's own Word for it
— His positive statement that HE CREATES EVIL. "That they may know from the
rising of the sun, and from the west, that THERE IS NONE BESIDE ME. I am the Lord, and
there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil.
I THE LORD DO ALL OF THESE THINGS" (Isa. 45: 7). God creates evil! It cannot be! But
here it is in the Word. What will you do with it, beloved? "We must explain it
somehow," the fundamentalist says, "surely it doesn't mean that God creates
evil, sin, sinners, devils, or wrongdoing — it must mean that He creates physical
evil — famines, pestilences, hurricanes, tornadoes, forest fires, floods, calamities,
judgments, etc. which God sends upon mankind as punishment for their wickedness." Not
so! The word here for evil is the Hebrew word RA which is used throughout the Old
Testament to denote wickedness, sin and wrongdoing. In some five hundred passages it is so
used!
As soon as this significant
truth dawns upon your enlightened consciousness, the knowledge of WHENCE CAME THE SERPENT
will speedily follow. The Word of God is certain and unmistakable. The record is clear and
unequivocal. The Holy Spirit emphatically declares, "Now the Serpent was more subtle
than any beast of the field which THE LORD GOD HAD MADE" (Gen. 3: 1). Two things are
here revealed: the nature of the Serpent is a beastly nature — and GOD MADE HIM!
Suppose that instead of trying to explain this passage in harmony with some cut-and-dried
creed, we let all creeds go and wait upon the Spirit of the Lord to give understanding of
what the passage really means. Then, if the creed does not harmonize with the light the
Spirit brings, throw the creed away. At any rate, here is the statement in the Word and we
will be brave enough to receive it as truth and trust the same One who spoke it to explain
it. "The Serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which THE LORD GOD HAD
MADE." These words deserve volumes of explanation, but can you not see that they are
filled with the spirit of revelation? God made the Serpent, God made him with a beastly
nature, God made him subtle, God made him the Devil and Satan. God made him a murderer and
a liar from the beginning! It is completely impossible for any man to truly know and love
God until his spirit has been taught that before all things, through all things, in all
things, and after all things is God, omnipotent, omniscient, immutable, eternal,
purposeful, and filled with righteousness, love, kindness, forgiveness and truth. He was
before all things and BY HIM ALL THINGS CONSIST. There is no angel, principality, or power
anywhere in all the endless vastnesses of infinity that does not hold his authority by
direct appointment of God. In Him all men and angels and creatures live and move and have
their being, for He fills all things. By Him and for Him and to Him are alt things. From
Him everything comes, by Him everything exists, and in Him everything ends, bringing glory
to God forever and forever, Amen.
The imagination that a thing
can have its beginning in God, and then become something other than what God foresaw,
purposed, intended, or planned for it is an absurd assertion that comes from the distorted
mind and wild imagination of man and not a truth that comes from the omniscient mind of
our heavenly Father, for OF HIM AND THROUGH HIM AND TO HIM, are all things; to HIM be
glory forever and ever (Rom. 11:36). I was as one shocked by a lightning bolt out of the
sky when these words of wisdom and understanding burst upon my quickened spirit, because
for all the years of my life my teachers had instilled the very opposite into my mind.
“God,” they told me, “made a beautiful, glorious angel, but the Devil made
himself!” But when I heard the voice of the all-wise Lord, speaking from the throne
of His all-powerful majesty, taking upon HIMSELF all the responsibility for the entire
creation, my heart was amazed in His presence and for the first time in my life the
“purpose of Him who worketh all thing after the counsel of His own will” began
to unfold in my deepest heart. With what clarity did I perceive that God is the cause of
all that is. It all exists with the one purpose of showing forth His glory. Every object
in nature and every creature in the universe has its only reason of existence in this
– that the wondrous goodness and wisdom and power of God may shine out through it.
God is the end and aim of all things, because He is their beginning and origin, as well as
their destiny and consummation. All must fulfill His will because all came from Him, all
exist through Him, and all end in Him.
WHY THE DEVIL?
Jesus declared of Satan,
"The thief cometh not, but for the steal, and to kill, and to destroy; I am come that
they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" (Jn. 10: 10). Out
of God's own mouth proceeds the assertion, "I have created the waster to
destroy" (Isa. 54: 16). We gather from this passage that Satan is a created entity
with a definite purpose. That purpose is revealed in the opening words of the above quoted
verse: " I have created the smith (the Devil) that bloweth the coals in the fire, and
that BRINGETH FORTH AN INSTRUMENT for his work." The "smith" that
"bloweth upon the fire" is also the one who heats the furnace seven times
hotter! "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try
you, as though some strange thing had happened unto you" (I Pet. 4: 12). Our trials
and testings are associated in the Word of God with the ministry of Satan. You never
thought of Satan having a ministry? "Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the
wilderness to be tempted (tested) of the Devil. And when the Tempter came to Him, he said,
If Thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread" (Mat. 4: 1-3).
"Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the Devil shall cast some
of you into prison, that ye may be tried… be thou faithful… and I will give thee
a crown of life” (Rev. 2:10). “And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan
hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that
thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren” (Lk.
22:31-32). “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the Devil, as a roaring
lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist steadfast in the faith,
knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the
world” (I Pet. 5:8-9).
We flounder a bit in our
understanding of these things, but as time passes by and the Holy Spirit takes the things
of God and reveals them unto us, we begin to understand that in all the universe a thing
is a thing ONLY BECAUSE IT HAS AN OPPOSITE. Few will teach you this principle, but I
declare it to you today. Good without the knowledge of evil can scarcely be called good at
all. Who could possibly speak of the day if night had never been known? There was no first
light if there was no darkness. What could we know of life if there were no death? What
would we know of health if there were no sickness? What would we know of wealth if poverty
had not spread its spectre upon the earth? No man can be trusted until he has been EXPOSED
TO THE OPPOSITES, until he has been tempted. No man can be declared strong until he has
been tested for weakness. No man can be proven honest until he has been presented with the
opportunity to steal or cheat. No man can be declared virtuous until faced with
opportunities with women other than his wife. No man can be an overcomer until he has
faced the dreadful foe. Those who are worthy to slay their Goliaths must First have slain
their lion and their bear. No man can be an overcoming son of God until he has encountered
THE SERPENT IN THE WILDERNESS and come forth victorious! Everything has its right and
wrong, its truth and error, its good and bad, its proper use and its misuse, and the one
must overcome the other. Sweet must overcome and swallow up bitter, smooth rough, soft
hard. Life swallows up death, said Paul in II Cor. 5: 4; and it gets its strength from
HAVING AN OPPOSITE WHICH IT HAS SWALLOWED UP. You cannot say a certain yes in a decision,
until you have first canvassed the alternatives and said an equally certain no to each of
them. The strength of the yes is swallowing up the nos! Not in having no nos, not in
ignoring their existence, but in facing them and replacing them by the final yes. And here
we have God's perfect wisdom in the formation of the human race and in bringing forth a
convenient opposite, the wrong one, the evil one, THROUGH WHOM HE WOULD BRING HIS VAST
FAMILY OF SONS TO MATURITY. "Though He were a Son, yet learned He OBEDIENCE by the
things which He suffered"(Heb. 5: 8). "For it became Him. ..in bringing many
sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation PERFECT through sufferings"
(Heb. 2: 10).
The Hebrew word for
"satan" is used two ways, with the definite article, the satan, and without the
article, The word "satan" simply means "adversary." There is no
thought of monstrosity or evilness, but simply opposition. Thus the scriptures speak of
"adversary," "an adversary," and "the adversary." It is that
which is ADVERSE to ones well being, desires, plans, hopes, goals or causes, whether good
or bad, real or imagined. Jesus told His disciples that He must go to
If there are those who feel
that in these messages on The Serpent the picture I have painted exhibits the prevalence
of the darker hues, I am so glad now to literally splash the canvas with flaming colors.
And then in the light that the Spirit brings we will discern the true meaning of the
momentary process, and the glory that follows. As one has written, "God is
constructing a temple, made of living stones, through which to manifest Himself throughout
the ages to come, and Satan was created as a chisel and hammer to be used in the
construction of this building. The living stones that are even now being placed in this
temple have been chosen, says the Lord, in the 'furnace of affliction' (Isa. 48: 10). God,
however, is mercy; God is love; God is compassion. He is a healer, not a destroyer. It
was, nonetheless, necessary that an oven be heated in which to purify the gold — a
furnace in which the wood, hay, and stubble were to be burned — but God, in His
nature of love, could not perform the necessary affliction. It was for this reason that He
created an instrument that was capable of performing this essential action in the lives of
men, for in Satan God literally created a chastening rod. If we can realize that behind
the acts of Satan is the mighty hand of God working to bring forth gold from these earthen
vessels, we can rejoice, as David, in our afflictions and trials and exclaim with him,
‘It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn Thy statutes' (Ps.
119: 7). Praise God! When we begin to see the good that comes from the assaults of Satan
on our lives, we are able to appreciate all the more the greatness of our God and the
depth of the wisdom of His great mind. He is truly a God of might and power, and all
things are in His hand — even this adversary whom we call the Devil" —
Connie Asbill.
Ah, my beloved, there is
purpose in affliction. There is purpose in trial. There is purpose in temptation. There is
purpose in suffering. There is purpose in sorrow. There is purpose in pain. There is
purpose in trouble. There is purpose in infirmity. There is purpose in light and darkness.
There is purpose in good, and there is purpose in evil. There is purpose in adversity and
in the adversary who brings it. Yes, my brother, my sister, there is purpose in the
existence and work of Satan! Without this understanding all the work of God in all ages
becomes a hit and miss, trial and error affair unworthy of our mighty God of whom it is
written, “The Most High… liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting
dominion, and His Kingdom is from generation to generation. And all the inhabitants of the
earth are reputed as nothing: and HE doeth ACCORDING TO HIS WILL in the army of heaven,
and among the inhabitants of the earth: and NONE CAN STAY HIS HAND, or say, What doest
Thou?”
One of the fundamental laws
of creation is that an OPPOSING FORCE is necessary for growth, and to produce strength,
stamina, and endurance. Any living thing that grows up without any opposition is weak and
powerless. God's NEW CREATION must be strong and powerful, and anything that desires to be
strong, or anyone, must wrestle with a force that is contrary to them. Any man who wants
to develop muscular power to be strong, must spend weeks and months and years in vigorous
training doing heavy exercises, lifting heavy weights, using the opposing force of gravity
to develop his strength. A man who wants to be a great wrestler, doesn't just wrestle when
he is in the ring. At his training center he has his wrestling partners with whom he
wrestles by the hour. If he didn't do this he would be weak and powerless in the ring. A
boxer has his punching bags and sparring partners, with whom he spends hours every day.
Those opposing forces are indispensable to develop strength and technique. A plant that
grows in a greenhouse sheltered from the winds and rains, pampered day after day, may grow
large, but it is inherently weak, and if suddenly exposed to the elements will wither and
die. But a plant that is constantly exposed to the fierce winds and pounding rains,
burning heat and chilling cold, is strong and not easily destroyed.
So it is with us as human
beings. One who grows up in a sheltered environment, who is pampered all his life, with
everything provided on a silver platter, grows up a weak, helpless, spineless individual.
ADVERSITY builds strength of character. If we were never exposed to trials and
tribulation, we would grow up weak indeed! The more we are exposed to ADVERSE
circumstances, the more we have to wrestle with our environment, the more we are
CHALLENGED by the world around us, the stronger we become. Saints, IF WE WOULD BE THE SONS
OF THE MOST HIGH we must be STRONG in the Lord and in the power of HIS might! Our Father
wants us to be strong, so He has wisely given us wrestling partners to wrestle with, so we
will become strong. These are opposing forces – THANK GOD FOR THEM! Is innocence
synonymous with virtue? The Father of spirits did not look forward to a distant day, at
the time of His begetting, expecting that some day a multitude of innocent ninnies and
dummies would stand before Him. How many of those who read these lines want their children
to grow up 100% innocent? Never having experienced the slightest temptation or adversity
in any form? This is precisely why God placed the Serpent in Eden with the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil – that man through the experience of the opposites might
in the experience be led to OVERCOME all things and to stand before the Son of man in the
strength of character, perception of mind, and quality of life of God Himself. It is all
part of our Father’s wise and magnificent plan!
“Thou couldest have no
power at all against Me except it were given thee from above,” Jesus told Pilate.
What Satan wrought against Job was ordained by the Lord who carefully marked the bounds of
the adversary’s activity. Job was no baby saint, for no one less than God Himself had
given testimony that Job was a perfect and upright man, one that feared God and eschewed
evil. God had blessed this man with great wealth and a large family. He had seven sons and
three daughters. He owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke
of oxen, and five hundred she-asses. His household was very great with many hired servants
so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east. The thing we want to note is
that although Job was wealthy in temporal things, rich in spiritual things, and proclaimed
perfect by the Lord Himself, he had not been "tried by fire" as sons of God must
be — he was as yet UNTRIED, UNTESTED, and UNPROVEN. In the midst of Job's ordeal of
affliction and suffering the spirit of prophecy came upon him and he opened his mouth and
spake concerning the purpose of God in it all, declaring, "But He knoweth the way
that I take: when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold" (Job 23: 10). Never
do I cease to be amazed at how the preachers and teachers, apparently without exception,
join their voices in unison with those of Job's contemptible comforters, indicting and
blaming poor old Job, charging that God brought all these calamities upon him because he
had sin in his life, or because he was self-righteous, or because of some other appalling
fault in Job. The only reliable testimony we have of Job's true state of being is that
spoken by the Lord Himself, and HE declared that Job was A PERFECT MAN! Perfect, yes; but
untried! His perfection remained to be tested, proven and demonstrated. Now, what does God
do but deliberately hand over this perfect and upright man into the hands of Satan to do
his worst upon him, only that he should not touch his life. It was because that God
desired to test Job that He brought forth "the smith to blow upon the fire."
Please note that it was not Satan's idea to persecute poor old Job! Oh, no! It was God
Himself who brought up the subject! There Satan was, presenting himself before the Lord,
appearing for duty, and God asked, "Where have you been?" Satan replied,
"Walking up and down in the earth" (no mention of Job at all). "Well,
Satan," the Lord asked, "have you considered My servant Job? Have you noticed
that he eschews evil and fears God? Have you noticed that, Satan?" You can be
assured, dear ones, that Satan had noticed Job, but he wasn't doing anything to him.
One of the most glorious
testimonies of the preservation of the saints of God is given here in this passage by
Satan himself. "Doth Job fear God for naught? Hast Thou not made a hedge around him
and about his house and about all that he hath on every side?" Praise the Lord! Yes,
there truly is a hedge around the people of God, and that hedge is Jesus Christ Himself.
The Psalmist recognized and rejoiced in this fact when he said, "He that dwelleth in
the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say
of the Lord, HE IS MY REFUGE and my fortress: my God, in Him will I trust" (Ps. 91:
1-2). "You've put a hedge around him," Satan said, "and I can't get to
him!" Then he went on to say, "You must put forth THINE HAND and touch all that
he hath, and he will curse Thee to Thy face." But the Lord, who searcheth the reins
and the heart, who knoweth them that are His, knows who can be trusted with affliction,
and will not allow any to be tested beyond what they are able to bear. He therefore said
to Satan, "Behold, all that he hath is in thy power — in thy hand — only
upon himself put not forth thine hand." One can only know God by vital relationship
to Him. Job KNEW God! Job knew in his deepest heart that God is good, loving, true,
righteous, omnipotent, omniscient, immutable and faithful in all His way. At one point in
his trial he exclaimed, "I KNOW that my Redeemer liveth. ...and though after my skin
worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God," and again, " I KNOW
that Thou canst do everything, and that no thought can be withholden from Thee" (Job
19: 25-26; 42: 2). Being a perfect man Job understood the nature of God, he knew what God
is like — how He is. Armed with this knowledge he was unshakable and unmovable as the
hand of Satan moved against him. With lightning swiftness the misfortunes fell as
tribulation and affliction smote this man of God. All hell broke loose upon him. His
possessions were gone. His servants were gone. His cattle, his family, and his dwelling
place were as though they had never been. And now he was desperately ill, tormented with
pain, and without even a bed to sleep on he lies down in the ashes of what was once his
beautiful home to listen to the relentless arguments of his friends, monotonously
attempting by lengthy speeches to make a fool of him and prove that his present despair
was the result of his own sin and disfavor with God. I do not know how many days their
debate continued, but such miserable comforters as these are always at hand, ready to
attest that those who have entered the furnace of affliction have been bad examples as
Christians, unbelieving, unfaithful, or that they harbor secret sins and so are deserving
of punishment. Unless the Lord Himself has convicted them of sin, or lack of faith, or of
lack of understanding and applying the Laws of Life, sufferers should pay no attention
whatever to them. "If our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence before
God" (1 Jn. 3: 21).
In one tragic day all Job's
earthly wealth and glory had vanished as a mist before the rising sun. But did Job curse
God for all this calamity? Did he even curse the Devil? Was he a fair weather saint
without spiritual understanding? No, indeed! He rent his mantle, shaved his head, and
falling upon the ground, he WORSHIPPED GOD with the unmistakable words of reverence,
"Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: THE LORD
GAVE, AND THE LORD HATH TAKEN AWAY; BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD!" (Job 1: 22).
You see, beloved, all external evidence shouted aloud that God did not love Job, that God
had forsaken him, that God did not see him, that God wasn't concerned about what happened
to him, and that God wasn't just. It seemed that God had now revealed Himself to be the
opposite of all Job had experienced and known of Him. But, praise God! Job knew God! He
therefore knew that in spite of all the external evidence, in spite of how terrible and
hopeless things appeared, God had not forsaken him, God did love him, God did see him, God
was concerned about what happened to him, God was in control of everything, and God was
just. Ah, this is faith — trusting God's goodness, wisdom and faithfulness in the
knowledge that HE has everything in control, that ALL is according to HIS purpose, IN
SPITE OF ALL EVIDENCE TO THE CONTRARY! Faith declares with Job, "Though God slay me,
yet will I trust Him," — and then after being slain — TRUSTS HIM! Job,
stripped of all, tried by fire, tested in the furnace of affliction, found that the key to
life is not some creed or doctrinal statement of what we believe about God, but that which
we KNOW OF HIM by virtue of intimacy of fellowship and vital union with Him. "The
trial of your faith is much more precious than gold that perisheth" (I Pet. 1: 7).
It all fits into the Divine
economy, not in the sense that God wills evil, but in the sense that He appoints it for a
purpose and unto a greater end and overrules it in the great disciplinary and instructive
processes of redemption. He "turns the tables" on the Devil — the wrath of
men, as the Psalmist puts it, is made to praise God. The flesh, the world, and the Devil
for the final vindication of God's government have to be permitted to run their course.
Most diseases do. Meanwhile the suffering caused and the immeasurable tragedies are
designed to serve God's purposes. We see this, too, in the trials of Joseph carried into
Egypt, yea in the passion and death of our Lord Himself. The buffettings of the adversary
forge a soul into one, to use the words of a French soldier to his mother. The adversary
has put me through some things which a thousand deaths could not approximate. But strange
as it may seem, in a large measure the things which I most prize, the value of which can
only be measured in terms of eternity, all go back to the grueling of the adversary. It is
Satan who does the hammering. Paul made no mistake when he advised the Corinthians to turn
a certain man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh life.
A story is told about a new
immigrant who got a job as a gardener. Next door was another gardener, a local man who did
not like immigrants. He did all he could to provoke the new man. The family employing the
new immigrant asked their gardener what he thought of the troublesome gardener next door.
“He is my very good friend,” he replied. Surprised, they asked, “How can he
be your friend when he does such unkind things to you?”
“He is my very good friend,” was the answer, “because he
shows me what not to do.” There is a great and magnificent future ahead for the sons
of God, and a great work out Father has for us to do in the ages to come, and He is
preparing us and making us ready for the high and holy place He has for us. Can we not see
that ALL OPPOSING FORCES WE NOW ENCOUNTER are working together for our good – to
develop the strength, character, wisdom and power we must acquire? Why the Devil? After
every battle I may say, "Thank you, Mr. Devil! for helping to make me a son of
God." Surely this is the lesson learned by Job, and this is the lesson being learned
by us as we see our earthly dependencies withering as grass before our eyes and passing
away. The emphasis of many today in the "Sonship Message" is on life—
gaining immortality for the body. That is indeed a glorious aspect of our inheritance as
sons of God. But I do not hesitate to tell you that it is not enough! In fact, that
message by itself is truth out of balance. It is not mere length of life we seek, but a
quality of life— the nature of God! Should I today bypass the grave and carry with me
into immortality the inherent weaknesses, faults, idiosyncrasies, passions, lusts, and
flaws of character which have dogged my steps throughout my earthly sojourn I would still
not be fit to reign as an overcomer over the nations and all things. Not only must we have
life, we must have the nature of that life fully developed in us producing the image of
God. And we will never reign until we have been thoroughly tested, tried and proven!
The New Testament abounds
with this same truth. Did you notice how strangely Matthew and Mark speak of Christ's
temptation? "And immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness to be tempted
of the Devil. " What a strange statement! The Holy Spirit of God drives the sinless
Son of God into the wilderness to be tempted of Satan, the arch enemy of all
righteousness, a murderer from the beginning, and the father of lies! Ah, but it was
necessary for the Son to be PROVEN, to be STRONG, to demonstrate His ability to OVERCOME
in these realms before entering into His glorious ministry and the death of the cross.
Truly God creates evil and uses it, too, for His glory! The apostle fully understood this
great truth and practiced it himself. He instructed the Corinthian believers to
"deliver such an one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh (i.e., the flesh
life), that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus," and he declares in
his letter to Timothy that he himself has delivered certain brethren unto Satan "that
they may learn not to blaspheme." But the apostle had experienced something of this
kind of discipline also, for he says, "Lest I should be exalted above measure through
the abundance of the revelations, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, THE MESSENGER
OF SATAN TO BUFFET ME, lest I should be exalted above measure." All this dearly shows
that Satan is a force created by God for a specific work, and even that work shall result
in blessing for God's children and redound to the glory of God!
Since Jesus is the Pattern
Son, all that happened to Him is the example for our lives. Jesus was being prepared to
launch His ministry which was to declare that the
"For as much then as the
children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself took part of the same; that
through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the Devil"
(Heb. 2: 14). The word "destroy" does not mean to kill or annihilate, for we
know God did not kill the Devil or annihilate him! Destroy, in the original, means
"to bring to naught; render powerless; make of no effect" So — through
death — the Lord Jesus BROUGHT SATAN TO NAUGHT, RENDERED HIM POWERLESS AND MADE HIM
OF NO EFFECT. The Lord came and put upon Himself "the flesh," the “body of
sin," the "body of death," the "dust realm," the "man of
earth," and BROUGHT IT TO THE CROSS that "through death (of the man of dust) He
might bring to naught him that had the power of death, that is, the Devil." When the
flesh is crucified, when the dust of the carnal mind, the man of the earth is put to death
on the cross SATAN'S GROUND IS DESTEROYED BENEATH HIM, his sphere of activity is removed,
his base of operation is closed, he is rendered completely powerless and ineffective.
Thus, it is by this death on the cross that Christ destroyed the Devil! When the Son of
God came into the world, when He had been tested on every point and had overcome the
adversary in all things, He uttered these significant words: "I will not talk with
you much more, for the prince (evil genius, ruler) of the world is coming. And he has no
claim on Me — he has nothing in common with Me, THERE IS NOTHING IN ME THAT BELONGS
TO HIM, he has no power over Me" (Jn. 14: 30, Amplified). Ah, this is the glory of
sonship — nothing in common with Satan! There was nothing in Jesus that corresponded
to him and nothing that responded to him! None of the nature of Adam that pertains to
Satan. So mighty was the indwelling life of the Father within Jesus that Satan had no
power over Him, no place within Him. And, precious friend of mine, when you have died
completely to that Adamic life, when there is none of the dust of Adam in you, SATAN WILL
HAVE NO POWER OVER YOU, NO PLACE IN YOU. Satan's base of operation will have been
destroyed, his sphere of activity removed. God destroys Satan by destroying (rendering
inactive) YOUR FLESH.
Dear saints of God, don't
believe for one moment that anything in all God's great universe is out of control! God IS
GOD. There is NO OTHER GOD. Satan is NO GOD in his own right. Our God IS in full control
of every sphere of activity, and the Serpent himself operates directly under the
There is only ONE GOD —
not two. Yes, Satan is indeed "the god of this world," but those born from above
are not of this world even as our Lord is not of this world. Satan enthroned in the temple
of the carnal man is "a" god — not THE GOD. There is no power apart from
God. Omnipotence has ALL POWER, and our Lord Jesus Christ has ALL POWER in heaven and in
earth, and to acknowledge any other power is to dishonor God. Here me now and believe me
now or later — G-0-D HAS N-0 ADVERSARY! Satan is not the adversary of God! That is a
preposterous misconception of popular religion. God created the adversary for our
perfection and testing — he is man's adversary, not GOD'S! The truth is so simple, so
plain, a child of ten can understand a principle so apparent, while the learned doctors of
theology step right over it and never see it. In relation to God there are no antagonistic
powers nor laws, spiritual or material. Either there is no omnipotence, or omnipotence is
the only power. Jesus Christ is OMNIPOTENT! He said so Himself. He that is in you IS
GREATER than he that is in the world. He IS! Then if Jesus our Lord is Sovereign, and He
is, He can do anything He pleases. He doesn't have a Devil that opposes His every move and
hinders everything He does. He doesn't have a Devil that is trying to take over His whole
world that He has created as most people imagine. HE IS SOVEREIGN! HE IS OMNIPOTENT.
"ALL POWER is given unto Me," He said All power is OMNIPOTENCE! He creates His
own evil when evil is needed to form and fashion a subject or people or nation He is
working on. God does have a NEGATIVE FORCE at work in His creation, a negative dimension
of SPIRIT, the adversary of those being conformed into his image, the fiery furnace of
refining, the rod of chastening, the sparring partner, the violent storm bending the tree
to make it strong. Glory to God! The Lord God Omnipotent Reigneth! This is the glorious
message of the Sign of Scorpio!
Chapter
20
SCORPIO--THE
SCORPION
(continued)
For several months we have
plumbed the depths and scaled the heights of revelation in the grand drama portrayed by
the Sign of Scorpio in GOD'S BIBLE IN THE SKY. We have seen that the testimony of the
heavens and the revelation of scripture are one in every respect in showing to us the
great significance of the conflict between the powerful Orphiuchus and the Serpent, that
is to say, between Christ and Satan. In this writing we draw to a conclusion these
meditations on this scene of conflict and triumph, to pass on to the next celestial Sign
and the scintillating treasures of truth it contains for the elect of God in this Day of
the Lord.
THE ACCUSER
The various names for the
Serpent are most instructive. In the word "serpent" there is the idea of
cunning, of slyness, "the wiles of the devil." It is not the thought of
monstrosity showing itself in a public way, but diplomacy working under cover and carrying
its point underhandedly. In the word "satan" we have the thought of the
adversary merely. There is no thought of evilness, but simply opposition. From the
beginning there has been that which has stood in opposition to the life of the Spirit in
man, and has fully earned its reputation as the most adroit of adversaries. Paul describes
it as the flesh warring against the Spirit, and the carnal mind that is enmity against
God. The flesh and the carnal mind are neither inanimate objects, but living, energizing
realities, truly the spirit that now worketh in the sons of disobedience (offspring of old
Adam). The word "devil" means an adversary who slanders, or an
"accuser." This title is used throughout scripture, where he is revealed as the
slanderer of God and the accuser of man. In that long-ago
The scriptures draw a
wonderful contrast between the intercession of Christ, on the one hand, and the accusation
of the Devil, on the other hand. As I have studied the Word of God and been taught by the
precious spirit of Truth many things have become evident, one of which is that while
intercession may be Godward, the scriptures reveal that the primary thrust of the
intercession of the Christ is not Godward at all, but manward, an intercession that is to
us-ward, to bring us to God, to draw us to the Father, to work mightily in us, that we
might yield ourselves unto Him, to live out the revelation of the Spirit in our lives. The
real truth about the intercession of the Christ has been clouded by the corrupted theology
of man. I am sure that you, as I, have heard preachers try to describe His ministry of
intercession. It goes something like this. Satan, our enemy and the accuser of the
brethren, stands before the Father up in heaven accusing us day and night. Satan tells God
about all our failings; he enumerates to God every sin we commit in thought, word, or
deed. He is constantly, unceasingly, relentlessly and unmercifully accusing us of every
shortcoming and weakness. The Father, on the other hand, is portrayed as greatly offended
and incensed by our sins, and exceedingly wroth with sinners; a vindictive punisher,
somehow obligated by His superior sense of justice to be the avenger of every little thing
we do wrong. Many parents have unwittingly darkened the hearts of their little children
with threats of the certain vengence of this God who is a constant terror over the life.
"Now don't you do that because GOD will punish you!" And even much stronger
things are told to little children. God becomes a mean, harsh, vindictive old man up in
the sky with beady little piercing eyes possessing wonderful X-ray vision which can
penetrate into the deepest recesses of mind and heart, and the thickest darkness of night,
scrutinizing every thought and action. This God, moreover, is waiting, lurking about
everywhere, with a punishing whip of large dimensions!
Enter the Son. You know as
well as I do that the church system has always taught that this God of exacting justice
and undiminished wrath must be appeased, soothed, turned aside from His furious vengence,
and that this feat can only be accomplished by the bold and insistent intercession of the
compassionate SON, our wonderful Lord and elder brother, standing opposite Satan, before
the judgment-throne of the Father, as our Advocate, our Lawyer, pleading our cause,
beseeching God to be kind to us for His sake, to commute our sentence, and begging for our
lives on the ground that He paid the price for the forgiveness of our sins. According to
this hypothesis the anger of God can only be appeased by looking upon the bloody sweat and
cruel, ugly death of His Son, as He stands there interceding for us. I do not hesitate to
tell you that such a teaching is utter rubbish and the brashest sort of nonsense. It
springs from the Romish tradition that likens God the Father to a fearful and offended
despot, spoiling for the blood of the offenders, and it makes Christ to be the One who
pleads with God on behalf of the victim until the Father is consoled and placated. And if
it weren't for our Advocate, Jesus, God would listen to the Devil's accusations and really
lay it on to us. We could even lose our salvation because of Satan's accusations, if it
weren't that the merciful Jesus is there to prevent God from casting us into hell, by
presenting His blood on our behalf. Such is a gross caricature of the truth. More than
that, it is a stupid absurdity and a horrible blasphemy. Praise God, the Spirit is
unfolding Truth in ever-increasing dimensions of glory which magnifies God's glorious
nature of love and mercy, His wisdom and power, His goodness and the prudence of all His
plans and purposes.
It is my conviction that not
even Satan is senseless enough to believe that he could approach OUR FATHER and convince
Him to condemn us because of our failures. Nowhere does the scripture state that Satan
accuses the saints to God. What it does say is that "the accuser of our brethren is
cast down, which ACCUSED T-H-E-M B-E- F-O-R-E OUR GOD day and night"(Rev. 12:10). It
is one thing to be accused before, that is, in the presence of, or in front of another
person, and another thing altogether for the accuser to accuse you TO the other one. It
should be abundantly evident that Satan does not accuse us to God, he merely accuses us
before God. It is not the almighty and omniscient God, my brother, my sister, whom Satan
wishes to convince of your unworthiness -- it is YOU! Satan has no misconceptions about
his ability to persuade God of your weakness and worthlessness, but if he can influence
YOU to believe that you are unworthy, that you are a failure, that you are hopeless, that
it is impossible for you to attain to the High Calling of God in Christ, that it is beyond
the realm of possibility for you to lay hold upon life and immortality; or that God does
not love you, leaving you condemned and helpless -- he is thereby able to rob you of all
your hope, faith, confidence, joy, peace and victory!
Don't think for one moment,
my beloved, that this scene is set in some far-off heaven somewhere! Satan is not standing
in a red devil suit before the great white throne somewhere beyond the milky way -- ah, he
lurks, rather, in the corruption and unbelief of our own carnal minds, in the unrelenting
voice of our own distorted conscience, in the perverted reasoning and logic of our silly
superstitions about God, slithering about in the lowest realms of man's earthiness. The
reason why so many saints fail when it comes to the temptations and condemnations of the
Devil is that they don't really want to resist Satan. We have been taught in the past to
flee from the Serpent, that old dragon that appears as a roaring lion, and this we have
been doing all along; but on this Day, this glorious Day of illumination and truth, all of
us who walk in the light of this Day will discover that it has been the very Serpent that
has been BRUISING YOUR HEELS all these years in your house, causing you to err, to sin and
stumble day and night! And it is the very Dragon that has been ACCUSING YOU DAY AND NIGHT
BEFORE GOD IN THE TEMPLE OF GOD WHICH YOU ARE! You see, Satan never comes as some hideous
monster with horns, a forked tail and a pitchfork. He doesn't blare at you through a
loudspeaker. HE COMES IN YOUR OWN DESIRES! HE SPEAKS IN YOUR OWN THOUGHTS! HE TORMENTS
THROUGH YOUR OWN FEELINGS AND EMOTIONS! The battle rages in the MIND, whisperings out of
the dust realm, accusations that shout at you from within. And God is there, too! The
indwelling Spirit of God likewise speaks from within, out of the spiritual mind, the voice
of inspiration, the spirit of revelation, words of grace and wisdom drop from His tongue,
the still small Voice of the Father from within His temple of clay, graciously assuring,
"I love you, My beloved son; you are My very own son, and I will be a Father to you;
I will strengthen you, I will uphold you, for I am the Faithful One and will complete the
good work I have begun in you and present you faultless before My throne." And there,
before God in His temple -- within -- rises the other voice, the voice of the carnal mind,
the voice of the flesh -- the Accuser! It is there in the imaginations of the mind, in the
heavens of that universe which you are, that Satan the Accuser must be cast down, and
every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God within.
The Devil may accuse us, but
God will never condemn. Is God for us, or against us? Is He on our side, or isn't He?
"What shall we say to all this? If God be for us, who can be against us? Who can be
our foe, if God is on our side? He who did not withhold or spare even His own Son but gave
Him up for us all, will He not also with Him freely and graciously give us all things? Who
shall bring any charge against God's elect when it is God who justifies? Who shall come
forward and accuse or impeach those whom God has chosen? Will God, who acquits us? Who is
there to condemn us?" (
What does it mean, that Jesus
makes intercession for us? Jesus is our mediator, our intercessor and our advocate; He
stands between God and us, but just what is He doing when He does this? Is He pleading
with the Father to be merciful to us and forgive us? No, a thousand times no! The Greek
word is ENTUCHANO meaning "to meet with, to converse with, to entreat." The
question is just this: With whom does the Christ meet, with whom does He converse, and
whom does He entreat? God, or man? God so loved the world that He gave His Son for us. God
so loved! God gave the Son! Does the Father of love have to be entreated to be kind and
merciful and gracious unto us? Listen! "To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling
the world unto Himself, NOT IMPUTING THEIR TRESPASSES UNTO THEM...now then we are
ambassadors FOR CHRIST, as though GOD DID B-E-S-E-E-C-H Y-O-U by us: we pray (Greek: beg,
petition, beseech, intercede) you in Christ's stead, BE YE reconciled to God" (II
Cor. 5:19-20). Therefore, we find that HIS INTERCESSION IS TO US-WARD, to meet with us, to
converse with us, to entreat us, to petition us, to intercede with us, to reveal the
Father's heart to us, to bring us back to Father, that we might be reconciled to God;
working in us that we might know Him in all His glorious and eternal reality. All this
attention of Christ is directed toward us. God does not have to be interceded with for us,
it was the invisible and unknowable God who sent the Christ to us, to meet with us, to woo
us, to draw us that we and the Father might be one again.
THE DRAGON IN THE SEA
"And the great DRAGON
was cast out, that OLD SERPENT, called the DEVIL, and SATAN, which deceiveth the whole
world: he was cast out into the earth... and I saw an angel come down from heaven, having
the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the
DRAGON, that OLD SERPENT, which is the DEVIL and SATAN, and bound him a thousand
years" (Rev. 12:9; 20:1-2).
Large sections of scripture,
in fact a preponderance of the prophetical books, are couched in symbolic terms, hiding
much of the "mysteries" of God in figurative language. This is done quite
purposely by the Lord that the unspiritual while "seeing" actually see not and
"hearing" actually hear not (Mat. 13:10-17). The careful study of the key
Semitic symbols, in which so much of the Word of God is given, is vitally important to the
one who would "rightly divide the word of truth." Since the book of Revelation
is a "sign-i-fied" or "sign-language" book (Rev. 1:1), we should not
be surprised to find that it abounds in Semitic symbols which convey the truth in
figurative language.
Just as the title
"serpent" in Genesis describes the Devil as wily, seductive, poisonous, and
deadly, so the term "dragon" is descriptive of his great power, magnitude, and
terrifying monster qualities. Hear what the scriptures say about the Serpent and the
Dragon, and it will be very clear that these are one and the same. "And there
appeared another wonder in heaven: and behold a great RED DRAGON, having seven heads and
ten horns...and the great DRAGON was cast out, that ANCIENT SERPENT, called the DEVIL, and
SATAN, which deceiveth the whole world...and they worshipped the DRAGON which gave power
unto the beast...and an angel came down and laid hold on the DRAGON, that ancient SERPENT,
WHICH IS THE DEVIL AND SATAN, and bound him..." (Rev. 12:9 13:4; 20:1-2). The Dragon
is a fabulous mythical creature that never really existed except in the imaginations of
men. They were supposed to be enormous in size, up to forty feet long. They had wings like
a bird's, scales like a reptile's, claws like an eagle's, and long tails like an
alligator's. They breathed fire. The Dragon always stood as a symbol of wrath and
destruction. In Africa and
As the subtle Serpent came
with stealth into the Garden of Eden defiling with selfhood the hearts of the parents of
the human race, making a murderer of Adam's first son, so has he developed in mankind from
that small and unimposing beginning to become a monster of gigantic dimensions filling the
whole world with religious delusion and fleshly corruption. In Genesis Satan entered
When Adam and Eve departed
from
We need not be surprised at
the increase of this satanic power at the end of the age. Can we not see that in every age
the degree of wickedness in the earth is proportionate to the INCREASE OF MANKIND? Of a
dim and distant age it is written, "And it came to pass, when men began to multiply
on the face of the earth...God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and
that every imagination of his heart was only evil continually" (Gen. 6:1,6). And of
our own age it is declared, "This know also that in the last days perilous times
shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud,
blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection,
trucebreakers, devils, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors,
heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God" (2 Tim. 3:1-4). Two
millenniums ago the apostle Paul accurately prophesied, "But the evil men and
seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived" (II Tim. 3:13).
May the Spirit of the Lord open wide the eyes of our understanding to see the simple and
evident truth that as MEN increase in the earth -- THE DEVIL INCREASES! In making this
statement, I am fully aware that such a thought runs contrary to long-established views of
theology, but we are not in the least concerned with the views of
Now we come to an amazing
promise which may be hard for the natural mind to interpret, but when men seek the face of
the Lord He sends His Holy Spirit to dispel the darkness of the carnal mind that He may
reveal to our broken and contrite hearts the things that pertain to the eternal purposes
of God. The promise is stated: "In that day the Lord with His sore and great and
strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked
serpent; and HE SHALL SLAY THE DRAGON THAT IS IN THE SEA" (Isa. 27:1). The word
"leviathan" means literally "a beast dwelling in the sea." In the
Hebrew the chief word for dragon is TANNIN and in meaning is synonymous with LEVIATHAN.
The translators of the Greek Septuagint used the word DRAKON to render both words. DRAKON
is derived from another Greek word, DERKOMAI, which means "sea serpent, serpent of
the abyss." Leviathan, the sea-serpent, and the Dragon are thus different aspects of
the same being, for note, "In that day the Lord with His sore and great and strong
sword shall punish LEVIATHAN the piercing SERPENT, even LEVIATHAN that crooked SERPENT;
and He shall slay the DRAGON that is in the sea." The prophetical type for the
victory described in this passage is found in one of the Psalms of David. Speaking of the
mighty deliverance of
Before we speak further of
this, I would like to point out that throughout the scriptures the sea is a type of the
raging, restless, surging masses of unregenerate humanity, tossed to and fro by the inner
storms of the turbulent nature of fallen man. The prophet Isaiah penned these inspired
words, "The wicked are like the troubled sea, which cannot rest, whose waters cast up
mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked" (Isa. 57:20-21). Jude
also described the carnal man when he said, "These are raging waves of the sea,
foaming out their own shame" (Jude 13). The beloved John, banished on the Isle of
Patmos, had a vision of a great whore sitting on many waters. The angel revealed the
meaning of the many waters, saying, "The waters which thou sawest, where the whore
sitteth, are PEOPLES, and MULTITUDES, and NATIONS, and TONGUES" (Rev. 17:5). John
also saw a vision of a beast rising out of the sea, a beast coming up out of the midst of
the multitudes of raging, restless, seething humanity, the sea of man. The natural sea is
a great deep, an abyss (Gen. 1:2; 7:11; 8:2; Deut 8:7; 33:13). The Psalmist wrote of this
abyss of fleshly men, "They search out iniquities; they accomplish a diligent search:
both the inward thought of every one of them, and the heart is DEEP (an abyss)" (Ps.
64:6). To the enlightened mind of David the depth of iniquity of which the human heart is
capable is so great that it is beyond the ability of man to comprehend. The heart of man
is an UNFATHOMABLE DEPTH, or, as Jeremiah observed, "The heart is deceitful above all
things, and desperately wicked: who can know it" (Jer. 17:9). While John the
Revelator saw the beast (outward manifestation) rising out of the sea (abyss, depth) of
humanity (the carnal mind), Jesus expressed the same truth thus, "For from WITHIN,
O-U-T O-F THE HEART OF MEN, proceed all these evil things!"
But God, blessed be His
wonderful name! has a remedy for this sea-dwelling beast, Leviathan the crooked Serpent,
the Dragon in the sea, for His plan of redemption is directed toward removing this beast
with His strong and mighty sword -- the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word (truth) of
God! The Word of the Lord declares, "thou rulest the RAGING OF THE SEA: when the
waves thereof arise, THOU STILLEST THEM" (Ps. 89:9). Many centuries ago the Spirit of
God inspired these beautiful words of promise, "The floods have lifted up, O Lord,
the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves. The Lord on high IS
MIGHTIER THAN THE NOISE OF MANY WATERS, yea, than the MIGHTY WAVES OF THE SEA" (Ps.
93:3-4). Praise God! HE rules the inner raging of the sea and He stills all its tempests!
That unstable nature within, so quickly moved by the storms created by the carnal mind,
the torrents of passion, the streams of vain imaginations, the waves of frustration and
fear, the winds of doubt and unbelief, the turbulent emotions of body and soul -- all are
quieted by the Lord, the Spirit, who arises within in peace, confidence, truth and faith
to RULE THE RAGING OF THE SEA. And then follows the calm, the state described by Paul, --
"that we be no more tossed to and fro with every wind...but may grow up in all things
into Him who is the Head, even Christ" (Eph. 4:14-15). The Spirit of God within is
great peace, overflowing joy, unfailing love, unwavering righteousness and omnipotent
power. It is only necessary then to gain the conscious awareness of the presence and life
of God as the essence of our being, and to know that this life is the law and substance of
our reality. When your consciousness is imbued with the Spirit of Truth -- not merely the
letter of truth, but the Spirit of Truth -- all inner and outer tempests are stilled, the
sea is calmed, and the Dragon out of the sea vanishes over the horizon.
When John beheld in vision
the unveiling of Christ -- Christ the Head and Christ the body -- he also saw "a
throne set in heaven" with Christ upon the throne. "And before the throne there
was a
The "Sword of the
Lord" is the Word of God, the living and energetic Word, the almighty Word by means
of which He slays the DRAGON IN THE SEA. When the bestial nature which once brought forth
raging waves of the sea is conquered the sea of man is peaceful and serene, expressing the
peace of the
The mark of what a kingdom
is, is to be seen in the King. Christ now reigns on the throne of the Father, and that
throne is individualized as the power of His presence in the heart of every saint. There
is an embodiment, a manifestation of the Kingdom; its power is seen in the lives of those
in whom it rules. The Christ lives and dwells and rules in our hearts! The blessed
firstborn Son proclaimed to those called to be His many brethren: "Peace I leave with
you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you" Jn. 14:27.
As you acquire peace in your heart from God by the spirit of sonship, I have good news for
you! You have received a dispensation of the
How the world needs this
peace! Men's hearts are failing them today for fear in looking after those things which
are coming upon the earth. The land is filled with violence, moral breakdown, broken
homes, corruption and evil men in government, gang warfare, rebellion, sorrow and death.
The world continually sinks deeper and deeper into sin and ever-increasing degradation,
reveling in drunkenness, promiscuity, sodomy, blowing its minds with drugs, deafened and
demented in body and soul by the raucous racket called "music", cheating, lying,
stealing, raping, murdering, until it has become a seething mass of godlessness and
immorality. Ah -- the TROUBLED SEA! How often the raging waves of that sea beat with fury
within our own breasts in the form of doubts, fears, frustrations, anxieties, sorrows and
confusion. Thank God, there is another sea, the sea of glass, the power of the Lord's
Spirit to minister the peace of God in the midst of tempest -- a strong and mighty Word of
the Lord with which to slay the Dragon in the sea. This is the message Jesus intended to
convey when in the midst of the storm on the
As we consider these
thoughts, may God almighty grant that His Spirit may instruct us in the way of truth and
understanding. When John beheld the Lord coming upon a white horse, followed by the armies
from heaven, he saw a sharp sword going out of His mouth "that with it He should
smite the nations: and He shall rule them with a rod of iron" (Rev. 19:15). In the
midst of all the confusion and darkness of this hour the Spirit of God is calling out a
people for His name. He is training them in the school of obedience and refining them in
the furnace of affliction. He is stripping them of self-interest, draining them of
self-will, plucking from their hearts all the deceptive ways of
These sons shall be able to
raise their voices in mighty declarations of authority. This authority is rooted in their
own experience. By the understanding of the Almighty they shall have conquered the Dragon
of sin and limitation and death in their own lives. Then shall be fulfilled on the
grandest scale ever the word spoken by the Lord, "And these signs shall follow them
that believe; in My name they shall cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them,
they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover" (Mk. 16:17-18). Some people
have thought this meant to be able to handle poisonous snakes without being bitten. Others
have supposed it meant that IF you accidentally took up a serpent, as Paul did on the
Thank God, this wonderful
victory is even now being established in the experience of a people apprehended of God.
How we long for such a day as this for all people and nations! Today we hear much of
"deliverance ministries" and many go about "casting out devils" in
lengthy sessions of exorcism attended by manifestations such as coughing, vomiting, etc.
Some are told they have legions of devils and they are given names like "lazy
devil," "false doctrine devil," "lust devil," "gossip
devil," etc., etc. We praise God for all who are delivered in any measure from
bondages of any kind, but often it is like a man at the mouth of the mighty Mississippi
trying to bail out the river with a bucket -- there seems to be no end to the masses of
spirits, bondages, problems, and works of the flesh with which people contend. We find,
however, that the redemptive work of Jesus Christ is not merely that which deals with the
branches of the tree, but is that which essentially must "lay the axe to the root of
the tree." That is, it is that which must take action against the Adamic mind,
against the Adamic nature that exists in the very root of men's lives. That is why Paul
said, "for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places" (Eph. 6:12). It is interesting to note that the word
"principalities" is from the Greek ARCHE meaning commencement, beginning,
origin. This bespeaks not of the branches of the tree, but the root -- the commencement,
beginning, origin or SOURCE of the problem -- not flesh and blood, but the SPIRIT which
now worketh in the sons of disobedience! This is the Serpent, Satan, the Devil enthroned
in the human nature!
The ultimate warfare lies in
that deep inner realm where the source of all things is found. As long as we content
ourselves to deal with individual "demons," or to treat "social ills,"
or to wage war "against sin," or to struggle with the "lusts of the
flesh," all of which exist in the external realm of the tentacles, we shall find
ourselves ever defeated in even these things. Do not try to reform the outer world of
appearances. When you meet with thievery, drunkenness, adultery, pride, cursing, false
religion, worldliness, or any form of degradation, do not look at it, but through it. Do
not look with the eyes, with the natural understanding or perception -- look with the
spirit of wisdom and revelation. Look through the individual, beholding by the spirit the
root and source of the issue -- and there will flow grace to help. We do not deal with
people in their outer form or with manifest problems -- we deal with spirit. We are not
called upon to heal a person; we are not called upon to reform a person; we are not called
upon to heal some terrible disease; we are not called upon to change the outer activity of
a human body. We are called upon to minister the living Presence, to impart mercy, love,
grace and power. Then the hearts of men will respond! "The grace of God that bringeth
salvation has appeared to all men." That is what we are called to do. Redemption lays
the axe to the root of the tree, deals with the strongman who sits enthroned in the
nature, pierces the head of the octopus, automatically destroying the power of the
tentacles! Speaking of the hour when the sons of God would rise to that place of authority
in Jesus Christ, John the Revelator wrote, "And there was war in heaven and the
dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not" (Rev. 12:7-8). Men must rise to that
place of understanding, consciousness, and authority in the Spirit wherein the axe is laid
to the root -- not to some individual manifestation, some outer expression, some external
action, some pesky little "demon" -- but to the ROOT ITSELF: the ADAMIC NATURE
WHERE SATAN'S SEAT IS! In dealing with the root, the tentacles will take care of
themselves. This goes far beyond merely "casting out" the negative, it involves
such a complete TRANSFORMATION OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND BEING until the negative HAS NO GROUND
TO STAND UPON, NO PLACE TO DWELL.
THE BOTTOMLESS PIT
"And I saw an angel come
down from heaven, having the key to the BOTTOMLESS PIT and a great chain in his hand. And
he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil, and satan, and cast him
into the BOTTOMLESS PIT, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him..." (Rev. 20:1-3).
The "bottomless
pit" is certainly not a hole in the ground; it is, rather, a Semitic symbol which
signifies a state or condition wherein there is no bottom, thus NO GROUND TO STAND UPON.
Satan was given "ground" in man's life when the Almighty declared to him,
"Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat..." (Gen. 3:14). Praise
God, when our adversary, the Devil, is cast into the bottomless pit, it means that he is
circumvented to a realm where he has no ground to stand upon, no base for his activity,
and no foundation upon which he can build his work. God is "pulling the rug out from
under the Devil" as He renews our minds and transforms our nature, that there be no
basis upon which the forces of evil can operate. This indicates such a transformation of
being that not only are the works of the Devil destroyed in us, but also it is impossible
for him to corrupt us again. Thus conformed to the image of the Son we can say with Jesus,
"The prince of this world cometh, and HATH NOTHING (no place) IN ME!"
In those blessed sons of God,
joined in Christ as one body, God is raising up a house in which He can dwell and manifest
His glory without interference or conflict. When the apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, he
revealed a truth which lies in contrast to the picture of Satan in the bottomless pit.
"...that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God,
which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth" (I Tim.
3:15). There are three aspects of the church mentioned in this wonderful passage: the
"house of God," the "church of the living God," and the "pillar
and ground of the truth." What does this term "the house of God" mean? When
you refer to "your house," you mean the place where you dwell, where you live,
where you work out your life, where you are comfortable and at home; and that is just the
meaning of the house of God. It is not an empty cliché, it is not a light or loose term.
The "house of God" is the place where God dwells, where He lives, where He works
out His life, where He is comfortable and at home without any strain or struggle. This
house is none other than the church of the living God. Notice that the term here is not
merely God, but the living God. He is living! He now dwells in the church, lives in the
church, moves in the church, and works out His life, not in some superstitious religious
way, but naturally and comfortably in the church. When we say that the church is the house
of God, we must have a very deep realization that God DWELLS, LIVES, AND WALKS OUT HIS
LIFE in this house!
The true church is not only
the house of God, but it is also THE PILLAR AND GROUND OF THE TRUTH. The question follows
-- What is truth? Do not think that truth means doctrine! Truth is not what you believe
about a thing, the truth is the very fact of the thing itself. The word truth means
REALITY. Nothing is real in the whole universe, nothing is truth; everything is but a
shadow. Nothing is what it appears to be. All of us could look at the same object, and
every one of us might see it differently. Many who read these lines have traveled and seen
in the distance a mountain having a certain form, perhaps a likeness to some other object.
But as you got closer and drove around the mountain it took on altogether different shapes
and the original appearance was not found there at all. Each of us interprets all things
according to the finite sense of human mind, in the light of the education, environment,
and background of our individual experience and knowledge. To understand that what we see
represents only our concept of that which is actually there is important. Everything that
can be seen, everything that can be touched, everything that can be possessed and enjoyed
is not real -- for creation is but the shadow of God. Only the Son is His image, His
out-raying, His manifestation -- all else is but His shadow. The correct understanding of
the book of Hebrews makes this very clear. Whatever exists in this universe is but a
shadow, not the real thing! What is the real thing? It is CHRIST -- HE is the reality of
everything! The food you eat is not the real food, but only the shadow of the real food.
The real food is Christ! The physical life you live is not real life, but only a shadow of
the real life. The real life is Christ! "I AM THE LIFE," saith the Lord.
“He that hath the Son hath life; he that hath not the Son of God hath not life"
(1 Jn. 5:12). If a friend has a photograph of himself, you will say, "This is so and
so.” But in truth that is not so and so. It is only a picture, an image, and a false
image at that. In fact, all images that are not the projection of life itself are false,
for living realities are not found in images. Most of what we call images are but shadows,
for a shadow is an image. All the types, all the figures, in the Old Testament, as well as
creation itself are but shadows of the REALITY WHICH IS CHRIST HIMSELF. Christ is the
truth, Christ is the reality of the whole universe. If you just have a doctrine about
Christ, you do not have the reality of Christ. And if your spirit has not been quickened
by His Spirit, you still do not have either life or reality, for the spirit of man is the
candle of the Lord, howbeit an unlit candle which gives no light! Christ Himself is the
reality, and His Spirit is the SPIRIT OF REALITY.
The people in whom this
living God dwells, lives, and moves, is the PILLAR AND GROUND upon which the reality
stands. It bears the reality. Within this people the living God dwells, and upon this
people the truth, the reality stands. Ah, as the nature of God's people is changed by the
Spirit of God Satan finds himself shut out, excluded from their lives, no ground to stand
upon, no base for his activity, indeed, HE IS IN A BOTTOMLESS PIT! As new creation people
our lives BECOME THE PILLAR AND GROUND of this universal reality, which is the Lord Jesus
Christ! In the church God dwells, because the church is the house of God. And upon this
people is BUILT THE REALITY OF CHRIST. Redeemed by His precious blood, justified by His
grace, quickened by His Spirit, transformed by His Word, we become the base, the sure
foundation upon which all the glory of God can be displayed. And on this holy ground is
where the saint of God discovers that Satan is bound, securely chained, and a great seal
set upon him. This is not a future event -- it is an eternal reality to those who walk in
the Spirit. In the story of the Pilgrim's Progress, you will remember that
"Christian" was approaching a narrow passage as he traveled toward Porter's
Lodge for the night. In the narrow passage he saw two lions but did not know that the
lions were chained. Then he was afraid and considered going back, for he thought that
nothing but death was before him. But the Porter at the lodge, whose name was
"Watchful," perceiving that "Christian" was about to turn back, cried
with a loud voice not to fear the lions for they were chained and could do him no harm. So
"Christian" warily walked into the narrow passage, trembling for fear of the
lions. He heard the lions roar. He felt their hot breath on his flesh, but they did him no
harm for they were, indeed, on a chain. "Christian" then clapped his hands for
joy and boldly went on through the narrow passage and arrived safely at the other side.
Satan, the roaring lion, is chained, my friend! Not going to be -- he IS. Jesus Christ,
the Son of the living God, the messenger of the everlasting covenant, has chained him and
set the seal upon him. And this Jesus lives and dwells and moves in you and me! Sometimes
it seems as if the world is full of lions crouched for a spring -- as if there are lots of
terrifying things about to happen from formidable adversaries all about. But when we
discover the power of the indwelling Christ, we find out that, as terrifying as those
things seem to be, they are already chained by God. Springing doesn't get them anywhere.
Hear it! All the reality of
the universe is established upon the lives of God's saints! If anyone wants to know what
life is, he will see and touch it in God' s people. If someone would like to know what
love is, what joy is, what peace is, what truth, faithfulness, righteousness, power,
glory, wisdom or knowledge is, he will see it and touch it upon and within this people.
"And the government shall be upon His shoulder" (Isa. 9:6). "Upon the
shoulder" means that THE WHOLE BODY BEARS THE WEIGHT OF IT. Jesus Christ is the Head,
the mind, the leader, but the power and glory of the Kingdom rests upon His body, the
PILLAR and GROUND of the TRUTH. What a day, when all nations become a bottomless pit for
Satan, and he has no more ground in the nature of the human family! I can tell you, dear
ones, that already Satan is finding very little "ground" to creep upon in those
elect sons apprehended as the firstfruits of God's redemption. Victory upon victory they
are gaining as they are changed from men of the dust to men of the Spirit, from the image
of the earthy to the image of the heavenly. The reality of His divine life is being built
up in their inner man, and even now THEY ARE THE GROUND, THE BASE, THE FOUNDATION OF THE
TRUTH, even Mount Zion of which it is written, "Behold I lay in Zion for a foundation
a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth
(this) shall not make haste (be anxious)" (Isa. 28:16).
THERE IS NO DEVIL ANYMORE!
"But if our gospel be
hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds
of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the
image of God, should shine unto them" (II Cor. 4:3-4). "But even unto this
day...the veil is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it (the heart) shall turn to the
Lord, the veil shall be taken away" (II Cor. 3:15-16).
Can we not see by reading
these instructive statements that if we can effectively express outwardly the reality of
the indwelling Christ, the world will see God. The Christ is unveiled in and through the
members of the Christ body. The good news we are proclaiming is in each one veiled,
waiting to be manifested and displayed. If the good news of the reconciliation of God, if
the good news of the glory of God, if the good news of immortality and life in Christ
Jesus, if the good news of the
It is now time that the
prince of this world be cast out, the spirit of blindness in men's minds, which veils the
glory of the Christ within. It is time for the Son of man to be glorified. Turn, O man,
and behold the Lord! See the Lord as He is in His temple! The god of this age doesn't want
this for any man. The god of this age is old Adam, the outer man, the man of your first
birth, the man of flesh, who minds earthly things. It is your manhood, your humanity that
does not want to fully see Christ, because for you to really see Christ is to give up all
the reasonings, preconceptions, understanding, knowledge, decisions and the pursuits of
the flesh to find that life-source which is the antithesis of SELF. The Adamic mind of
selfhood will seek to keep you looking away from the tree of life by every means at its
disposal. Contrary to what some teach, Self is not the Spirit, for except a man deny
Himself and take up his cross he cannot be the disciple of the Christ. Self will blind you
so that you will not turn to the Lord. Why must the prince of this world be cast out? So
that the light of the glory of God, who is the very IMAGE (GK: CHARACTER) of God, may
shine to men! The character is in you, it is in the Christ, in your spirit. When you
behold this Christ within the glory of Christ begins to shine and the veil is done away;
the character of God is seen by all about.
The one thing that terrifies
the forces of darkness is the fear that some day those who believe in Christ will wake up
to the dynamic potential in the life of the Spirit within them and begin to live fully out
of that realm. When this happens, the great problems that plague mankind will disappear.
Ignorance will go; sin will go; disease will go; limitation will go; Satan will go; death
will go; bondage of every sort will fade away and the
Most of the Lord's people
have an image of Jesus. They think they know just what the Lord looks like. But the image
invariably corresponds to the idea of what He was when He was here in the flesh. But there
isn't a single person in all the world today who can know just what Jesus might look like.
Until they get rid of that image, they are going to have a very limited conception of the
Christ. When the image goes and people begin to see Him as He really is, then our
conception of Him will be enlarged beyond anything we can imagine. Now, just as most of
God's people entertain an image of Jesus, SO THEY HAVE ONE OF SATAN. This image, too, must
go before any of us can see things correctly. When all of the seventy came back to Jesus
with the report that even the demons were subject unto them in the name of Jesus, He
counseled them not to rejoice in that fact, but to rejoice in the fact that their names
were written in heaven. Then the Lord announced, "I beheld Satan as lightning fall
from heaven" (Lk. 10:18). The preachers tell us that this refers to the time, away
back before the foundation of the world, when Lucifer was cast out of heaven. Orthodoxy
has long taught that Satan was, in the beginning, a high and beautiful archangel in
heaven. The theologians and preachers recite over and over how Satan was originally
"the anointed cherub that covereth...the most beautiful and wise of all God's
creations!" This being was, so they say, the ruler and leader of the angelic beings
and apparently led them in their praise of God and shouts of joy...the greatest creature
God ever created, one who had unequaled strength, wisdom, beauty, privilege, and
authority, and was next to God Himself. This blameless, perfect one, named Lucifer, was
created without any form of evil and with the greatest intelligence of any created being.
Then, we are told (Oh, the wonder of it!), this Lucifer, suddenly realizing how beautiful
and intelligent he was, became inflated with pride and power and his heart was lifted up
in rebellion against God. According to the story, Lucifer gathered one-third of the
heavenly angels to his cause, mustering an army with which he planned to knock God off His
throne and supplant himself as god and king of the universe -- and there was war in
heaven! Luckily, God won, cast Lucifer out of heaven and he became, instead of an holy
angel, the Devil that he is.
It is nothing short of
amazing that such a doctrine could have enjoyed such widespread acceptance in the light of
the plain teachings of the scriptures on this subject. Any man who fails to discern
between facts and fables, and who opposes and rebels against facts, is a fool. Fools
manifest their true state by resisting and ignoring facts. Please remember, there is a
world of difference between facts, beliefs, and fantasies. I believe the core of our
natural earth is hot, perhaps molten. But no man knows anything about the true conditions
down there. There is no possible way of ascertaining or demonstrating the truth or falsity
of my belief. So it remains merely a belief: it may be true, or it may be false. On the
other hand, if I thought our sun were a disk painted red, that would be a fantasy, just a
highly improbable or irrational idea of my own. But facts are altogether different. They
are actualities, realities, whether they can be demonstrated as such or not. Ice is cold.
That is a fact which can be demonstrated. The earth is round. That fact has through recent
centuries been conclusively demonstrated. It is neither a belief nor a fantasy. Fire
burns; one must have air to breathe; these are facts, and, only fools will oppose or
resist them. Now we are going to state some facts. Let us contrast what men say and
believe with what GOD says!
"How art thou fallen
from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which
didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I
will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the
congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds: I
will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the
pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is not
this the MAN that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; that made the world
as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his
prisoners?" (Isa. 14:12-17). It should be clear to every enlightened student of God's
Word that all truth has applications on different levels. It is my conviction that the
inspired statements in the afore quoted passage may be applied on the historical level,
the prophetical level, the spiritual level, and the personal level. In its first and
historical application the one called "Lucifer" refers to the literal king of
the Kingdom of Babylon in the days of Isaiah who -- although mighty in political and
military power and the most exalted ruler among nations -- would fall just like other
rulers of the past. The prophetical application points to the king of Mystery Babylon, the
chief antichrist of the world's apostate church system, who is not recognized for what he
is, but is lauded as the greatest religious leader in the world, by whom untold millions
of those who name the name of Christ are deceived, as it is written, "And the whole
world wondered after the beast." The spiritual application is found in the fall of
man from his original position of glory, eminence and dominion. The message is clear --
the subject of Isaiah's prophecy is a MAN -- not an angelic spirit-being! "They that
see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this THE M-A-N that
made the earth to tremble...that made the earth as a wilderness: that opened not the house
of his prisoners?" (Isa. 14:16-17).
"Lucifer," instead
of being the name of an angel who became the Devil, was THE NAME THE ANCIENT’S GAVE
TO THE MORNING STAR. Pliny, a noted historian of antiquity, says, "Before the sun
revolves, a very large star...when in advance and rising before dawn receives the name
Lucifer, being another sun and bringing the dawn..." Lucifer, the light-bringer, is
the Latin equivalent of the Greek word PHOSPHOROS, which is used as a title for Christ in
II Pet.1:19. Peter had been discussing the glorious experience that he, along with James
and John, had had with Jesus on the mount of transfiguration. Speaking of the voice that
spoke to them there, he said, "We have also a more sure word of prophecy whereunto ye
do well to take heed...until the day dawn and the DAY STAR (Greek: phosphoros; Latin:
lucifer) arise in your hearts." I do not have the ability to make this truth any
plainer than Jesus Himself made it when He called Himself the PHOSPHOROS or the LUCIFER in
Rev. 22:16, saying, "I AM...the BRIGHT AND MORNING STAR." In the messages of
Christ to the seven churches in the book of Revelation a special promise was always given
to him that overcometh, but to the church at Thyatira He gave a promise that is worthy to
fill every page of this article. May our Lord give us the spirit of revelation to
understand what He said: "And he that overcometh... I will give him THE MORNING
STAR" (Rev. 2:26, 28). Just think of that! My beloved, ponder if you will -- whether
we call it "Day Star", "Morning Star", or "Lucifer"-- it is
all the same. This "rising of the Day Star" in our hearts is the out-raying of
the Christ within, for, you see, HE IS the Day Star! It should be obvious to every
spiritual mind that what is recovered through the redemption of Jesus Christ is WHAT ADAM
HAD IN THE BEGINNING WITH GOD. Adam in the image and likeness of God was so indwelt by
light, so a partaker of the Christ Life, that he was himself a DAY STAR -- the shining one
of creation!
Truly, Adam is the man who
made the earth to tremble, who shook kingdoms, and made the earth a wilderness, for it was
to him and him alone that these terrible words were spoken, "Cursed is the ground
(earth realm) for thy sake" (Gen. 3:17). As we meditate upon these sobering words of
judgment, we cannot imagine words that more exactly describe the tragic picture of the
fall of man from his exalted position in God. Driven from the garden, the Kingdom of
Heaven on earth; the whole earth realm (cursed) with sorrow, sin and death for his sake;
no more could Adam hear the voice of God walking in the cool of the day -- he no longer
possessed spiritual ears. No more could Adam eat of the blessed fruit of the tree of life
-- he no longer possessed a spiritual mind. No more could Adam behold the glories of that
heavenly realm -- he no longer possessed spiritual eyes. He who had never known anything
but the rest of God was to labor and toil in the earth. The heavens were closed, the
communion with the spirit was broken, and Adam found himself stripped of the life and
light and dominion that had been his -- he no longer possessed a spiritual nature. What a
loss! What unspeakable loss!
In its personal application
the king of
When the Lord Jesus told his
disciples that He beheld satan as lightning fall from heaven, He was saying that he had
seen Satan FALL OUT OF HIS (JESUS) HEAVEN, or actually Jesus had seen Satan FALL BEFORE
HIM, and become subservient to Him in the realm of the Spirit. So far as Jesus was
concerned Satan was no longer in possession of any authority whatsoever. Jesus spake not
of an historical event, but a living reality that He had seen occur within His own
consciousness, life and ministry. THIS WE ALL MUST SEE AND KNOW if we are to have any
sense of victory in our lives, if we are to truly walk as the sons of God. We must realize
that if Satan has fallen he is not the almost-almighty head of a kingdom, but he has been
stripped and his kingdom has been broken. This must be embraced as a wonderful reality
within ourselves. When we realize that Satan has fallen before THE CHRIST WITHIN US, then
we really will be set free! When this truly happens we are on our way -- not to a rapture
-- but to that high and holy position that God has created for us and determined to bring
us to.
To those who have Satan yet
in their consciousness elevated to a position of power and who carry in their thinking an
image of him, HE HAS NOT AS YET FALLEN. Such people have made a god of him, but in your
life, precious one, He is to be cast down, and you are to know once and for all that THERE
IS ONLY GOD WHO RULES ALL. If God is controlling a part of this world and Satan is running
another part, may God indeed help us ! We would be under two governments and our lives
would be a hell. But to some of us, at least, SATAN HAS FALLEN and has ceased to be a king
in our domain. When this truth is revealed in power and glory within your deepest heart,
for you, at last, THERE WILL BE NO DEVIL ANYMORE!
In closing this message I
would share a beautiful and significant vision received by a sister in
"Wrapping me in His
love, He carried me away in spirit into the world of harmonic life and light. There, after
His usual welcome of love and taking away my fears, He took me to look. When I did so, I
saw what seemed to be dark, evil-looking teeth which were sharp, pointed, long and ugly.
Coming out from these teeth was something very repugnant which He named
"poison". Then God took something that was a part of His very own being and gave
it to those ugly, hollow teeth that looked like great serpent fangs which were pouring out
poison. This poison from the fangs flowed into that part of Himself which God had given to
them, and in this way were fully satisfied. Flowing into the part which God had given, the
poison was fully satiated. This part -- which had come forth from Him and was a part of
His own being -- completely absorbed all the poison that these great Fangs poured
forth" -- end quote. What a Word!
Chapter
21
SAGITTARIUS
-- THE ARCHER
We come now in our study to
the fourth in the Signs of the Zodiac -- SAGITTARIUS. The word Sagittarius means THE
ARCHER. He is a Centaur with the body of a horse and the torso of a man. The human portion
of the Centaur is a man with a bow and arrow and he is drawing the bow and aiming the
arrow at Atares – the very heart of the Scorpion. The apostle Paul in the book of
Acts (Acts 17:28) quotes from "Diosemeia,” a great poem by the Greek poet
Aratus, which sets forth the whole picture of the Zodiac into verse. Not many are aware
that Paul quoted from a famous poem about the Zodiac -- and appealed to the words of that
poem as confirmation of the fact that man is the offspring of God! When Aratus comes to
the section on Sagittarius he says,
“Midst golden stars he
stands refulgent now, and thrusts the Scorpion with his bended bow.”
This is the picture of One
who in refulgent glory rides forth upon a white horse with a bow, going forth as the
conquering King to conquer and to conquer. It is the war between Christ and Satan. We hear
much talk about "Star Wars." My beloved, the real star wars are written in the
starry heavens by the fingers of the omnipotent and omniscient God of the universe. The
constellations of the heavens depict the spiritual battle behind all earthly battles. The
one who is conquered is the Scorpion -- the Prince of darkness, the Lord of sin, sorrow
and death. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Conqueror of the Scorpion!
Sagittarius has been
discovered by the American astronomer, Harlow Shapley, to be the center of the Milky Way
galaxy. I was not previously aware of that fact. But I think it is particularly
interesting to note that here is the first great picture of Christ the Redeemer going
forth to destroy Satan. It turns out that Sagittarius (the archer, the conqueror) is the
center of our galaxy, as well as Christ the great Redeemer. To my mind that is indeed a
fascinating observation. You see, not only is our galaxy the launching pad for God's
redemptive and reconstructive program on behalf of the whole creation, but the fact that
Sagittarius is located at the center of our galaxy bespeaks of a truth wondrously set
forth in type and symbol not only in the celestial heavens, but also in the Garden of
Eden, and indeed throughout the revelation of the scriptures. We have discussed this in a
previous message, but let me reiterate for a moment. Against the background of the picture
of the Garden of Eden it is related how man was put into this Garden in order to live in
it and how two trees stood in the middle of the Garden: one the tree of life, the other
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And upon these two trees IN THE MIDDLE OF THE
GARDEN the destiny of man was to be decided. Two trees in the middle. First of all there
is the tree of life: LIFE, abundant, immortal, incorruptible, eternal! It was IN THE
MIDDLE -- that is all that is said about it! It was right there in man's consciousness, in
man's nature. The life that comes forth from God is in the middle. This means that God,
the source of life, is in the middle. Adam's life was to come from the middle which was
not Adam in his self-consciousness, but in his God-consciousness. This means that with God
as his center man would have life. Christ was the center. It means that man was created
and formed with the wonderful capacity to LIVE IN THE SPIRIT and WALK AFTER THE SPIRIT.
"For...to be SPIRITUALLY MINDED is life" (Rom. 8:6).
But, like the tree of life,
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil also stands in the middle of the Garden! To
this tree is attached the command not to eat of it upon penalty of death. Death in the
middle. Within. In man's very nature. Thus it is declared with unquestionable certainty
that man was formed with the capacity to LIVE IN THE FLESH and WALK AFTER THE FLESH.
"For to be CARNALLY MINDED is death" (
Long centuries ago the sweet
singer of
Commenting on this beautiful
passage Joseph A. Seiss wrote: "These words are from one of the most glowing of the
Psalms, in the writing of which David's heart boiled with goodly words. It is marked: 'To
the chief Musician upon Shoshannim, for the sons of Korah -- Maschil. A song of
loves.’ The lily-instrument, the master-performer, and the whole body of singers were
called into requisition for its rendering. As a sublime ode it was to be given with the
sublimest skill, for it relates to the loveliest of heroes in the loveliest of His
aspects, offices, and relations to His people. This hero is none other than the promised
Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, in His royal majesty and glory subsequent to His
resurrection, and as to be hereafter revealed. When on earth He was despised and rejected
of men, but here He is celebrated as 'beautiful, beautiful, above the sons of man,'
endowed with every grace and invested with all authority and power. When on earth He was
meek and non-resistant, not breaking so much as a bruised reed; but here He is
contemplated and addressed as a mounted warrior, riding as a king, armed with bow and
arrows, shooting down His enemies. His character here is that of the Mighty One, girding
Himself with honor and majesty, and going forth to victory. John, in his visions of the
future, beheld 'a white horse; and He that sat on him had a bow; and He went forth
conquering and to conquer.' It is the same divine Hero, in the same character, offices,
and work, in both instances. He has a crown, a throne, and a cause -- which cause He
enforces with invincible majesty. His former sufferings are now turned to aromatic
perfumes upon Him. Out of the ivory palaces He is gladdened with the sound of a harp. And
in glory and triumph He rides forth unto victory, hailed by the daughters of kings and
worshipped by the queen at His right hand arrayed in the gold of Ophir. The picture is
particularly magnificent. We cannot contemplate it without sharing the enthusiasm with
which the inspired Psalmist sketched it. But the surprising thing is, that it is also in
the Zodiac, and appears at full length in THE SIGN OF SAGITTARIUS! In this sign we have
again the double-natured Seed of the virgin, the Son of God as the Son of man. The figure
is that of a mighty warrior with bow and arrows, riding prosperously" -- end quote.
THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST
Let us now consider the more
excellent glory of the King of kings and Lord of lords, whom God has ordained to subdue
all things, to bring blessedness to all the earth, and reconciliation and transformation
to every man who has lived, or ever will live. The fifth and sixth chapters of Revelation
concern themselves with the almost incredible processes of God in Christ effecting this
wondrous victory in the hearts and lives of men. Many years before this vision on Patmos
John, the beloved, treading the dusty trails of Palestine, beheld in the life of his
beloved Master the blazing glory of God in such spiritual warfare in an infinitely greater
way than ever any man had experienced, overcoming the compounded powers of the world, the
flesh, and the devil, triumphing over sin, death, and the grave. Satan dogged His path and
the flesh shouted its claims, but He overcame both the devil and the flesh. At last He lay
within the lonely precincts of the tomb, facing the last enemy, the greatest enemy --
death itself. There He met and mastered that enemy, demonstrating within the narrow tomb
the awesome power of the Spirit of life over mortality and corruption. There were
rock-ribbed walls in the way, and a great stone must be rolled away from the entrance to
the tomb; but Jesus vanquished every obstacle and stepped forth from His gloomy
resting-place, crowned with the glory of a sublime victory, an eternal triumph, opening up
the way to life and immortality to all who are willing to follow Him into the power and
glory of the Kingdom of God. Our Lord is a SPIRITUAL CONQUEROR!
Now on desolate
The book of Revelation is
first and foremost a SPIRITUAL BOOK. It is a book of spiritual realities communicated by
means of signs and symbols. You will not read the fulfillment of its prophecies on the
pages of Newsweek magazine, but you will see them manifest in the lives of men and women
and in the great accomplishments of the
The very first statement in
the book of Revelation is -- "The REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST." It is T-H-E
REVELATION, not "revelations" plural, or a series of revelations. Everything in
the book bespeaks of the unveiling of Jesus Christ. It is not "The Revelation of
Saint John the Divine," as the Bible translators have erroneously titled it. It is
the only book in the Bible of which we are told that it is a revelation. It is not that
the other books do not contain the same revelatory characteristic; but our attention is
specifically called to the fact that this is THE REVELATION of Jesus Christ. This is
significant. Many Bible teachers believe that the book must be one of future earthly
events that were to be unfolded, but it is my deepest conviction that this is not the
case. The Revelation cannot be intended as a series of historical happenings because it is
the revelation of a Person, God and man (the Centaur) -- Jesus Christ. After the Lord
Jesus ascended into the heavens, He remained hidden behind the cloud that had received Him
on the
The great Italian sculptor,
Benvenuto Cellini, told of receiving a block of marble with one flaw. Because of this
flaw, no artist would submit a design -- except one. In the public
One can never understand
correctly the book of Revelation if his eyes are engaged with some side issue. The
unveiling of "the beast" and his "image" and his "mark" are
side issues. That is, they are merely revealed as the result of the flooding light issuing
forth from God's blessed Lamb. When Jesus Christ is revealed, in that true light of God,
the brightness of His glory, the negative realm appears AS IT IS, for what it is, that it
may be duly brought to judgment, dealt with and eradicated from our lives. The fiercest
beast I have ever known in my life was the beast of old Adam's nature, the carnal mind,
the seed of the serpent lurking within my own bosom. The heart is deceitful above all
things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? How I praise God with joy unspeakable and
full of glory for the penetrating light of heaven's Lamb which uncovers the subtleness and
deceitfulness of this wild beast raging within MY EARTH! Years ago we lived in
Not only is this the
Revelation of Jesus Christ, but of this Revelation the Seer of
You will understand a great
truth when you understand that a sign is never the reality -- it merely points to the
reality. The fact that the Revelation of Jesus Christ was communicated to John in the form
of signs and symbols shows clearly that there is no "literalness" in the book.
When you read of a candlestick it is not a literal lamp stand of beaten gold, it stands
for a reality, in this case the living
The book of the Revelation of
Jesus Christ will never be plumbed by human intellect. One has asked, "Was there not
a key sent with the book, and has this been lost: Was it thrown into the
No word given to a prophet
from the Lord by the Holy Spirit can be truthfully understood or interpreted unless the
same spiritual understanding is given to the reader by the Holy Spirit that gave it
originally to the prophet. You must have the ability to "hear what the Spirit
saith," and it must be in the same anointing wherein it was spoken and written. The
book of Revelation, like any other part of the scriptures and prophecies of the Holy
Spirit, must be "spiritually" understood. The term "in the Spirit" is
much more profound than it appears in our English translation. The Greek word means
"to become, or became." What John relates here is that he became in Spirit. He
received an entrance into a realm that was much deeper and more intense than his world of
outer consciousness -- beyond the material realm. He came into the realm of heaven, and
heaven is the omnipresent realm of Spirit. Heaven is the home of all celestial beings -
not a geographical or astral location, but a dimension of life, being, reality and
consciousness. The purpose of the Revelation is to reveal to us what takes place when one
enters into the realm of the Spirit, to live and move and have his being in the Spirit.
When we enter into this new realm we experience new things happening to us.
Many years ago Albert Hughes
penned the following words of keen spiritual insight: "The vision will be understood
only by the spiritual man. The natural man will meet with many difficulties as he seeks to
know the book. No human intellect or natural ability will be sufficient. Only the
spiritually discerning will ever discern. The book has a language all its own, a language
fully foreign except to those whose conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look
for the Savior. Only those in whose mind is the light of glory will ever understand these
sublime symbols, this precious phraseology. Only in the Spirit is such triumph possible.
Physically, John was in
"John was a translated
man, a transformed man. Only the Spirit can do this. When this takes place in any life, we
hear and see things not possible at any other time. John was told to write what he heard
and saw, a most difficult task indeed. And to get others to believe you when you do write,
is even more difficult. For nearly two thousand years, men have been disputing concerning
what John wrote. How can men who have never seen and heard, judge the writings or the
discourses of those who by the Spirit have both seen and heard? It is a mystery certainly,
but not a mystery which cannot be understood. It is a revealed mystery, revealed to those
who have been enlightened. This mystery can never be known by the natural man, with all
his natural powers, but it is a mystery which is blessed to those whose minds and hearts
have been touched by the Divine Spirit. May that Spirit who makes all revelation
understood, come to us (in consciousness) and make plain this Word, this Voice, this
Vision, this Personality. May we meet with him who was dead, but is alive again, until He
makes us glad with the joy of His countenance, until our faces are lighted with the light
of His eternal glory, until our hearts burn within us with the fullness of His reality,
leading us ever onward and upward until we see Him face to face, and become like Him by
seeing Him even as He is" -- end quote.
THE SEALED BOOK
The fifth chapter of the book
of Revelation represents a scene in heaven -- the realm of Spirit. A book is held in the
right hand of the Majesty on high, in the hand of Him who sits upon the throne of
Omnipotence. The scene is purely spiritual. God is omnipresent Spirit. God never sat on a
throne. He never held a book in His right hand. His throne is the dimension of His
omnipotent power. The book is the symbol of the revelation of Himself in and through a
people. The book was not a book as we know books, but a scroll of papyrus or parchment,
written on both sides, rolled up and sealed with seven seals. No one has been able to open
the book or even look upon it, signifying that none were able to DISCERN that which was
written therein. John, who has been watching the transcendent scene, has been moved to
tears because no one has been able to take the book or break the seals; but presently the
Lamb comes to the great throne-sitter and takes the book out of His hand. Immediately all
heaven breaks forth into song, and the voices cry: "Thou art worthy to take the book,
and to open the seals thereof: for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy
blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our
God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth" (Rev. 5:9-10). It is a song
of triumph, proclaiming that the rule, the reign and glory of redemption and the Kingdom
of God is come; that a people has been redeemed to manifest His power and His life on the
earth. This book has to do with redemption and the manifestation of the power of the
The scene is rooted in the
old Hebrew custom regarding the purchase of property. When property was purchased the deed
to the new owner was made out in duplicate, an open copy and a sealed copy. The open copy
was clearly for public information, open to all; the sealed copy as clearly belonged only
to the owner of the property as his evidence of ownership. If a new heir came to take
possession of an estate, or in case of a dispute over ownership, the claimant who was
adjudged the rightful heir or owner would be given the possession of the sealed roll, or
deed. And, as so attested by the judge, he only would be properly qualified to
"take" the sealed roll, break the seal, read its contents, and formally take
possession of the property. Now it is under the symbolism of this old bit of Hebrew custom
that our Lord Jesus is here represented as stepping forward to take possession of the
purchased possession and begin His reign over it. A Hebrew, immersed in the old primitive
customs prevailing among his people in the
Such a book was written,
subscribed, sealed and rolled when Jeremiah purchased a plot of ground in Anathoth of
Hanameel, the son of Shallum, his uncle. He says, "And I bought the field that was in
Anathoth of Hanameel my uncle's son, and weighed him the money, seventeen shekels of
silver. And I signed the deed and sealed it, and called witnesses, and weighed him the
money on scales. So I took the deed of the purchase, both that which was sealed,
containing the terms and conditions, and the copy which was unsealed, and I gave the
purchase deed to Baruch the son of Neriah, in the sight of Hanameel my uncle's son and the
witnesses who signed the purchase deed, in the presence of all the Jews who sat in the
court of the guard. And I charged Baruch before them, saying, Thus says the Lord of hosts,
the God of Israel: Take these deeds, both this purchase deed which is sealed, and this
open deed, and put them in an earthenware vessel, that they may last a long time (this was
just prior to the Babylonian exile). For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:
Houses and fields and vineyards shall be purchased yet again in this land" Jer.
32:9-15). This deed was a book similar to the seven-sealed book taken by the hand of the
Lamb from the hand of the throne-sitter. It is the "evidence of purchase." It is
the "book of purchase." It is the title deed of HIS inheritance in the saints!
It is the value of our redemption! It is the substance of our inheritance! Truly, O Lord
Jesus, "Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for Thou
hast redeemed us..." "Redeemed!" That signifies an ownership by
"purchase." He could take the book because He was the purchaser. The book was
the evidence of His purchase, the book of His purchase. As the celestial choir announces
that He has purchased them by His blood; that He has made them a KINGDOM OF PRIESTS, and
that they will reign on the earth as the result of His taking and opening the book, then,
evidently, the book being the evidence of His purchase, is THE TITLE DEED TO HIS KINGDOM.
It is the book which unfolds
for us and in us and through us everything that pertains to our inheritance in Christ. It
is the revelation of the spirit-- the spirit of wisdom and revelation from God. It is the
spirit of prophecy, which is the testimony of Jesus. The breaking of the seals is the
solemn and judicial way in which the Lamb nature establishes His rule and reign in those
who have been purchased. It is the processing of God whereby the life of the Lamb is
uncovered and unfolded within us. This is a book within a book. Literally, in the book of
Revelation the seven-sealed book is a book within the book John wrote of his visions.
However, spiritually this means that John was brought to the place where he could see the
intention of God written in the nature of a people. There are seven seals upon this book.
The number seven denotes that contained in this book (Spirit) is the totality of God's
character and the complete revelation of His will and purpose. As these seals are loosed
in God's people they begin to experience the fullness of all that God is. There has never
been an expression of God at this level in the earth at any time except in the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ, for it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell.
But now there is a people, His body, the completion of Him, that has been sealed unto the
day of redemption and when God has loosed in them all the seals there will be brought
forth in the earth a many membered expression of God at the same level of God's fullness.
You will know Him no longer by measure, you will see Him no more through a glass darkly,
or as a reality beyond and outside of yourself. He will no longer be a mental image, a
good feeling, an ideal, a philosophy or doctrine. You will know Him even as you are known
by Him and will see Him face to face.
A remarkable prophecy was
given by a saint of God in the year 1619. A portion of this prophecy confirms the truth I
now share. It says, "There shall be a full redemption of Christ. This is a hidden
mystery not to be revealed or understood without the revelation of the Holy Spirit. The
Holy Spirit is at hand to reveal the same unto all holy seekers and loving enquirers. The
completion of such redemption is withheld and abstracted by the seals of Revelation.
Wherefore; as the Spirit of God shall open seal after seal, so shall this redemption come
to be revealed, both particularly and universally. In the gradual opening of the mystery
of redemption in Christ, does consist the unsearchable wisdom of God, which will
continually reveal new and fresh things to the worthy seeker. The unsealing of the living
testimony (perfected remnant of Believers, the manchild, the literal sons of God's
people), along with the ark of God (Jesus Christ), must begin the promulgation of the
everlasting Gospel of the Kingdom" -- end quote.
WORTHY TO OPEN THE BOOK
"And I saw a strong
angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the
seals thereof? And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to
open the book, neither to look thereon. And I wept much, because no man was found worthy
to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. And one of the elders saith unto
me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of
"Worthy" is from
the Greek word AXIOS. In his inspired and inimitable way Ray Prinzing has shared on this
thought: "We pause to note the word 'worthy,' being the Greek word AXIOS. While the
word means: to be deserving, to merit, there is a depth contained in this expression, and
some Bible Scholars give it to mean: worthy by rank, by character, by ability, by action.
Certainly Christ's merits were equal to the honor, and His abilities to the task. His
character was without blemish and without spot. His rank was as the very Son of God. And
all that He did now causes us to bow before Him, and sing, 'Thou art worthy!' John beheld
the book in the right hand of Him who sat upon the throne -- full well he knew what that
document was -- evidence of an inheritance lost, and yet with a promise of redemption.
Perhaps he waited with bated breath for one to come and open the book -- fulfill its
requirements, and bring forth the promised redemption. And NO MAN was found -- not even
among the saints who 'by faith' were among 'the spirits of just men made perfect’
(Heb. 12:23). None found in heaven, and certainly none found on earth. From the time when
Adam and Eve had sewed their fig leaves together for a covering, man has consistently
tried to work out his own redemption, and utterly failed. Through all his self-righteous
efforts he has proven over and over again the utter futility of man to regain his lost
inheritance. There are no 'do-it-your-self' works which will avail. Once any man has lost
his first estate of innocence and purity, he cannot redeem himself back into that estate
again. But when none was found worthy to open the book, his emotions could be held in
restraint no longer, and he wept much. If none was found worthy, then the promise of the
prophets, the hope of all the saints, yea, of all creation was dashed to despair. Failure
at this point, and people would remain in corruption, forever subject to the tyranny of
change and decay. This was a crucial moment! As goes the words of the beautiful Christmas
Carol: 'The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee...' Faith that held mankind
through his trials would be meaningless. The Word which had sustained them through deep
processings would become as a fable. Redemption was the only answer, and if there be none
to redeem, what then? So John went on weeping" -- end quote.
Who is worthy? In the natural
there is none worthy. But when you begin to look into the Spirit you see that there is One
that is worthy. The One who has prevailed to open the book is the Lion of the tribe of
All through the Old Testament
we find that God was looking for a man to carry out His purposes. But when we read
Revelation chapter five we find that no man on earth was able to open the book sealed with
seven seals. I can understand that no man on earth was found able. Those of us who are
living way beneath our privileges in the realm of the earthlies are not worthy, nor
capable. I can also understand that no man under the earth, those living in the underworld
in the sensual, carnal, devilish realm, was found able. But then it goes on to say: No man
in heaven. No man living even in the heavenlies, that place of exaltation, triumph and
power, seated with Christ in the heavenly places, was found able, not only to open the
book, but even to look thereon. In these days of transition from the church to the Kingdom
the full expression of His redemption must be made manifest in a people and it begins with
the opening of the seven sealed book, written within and on the backside -- and HE ALONE
CAN OPEN IT! Beware, my beloved, of any man or ministry who tries to lead you to believe
that he alone has the message of the hour, that he alone possesses insight into the sacred
secrets of God, that he alone has the keys to life and immortality, and if you grab on to
his coat-tail he will usher you into the Kingdom. God's people are always looking for a
man, perhaps we have felt that if God could find a man who would be totally committed to
Him and to Truth, His purposes in the earth could be fulfilled. But no matter how
dedicated, committed, filled with truth and revelation, capable and heavenly minded a man
may be, no matter what spiritual progress or position or growth a man may have, when it
comes to the unveiling of Jesus Christ in the breaking of the seals which releases the
forces that will eventually bring about the full expression of life and glory and power --
NO MAN WAS FOUND WORTHY, NAY, NOT EVEN ANY MAN I-N H-E-A-V-E-N! This is a word that needs
to be heard by many who are pressing into the Kingdom in this hour.
As we move into these
significant days of the transition of ages and nothing much seems to happen, we start
blaming ourselves, or our teachers, or the prophets, and we ask, "Where is this
greater manifestation of the Spirit, this coming expression of the Kingdom?" We are
not speaking here about healing some sick and casting out some devils which in times past
we have called revival. These things take place all the time, but by and large the world
does not even know they are happening. That is not what the Day of the Lord is to bring
forth: a little moving over here and a little stirring over there, but THE RELEASE OF THE
FULLNESS OF THE LIFE AND NATURE AND WISDOM AND POWER AND GLORY OF GOD OVER ALL THE EARTH.
This is the unveiling of the triumphant One, who by His death, resurrection and ascension
to the right hand of the Father has prevailed. He is the only one worthy and able and
willing in these last days to open the seals and to bring about the purposes of God, the
release and sending forth into all the earth of the seven eyes of the Lord that run to and
fro in all the earth to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are perfect
towards Him, or the seven horns of the power of the Lord that go forth to triumph and
prevail over all the powers of darkness, or the seven lamps of fire that are to go and
bring the glory of God to fill the whole earth even as the waters cover the sea. Let us
forget about preachers, the people, our abilities, the gifts, and let us look UNTO JESUS.
I believe it is God's purpose that the whole
Oh! may Jesus Christ find a
new centrality In us. Many have Him in some corner of their life, but not central in their
devotion, in their prayer life, in their business, their appetites, their finances. We may
be able to get away with it for some time, but when we go to seek Him, He will not be
there. He is pushed away into other areas of our life, off-center, and when we start
looking for Him we cannot find Him, for He is buried beneath all the clutter of our outer
life and mortal consciousness. The only place to find Jesus Christ is in the center of our
life, our desires, our hopes. If He is not in the center, we will have a problem. He must
be in the midst of the golden candlesticks. "Cry out and shout thou inhabitants of
Even though we are kings and
priests and have an authority to reign on the earth, we are not worthy to open the book,
neither to look thereon. Recently I felt a deep cry in my spirit and I said to God,
"There is nothing more that can be done. I know of no prayer that can be prayed, no
faith that can be exercised, no knowledge that can be revealed, no action that can be
taken to bring forth this sonship, this is as far as we can go." There comes a time
when our pressing into the Kingdom does no good. There is no one in heaven, nor on the
earth, nor in the underworld that has the ability to even look upon the book, much less to
open it. Here is a realm that is shut up to God Himself. It is the Spirit that quickeneth,
the flesh profiteth nothing. The fullness, the life, the immortality, the manifestation of
power and wisdom and glory will never come until we first see the One who possesses it,
until Jesus Christ is revealed by the Spirit as the One who is triumphant, even as the
slain Lamb, the One who is central in the purposes of God and the One who has the seven
horns, the seven eyes, and the seven spirits. Some "sonship" preachers and
teachers apply every scripture and revelation to the many-membered body, ignoring
completely the Head. But our Lord Jesus Christ is the rightful One to look upon, the One
who is worthy to look upon, to open the book, to loose the seals, and to receive all the
honor and glory and praise. "Thou art worthy!"
THE FOUR HORSEMEN
The legendary Four Horsemen
of the Apocalypse are, to most minds, one of the Bible's greatest riddles. Nearly two
thousand years ago the apostle John first recorded the details of their grim ride, and
ever since scholars and ordinary believers alike have wondered what they represent. Much
has been written concerning the Four Horsemen, much of it misapplied to struggles between
nations and would-be world conquerors, or to the horrors of tribulation under the
antichrist. Actually, however, the book of Revelation is not concerned with worldly
kingdoms and empires except as they become linked with the affairs of God's people. The
book of Daniel, written under the Old Covenant, addressed to a natural people living in a
natural land, ruled by natural laws, with a natural worship by rituals and ceremonies, is
therefore a natural book dealing with natural events -- the rise and fall of empires,
rulers, wars, etc. The book of Daniel was not a revelation or revealing. It was a SEALED
BOOK. "But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book even unto the time of
the end" (Dan. 2:4). The book of Revelation, contrary to common thought, is not the
sequel to the book of Daniel, nor is it a parallel revelation. In fact, it has almost
nothing in common with the book of Daniel. The book of Revelation was written under the
New Covenant, the Covenant of the Spirit, and is therefore a spiritual book, addressed to
spiritual people, born of the heavenly
The Four Horsemen of the
Apocalypse are among the most significant of the great symbols in the Word of God because
they give the key to the processings of God within us. When you have grasped their full
significance, by understanding how the scriptures speak of horses, in order to teach
spiritual truth, you will have gained an appreciation of Bible symbolism. The Bible is not
written in the style of an ordinary book. It has a method all its own of conveying
spiritual realities through picturesque symbols, which is the language of SPIRIT
communicated to the mind of man, wisdom expressed in terms comprehensible by people in all
ages in different parts of the world and of different degrees of spiritual developments.
The symbol of horsemen is a
strange one to the Western mind. We associate horses with useful labor and sport, but the
Eastern mind associated the horse and his rider with war. The horse is without equal for
beauty in the animal kingdom. His body is alive with rippling muscles. His mane and tail
are items of extreme beauty. The horse is among the most intelligent of animals and few
creatures can equal his strength and swiftness. No animal is of greater service to
mankind. For pleasure, for work, and for war the horse exceeds them all. In Bible days the
strength of armies was often reckoned by the number and greatness of their horses and
chariots. In his prophetical account of the army of the Lord, Joel declares, "the
appearance of them is as the appearance of HORSES; AND AS HORSEMEN, so shall they
run" (Joel 2:4). "The horse is prepared against the day of battle" (Prov.
21:31). It is significant that in the scriptures you do not find horses mentioned in
connection with agricultural purposes, but for riding or drawing chariots, and for use in
battle.
It is significant to note
that the term "redemption" means in the Greek "loosing." We are now
entering the day of loosing (redemption) and our spirit joined to the Lord's Spirit is
beginning to express more of His life than ever before. The only hindrance is the dominion
of the soul -- our own will, mind, emotion and desire. In order for Christ to be fully
revealed in us, these negative attributes of the carnal nature must be effectively dealt
with. Before the One who has purchased us for the base of His operation can take full
possession of His inheritance in us there must be the dispossession of all that hinders
the expression of the Spirit. Just as the children of
The Four Horses and their
Riders present a picture of God's dealings, strippings, purgings, prunings, and
processings by which we are reduced to God. Swift, powerful, irresistible ruin is visited
on our outer world of illusion, and our inner heart of deceit. As the seals of the
revelation of Himself are opened, we note that what comes forth represents that which is
within us -- the power of life symbolized as horses. These are symbols of great strength,
power and overcoming (Zech. 10:3; Joel 2:1-6; Rev. 19:11-14). "This is the victory
that overcometh the world, even our faith." These things begin to happen when we
discover the book within, when we lay hold upon the Spirit realm; then there will follow
an unsealing of those seals that have been closed so long, and as the seals are broken
there is an unfoldment of the triumphant nature of the Christ within. As the outer
dimension of our life is stripped away, the inner vitality of the Christ emerges into
view. HE becomes revealed! This is God's intention -- not to rapture us away to some far
off heaven somewhere, but to unseal the book of life within us, for we have this treasure
in an earthen vessel and this earthen vessel has veiled the reality of what lies within --
the fullness of God in the Christ within!
As the Father opens His Book
of Life -- which Book we are-- He is actually sending forth the Spirit of His Word in a
triumphant outflowing which will not cease till every valley has been filled and every
hill has been made level, till our heavens and our earth have been purged from every stain
of pollution and every heart beats in union with the heart of God. This is the Centaur,
the horse and his rider in the heavens armed with a bow, SAGITTARIUS sending his arrows
into the heart of the Scorpion. This is CHRIST THE CONQUEROR! I believe it, and may God
hasten it to us all in Jesus' name...Amen!
Chapter
22
SAGITTARIUS
- THE ARCHER
(continued)
In the grand prophetic drama
of GOD'S BIBLE IN THE SKY the fourth scene is called SAGITTARIUS - THE ARCHER. He is a
Centaur with the body of a horse and the torso of a man. The human portion of the Centaur
is a man with a bow and arrow and he is drawing the bow and aiming the arrow at Atares --
the very heart of the Scorpion. I think it is particularly interesting to note that here
is the first picture of Christ the Redeemer going forth to destroy the adversary. His
character here is that of the Mighty One, girding Himself with honor and majesty, and
going forth to victory. He rides as a King, armed with bow and arrows, shooting down His
enemies. The one who is conquered is the Scorpion -- the Prince of darkness, the Lord of
sin, sorrow and death. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Conqueror of the Scorpion! This is the
picture of One who in refulgent glory rides forth upon a white horse with a bow, going
forth as the Conquering King to conquer, and to conquer. The apostle John in his visions
of
THE FOUR HORSEMEN
John the Revelator, as he
entered upon the marvelous visions recorded in the book of Revelation, saw a door opened
in heaven and heard a voice as of a trumpet speaking with him, and saying, "Come up
hither, and I will show thee things..." The door opened in heaven bespeaks of an
entrance granted into a realm beyond the flesh, beyond the physical and psychical senses,
into the realm of the Spirit. That is where John entered and that is the character of the
things John saw. He beheld heavenly things -- spiritual realities. He saw a throne set in
heaven -- he perceived the authority, power and dominion of the Spirit. He saw living
creatures in the throne, the principle of life in the Spirit. He saw the four living
creatures and the four and twenty elders, the King-Priest ministry of the Melchizedekian
Order after the power of an endless life -- the ministration of the divine life unto
creation. He saw that the nature of this realm is that of a Lamb. He saw in the right hand
of Him that sat upon the throne a book written within and without -- the New Covenant, the
living epistles written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God upon the fleshy
tables of the heart; the Book of Life, a people having the law (nature) of God placed
within their minds and inscribed within their hearts -- the performance of the Covenant of
God.
In Revelation chapter six
there is a description of the opening of the seven seals by the Lamb which draws upon many
Old Testament symbols. John saw four horses. The first horse was white and the Rider had a
bow, and a victor's crown was given unto him and he came forth conquering, and to conquer.
The second horse was flaming red and the Rider had the power given to him to take peace
from the earth and he was given a great sword. The third Rider had a balance in his hand
and sat upon a black horse. The fourth horse was ashen or sickly pale and the name of the
Rider was Death, and Hades followed with him. He was given authority over a fourth part of
the earth to kill with sword, famine, pestilence, and wild beasts.
These legendary Four Horsemen
of the Apocalypse are, to most minds, one of the Bible's greatest riddles. Nearly two
thousand years ago the apostle John first recorded the details of their grim ride, and
ever since scholars and ordinary believers alike have wondered what they represent. Much
has been written concerning the Four Horsemen, much of it applied to struggles between
nations and would-be world conquerors, or to the horrors of tribulation under the
Antichrist. Actually, however, the book of Revelation is not concerned with worldly
kingdoms and empires except as they become linked with the affairs of God's people. The
book of Revelation is a spiritual book addressed to spiritual people, born of the Spirit,
who live and walk "in the Spirit." The book of Revelation is not, nor has it
ever been, a SEALED BOOK. "And He saith unto me, seal not the sayings of the prophecy
of this for the time is at hand" (Rev. 22:10). The book of Revelation is, therefore,
a SPIRITUAL REVELATION, and a PRESENT REVELATION (for the time is "at hand"),
even the revelation of Jesus Christ. Thus, the Four Horsemen and the Four Horses
represent, like the figures in the rest of the book, aspects of the on-going unveiling of
Jesus Christ in and through His body. These are spiritual realities, touched and known
only "in the Spirit." The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are among the most
significant of the great symbols in the Word of God because they give the key to the
processings of God within us. When you have grasped their full significance, by
understanding how the scriptures speak of horses, in order to teach spiritual truth, you
will have gained an appreciation of Bible symbolism. The Bible is not written in the style
of an ordinary book. It has a method all its own of conveying spiritual realities through
picturesque symbols, which is the language of SPIRIT communicated to the conscious mind of
man, wisdom expressed in terms comprehensible by people in all ages in different parts of
the world and of different degrees of spiritual development.
The horse is an animal that
men ride. It's like a car -- it's a vehicle. The horse in scripture is a symbol for THE
BRINGING OF GOD'S PRESENCE AND POWER IN WARFARE. It signifies STRENGTH AND SWIFTNESS IN
BATTLE (Isa. 2:7; 30:16; Jer. 12:5; 51:27; Eze. 38:4; Hos. 14:3; Joel 2:4; Heb. 1:8).
"...I have taken away your horses (Strength)" (Amos 4:10). On the negative side,
whenever the word horse is used in relationship with fleshly humanity it signifies Human
Strength. Isaiah 31:1-3 informs us: "Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and
stay on horses, and trust in chariots (this is human strength and human ability), because
they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong...they look not unto the Holy
One of Israel, neither seek the Lord!" Again, "Now the Egyptians are men, and
not God; and their horses are fleshly (strength), and not spirit." "For thus
saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; in returning and rest shall ye be saved; in
quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not. But ye said, No; for
we will flee upon horses (human strength and ability)..." (Isa. 30:15-16). However,
the Lord warns, "I will overthrow your horses (human strength and ability) and
confound the riders on the horses (those who trust in human strength and ability)"
Hag. 2:22; Zech. 10:5). On the positive side, wherever the word horse is used with
righteousness, or divinity, or the Lord, or things heavenly, it means heavenly, divine, or
spiritual strength. "And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He that
sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He doth judge and make
war...and the armies which were in heaven followed Him upon white horses..." Rev.
19:11,14). That is, they followed Him in heavenly, divine, spiritual strength. In Hab.
3:14-15 the prophet, reminiscing about Israel's deliverance from Egypt, extols the triumph
of Yahweh, exclaiming, "You pierced with his own arrows the head of the enemy's
hordes...You have trodden the sea with Your horses, beside the heap of great and surging
waters." The meaning is dear -- You have trodden the sea IN YOUR DIVINE STRENGTH!
There was a prophet in
THE WHITE HORSE
Nothing can be more vivid and
dramatic than the scenes which are successively exhibited as the Lamb opens the seals in
the book of Revelation. The four living creatures in the midst of the throne, one after
another announce the breaking of the first four seals, with a loud cry of "Come, and
see!" These words bespeak of an invitation to revelation. In that blessed moment
spiritual entities and spiritual realities were wide open to John as he walked in the
presence and glory of heavenly realms. He saw with his eyes and heard with his ears and
touched with his hands the things that were beyond the realm of natural men. He entered
into a new relationship with God that day. He passed with boldness into the realm of God's
spiritual mysteries even while his feet left their imprint on
As each seal is opened the
Seer beholds a visionary figure pass across the field of view, emblematic of that portion
of the scroll which is unrolled. It will be observed that there is a manifest progression
in the character of these symbolic representations, which rise in intensity from the first
to the last. When the Lamb opened the first seal, John records, "And I saw, and
behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him:
and he went forth conquering, and to conquer" (Rev. 6:2). Many brethren and teachers
are of the opinion that the Rider of this horse is a Counterfeit Christ -- the Antichrist.
The contrast is drawn between the Rider of this white horse and the Rider of the white
horse in chapter nineteen. The argument is made that the horse in chapter six rides under
the first of the seven seals, while on the contrary the horse of chapter nineteen rides
after the seven seals have been opened, at the time of the marriage of the Lamb and the
glory of the New Jerusalem. The figure in chapter nineteen has "many" crowns
whereas the one in chapter six wears but one crown. The Rider in chapter nineteen has a
sharp sword coming out of his mouth, that with it he should smite the nations, whereas the
Rider in chapter six is armed with a bow. The Rider in chapter nineteen proceeds out of
heaven and is followed by the armies of heaven, all riding upon white horses, while the
Rider in chapter six is a solitary Rider invading the earth realm. So, they say, the Rider
in chapter nineteen is obviously the Christ of God and the Rider of chapter six is an
impostor, one posing as the Christ -- Antichrist! With all deference to honored brethren,
however, I cannot conceive of the Antichrist riding upon a white horse, even under the
figure of a counterfeit! White denotes PURITY -- a purity wrought by the cleansing fire!
It is the symbol of the Christ’s purity and divine holiness. Every other place
throughout the visions of John it stands for righteousness and purity. And in Zech. 14:20
this purity is connected to horses. "In that day shall the bells of all horses (that
is the strength of all) ring out, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD. “White also bespeaks of
light -- illumination. These are the qualities that characterize, not only the firstborn
Son of God, but also His many brethren, the sons of God. In the messages to the seven
churches the overcomers are challenged, "I counsel thee to buy of Me...WHITE RAIMENT,
that thou mayest be clothed" (Rev. 3:18). This is naught but the transfiguring glory
of Christ, as it is written, "And He was transfigured before them: and His face did
shine as the sun, and His RAIMENT WAS WHITE AS THE LIGHT" (Mat. 17:2). The light is
the robe of divine majesty, the effulgence of the Spirit, the incorruptible life of God
emanating from the nature of absolute holiness that illuminates and quickens spirit, soul
and body. This is the Spirit by which Jesus was raised from the dead, even the spirit of
holiness.
Furthermore, this One goes
forth "conquering, and to conquer." Special attention must be paid to the
peculiar statement of the elder in Rev. 5:5 that the Lamb has "prevailed" to
open the book and to loose the seals. The use of the Greek verb "to conquer"
occurs more frequently in John's writings than in any other of the books of the New
Testament. This is the word here rendered "prevailed." It is the same word used
in chapter six, "conquering, and to conquer.” It is the same word used
repeatedly in chapters two and three of the OVERCOMER where at the termination of each of
the messages to the seven churches the Spirit proclaims, "to Him that overcometh...
(conquers). “We should note its use in Jn. 16:33, "Be of good cheer, I have
overcome the world." Again, "Whosoever is born of God overcometh the world"
(I Jn. 5:4). Paul uses the same root word in Rom. 8:37, "We are more than conquerors
through Him that loved us." Translated in keeping with its other applications in the
Word of God the Rider of the white horse is shown to be going forth "overcoming, and
to overcome; prevailing, and to prevail; conquering, and to conquer!" Another sign
that this Rider is the Christ -- the evidence lies in the nature of His conquests. Indeed,
if this Rider is the Antichrist, then we are in a lot of trouble! The expression
"conquering, and to conquer" denotes grammatically AN UNENDING SERIES OF
CONQUESTS, UNINTERRUPTED BY ANY DEFEATS. Our Futurist and Literalist friends must confess
that their Antichrist at the last meets his
In addition, we must not
overlook the fact that the crown mentioned in this passage is not the kingly crown which
the Lord wears in Rev. 19:12. There are two words in the Greek signifying
"crown." One means the wreath or garland of victory, which was placed upon the
head of a victorious General after the conclusion of warfare. The other means "the
diadem," or royal crown worn by kings upon the throne. The crown given to the Rider
on the white horse is the former -- the crown of the victor "going forth conquering,
and to conquer.” Although the conquering is in process, the absolute, complete and
eternal victory is assured. And so Jesus Christ, astride of the snow-white charger, is put
in a position where He is perpetually celebrating a victory. His march is a victorious
march. His movements always meet with success. His plans are fulfilled, and His campaigns
unfurl to the breezes the banners of triumph. Jesus Christ is going forth as a conqueror,
and He does so with great power. It is no easy campaign upon which He has entered. The
action in which He is engaged requires the greatest power; and His movements are energized
with tremendous force. The Bible represents Him at times in conditions and possessed of
moods where He sits and reclines in repose, already having accomplished His purposes.
"But this man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the
right hand of God" (Heb. 10:12). But here in the saddle He is roused, every faculty
excited, every source of strength summoned, and He is bearing forward for the purpose of
accomplishing something not yet attained. He is going forth as the victorious conqueror
over the hearts of His apprehended ones. And He shall ride until every foe is vanquished;
until sin, limitation and death has been conquered in every member of His glorious body,
and every son of God has joined Him in His triumph, mounted upon their own white horses,
riding forth in the Fullness of divine power and might, to subdue all things in all
realms, until God shall be All-in-all.
My heart's desire is that all
who read these truths may be filled with the conviction that God our Father is preparing a
people to share the image of Christ and reign with Him in His Kingdom. Herein is to be
found the real meaning, yea, the vital difference between the ministry of the Rider of the
white horse in Revelation six and the Rider of the white horse in Revelation nineteen. The
Rider of the white horse in chapter six is a solitary Rider, crowned with a single
victor's crown whereas the Rider of the white horse in chapter nineteen is crowned with
many crowns and is accompanied by an immense and powerful army astride a host of horses
from the heavenlies. It should not be difficult for any to understand that the solitary
Rider wearing the single crown is none other than the forerunner, our Lord Jesus Christ,
in His singular victory over sin, death and hell -- riding forth as the glorious Captain
of our salvation to extend that victory into the consciousness and experience of His elect
body, the sons of God. He must complete His conquest within our mind, heart and life
before we in Him can press the battle onward to creation. When the Lord Jesus is revealed
from heaven in chapter nineteen He does not come alone. Even before the flood, Enoch
prophesied of this appearing of the promised One, and said, "Behold the Lord cometh
WITH TEN THOUSANDS OF HIS SAINTS (or, holy myriads of Himself) to execute judgment upon
all" (Jude 1:14,15). John saw, and writes, "The armies, the ones in the heaven,
were following Him" (Rev. 19:14). Christ Jesus is the Head and the Leader as He goes
before; His holy ones follow in His train, for as many as are led by the Spirit of God,
they are the sons of God, and these are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth.
They are represented as armies. They come forth as a body of fighters. He has many under
His command. The armies of the heavenlies are His, and He does battle with them, by them,
through them, and as them, even "the called, and chosen and faithful." There is
no infantry. There really is no cavalry, for all of the horses are white, and every one
who follows Him is of exalted rank. It is an army of princes, a host of mighty
dignitaries. Moreover, they have no weapons, except the sharp two edged sword that
proceeds out of HIS MOUTH, which is the Living Word of God. They are dressed in white, for
they are all righteous, cleansed by the crimson tide in which His cloak was dipped.
At this point I would share
from the anointed pen of George Hawtin as he describes this glorious army. "This is
the army of the Saints of God, thousands upon thousands of blood-washed sons, all members
in particular of the mystical body of Christ, and though they be so many, yet are they but
one Christ. He who rides at the head of this heavenly host, which for six thousand years
has been preparing, is the first begotten son of God, the firstborn from the dead, the
Prince of the kings of the earth. He is the firstborn of many brethren. He is the eldest
in a vast family of God's sons. This, I declare, is the manifestation of the true body of
Christ, the manifestation of the SONS OF GOD. These are they who during their life on
earth went unto Him without the camp of the world's denominations and systems, bearing His
reproach, that they might be received and taught as sons by their heavenly Father. Long
ago amid the shadows of earth they heard and obeyed God's call, ‘Come out of her, My
people, and be separate; and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you and will
be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.' In
their obedience God became their Father. As a Father He instructed them, broke them free
from the blinding traditions and doctrines of men. He rebuked them as any loving father
rebukes his children. He chastised them as a father chastises his son, for what son is he
whom the father chasteneth not? For if we receive not chastening, whereof all are
partakers, then are we bastards and not sons. As a Father He fed them, and He fed them on
His Living Word of Life, they became partakers of the divine mind, the divine nature, and
the divine will. The mind that was in Christ Jesus dwelt in them and as it increased they
were thoroughly transformed by the renewing of their minds" -- end quote. But now the
days of their rebuke and chastisement are over. The great Captain is mounted, and they are
mounted too. He comes as Warrior, Judge and King, and they share with Him in the same
character. They are warrior judges and kings with Him. They are clothed in fine linen,
pure and white, which is the righteousness of the saints. They wear no armour. They are
immortal and incorruptible and cannot be hurt nor stopped.
You, precious saint of God,
are being prepared to rule and reign with Christ. We need to grasp the full implication
and reality of what we are called to. Long centuries ago amidst blazing fire and quaking
mountains God revealed His purpose for His elect. "Ye shall be a peculiar treasure
unto Me above all people: for all the earth is Mine: and ye shall be unto Me A KINGDOM OF
PRIESTS" (Ex. 19:5-6). Since kingship was virtually the only type of government or
state known in the ancient world, "kingdom" could well be translated today as a
"government" or "state." A GOVERNMENT OF PRIESTS! A PRIESTLY STATE! A
HOLY NATION OF PRIESTS! A VAST COMPANY OF KING-PRIESTS! God offered to
The Greek Old Testament
(Septuagint) states that they were to be "a priesthood of kings." It was
intended to be the way of life, the office, the nature, the ministry of all
The purpose of your
quickening by Christ was to make you a part of Himself, to give you a calling to glory, to
a place where God by His Spirit can express Himself through you, so you can bring
righteous judgment to the earth. That's what this white horse is all about. Your life and
everything that happens to you is given to train and equip you for a royal position in
God. The only reason the heavenly Father sent you here from the realm of spirit, lowered
into the bondage of corruption, was to process you, to groom you for a position in God, to
be one in the Saviour and become a Saviour. This is the day when everything we have hoped
and dreamed of in God will be realized in our experience. We have so limited God in the
way we have thought about Him. I'm telling you that we stand on the threshold of an
outworking of God that is so powerful that it will bring an absolute end to the downward
spiral of sin and death in humanity. It will put a blockade in the road to the flesh. That
manifestation of God through His sons which is immediately before us will turn creation
around. We shall manifest unto mankind a life and victory and power that will shake the
very foundations of the earth, an action that will alter the course of the world, bringing
correction and righteousness. Jesus Christ shall be revealed in and through His people as
LORD. A people in this hour are being raised, not out of the cemetery, but out of the
grave of their mind, out of the grave of carnal, mortal consciousness, raised up to the
place where they can become the manifestation of the totality of the personality of God.
We are being raised to become the expression of the substance of His Person. This company
is Christ the Head riding forth upon a white horse followed by Christ the body, all the
sons of God riding with Him upon white horses bringing the rule of the Kingdom of God upon
earth.
But when the Rider of
Revelation six comes there are none with Him -- He rides alone. Ah -- is it not within the
corridors of your own soul, precious friend of mine, that you must hear the hoof beats of
this great white steed thundering! He must ride right into YOUR EARTH, conquering all the
It is significant to note
that the term "redemption" means in the Greek "loosing." We are now
entering the day of loosing (redemption) and our spirit joined to the Lord's Spirit is
beginning to express more of His life than ever before. The only hindrance is the dominion
of the soul -- our own will, mind, emotion and desire. In order for Christ to be fully
revealed in us, these negative attributes of the carnal nature must be effectively dealt
with. Before the One who has purchased us for the base of His operation can take full
possession of His inheritance in us there must be the dispossession of all that hinders
the expression of the Spirit. Just as the children of
This is the conquest that is
going on right now in that inner world of our hearts, minds and bodies. May the Holy
Spirit deeply impress upon you this important truth: YOU WILL NEVER CONQUER UNTIL YOU ARE
CONQUERED! You see, in the army of Christ all the vanquished have enlisted, and all of
those that were once enemies, such as Saul of Tarsus who once opposed Christ and who now
is one of the leaders of that army beyond the veil. As we look at the triumph of Christ we
see that the vanquished and the conquerors merge as one. Saul of Tarsus went forth to war
against Jesus, but he was struck to the ground outside
When Cornwallis surrendered
to George Washington he came up to Washington and his aides, each dressed in their finest
military garb. Cornwallis began to extol
You who have not yet
surrendered to Him as King of kings, you who know Him as Saviour, as Healer, as Baptizer,
as Blesser, but have not crowned Him Lord of all within, don't you hear His trumpet
pealing in your ears, sounding down through all the chambers of your soul's fortress? You
who have tried to be a good Christian, faithfully performing the religious activities of
the man-made church systems, but have not hitherto heard the call to come out of her and
come up higher into the High Calling of God in Christ Jesus -- why do you stand out
longer? Why not draw in your colors this day, and invite HIM to the supreme place in your
heart and life, and enroll yourself among His followers from henceforth, to follow Him to
the heights of Mount Zion; and then, when He celebrates His last victory, be among those
who come with songs and everlasting joy to share the fruits of His victory and show forth
His praise forevermore. Amen!
THE RED HORSE
"And when He had opened
the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, Come and see! And there went out
another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from
the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great
sword" (Rev. 6:3-4). As these seals are opened, as the clatter of the hoofs of the
horses is heard, as you experience these wonderful unveilings of Christ charging into your
land to accomplish their purpose, let it be said, these are not haphazard, unplanned, or
hit-and-miss dealings, these are processes and experiences, instruments and forces that
have been prepared, working progressively, steadily, and meticulously to accomplish the
plan and will of God in our lives. The white horse is Christ riding forth out of the inner
realm of Spirit invading the outer dimensions of soul and body, initiating His march of
conquest. He enters our domain first with light and illumination, quickening our spirit by
His Spirit, giving the understanding that comes from the light of His countenance. The
horse is the embodiment of speed. He who is mounted can get over a greater distance, do
quicker work, than on foot. Thus with Jesus Christ. He carries on His conquests with great
rapidity. With great vigor and velocity He moves down upon the enemy; and wheeling His
forces into line, charges upon the opposing ranks, overcoming them by the impetuous energy
of His movements, before they have recovered themselves from the surprise of His sudden
and swift attack. And no sooner does He attack upon His white horse of illumination and
righteousness, than He appears upon His red horse, pressing the battle ever forward.
Words utterly fail me to
describe the scene of the Rider upon the red horse! It is so heavenly, so divine and
wonderful, so terrible and awesome, that it completely defies all human description. The
Christ pursues His battle upon a magnificent red horse -- not the color red, as paint or
dye -- for the Greek word is PURRHOS meaning fire like or flame coloured. It denotes no
color at all, but an appearance, a condition, a manifestation of fire and flame. PURRHOS
is from the root PUR -- the Greek word for fire. It is interesting to note that a
derivative of this Greek word for fire (PUR) is the Latin word PYRA (pure) and the English
word PYRE -- the place for the burning of a corpse. PYREX also comes from the same root,
PYR or PUR, meaning a fire, and REX, meaning a king -- that which is king, thus ruling
over the fire, hence a "heat-resistant" glassware. All our English words having
to do with that which is pure are related to the Greek word PUR, indicating clearly that
that which is pure is so because it has been cleansed BY FIRE! Consider: PURe, PURity,
PURify, PURification, PURitan.
OUR GOD IS A CONSUMING FIRE,
the scriptures affirm. I understand not why fire has been represented to us as something
so terrible, so frightening, so hideous that we should try to avoid it. If our approach
back to God is through fire, as revealed by the flaming sword placed at
The crude idea that a wise
and loving and righteous Creator from eternity designed and decreed endless torment in
undying flame for His creatures who are the work of His hands does dishonor to the name
and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ; nay, it does more than dishonor, for it is a horrible
blasphemy against both His wisdom and His love. It is incredible that any man who has
tasted of the goodness of the Lord could ever believe that the compassionate Saviour of
mankind could ever have intended us to read such a meaning into His words. The eternal
fire is the truth, the Righteousness, the Love of God in a word, it is the nature of God.
Any careful reader of the Old Testament will be aware that fire is often used therein as a
symbol for the presence and manifestation of God. "Our God is a consuming fire,"
says the scripture, and the apostle adds, "God is love." God IS! He is fire and
He is love. It is no straining of metaphor to say that the love of God and the wrath of
God are the same thing described from opposite points of view. Every father who has had to
put the rod of correction to his son understands this! How we shall experience God’s
love depends upon the way we come up against it. God does not change; it is man's moral
state that changes. The wrath of God is a figure of speech to denote God’s unchanging
opposition to sin; it is His righteous love operating to destroy evil. Nothing can live in
that devouring flame that is of the nature of a lie or wars against the spirit of
holiness. The consuming fire is eternal as God Himself; it is because He is; it is that
which was from the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Oh, if there
be one thing for which we ought to rejoice and praise God without ceasing it is that
eternal fire which will burn up all the foulness and rottenness, all the wickedness and
cruelty, all the shame and wrong from which our souls have suffered. It is not evil which
will have the last word, but good; not sorrow, but joy; not hate, but love; not Satan, but
Christ!
The Lamb nature is not a
weak, trifling, spineless little nature. The nature of the Lamb is the nature of an
overcomer, one who cannot be offended, one that can look upon the sin and evil in the
world and not become religiously self-righteous but can love the creation to effectively
and redemptively deal with it. Fire represents the divine process of cleansing, purging,
purifying, corrective judgment. Divine judgment is not unto destruction, but unto
redemption. Fire appears terrible only to the man who is unprepared to pass through it.
When of old God came down on Sinai, its upper peaks were veiled with impenetrable folds of
smoke, like the smoke of a furnace. And in the heart of the smoke there was the appearance
of devouring fire. There is dread here! Bounds had been set to keep the people back; but a
special message must be sent to warn them against breaking through to gaze, lest the fire
should break forth upon them. But there was no harm as long as they kept without the
barriers; and when Moses entered into the very heart of it, it did not singe a hair of his
head, and injured him no more than when it played around the fragile acacia bush, which
burned with fire without being consumed – not a leaf shriveled, nor a twig scorched.
Yes, our God is a consuming fire, and there is comfort and hope and blessing in the
thought! When we yield to God’s love, and open our hearts to Him, He enters into us,
and becomes within us a consuming fire; not to ourselves, but to the evil within us. So
that, in a very deep and blessed sense, we may be said to dwell with the devouring fire,
and to walk amid the eternal burnings.
Nothing is more certain than
the fact that Jesus Christ has already ridden, or shall yet ride into the world of each of
us in FLAMING FIRE! Because of the gross misunderstanding of almost all people concerning
the fire of God, I would draw your reverent attention to the natural process of fire. In
the book of Revelation we have, in chapter six, the horse of flaming fire; but later on
the Holy Spirit also describes the manifestation of God as fire under another remarkable
symbol. “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and
whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all the liars, shall have their part in
the LAKE WHICH BURNETH WITH FIRE AND BRIMSTONE…” (Rev. 21:8). The word
“burn” means combustion, or to consume. To consume does not mean to annihilate,
for there is no such thing as annihilation. You can annihilate a form, but not a
substance. When fire consumes a log in your fireplace it does not destroy any of the
elements within the log, it merely changes their form. Combustion is the process by which
chemicals combine to form new chemicals. For example: a tree might be cut down, sawed into
fire wood, and burned. In the first place, the tree was formed by drawing chemicals out of
the earth and air and rearranging them into the form of a tree. Now, when the wood burns
the what causes those same chemicals to vaporize, mixing with the oxygen in the air to
form new chemicals, including water and the gas carbon dioxide. So what was formerly a
tree can no longer be identified as a tree, but the substance thereof is now simply
changed, transformed into a DIFFERENT FORM! Thus, to burn means to CHANGE. Furthermore, it
is interesting to note that fire does not burn down; it always burns up; it seeks the
highest level. And all that it consumes (changes) “goes up in smoke,” to exist
in a new form in a higher dimension. Even if you take a pan of water and place it over a
fire, before long the water will take on the property of the fire and will begin to go up
in steam. To burn means to change, and the change is always upward in motion.
FIRE is the heat and light
that you feel and see when something burns. It takes heat to start a fire, but once the
fire is started it produces heat that keeps the process going. Thus, fire is really heat
and light. In my study of the lake that burns with fire and brimstone I was very much
helped and impress by the understanding given by Charles Pridgeon and I would like to
quote from his scholarly work on the subject of BRIMSTONE. He says: “The Lake of Fire
and Brimstone signifies a fire burning with brimstone; the word ‘brimstone’ or
sulphur defines the character of the fire. The Greek word THEION translated
‘brimstone’ is exactly the same word THEION which means ‘divine.’
Sulphur was sacred to the deity among the ancient Greeks; and was used to fumigate, to
purify, and to cleanse and consecrate to the deity; for this purpose they burned it in
their incense. In Homer’s Iliad (16:228), one is spoken of as purifying a goblet with
fire and brimstone. The verb derived from THEION is THEIOO, which means to hallow, to make
divine, or to dedicate to a god (See Liddell and Scott Greek-English Lexicon, 1897
Edition). To any Greek, or any trained in the Greek language, a ‘lake of fire and
brimstone’ would mean a LAKE OF DIVINE PURIFICATION. The idea of judgment need not be
excluded. Divine purification and divine consecration are the plain meaning in ancient
Greek. In the ordinary explanation, this fundamental meaning of the word is entirely left
out, and nothing but eternal torment is associated with it” – end quote. I
realize that the above thoughts define the subject very briefly, but let us summarize the
meaning thus: BURN means combustion, to change the form of. FIRE means heat and light.
BRIMSTONE means divine. Putting these three together can we not see that the lake burning
with fire and brimstone is, actually, DIVINE HEAT AND LIGHT PRODUCING A CHANGE!
If you think the Kingdom of
God is rosewater, or eau-de-cologne, you are mistaken. You cannot war on the devil with
that. You cannot war on the carnal minds of men with that. You have to make war on the
world, the flesh, and the devil with weapons that are mighty through God. You have to make
war on the carnal mind and the fleshly nature with fire, divine fire, that must burn up
every inherent altar of Baal, and lick up the very dust around. Make no mistake! OUR GOD I-S A CONSUMING FIRE! He is man’s “horse
breaker” and He will break you, precious friend of mine, and bring you to the foot of
the cross of Jesus no matter how hot He has to build the fire around you! Even if long
ages of fiery judgment and tormenting darkness fall upon you, they will last no longer
than till the Great Fire of God has melted all the arrogance into humility, and all that
is self has died in the bloody sweat and all-conquering cross of the Christ, which will
never give up its redeeming power till sin and sinners have no more a name among the
creatures of God.
“Behold, I will send my
messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me; and the Lord whom ye seek, shall
suddenly come to His temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in:
behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming?
and who shall stand when he appeareth? for HE IS LIKE A REFINER’S FIRE, and like
fuller’s soap: and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall
PURIFY THE SONS OF LEVI, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the
Lord an offering in righteousness” (Mal. 3:1-3)
One of God’s promises
concerning the Lord who comes to His temple to sit as a refiner’s fire is that He
shall “purify the sons of Levi.” The “sons of Levi” in these days of
the spiritual temple of living stones are likewise the priests and ministers of God.
Prophetically speaking, “the sons of Levi” refer to all who have received the
call to the Royal Priesthood of Christ after the Order of Melchizedek, which is after the
power of an endless life. “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up in a spiritual
house (temple), an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by
Jesus Christ. 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 marvelous light” (I Pet. 2:5,9). Even the word “sons” is
significant. Becoming a son is the result of intense discipline, as we read in Heb.
12:5-11. The Lord comes to those who long to be His Priesthood, not with visible blessings
and manifestations which inflate the ego, but as a refiner’s fire to purify and
refine them, even as gold and silver are refined. In olden times, the refiner of gold and
silver would sit over the burning crucible until the dross and impurities in these metals
were completely consumed. Not until he would see his face mirrored in the molten metals
did he declare them to be pure. So too with us. The Holy Spirit brings to light and deals
with every aspect of our lives, consuming all that is alien and opposed to God’s
nature and character, until the image of His Son Jesus is formed and mirrored in us. Only
then will we be able to offer Him those offerings and render Him that service which is
pleasing and acceptable in His sight. The Lord never removes or destroys something without
replacing it with something greater and better. He sets us apart, like the sons of Levi,
and subjects us to an intense discipline of outer and inner sanctification that we might
become His Royal Priesthood.
The sons have to be cleansed
and purified of the carnal mind that is contrary to God and is an enemy of His, Filled
with all unrighteousness and evil and not subject to the will of God and never can be. As
William Law said, “SELF is the whole root, branch and tree of sin.” So for us to
be His Priesthood, showing forth His virtues, His life and light and love, His
righteousness and glory and power, this thing, that stands in the way of the priestly
nature and ministry, must be dealt with and taken out of the way. We must be emptied of
self and every thing that pertains to the earth-consciousness so that we can put on the
Lord Jesus Christ in the fullness of His divine nature to manifest Him in all His wondrous
beauty and majesty. All carnality must go through the fire. None can escape it. There is
no detour around this lake of fire if you wish to arrive finally at the safe harbor of
perfection in God. The sons of Levi of this day have felt that purifying fire. Its burning
has roused them from their lethargic ease as they have drifted along the stream of peace
with the world, its clear flame has lit up the dark recesses of their carnal minds and the
deceitfulness of the heart of man, revealing in stark reality the man of sin sitting in
the temple of God, and its blasting flame has separated them from the fleshly follies of
the religious systems and the so-called church. In many of them the fire is effectually
doing its purifying work. They have begun to fulfill the prophecy and to offer onto the
Lord an offering in righteousness,” praise His name!
“But who may abide the
day of His coming? and who shall stand when He appeareth?” The great desire of
Paul’s heart was to qualify for the High Calling and not be a castaway, and to help
others attain also. He wanted to attain and apprehend that for which Christ had
apprehended him. “Warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we
may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus; whereunto I also labor, striving according
to His working, which worketh in me mightily” (Col. 1:28-29). This is the great cry
and longing of my heart also, that with Paul I may be counted worthy of the Kingdom and a
place in the Royal Priesthood; and to help you, my reader, to attain also. It is wonderful
to hear preachers describe the glories of sonship, the priesthood, the kingdom, and
immortality. We rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, our redeemed spirit shouts
aloud and our ransomed soul sings praises when we hear, but are we going to be partakers
of the glory? That is the question. Not all who imagine themselves to be sons, not all who
speak passionately of their attainment in God, not all who boast of the depth of their
revelation, not all who trumpet their position in the Kingdom are going to make it –
only a few, methinks. There is a price to pay to follow on to know the world; a test to
pass. Will I pass that test? Will you?
And yet there is glorious
hope! In this wonderful process of refining the miner mines the ore out of the darkest
depth. The miner has it in his mind that he will go after the ore. Now, it’s not easy
to obtain the ore. The ore is in inaccessible places, and it requires great effort and
endeavor for the miner to obtain the precious ore. The refiner then goes after the ore.
The ore doesn’t go after the refiner. This is my greatest hope! Somebody says,
“I sought the Lord.” Well, that’s how it appeared to you, my friend, but
the truth of the matter is the Lord sought you. What you perceived as your seeking the
Lord was but your response to His seeking you. He sought you in the darkest depths of the
flesh and the bestial system of this world, and He brought you forth and made you His. HE
RODE INTO YOUR WORLD, NOT YOU INTO HIS. He first rode in on a white horse, and now He
rides in upon the red horse.
The ore is now the property
of the miner who mined it, but the mixture is there. Both gold and silver are found in
nature, but not in their pure form. They come mixed with or imbedded in, various other
kinds of rocks, minerals and metals. No jeweler would want to work with natural gold with
bits of rock or sand in it. Nor could such impure stuff be beaten into thin sheets. No one
likes a ring that turns their finger green! No, gold and silver as they are found in
nature do nor have, in themselves, much usefulness. They must first be separated from all
the impurities that naturally accompany them. And the process for doing that is by FIRE.
Our lives, dear ones, are like that. There is so much that is worthwhile in us, but so
much that is worthless. There is so much that is of God, and so much that is of self.
There is the image of God in man's spirit and incorruptible life and omnipotent power; but
it is buried in consciousness beneath the outer veil of mortal mind, sense-knowledge, and
corruption. So what does the great and eternal miner have on His hands? He has a mixture.
And that is why there has to be the furnace of fire. The ore which we are, in that mixed,
raw, unrefined state, brings no pleasure at all to the Refiner, nor does it fill any
useful purpose in His plans. Of sons in this state He says, "With them I am not well
pleased." Our Father in His sovereign purpose sees us, but He cannot use all that He
sees. The ore is wonderful relative to its pure metal content but it is disgusting
relative to the impurities that are mingled therein. He is unable to use us in that
condition of mixture, so He comes to us as a refiner's fire. And immediately we wonder
what is happening! What is happening is that HE is appearing, and, I might add, He is
showing up in a FORM that we did not expect. Yes, 'tis the same Jesus who rode into our
land on the white horse, giving illumination and quickening, bringing us out from the
dominion of darkness into His glorious light of revelation. But He comes now, not to bless
and coddle and wink at all our carnality and foolishness, but He comes as the Rider upon
the red horse, riding swiftly and powerfully in flaming fire. The hoof-beats of the red
horse will echo through your kingdom, my beloved, carrying its Rider into grand and
glorious battles within until all that stands in opposition to the law of the Spirit of
Life goes up in conflagration and Christ is Lord of all!
How long will this process
continue? I would like to promise you some respite, but I dare not. Psm. 12:6. says,
"The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth,
PURIFIED SEVEN TIMES.” Seven is the number of perfection. It reveals the truth that
God's own nature will be produced in the fire. He will heat up the furnace until you have
been perfectly cleansed and purified, nothing remaining but HIMSELF. That which the Lord
is receiving unto Himself cannot be of an inferior quality to Himself. The gold -- ah, it
is HIM. The silver -- ah, it is HIM. It is PURE SPIRIT, DIVINE NATURE. How marvelous is
the grace that birthed us out of His own Spirit-substance, for He is the Father of the
spirits of all flesh. Only the dross must be removed. Thank God that the Christ comes to
us not only on the white horse, but also on the red horse to carry the issue onward to
victory!
The question follows -- Who
may abide -- endure -- wait for -- the day of HIS COMING? For He is like a refiner's fire.
Ah, this is not the blessing realm, it is something beyond the gifts and benefits obtained
by faith. This is the purging, cleansing and purifying realm! It is the realm of
qualifying for sonship, of preparation for immortality, of readiness to rule and reign in
life with Christ as a King-Priest after the Order of Melchizedek. And who shall stand --
or who can withstand -- who can stand against it, who can stop or prevent His appearing as
the refiner's fire? No one, may I answer, shall be able to withstand or stand against His
coming when He appeareth!
Charge on, O horse of fire!
Chapter
23
SAGITTARIUS
THE ARCHER
(continued)
We continue our study of the
Sign of SAGITTARIUS --THE ARCHER. This Sign of the heavens brings before us a Centaur with
the body of a horse and the torso of a man. The human portion of the Centaur is a man with
a bow and arrow and he is drawing the bow and aiming the arrow at Atares --the very heart
of the Scorpion. Here is the picture of Christ the Redeemer going forth to destroy the
adversary. His character here is that of the Mighty One, girding Himself with honor and
majesty, and going forth to victory. He rides as a King, armed with bow and arrows,
shooting down His enemies. The one who is conquered is the Scorpion --the Prince of
darkness, the Lord of sin, sorrow and death. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Conqueror of the
Scorpion! This is the picture of One who in refulgent glory rides forth upon a white horse
with a bow, going forth as the Conquering King to conquer, and to conquer. The apostle
John in his visions on
In Revelation chapter six
there is a description of the opening of the seven seals by the Lamb which draws upon many
Old Testament symbols. John saw four horses. The first horse was white and the Rider had a
bow, and a victor's crown was given unto him and he came forth conquering, and to conquer.
The second horse was flaming red and the Rider had the power given to him to take peace
from the earth and he was given a great sword. The third Rider had a balance in his hand
and sat upon a black horse. The fourth horse was ashen or sickly pale and the name of the
Rider was Death, and Hades followed with him. He was given authority over a fourth part of
the earth to kill with the sword, famine, pestilence, and wild beasts.
Until I heard the story in
which a self-educated man told of what his life was like before he learned to read, I had
never thought much about how illiteracy affects one's perception of the world. He knew
very little about life beyond his own neighborhood. Although he had occasionally met
people from other cities, he had little idea where those cities were in relation to his
own little world. Knowing only how to live by crime, he ended up in prison, where he
finally learned to read. This opened up a whole new view of the world --a world he'd never
known before, even though it had existed about him all his life. He discovered new options
and began to make better choices about how to live. Crime was no longer his occupation,
and he turned to productive pursuits. Learning to read words redefines our understanding
of the world around us. But there is another kind of literacy that has an even more
profound impact on our comprehension of reality. This could be called SPIRITUAL LITERACY
-- that is, the ability to read -- to perceive and understand -- the language of the
Spirit, the realities of the spiritual world. When we lack this ability to make sense of
the broad vistas of spiritual truth, we are left trying to interpret spiritual realities
from the limited, distorted perspective of the carnal mind -- natural reasoning and human
understanding. I do not hesitate to tell you that the world and the church today are
literally filled and overflowing with SPIRITUAL ILLITERATES!
The book of Revelation is
first and foremost a SPIRITUAL BOOK. It is a book of spiritual realities communicated by
means of signs and symbols. The opening statement in the book of Revelation is --"The
REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST." Everything in the book bespeaks of the unveiling of
Jesus Christ. The Revelation sets before us a glorious Person, with the veil removed from
our eyes so that we may look upon Him and perceive His life, His nature, His ways, His
purposes and His dealings. Until one sees the Christ of God on every page, in every
chapter, in every scene, and in every verse of the Revelation he remains an illiterate so
far as the true meaning of this wonderful book is concerned. Understood as the Revelation
of Jesus Christ in and through His body, immediately the book is changed from a prophecy
of cataclysmic and apocalyptic end-time events, to a progressive unfolding of the very
life, victory and triumph of the Christ in His people and unto creation. Every scene
within the book, of the woes, thunders, earthquakes, conflicts, vials, beasts, etc., in
all of their sundry and various manifestations, are all to serve but one purpose, and
contribute to but one end, namely, To BRING FORTH THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST. Thus,
the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are among the most significant of the great symbols in
the Word of God because they give the key to the processings of God within us. When you
have grasped their full significance, by understanding how the scriptures speak of horses,
in order to teach spiritual truth, you will have gained an appreciation of Bible
symbolism. Nothing can be more vivid and dramatic than the scenes which are successively
exhibited as the Lamb opens the seals in the book of Revelation. The four living creatures
in the midst of the throne, one after another announce the breaking of the first four
seals, with a loud cry of "Come, and see!" As each seal is opened the Seer
beholds a visionary figure pass across the field of view, emblematic of that portion of
the scroll which is unrolled. There is a divine progression in the vision which opens from
glory to glory. When the Lamb opened the first seal, John records, "And I saw, and
behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him:
and he went forth conquering, and to conquer."
As we have previously pointed
out, the primary hindrance to the revelation of Jesus Christ in us is the dominion of the
soul --our will, mind, emotions and desires. In order for Christ to be fully revealed in
us the attributes of the carnal mind must be effectively dealt with. The carnal mind is an
earthbound, unspiritual enemy of God. It is the flesh that wars against the spirit, and it
is the carnal mind that receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; neither can he know
them because they are spiritually discerned. The natural man is enmity against God and is
not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. Before the One who has purchased us
can take full possession of His inheritance in us there must first be the dispossession of
all that hinders the expression of the Spirit. Just as the children of
No one preaches the coming of
the Lord more than I do. Christ is coming. He is coming conquering, and to conquer! He
will conquer you, my friend! He will ride into your world swiftly and powerfully and will
shoot His arrows into your heart until every knee bows and Christ is Lord of all! We will
not experience the victory until first we have been vanquished by Christ and have
surrendered our carnal weapons. The power of His Kingdom must reign supreme within. The
white horse is Christ riding forth out of the inner realm of Spirit, invading the outer
dimensions of soul and body, initiating His march of conquest. He enters our domain first
with light and illumination, quickening our spirit by His Spirit, giving the understanding
that comes from the light of His countenance. He carries on His conquests with great
rapidity. With great vigor and velocity He moves down upon the enemy; and wheeling His
forces into line, charges upon the opposing ranks, overcoming them by the impetuous energy
of His movements, before they have recovered themselves from the surprise of His sudden
and swift attack. And no sooner does He attack upon His white horse of illumination and
righteousness, than He appears upon His red horse, pressing the battle ever forward.
THE RED HORSE
The Rider upon the red horse
staggers the imagination and defies description. The scene is so heavenly, so divine and
wonderful, that words utterly fail to describe it. The first thing that is said about the
red horse is that "power was given unto him to take peace from the earth" (Rev.
6:4). To those who are experiencing the progressive unfoldment of the Christ-life within
one thing becomes increasingly clear -- within them there rages a furious battle. Upon our
spirit being quickened by His Spirit, our lives become the meeting place -- battle ground
-- for two orders that are opposed to one another --the flesh and the spirit. This
conflict is clearly defined by the apostle Paul in his epistle to the Galatians. "For
the flesh wars against the spirit, and the spirit wars against the flesh; for these are
antagonistic to each other -- continually withstanding and in conflict with each other
" (Gal. 5:17). Let us glance for a moment throughout the entire Bible. It is a book
of warfare. Two thrones are at war. We discern rival sovereignties. We read of two
kingdoms. We are everywhere conscious of a clash of wills. There are two men, two peoples,
two natures, two realms. As a result we face throughout scripture irreconcilable
opposites: life and death; light and darkness; love and hate; righteousness and evil;
holiness and iniquity; liberty and license; truth and lies; law and grace; mercy and
judgment; the glorious city of
The Bible is a book of war.
"The Lord is a man of war" (Ex. 15:3). The saints are men of war. Heaven is a
realm of war as well as the earth. "There was war in heaven" (Rev. 12:7). The
sons of God are the Lord's army. David was a man of war. "Then answered one of the
servants and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite that is cunning in
playing, and a mighty man of valor, and a man war" (I Sam. 16:18). "Thou
(Absalom) knowest thy father (David) and his men that they are mighty men, and thy father
is a man of war" (I Sam. 17:8). David faced Goliath and took his sword. He was a man
of war before he met Goliath. David is a type of Christ. His followers were men of war.
"And there was long war between the house of Saul and the house of David: but David
waxed stronger and stronger, and the house of Saul waxed weaker and weaker” (II Sam.
3:1). The saints follow a man of war.
Long centuries ago Rebecca
inquired of the Lord concerning the conflict that was going on within her womb. The Lord
answered her, saying, "Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be
separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and
the elder shall serve the younger" (Gen. 25:23). This conflict within is not only the
experience of Rebecca, but of every son in whom the character of God is being developed.
And as Rebecca, so too can we take much comfort from the words of God spoken to her. For
within every saint pressing on unto perfection there are two nations, two kingdoms and
each kingdom is of a very different character. But the promise is sure -- "the elder
shall serve the younger." The spiritual meaning of this is revealed by Paul in I Cor.
15:45-49. "And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last
Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that
which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth,
earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that
are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have
borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." And so
shall it be fulfilled --the natural man shall be subject to the spiritual, and then shall
we see "all things in subjection under His feet" (Heb. 2:8).
In far away Babylon the Holy
Spirit witnessed through the prophet Daniel, "And in the days of these kings shall
the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall
not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms,
and it shall stand forever" (Dan. 2:44). Though many look for a "revived Roman
Empire" to arise in Europe with antichrist at its head, the ten-toe confederacy of
the end-times, yet, praise God, "IN THE DAYS OF THESE KINGS SHALL THE GOD OF HEAVEN
SET UP A KINGDOM, WHICH SHALL NEVER BE DESTROYED." That there may be a fulfillment in
the outer world of appearances I would not deny, although it is my opinion that
historically it has already been fulfilled. But the quickening of the Spirit upon the
truth so vital for today bids me look beyond the letter of the Word, beyond the outward
manifestations, beyond the European Community and the Common Market, along with the
religious ecumenical movement; and receiving of the spirit of the Word, turning inwardly,
we find that all that pertains to the kingdoms of this world lies within the heart of man,
and there have been so many kings which have RULED WITHIN US, and as His Kingdom unfurls
its banner over our lives, these kings are subdued and brought to naught. There are kings
of self-will, of worldly ambition, of fleshly zeal, of ruling thoughts, of religious
dogmas, creeds, and traditions and commandments of men, of soulish emotions and impulses
spirited by the world, of fleshly appetites dominated by the five senses, of fears,
doubts, rebellions, weaknesses, and sins. The still small voice speaks a word, and
immediately carnal reason tries to argue us out of it. We sense His direction and leading
to "stand still", but human sympathy and sentiment tell us to get involved in
things HE HAS NOT LED US to do. So we yield and obey these emotions and impulses, and
wonder why we miss the joy and blessing of the Lord. But, praise God, in the days of these
kings -- while they flourish, control, and bear heavy in their rule -- shall the God of
heaven set up His Kingdom and all authority and power shall be subdued before it. Into the
midst of these kings has rolled THE STONE, it is breaking in pieces, consuming all these,
bringing all into submission to Him!
TAKING PEACE FROM THE EARTH
The deliverance of the
children of Israel from Egypt and their eventual conquest of the promised land is without
doubt one of the most awe-inspiring, marvelous and concerted revelations of God's
redemptive program, His aim, intent and objective; His purpose, processes and dealings;
His design, out workings and goal that has ever been revealed to mankind. It is not my
intention to elaborate upon this, merely to point out in passing the significance of
It is the almighty Lord
Himself who declares war and fires the first shot. HE it is that initiates the battle.
"I am come," said He, "not to send peace on earth, but a sword." Or,
stronger still in the original, "Think not that I come to cast peace on the earth; I
come not to cast peace, but a sword" (Mat. 10:34). Who holds the sword? Who is to
wield the sword? Who is to stir up the fight? Who is to "take peace from the
earth"? The Lord Jesus Himself, and the sword is the sword of the Lord. Sometimes
people speak about "sweet Jesus." This Jesus offers sugar, not a sword. He
tastes good but hurts no one. When life tastes bad, sprinkle on a bit of His sweetness.
The Rider on the red horse is not so sweet. Jesus Christ is a warrior, fierce and
frightening. E B. Meyer once wrote, "When Christ is born, there is always trial. What
trouble the New-born brought into this world! There was trouble for Mary! She was living a
happy, peaceful life in
There can be no warfare as
long as our will is uncontested. There is no war while our desires remain unopposed. There
is no conflict when our ways are unchallenged. There is no battle as long as the Adam
nature and its activities are not crossed, confronted or assailed. Our carnal life is at
peace within itself until the red horse rides in and T-A-K-E-S PEACE FROM OUR EARTH! The
red horse never enters our land until we have been quickened to higher and holier things,
brought into living fellowship in the Spirit. The world is at peace with itself,
unconvicted of its course of carnality and shame, content in the frivolous activities of
the earth-life. There is a war which rages within me and, which causes far more trouble
than any conflict I face without. My number one problem is neither men nor demons, but
myself -- my own limited, deceiving, conniving, mortal mind. My flesh nature is my
greatest enemy, for it is the enemy of the Christ. For years I blamed everything on the
devil and his demons. Then I discovered to my astonishment that all my spiritual battles
were right within myself. I didn't have to look far to find my greatest foe. I found that
I face him in the mirror every morning. But I had never experienced a spiritual battle
until I met Jesus! When He came into my life He at once declared war! Immediately, the
flesh rose up in hostile opposition to the divine Invader and the flesh and the spirit
were at war, one with the other. If they are doing the fighting, what are they fighting
over! When two people or two nations fight, they are fighting over something. They fight
to possess something, to hold on to something, to have ownership of something, or have
legal access. They fight for territory or control. There is an object of their affections
that they are fighting for. In like manner, the spirit seeks control of your soul and
body, and the flesh wants to control them -- soul and body are the object of their
affection! Whoever controls your soul and your body, controls you. The conflict is on and
the judgment is in humanity.
The battle is between two
natures, two kings, two kingdoms. The flesh nature we took upon us when we were born into
this world. The spiritual nature came alive in us when we were born again of the
incorruptible seed of the Word 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" (Jn. 3:6-7). Regeneration, new birth, sons of God -- these are all terms
with which most Christians are familiar. The beautiful ANALOGY is accepted by everyone.
But all this means to the average Christian is that he conjures up the nice religious
feeling of thinking of himself "as if" he were a "real" son of God, as
Jesus is. The average Christian has absolutely no idea of the transcendental implications
of this new birth into the family of God. Most think of being a child of God as sort of an
"honorary" title conferred on them by an indulgent God who accepts them as
"little adopted human children" to whom He plans to give as their reward for
accepting His gift of eternal life, a beautiful park, a celestial playground called
"heaven". This heaven is designed for them to enjoy for eternity, playing,
loafing, running, shouting, rejoicing, visiting, strumming harps, waving palm branches,
and doing what ever other sinless thing their hearts may desire.
But let us understand what it
really means to actually be BORN into the very family of GOD. I like to turn the phrase
"the family of God" around, in order to better catch its significance. Instead
of saying that we are born into the family of God, it is just as correct to say that we
are born into the GOD FAMILY! I may say, by way of illustration, that I was born by
natural birth into the family of Eby. But this also means that I was born into the EBY
FAMILY. I am of the EBY KIND. I A-M E-B-Y. Not only are men born into the family of God,
but they are born into the GOD FAMILY. Not only are we birthed into the
For almost two thousand years
there has raged a theological battle over the Godhead. Some have contended that God is one
Person in three manifestations and that Jesus is that one Person of God manifested in the
flesh. Others believe in the trinity -- that God is eternally three distinct Persons,
co-equal, co-eternal and con-substantial, united together as one God. The truth lies far
beyond the limitation of either concept. Neither view has grasped the fuller truth set
forth in the scriptures and now revealed by the Holy Spirit. The wonderful truth is -- God
is not one Person, neither is God three Persons. God is a FAMILY! God is a KINGDOM! God is
reproducing, expanding, increasing HIMSELF! Jesus explained to Nicodemus in John chapter
three that in order to enter the
Paul speaks of this actual
sonship to God in his wonderful teaching on the discipline that God applies to His sons.
"Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them
reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection to the FATHER OF SPIRITS, and
live?" (Heb. 12:9). God is here declared to be the Father of spirits -- not of angels
or demons or fairies -- for the whole subject of this chapter is SONSHIP. God is not the
Father of angels -- the messenger realm -- they are created spirits, not begotten.
"For unto which of the angels said He at any time, Thou art My son, this day have I
begotten thee! And again, I will be to him a Father...” (Heb. 1:5). The only spirits
which are born spirits are the children of God! God is the Father of OUR SPIRITS
....therefore we reverence Him as sons reverence their father. "That which is born of
the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the spirit is spirit." When I was born
into this world many years ago I was birthed a flesh being. My mother was a flesh being,
my father was a flesh being, their union was a flesh union, and the offspring of that
union was a flesh being. But, praise God! that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. We
are no longer merely physical human beings; we are now immortal, incorruptible, heavenly,
GOD-LIFE beings, having been born again from above, of an incorruptible seed, children of
the Most High. "And you HE made alive, when you were dead, slain, by your trespasses
and sins. But God! So rich is He in mercy! Because of and in order to satisfy the great
and wonderful and intense love with which He loved us, even when we were dead...He made us
ALIVE TOGETHER in fellowship and in union with Christ. He gave us the very life of Christ
Himself; the same new life with which He quickened Him. And He raised us up together with
Him and made us sit down together -- giving us joint seating with Him-- in the heavenly
sphere by virtue of our being in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:1-6, Amplified Bible).
The above scripture brings us
to a most significant point. Some would have us believe that the dead are dead --that is,
that there is no consciousness, no knowledge, no being or existence beyond the grave; that
the dead have utterly perished and have no more a portion in any dimension of life
anywhere in God's great universe. The proof texts used in support of this concept are, for
the most part, taken from the book of Ecclesiastes. Truly the wisdom of Solomon in the
book of Ecclesiastes affirms: "For to him that is joined to all the living there is
hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion. For the living know that they shall
die: but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory
of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished;
neither have they any more a portion for ever in anything that is done under the sun...for
there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou
goest" (Eccl. 9:4- 6,10).
Every diligent searcher for
truth must become aware as quickly as possible of his utter dependence upon the Holy
Spirit for revelation and understanding of all truth. The secrets of the Lord cannot be
learned without the anointing of the Holy Spirit. It is impossible. The world is
overloaded with dead, dry theologians in whose hearts the light of revelation never
shines. Theirs is the realm of musty old volumes of head knowledge --wisdom that is
foolishness with God. They have never learned the difference between the oldness of the
letter and the newness of the spirit. As we breathe a simple, honest prayer for guidance
that will bear great fruit in understanding, may the spirit of wisdom and revelation from
God quicken the minds of all who read these lines. While the passage quoted above from the
book of Ecclesiastes appears conclusive and final that the dead know not anything and have
passed forever out of existence in body, soul and spirit, it is imperative that we bear in
mind just what the book of Ecclesiastes is all about. A careful perusal of the book
reveals that Ecclesiastes is the book of man "under the sun" reasoning about
life; it is the best the carnal mind can do in arriving at the reality and purpose of all
things. The key phrases throughout are "under the sun" "I perceived";
"I said in my heart." The Holy Spirit has recorded accurately what the natural
man reasons, but the conclusions are man's, not God's. This is extremely important! To man
without the life of the Spirit or the understanding of the Almighty "all is
vanity.” To the man whose consciousness, understanding and experience are limited to
those things that are done "under the sun," truly all is vanity. "Vanity of
vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity" (Eccl. 1:2).
The statements about the dead
knowing nothing are no more a divine revelation concerning the state of the dead than any
other conclusion of "the Preacher" is such a revelation. Reasoning from the
standpoint of man "under the sun," the natural man can see no difference between
a dead man and a dead lion (Eccl. 9:3-4). A living dog is better than either, so far as
the natural man can discern. Let all the humanists and atheists say, Amen! Let us now
acquaint ourselves with the truth as it is in Jesus, for when we learn the truth I now
affirm, many things which heretofore have been an inscrutable mystery will begin to come
clear to our understanding. Let us then stand assured of this marvelous fact there is a
realm of life BEYOND THE SUN! It may come as a shock to some who read these lines, but the
Holy Spirit declares with divine certainty that YOUR LIFE, precious child of God, has
nothing in common with the lives of those creatures whose existence is bound to that low
realm under the sun. You belong to a special category of people to whom none of the known
laws of the universe apply. The laws that govern other people do not apply to you. You are
in a class all by yourself. One of the greatest truths ever kept hidden from the eyes of
the natural man is this: "If any man be in Christ, he is a NEW CREATION" (I Cor.
5:17). The destiny of most people, of all natural and fallen men, is linked to the earth
and the mortal; try as they will they cannot escape it. This is the case for most human
beings, all human beings, in fact, who live and have their being in the OLD CREATION MAN
--ADAM. But, blessed be God! AN EXCEPTION TO THIS RULE: EXISTS! The Master Architect of
the universe saw fit to create a special category of people who are of an entirely NEW
CREATION. The highest realm known to man is called heaven, and all who have been born
again from above by the Spirit of God have had opened to them a realm higher far than the
visible world of the physical and material. Paul tells us that we are to "seek those
things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection
on things above, not on things on the earth" (Col. 3:1-2). The man or woman who is
born from that bright glory world above becomes an entirely new creation in Christ Jesus.
And from that time forward, he lives for God. His chief delight is in spiritual things.
Spiritual things are eternal things. His affections are set above and not on things below.
His citizenship is in heaven --the realm of spirit. Before his eyes there is opened up a
Kingdom which is beyond his full articulation or expression, and he knows that the
I want to draw your attention
to a few scriptures that will make the truth crystal clear. And let demons rage. Let fools
and unbelievers hang their heads in shame. We quote from the incomparable Word of God.
"And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins...but God...hath
raised us up together, and MADE US SIT TOGETHER IN HEAVENLY PLACES IN CHRIST JESUS"
(Eph. 2:1,4-6). Ah, we whose spirits have been quickened by His Spirit, we in whom the
mighty power is working which God wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and
set Him at His own right hand far above all heavens --have been made alive and enthroned
with Him in this super-eminence N-O-W. The Lord Jesus Christ is enthroned in the
higher-than-all- heavens and WE HAVE BEEN QUICKENED AND RAISED UP AND GIVEN JOINT SEATING
WITH HIM IN THE UNION OF HIS DIVINE LIFE! The message is clear --"This is the record,
that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son
hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written
unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal
life" (I Jn. 5:11-13). Alas! those who say that the saint of God whose body goes by
way of the grave is dead like a dog without being or consciousness has failed the first
simple test of sonship; HE DOES NOT KNOW THAT HE HAS ETERNAL LIFE! Again, "We know
that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren" (I Jn. 3:14).
We know that we H-A-V-E PASSED FROM DEATH UNTO LIFE! We also know, therefore, that a dead
saint is better than a living dog. The mighty apostle Peter put it this way, "You
have been regenerated --born again-- not from a mortal origin (seed, sperm) but from one
that is immortal by the ever living and lasting Word of God" (I Pet. 1:23, Amplified
Bible). We could heap scripture upon scripture --but let me ask you, precious friend of
mine, How can one who HAS ETERNAL LIFE--die? Oh, yes, his body may go to the grave, and
well did "the Preacher" say, "there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge,
nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest." The great question is just this: Is
that inner man, the new creation, that man begotten of the eternal Spirit and by the
incorruptible seed of the Word of God, that man born from above, that man seated in the
heavenly places in Christ Jesus --is that man, I ask, IN THE GRAVE? If I have the Son of
God, if my spirit has been quickened by His Spirit, if I have been joined to the Lord one
spirit, if I know that I have passed from death unto life, if I have been raised up (if ye
then be risen with Christ, seek those things that are above), translated into the Kingdom
of the Son --can I then perish, know nothing, have no reward, and be less than a living
dog, without hope in the darkness, silence and non-existence of the grave? "I am
crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live" (Gal. 2:20) is the testimony of the
resurrected man. If God has not done something eternal in my spirit, then I am of all men
most miserable. If my life is hid with Christ in God, but I die like a dog and that is the
end of me --WHAT MORE DO I POSSESS THAN THE MAN WHO KNOWS NOT CHRIST? What advantage is
there to being born again? Would it not be a monstrous lie to say that I have passed from
death unto life? Indeed, what IS this life, this eternal life, this incorruptible life I
have now received--if all things come alike to all and there is one event to the righteous
and to the wicked; to the clean and the unclean; if all alike die, perish, cease to exist,
and know nothing! I do not hesitate to tell you that such a notion is a spiritual
absurdity, a distortion of truth, and a repudiation of that regeneration wrought within!
Our spiritual life, my beloved, is not measured as matter, nor by years, nor is it in any
way restricted or controlled by any physical law or by those things which are done
"under the sun." Hearken, O ye sons of God --divinity and eternity are born in
us! We are children of our heavenly Father! "Beloved, N-O-W are we the children of
God." Do you believe it? DO you! In union with Christ in one spirit I must believe
that should my spirit die, the Christ would die. If my new creation life perishes, the
Christ perishes. If my inner man has no consciousness apart from the outer man, then the
Christ has no consciousness apart from the physical world. The Lord Jesus Christ had power
to both lay down His life and take it up again. Can we not see by this that He HAD LIFE
EVEN WHILE HE WAS DEAD! A child can understand that one cannot take his life up again if
he has ceased to exist. If the Christ did not have LIFE IN THE SPIRIT, there would have
been no resurrection of the body!
In that far away beginning
the Almighty Creator proclaimed, "Let us make man in our image and after our
likeness." God made cattle "after their kind," after the cattle kind. He
made "every winged fowl after his kind," after the bird kind. But it is evident
that God purposed to make man AFTER THE GOD KIND. Now, incredible as it may seem to those
who do not understand the mystery of God, God is a FAMILY. This does not mean that there
are many gods. There is only one God, as there is only one Adam and one Christ. Adam is a
many-membered man, Christ is a many-membered son, and God is a many-membered Godhead! The
Person of God is expressed through a vast variety of manifestations of Himself as He
reproduces Himself after His own "KIND." And it is in man that God is
reproducing His kind. Man is God's idea, God's image, God's likeness, God's expression,
God's manifestation. Man, out of all the infinite creation of God, has the supreme
potentiality of being born into the very divine family of God, of which divine family
Jesus Christ is the firstborn Son among many brethren. Jesus Christ is the first perfect
representation of the invisible God. Do you realize what this means? It means far more
than having an immortal body. The transcendent essential factor is that God is PERFECT
SPIRITUAL CHARACTER. It is the supreme intelligence, combined with holy and righteous
character that most importantly distinguishes GOD from every other life form. Of course
God, too, possesses supreme and almighty power and eternal, incorruptible existence. But
without right CHARACTER, such power and perpetuity would be destructive and dangerous!
Should any one of us acquire an immortal body prior to having developed a holy and
incorruptible character, a devil would surely be born! Come now, and let us reason
together. Character springs from nature. Webster defines nature as: "the inherent
tendencies directing conduct...what a thing really is...quality...essence.” On the
other hand, character is defined as: “one's pattern of behavior or
personality...reputation.” Paul describes our old (first, fleshly) nature in Eph.
2:2-3. "Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience: among whom also we all had our conversation (behavior) in times
past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and
were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." The apostle Peter speaks of
our new (second, spiritual) nature in II Pet. 1:3-4. "According as His divine power
has given unto us all things that pertain to life (Gr., ZOE: God life) and godliness
....whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye
might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the
world through lust."
Yes, my beloved, we are now
made partakers of GOD'S DIVINE NATURE. The new creation has only God-like attributes.
Christ is the life of it. The believer, partaking of the divine nature, displays the very
characteristics of Christ. It is He who gives the child of God the righteousness of God
and makes him an heir of God and a joint-heir with Christ. This nature, as all nature, is
inherited. And from this divine nature is developed God's divine character. Understand
this and you will understand a great truth: NATURE is inherited; CHARACTER is developed!
Character is never formed instantaneously. No one is born possessing character. Every
child of Adam is born into this world with a sinful (flesh) nature. But that precious
little infant does not yet have a sinful character. As the child grows the character is
formed progressively out of the nature. The nature gradually manifests itself through the
actions of the child as character. In like manner, we have by re-generation been made
partakers of the divine nature. The divine seed (sperm) of His life has fertilized the
ovum of our human spirit (which also came from God but dwells in a state of death --not
nonexistence, but unresponsiveness to the spiritual realm) producing the NEW CREATION MAN.
And while this new birth is the most astounding miracle of the ages, it is, nonetheless,
merely the birth of a spiritual infant possessing divine nature but not divine character.
Now divine character must be developed from the divine nature --God manifesting His nature
outwardly through our words, actions and behavior. This character is formed in the
crucible of experience, as we learn in every situation and circumstance to yield our
vessel to the Holy Spirit who is the active agent in our divine nature.
In the light of the truth we
are now studying, so many things take on new meaning. The Lord Jesus Christ explained the
two natures when He told Nicodemus, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and
that which is born of the spirit is spirit" (Jn. 3:6). This is the fundamental
principle of the warfare that rages within us! The word flesh is a comprehensive term and
includes all that a person is through his or her natural birth: intellect, emotions, will,
and body. These component parts that make up a human being are corrupt, for the stream of
humanity became polluted at its source when Adam and Eve submitted the human race to the
outer realm of appearances. Basically, their sin was unbelief, followed by disobedience,
and since all mankind was present in Adam and Eve, their sin killed man spiritually,
causing him to be unresponsive to God. The flesh nature is dead to God, but very much
alive to the world. The spirit nature, once fertilized by the divine Spirit, is dead to
the world, but very much alive to God. This sets into action two competitive forces within
the child of God: one born of the flesh, and the other born of the Spirit. Thus the child
of God becomes a battlefield. Each nature wars against the other, seeking to dominate the
mind, the will, the emotions and the body. It is precisely at this juncture that the red
horse gallops into your land with power to TAKE PEACE FROM YOUR EARTH! Few believers
understand the intensity of this warfare. The old nature, godless, unbelieving,
ego-centric, selfish, and linked to the world, wants control of the individual for fleshly
gratifications. The new nature, spiritual, believing, one with Christ Jesus, and eternal,
wants control of the individual to produce eternal values. It is a running battle with no
surrender, "For the flesh lusteth (wars) against the spirit, and the spirit against
the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things
that ye would" (Gal. 5:17). Since most saints do not understand what is going on
within, they encounter "mountain-top experiences", and then they are plunged
into "death-valley experiences." The death-valley experiences occur when the old
nature greedy for personal gratification and fed by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the
eye, and the pride of life, dominates the spiritual nature.
Here I would share some
pertinent words from the pen of Paul Mueller. "Two natures within us manifest the
character and manner of each: Fallen Adam within us is that mystery of iniquity that
curses and brings forth the iniquities of the carnal man. Likewise, the risen Christ
within us blesses the Father, declares the truth and mysteries of God, makes known the
manifold wisdom of God, and lifts us up and causes us to walk in the high places in Him.
And as we give the preeminence to the Christ within, fallen Adam within will be subdued
and conquered so that our spirits, souls and bodies are preserved complete and found
blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ‘Faithful is He who calls you, and
He will also perfect His work' (I Thes. 5:23-24,
Of
this great battle within someone has written an interesting and appropriate rhyme:
Two natures beat within my
breast.
One is foul, the other blest.
The one I love; the one I hate.
The one I feed will dominate.
This thought is expanded in a
poem by Norene Nicholls, titled, THE FULLNESS OF GOD, and we quote:
"But thou flesh, my foe
so bitter,
was fast nailed to His cross,
Cease your cries! I will not listen,
all you've dealt is gall and
loss!
Self, you, too, must cease your struggle
and come down from off the throne,
Christ, my Lord, is King and Master,
and the reins are all His
own!
O my spirit, long you've waited
neath the weights I've heaped
on thee,
How you've longed to fully worship;
how you've cried to be set
free.
O Thou wondrous, glorious Godhead,
like an ocean vast and wide,
Launch I forth into Thy fullness
where doth flow Thy power's
tide.
Who will dare to loose the moorings
and abandon all to God?
They shall know unequaled power
--they shall tread where none have trod!"
Ray Printing has beautifully
expounded along this line --"Paul described it this way: ‘For I delight in the
law of God after the inward man: but I see another law in my members, warring against the
law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin'
(Rom. 7:22-23,25). Full well Paul knew that he had given himself to the Lord, made his
surrender, and received the INDWELLING LIFE OF THE SPIRIT. But he also knew that there was
a law in his members, in the flesh, which would war against this inner life and that there
were only two ways to bring a cessation to the conflict, either to PUT OFF THIS BODY, or
else to have this body SWALLOWED UP INTO HIS LIFE. He had no great desire to become a
dis-embodied spirit, but rather longed to have this body changed and fashioned anew like
unto His glorious body, for then he would know that GLORIOUS REST FOR THE BODY. What
conflicts --the negative says, 'This body is mine by reason of the fall, and the sin that
dwells therein.' The spirit of the world adds, 'This body is mine, I give it life and
nourishment -- I feed its senses, tickle its emotions, stir up its impulses, etc.' But the
Spirit of God within, says, ‘IT IS MINE BY VIRTUE OF REDEMPTION -- I shall transform
it, I shall lift it into higher realms beyond all sin and corruption.' Thus we have
conflict between the negative and the positive. There might be momentary pauses in the
battle, but there will be no thorough pause, complete cessation of warfare, until we are
totally changed. It is when we are all righteous, that the ‘prince of this world
cometh, and hath nothing in me' (Jn. 14:30). Though Paul recognized this dichotomy in
himself, the inward man delighting in the law of God, and the flesh yielding to the law of
sin, he did not use this as an excuse, or an occasion to justify the flesh. But knowing of
this conflict, he continually sought to 'keep under my body, and bring it into
subjection...' (I Cor. 9:27). ‘For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if
ye through the spirit DO MORTIFY THE DEEDS OF THE BODY, ye shall live' (Rom. 8:13).
Through the spirit, by the power of the indwelling Christ, we battle the lower passions,
putting them to death, that receiving the 'abundance of grace and of the gift of
righteousness shall reign in life by One, Jesus Christ' (Rom. 5:17).
"Many a battle has been
fought, and won, though devils were not rebuked, and there was no writhing on the floor in
intense travail, nor any challenge by an antagonist against the truth believed --it was
all INTERNAL. Battles of the mind, battles of inner spirit conflict, a warfare against the
vision, against the thing which God had personally revealed, but which the flesh was not
ready to receive. And while we would 'reckon ourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, and
alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord,' yet only HE can complete this work in us
and make it an experiential reality. So we surrender, and He works it out. ‘Now why
dost thou cry aloud? IS THERE NO KING IN THEE? is thy counselor perished?...' (Micah 4:9).
"In some occupations a
man with very little authority, limited in his power to make decisions and rule over
others, is referred to as a 'straw boss'. Yet betimes this individual gets carried away
with his own sense of importance and tries to go beyond his rightful place, giving orders
and bossing others. Seems like we have all had our share of straw bosses usurping
authority, as they would assume control over that which they have no right. We'll pass
very lightly over the fact that most of the so-called 'shepherding movement' falls into
this classification, as they usurp the headship which rightly belongs to CHRIST in every
individual. At the moment we are more concerned with these internal straw bosses --our own
will, our own desires, our own impulses, etc. which would like to hold control within us.
But when we have been OVERCOME BY CHRIST, He shall be King within. Praise His name! In
fact there is quite a bit of truth in the statement that we shall only become overcomers
in Christ in proportion to how much we have been overcome by Christ. To partake of His
victory He must first become Victor over all our inner kingdom.
‘Take Thy throne, Lord,
take Thy throne,
Take Thy throne, Lord, take Thy throne,
For our eyes have seen the King in all His beauty,
Cleanse our hearts so Thou canst take Thy throne!’
"'As a beast goeth down
into the valley, the Spirit of the Lord caused him to rest' (Isa. 63:14). The word
'valley' comes from the Hebrew word BIQAH meaning: a cleft, a vale. Down into the valley,
down into the fellowship of His sufferings, into the Cleft of His RIVEN SIDE --to know the
rending of the flesh, with death to the carnal mind, i.e. minding of the flesh, to mortify
all the deeds of the body which are contrary to righteousness. As a beast, taking all the
bestial nature down into the vale, with its lusts and passions, weakness and frailty,
laden with the sins of this natural creation, and THERE THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD CAUSES US
TO REST -- bringing a thorough ceasing of all these works of the flesh, and ending the
ways of the bestial, flesh nature. Ending all the self-works that cannot attain
spirituality. The beast shall not rise again, for dust returns to dust, and ashes to
ashes, and that which is raised up is that NEW CREATION SPECIES IN CHRIST JESUS. How we
rejoice to know that what goes down into that valley shall not come up again! There is a
NEW BODY that shall arise, a new life that shall spring forth. The new creation rises all
righteous, having now become the righteousness of God. Certainly there are spiritual
glories which surpass all of that which we can ask or think. But methinks that even to
have our very BODIES now brought into a state of righteousness and incorruption, is a
wonder almost too great to comprehend. It will mean a glorious rest for the body, to be as
He is.
"Beloved friend, we have
not offered the world a glorious rest! True, we can say there is rest in Christ, and we
have experienced moments of respite, times of refreshing. But at best, we can only awaken
a soul from their spirit of slumber, and bring them into a period of conflict, with 'A LAW
IN MY MEMBERS WARRING...’ Certainly we know that God uses all this conflict in our
process of overcoming, and certainly we know that by His grace we shall come through, not
somehow, but triumphantly. But how we long to bring people into GLORIOUS REST --into a
realm where it is no longer in part but satisfied in full. Praise God, He is bringing
forth an ensign, a root of Jesse, raised up to be His standard, and they shall GIVE REST
TO THE WEARY, for they shall lead them into righteousness, ending the warfare, and
bringing forth peace. 'Saviours shall come up on
Yes, my beloved, there is a
great warfare raging within, and Christ has pressed this war upon us, His conquest that is
going on right now in that inner world of our hearts, minds and bodies. The battle of the
ages, the famed Battle of Armageddon, portrays no literal conflict with carnal weapons. It
is not on any battlefield on earthly ground that the glorified Redeemer confronts the
banded hosts of earth and hell. We cannot go to the pages of Josephus or Tacitus or Wells,
or any other historian, for the events which correspond with these symbols. Nor shall we
find the grim ride of the Four Horses of the Apocalypse in the headlines of the Washington
Post or the Miami Herald! The scene reveals one divine and sublime truth: CHRIST SHALL
CONQUER! The
Chapter
24
SAGITTARIUS-THE
ARCHER
(continued)
The Sign of Sagittarius
portrays Christ the Redeemer going forth to destroy the adversary. This Sign brings before
us a Centaur with the body of a horse and the torso of a man. The human portion of the
Centaur is a man with a bow and arrow and he is drawing the bow and aiming the arrow at
Atares --the very heart of the Scorpion. His character here is that of the Mighty One,
girding Himself with honor and majesty, and going forth to victory. He rides as a King,
armed with bow and arrows, shooting down His enemies. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
Conqueror of the Scorpion! In refulgent glory He rides forth upon a horse with a bow,
going forth as the conquering King to conquer. The apostle John in His visions on
THE BLACK HORSE
And now we come to the third
horse --the black horse. "And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third
beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a
pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A
measure of wheat for a penny and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt
not the oil and the wine" (Rev. 6:5-6). Horses, as we have noted previously, are
symbols of overcoming strength and power --whatever lies before these horses is overcome
by them. Color in scripture denotes the presence and operation of God by the Spirit. The
color reveals what the horse is doing to you or producing in you. In the process there is
both life and death, death to the Adam man and the apprehension of life in the Christ man.
The first horse was white --the expression of life, illumination and revelation. When
light comes forth you see your first beginning. In the beginning God said, "Let there
be light!" Prior to this pronouncement the "earth" was "without form
and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep." This is a perfect description
of the earth man before God's redemptive and reconstructive work begins upon him. Before
God's Word is heard, before His light of truth and revelation shines, the natural man, who
is of the earth earthy, is spiritually void and formless, an unknown deep within. Upon
this deep all is darkness; yet, praise God, God's Spirit is brooding there. The natural
man is alienated from the life of God, shut out from the spiritual world, blind to reality
and truth --yet God is very near. In relation to spiritual life this man begins nothing,
continues nothing, perfects nothing. The wondrous change wrought is by the power of the
Word of God. Life and power are in the Word. "God said" -this is the means
--just as God formed the first creation in that long ago, so He now fashions the new
creation. In both the initiative is on God's part. When all was void and formless and
shrouded in darkness and hopelessness and nothing moved, "the Spirit of God moved
upon the face of the waters." In both creations the transformation is the work of the
Word of God, the living and energetic Word of God. God speaks and light breaks forth upon
the void. The first step in creation is the awakening of man to spiritual consciousness,
the dawning of light in his mind and heart, his perception of Truth through the quickening
of his spirit. Light is understanding; and the first day's work is the calling of light or
understanding into expression. Light represents intelligence and life --a spiritual
quality. Darkness represents ignorance and death. Symbolically these are "day"
and "night." Understanding and illumination quicken and enlighten mind and heart
and man comes face to face with God, transformed by His glory. Those in whom this work
goes on, know that each succeeding step is entirely by the Word of God. As Andrew Jukes
wrote, "From everlasting all the work had been hid in Christ, the Eternal Word. Then,
in time, that which was in the wisdom of God is wrought actually in the creature. Whether
light, or a heaven, or fruits, or heavenly lights, or the living creatures, or the man in
God's image --each form of light and life, once hid in Christ, is reproduced, manifested
in the creature to the Creator's praise. What was in Christ is step by step accomplished
in the earth by the transforming power of the same Word of God. Without this no change is
or can be wrought. No saint can grow or live without the Word. What was in the Word from
everlasting, by the Word is wrought in us" --end quote.
The second horse was red --in
the Greek PURRHOS meaning fire-like or flame-colored. OUR GOD IS A CONSUMING FIRE. God's
action in fire, like His action in grace, is pure, harmonious, balanced, directed towards
the purging that leads to transformation. The eternal fire is the Truth, the
Righteousness, the Love of God; in a word, it is the nature of God. Any careful reader of
the Old Testament will be aware that fire is often used therein as a symbol for the
presence and manifestation of God. "Our God is a consuming fire," says the
scripture, and the apostle adds, "God is love." God IS! God is fire and He is
love. Fire represents the divine process of cleansing. Divine judgment is not unto
destruction, but unto redemption. Fire appears terrible only to the man who is unprepared
to pass through it. Yes, our God is a consuming fire, and there is comfort and hope and
blessing in the thought! When we yield to God's love, and open our hearts to Him, He
enters into us, and becomes within us a consuming fire; not to ourselves, but to the
carnality within us. So that, in a very deep and blessed sense, we may be said to dwell
with the devouring fire, and to walk amid the eternal burnings. Nothing is more certain
than the fact that Jesus Christ has already ridden, or shall yet ride into the world of
each of us in FLAMING FIRE! Not to destroy us, but to purge our land. Only the dross must
be removed. Thank God that the Christ comes to us not only on the white horse, but also on
the red horse to carry the issue onward to victory!
When the black horse invades
our land, great darkness falls upon our earth, on the natural man, the carnal mind, the
fleshly nature. Black is the absence of light and color. It denotes a condition of no
light, no understanding, no expression, nor substance. The anointing of the black horse is
a revelation of darkness --the knowledge of just what is in the carnal man, the carnal
mind, the fleshly nature --the clear and perfect understanding of what they are, how they
work, their utter futility and worthlessness in the light of Reality and Truth that the
Spirit brings. We will never let go of the valueless things of the earth realm until once
we see them for what they really are, and the true riches. We see a beautiful portrait of
this great truth in the Song of Solomon. In chapter 1:1 it is called "The Song of
songs, which is Solomon’s." Just as the "Holy of holies" was the
Holiest place of all, just as the "Heaven of heavens" is the highest Heaven of
all, so the "Song of songs" is above and beyond all the songs that have ever
come from the human heart and human lips. This is the Song that is above all other songs;
a Song sent down from the courts of Heaven, from the throne of God; a strain from the
Heavenly choir. "Song" in the symbology of scripture means a
"message." So the Song of songs is the Message of messages, the Revelation of
revelations!
There are two principle
characters in the drama. First you have "my Beloved" who is representative of
HIM, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord who is the spirit. Then you have "My love"
which represents a woman --the soul realm. This is the ineffable, pre-eminent Song;
ineffable because it is a celebration of true marriage, a portrait of your personal
relationship with Jesus, and a picture of the love relation between Christ and the church;
ultimately it is a representation of the relationship between the Corporate Man, the
Manchild, the sons of God with the Bride of Christ. On the personal level she, the soul,
becomes awakened to Him, the indwelling spirit. These are internal realities. The Christ
to who our soul awakens, and whom our soul seeks and loves, is not the Christ in some far
off heaven somewhere, but Christ in our spirit, who dwells in our hearts by faith. When
the soul awakens to the glory of the Christ within, when she once beholds HIS beauty, HIS
majesty, HIS riches, and smells HIS oils, she is filled with great desire and she cries,
"Draw me and we will run after Thee!" Her heart goes out that she may rise up
and run after Him. She feels she is helpless in herself, but that He has power to draw
her, and He alone can do this. She longs for the kisses of His mouth, those tender moments
of fellowship and communion in which His love is revealed. When God pours into you a
hunger for your Beloved and begins to reveal more clearly your potential in Him, rejoice
with great joy and gratitude toward God. If He did not put into our hearts the longing to
know Him better and to have His very best, we would be satisfied with the least we could
have and be saved, and become spiritual paupers in the Kingdom of God. How wondrous are
the workings and drawings of God upon a human soul! How little do we behold or know that
which He is doing, as day by day He works down in the depths of our beings. The most
favored place a child of God can be in, is to continually feel the drawing of God urging
and constraining him to greater hunger and to greater abandonment to Him. There is nothing
we should praise Him for with such gratitude, as for every touch of hunger that He
graciously gives us. "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge
of God; how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past tracing out."
In the moments of ecstasy in
His presence she catches a glimpse of the Most Holy Place and cries, "I want
more!" But in His presence she also receives a startling revelation -- "I am
black but comely, O ye daughters of
Our vision of heavenly things
has been so distorted due to our looking through physical and soulish eyes. You have
sometimes seen a window made of fluted glass, and you know that if you look at the street
through this window everything will be distorted. The passers-by and the automobiles will
appear to be warped and distorted in absurd and ugly ways. Nevertheless, you know that
these things are really quite alright in themselves, and that the distortion arises from
your seeing them wrongly. The pure eyes of our regenerated spirits have had to filter
through the fluted shell of our carnal minds and the marvelous things of the realm of
God's Spirit have been distorted into myriads of carnal doctrines, traditions, rituals,
concepts, interpretations, methods, and religious systems and exercises. This distorted
vision of heavenly things is really what we know as "Christianity" and "the
Church." It is a seeing, but a false seeing. It is a knowing, but a false knowing.
The sons of God are arising to pass through this veil, to abide forever in the Holiest of
all. Over the heart of every unquickened and untransformed man or woman there hangs an
impenetrable veil of outer darkness that keeps men blinded to the glory of Truth and
Reality in the Spirit. Even in the reading of the scripture the veil is over their eyes,
and they sit in blindness and outer darkness until a totally new spirit and new heart is
given them. Then and only then does the light shine upon them. Then and only then do they
behold the King in all His beauty and discern all spiritual things. Then and only then do
they understand the incredible darkness and dreadful void of the carnal mind with all its
delusions and distortions. No greater tragedy can overtake a man than that, after he has
been illuminated by the light of Christ, and made a partaker of the life of the Spirit, he
should then mingle his affection with the emptiness of earthly things and not set them
entirely on things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. The
children of God are so occupied and busy with soulish zeal and carnal efforts! They are
running here and there, busily initiating religious activities of all kinds, as though the
Lord could not get along without their officious help. One would think that the Lord is
not as interested in His own Vineyard as they are. They are organizing, and bringing
together all kinds of machinery to run the Lord's business; they are inventing intricate
and clever systems to get men saved, and to entertain them so that they will remain saved
(?). Everybody feels that they should be "doing something for God." This sounds
reasonable to the natural mind; so men mingle the thoughts, schemes, ideas, plans,
purposes, ambition and zeal of the carnal mind with the new inclinations and affections of
the spiritual mind; consequently Christians rush about in every direction like ants on an
ant hill, doing this and doing that, going here and going there, organizing this and
organizing that, promoting this and promoting that, praying, preaching, planning, toiling,
giving their money, working themselves into nervous wrecks, even neglecting their families
and homes, cultivating the vineyards of others and letting their own experience remain
shallow and on the surface. They find no time to wait upon God in earnest, to sit at His
feet in holy submission and sweet communion, to learn of Him. They spend no time in
learning to KNOW the Lord of the Vineyard! Without exception, this barrenness and void in
our lives is a sure proof that we are in need of God's dealing hand. Therefore, let us
leave everything that we can leave, and let us get still before the Spirit that He may
speak to us and work in us, and for us, and through us, to His glory. Then shall we go
forth with the presence and power of God upon us, and while we shall be used of Him with
those around us, we shall have learned to watch for His movings and dealings upon our
souls, and to always yield to Him to work in us first. Thus shall our hearts become truly
pure, unmixed with the carnal zeal and scheming of the carnal mind. The maxim for those
sons led by the Spirit of God shall be: "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they
shall SEE GOD --at work!"
They who shall make up the
elect of God shall not be content with a mere vision of Christ. They will take away every
veil that is between them and their Lord, and with unveiled face they will behold His
glory until they are transfigured into the same image, from glory to glory. God's chosen
ones will not be satisfied with imaginary victory, which is really the deceptive peace of
having received a revelation but not entering in. They will strengthen themselves in the
Lord and put on His whole armor. They will fight the good fight of faith and finish their
course --immortal and incorruptible. They will not mistake the call and revelation of God,
for possession. They will not be content with visions and passing glimpses of the land of
promise, but by faith they will walk up and down through the land and begin to possess
their possessions. They will become more than conquerors through Him that loved them.
The black horse reveals the
black -- the substance of carnality. One can never be an overcomer until he deals with the
subtleties of the carnal nature. The carnal mind is the reasoning, ethics, philosophy,
religion and character of the natural man. But God doesn't only reveal that to us --He
reveals our comeliness at the same time. What beautiful balance there is in the wisdom of
the Lord! "I am black --but comely!" It is this balance between the negative and
the positive in God's dealings that accounts for the Rider of the black horse having a
pair of balances in His hand. The comeliness of those pressing on into God's fullness is
revealed in the further ministry of the black horse. All is not negative, for there is
great spiritual wealth and heavenly glory revealed there! "And I heard a voice in the
midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley
for a penny" (Rev. 6:6). The interpretation placed upon these words by the
theologians and teachers in the church systems is that these symbols denote world-wide
famine. Bread by weight and measure, say they, signifies scarcity of food. The argument
goes something like this: The penny referred to was a day's wage and a measure (nearly a
quart) of corn was a slave's daily ration, an amount usually purchasable for one-eighth of
a penny. Ordinarily, one could buy eight measures of wheat or twenty-four measures of
barley for a penny, but in the days of the black horse only one measure of wheat or three
measures of barley can be bought for a penny. This will make food eight times higher than
usual. A man would be giving all of his income for the bare necessities of life. However,
much carnal guesswork among commentators and writers might have been avoided if recourse
had been made to one passage in the Old Testament where there is a highly significant area
of correspondence. Some teachers, without any investigation or spiritual insight, have
settled for the shallow and literalistic idea of natural "food at famine
prices," whereas the slightest acquaintance with Biblical prices and measures would
have assured them of the contrary --that the food on offer is well within the capacity of
everyone to purchase. Others, obsessed with the history of the Roman empire, have held
that the prices have to do with the ruinous taxation imposed on the farming community in
the days of the
But through all the siege
Elisha encouraged the king of
The news soon spread through
the city of
WHEAT AND BARLEY
There are many types of the
"Stretch forth your
hands, and heal the nations;
Speak forth the Word, and give them life.
This is the day, that God has chosen;
And as He is, so are we, in this world."
What a wonderful source we
have! What a good land this is! The sons of God are the people of the Kingdom of the Most
High, the joy of the whole earth, the hope of all creation --they are the good land of
brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills. What
richness there is in this land!
Not only is the Lord, the
Spirit, the living water of this land, but He is also the bread of the land, the bread of
life. Something to drink always accompanies food. Water is refreshing and quickening; food
is strength and sustenance. Food and drink always go together. So in Deut. 8 the very next
verse says, "A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates;
a land of oil olive, and honey" (Deut. 8:8). There are seven food items in all -- the
perfect, eternal food. There are two kinds of grain -- the same grain mentioned in Rev.
6:6 -- wheat and barley. What is the meaning of all these things? John 12:24 tells us that
the Lord Jesus Christ was a grain of wheat. Matthew 13:38 tells us that the sons of the
Kingdom are grains of wheat. It is all CHRIST -- the food of the land. It is interesting
to note that both barley and wheat were connected with the feasts of the Lord in
As part of the ritual, the
priest would go out among the fields, select the grain that was ripe, gather a bundle and
tie it into a sheaf. He would return to the
The wave-sheaf was a sheaf of
barley. Sowing of barley was done in the
Paul Mueller has gleaned some
precious truths concerning the significance of barley and the harvest of the firstfruits.
He writes, "The book of Ruth is one of the most fascinating books in the Bible,
telling a story of love and redemption. The story begins with Naomi's desire to return
from
"Ruth and Naomi came
home to
What then, does barley
represent? THE RESURRECTED CHRIST! When the harvest time came, the firstfruits of the
harvest must be offered to the Lord, and the firstfruit was clearly the barley. And so it
is written, "But now hath Christ been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of them
that slept" (I Cor. 15:20). The firstfruits of the harvest typify Christ as the
firstfruits of the resurrection. How clearly this shows that barley represents the
RESURRECTED CHRIST! But, by extension, the firstfruits include the elect sons of God in
union with Christ. "Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth, that we
should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures" (James 1:18). "And I looked,
and lo, a Lamb stood on
What aspect of Christ does
wheat represent? Is it not written, "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and
die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit" (Jn. 12:24). From
this passage we can see that the Lord is a grain of wheat falling into the earth to die
and to be buried. The wheat represents Christ incarnated. Christ is God incarnated as man
to fall into the earth, to die and to be buried. This is the wheat. It typifies the Christ
who was incarnated, the Christ who died, and the Christ who was buried. But I would draw
your attention to the setting of this beautiful statement. Andrew and Philip had just come
and told the Lord that certain Greeks had requested to see Jesus. And this was the Lord's
astonishing reply: "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth
alone..." Strange reply! But not hard to understand, when we realize that the Christ
shall appear and shall be SEEN IN HIS PEOPLE, through His Cross and Resurrection. "We
would see Jesus," said the Greeks. Then they must see Him in the harvest which His
death would bring into being. They must see Him in the grain that would be reproduced
after His very likeness, in His very image. They would see Him in His body! And the only
way that we, as the sons of God, are going to manifest the life and resurrection power of
Christ is by becoming identified with Him in His cross. It is not sufficient that we
merely accept Christ and His redemptive work on our behalf. Doing that we are brought into
fellowship with Him -- but we "abide alone." We must share His sufferings, share
His death to self, share His abandonment to the will of the Father, share His separation
from the world and the flesh, identify ourselves with His cross, so that it actually
becomes our very own -- and then we shall rise in resurrection life to bring forth much
fruit unto the Kingdom. "For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His
death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection" (
The fact that Jesus took
"five barley loaves" with which He fed the multitudes is a very positive
prophetic picture. Most Christians are familiar with the miracle of the five loaves, but
very few are aware that those loaves were loaves of barley. Jesus did nothing by chance!
All that He did was prophetic pointing to a larger event that is far more glorious and
significant than that which is seen on the surface. If the loaves would have been loaves
of wheat, something would be wrong. But they were not wheat, they were loaves of barley.
As barley loaves, they could feed five thousand people, and then His disciples gathered up
twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained. This is the resurrected Christ, the
Spirit, who can only be rich and full and inexhaustible to us in the fullness of His
divine life. In His incarnation, He is exceedingly limited but in His resurrection He is
abundant and unlimited. There is no limit, no measure, no boundary to the resurrection
life of the Christ! As Christ incarnate, He was just one grain, a little Nazarene, a
humble carpenter, an itinerant preacher in one of the smallest nations on earth for a mere
three years and a half. But when He came into resurrection and returned as the indwelling
Spirit of life, He was unlimited. Time and space and material things could limit Him no
longer. There were five loaves, but in fact there were countless loaves. There was enough
to feed five thousand men plus all the women and children, with an overflow of twelve
baskets full. Twelve is the number of absolute fullness, Kingdom sufficiency. It means
that this is Christ in the power and glory of His Kingdom, in the inexhaustibleness of
immortality and incorruption. You can draw from the abundance of His resurrection life and
after you have eaten all you need HIS FULLNESS REMAINS UNDIMINISHED! Christ in His
resurrection can never be limited or exhausted. Wheat is the valley of death, but barley
is the mountain of resurrection. Whenever you experience Christ as the wheat, be assured
that an experience of Christ as the barley will follow. Ah, precious friend of mine,
regardless of the problems and pressures that hedge you in and shut you up, irrespective
of the circumstances and conditions that appear to confine and limit and prevent you from
the fulfillment of God's full purpose in your life, let me assure you -- a barley loaf is
within you! It is a loaf of the resurrected Christ who can never be limited. Apply HIM to
the situation. He can never be exhausted. With the life of the resurrected Christ, you can
live out the life of the unlimited God within the confines of your present limitation. You
can do all things through Him who strengthens you, because He is resurrected in you and
there is no limit. This kind of experience not only enables you to know the Christ within
as the wheat and as the barley, but by this experience you become a grain of wheat, you
become a loaf of barley.
You, as Jesus, in the present
state of your development, can be limited in fullness. When Jesus was on earth He was
always limited. He was limited by His flesh, limited by His family, limited by space,
limited by time, limited by people's unbelief, limited by the plan and will of the Father.
When the Christ took upon Him a body of flesh and the nature of man, He willfully
subjected Himself to the limitations and restrictions of that which is material, earthly
and mortal. Jesus did not walk among men as the incorruptible God, but as mortal man. It
was as a natural, physical earthling that He was tempted; He hungered; He thirsted; He
knew weakness; He wept; He slept; He suffered; He died. The life of God resided in His
spirit, but that life was confined, restrained and restricted by the bounds of the
material world which He had taken upon Himself. It is manifest that His body was not an
incorruptible body, else He would not have died though nailed to a thousand crosses! It is
remarkable that through the few years of Jesus' ministry He never performed one act, nor
one miracle, sign or wonder on the higher plane of incorruption. Every miracle Jesus did
was in the realm of mortality. He raised a number of folk from the dead, including
Lazarus, but each and every person called back from the sleep of death was merely raised
up again into the mortal life to continue on for a season in the same old corruptible
body. All of them DIED AGAIN! Think of it! Not one single person was raised up out of
corruption into an incorruptible body. Jesus cleansed the lepers and healed every manner
of sickness and disease among the people, but I do not hesitate to tell you that each and
every one of those good people got sick again and eventually died! Jesus performed many
other types of miracles. He began by turning water into wine. And it was very excellent
wine, indeed. But just wine, nonetheless. It was composed of the same chemical elements as
all fine wine. It was material, physical, earthly. It was consumed by flesh and blood
bodies and a portion eliminated from those bodies as waste. Not one ounce of spirituality
was obtained by drinking it. And yet it is written: "This beginning of miracles did
Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and MANIFESTED FORTH HIS GLORY; and His disciples believed on
Him" (Jn. 2:11). Yes, He manifested forth His glory. The life of the Father dwelt
within Him. All power was incarnate within Him. And in limitation He lived in that life
and ministered out of that life. What condescension!
Is not the fullness of God
within us in limitation? Dearly beloved, whenever you are put into a situation by the
Lord's sovereignty in which you are limited, in which you are pressed, in which you are
restricted, you are experiencing the life of God as wheat. When in the midst of that
limiting and pressing situation you look to the Lord, He is just as a grain of wheat to
you. For the sake of our learning, for the sake of others -- how often He confines and
limits us! We would like to send the lightning from our fingers and with a flash of fire
and a blaze of glory reveal His power without limitation so that men would behold His
omnipotence in us. But that is not how God works. He gives only what men are capable of
receiving, so He comes in limitation lest they be blinded by the light and destroyed by
the blast of His nostrils. He comes in the life of the little carpenter, the incarnate
One, the limited One. There is power in Him to suffer any kind of limitation. If you are a
follower of Jesus, if you are a son of God, you have to be limited. In many situations you
must be like a car with a powerful engine of hundreds of horsepower, slowed down to
fifteen miles per hour in a school zone, lest little children be run down. We cannot push
or hurry things along. We cannot force things. We must not induce a premature birth. If it
were left up to us we would bring in the Kingdom RIGHT NOW -- invading and raping creation
to deliver it. We want our husband or wife converted or changed now. We want God to deal
with our children or loved ones now. We want deliverance from our problems and pressures
now. We are not unlike the man who prayed, "O God, give me patience -- and give it to
me RIGHT NOW!" We would mass-produce sons in man-made training centers. We would
mature sons of God in an artificial "hot-house" environment. May the blessed
spirit of wisdom and revelation from God teach us the simple truth that the vision is
caught, not taught! The wisdom and glory of God are revealed to the pure and humble in
heart. God Himself is bringing up His own sons. We may be permitted to help a little here
and there with a word of encouragement, a sharing of experience, a ministration of
understanding and wisdom, but in the final analysis each son must come to know God for
himself. No man can come unto the Christ except the Father draw him. We may plant and
water, but it is God who gives the increase. We must not resort to artificial "growth
stimulants" contrary to the laws of natural growth. When one turns to carnal gimmicks
he frustrates the grace and power of the Spirit and disqualifies a potential overcomer
from becoming a part of the firstfruit offering unto the Lord. In all of these things the
unlimited power of God in us must be manifest in limitation. It is the unlimited Christ
living within us that causes us to follow the limited Jesus. And yet we live out of His
fullness in the unlimitedness of His eternal and inexhaustible life.
HURT NOT THE OIL AND THE WINE
These two principles -- wheat
and barley -- are the very principles revealed in the black horse in Rev. 6. "A
measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny." Thank God!
there is more barley than wheat for the same price. No sooner does the black horse ride
into our land revealing and exposing the carnality in our lives, than he follows this
action with the provision of an abundance of wheat and barley! There is a divine
progression here. As we forsake the darkness and futility of the carnal mind (
THE PALE HORSE
In closing I would mention
briefly the fourth horse. "And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice
of the fourth beast say, come and see. And I looked, and lo a pale horse: and his name
that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over
the fourth part of the earth, to kill with the sword, and with hunger, and with death, and
with the beasts of the earth" (Rev. 6:7-8). There is a special significance to be
attached to the description of the fourth horseman -- he whose name is Death -- and Hell
followed with him. Death and Hell are specially linked in the Revelation. And since Christ
came and abolished death (II Tim. 1:10) and destroyed him that had the power of death,
that is, the devil (Heb. 2:14), He now boldly proclaims: "I am He that liveth, and
was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the KEYS OF HELL AND OF
DEATH" (Rev. 1:18). And since the Christ now possesses both hell and death neither of
them ride anywhere except by His authority! Now let us UNDERSTAND! This horse is given
power over the fourth part of the earth-realm, to kill with the sword, and with hunger,
and with death, and with the beasts of the earth. This "fourth part of the
earth" is clearly that portion of earthiness not already dealt with by the three
preceding horses. It bespeaks of the conclusion, consummation and termination of the
process. It means the final subjugation and destruction of everything within us that is
contrary to HIS life and kingdom. And all the instruments necessary to accomplish this are
in His hands and at His command.
There is an amazing and
significant statement in the passage that we do not want to miss. "And power was
given unto Him to kill...with death." To kill with DEATH! How does one kill with
death? What can this cryptic statement mean? To kill with death means a death by death.
Later on in the book of Revelation the same truth is presented thus: "Death and hell
were cast into the
The following words by Ray
Prinzing give fresh insight into this wonderful truth: "The first Adam died to God
and righteousness, and became alive unto sin. The last Adam died unto sin (Rom. 6:10), and
liveth unto God, and so fulfilleth all righteousness. The first made all men sinners, the
last makes all men righteous. The lives and the deaths of the two
When the process is complete,
and the last soul has emerged from the warfare of the Four Horsemen, fully yielding unto
the Lordship of our Saviour, then at last shall be fulfilled the beautiful promise:
"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. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and
there shall be NO MORE DEATH, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more
pain: for the former things are passed away. And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold,
I make ALL THINGS NEW. And He said unto me, Write: for these words are true and
faithful" (Rev. 21:3-5).
Chapter
25
SAGITTARIUS-THE
ARCHER
(continued)
In ancient times there were
more constellations recognized than the twelve Signs of the Zodiac. Each of the twelve
Signs has three other constellations grouped around it. Thus altogether there are twelve
Zodiacal Signs with 36 additional constellations. These secondary constellations are
called "Decans," from the Shemitic term DEK, meaning a "part" or
"piece." The Decans are therefore "side pieces," indicating that they
belong to the Sign and that their message is a part of the Sign's message. As previously
pointed out, each Zodiacal Sign has three Decans, or three secondary constellations
grouped about it. These three additional constellations are a part of that Sign's
revelation. Therefore, to fully comprehend the significance of each Sign we must examine
not only the major Sign, but also its three Decans. The Sign of SAGITTARIUS has its three
Decans: Lyra, Ara, and Draco. Before proceeding to the next major Sign let us consider the
three Decans or other pieces of the house of Sagittarius.
LYRA
The first is called Lyra.
This star group is pictured as a Lyra or Harp. The harp is the oldest of stringed
instruments of music. We find it named three hundred years before Adam died (Gen. 4:21).
The only musical instrument mentioned in the book of Revelation in connection with heaven
-- the realm of spirit -- is the harp. The harp was the famous instrument on which king
David excelled. According to Flavius Josephus, the Jewish historian, the harp of Bible
days had ten strings which were plucked with a plectrum (pick). The harp was used on
joyous occasions; for instance, it was stated in Gen. 31:26-27: "And Laban said to
Jacob, What hast thou done, that thou hast stolen away unawares to me, and carried away my
daughters, as captives taken with the sword? Wherefore didst thou flee away secretly, and
steal away from me; and didst not tell me, that I might have sent thee away with mirth,
and with songs, with tabret, and with harp?" The Jews refused to play the harp during
the Babylonian Exile. They suspended their harps upon the willows, how could they
"sing the Lord's song in a strange land?" (Ps. 137:4). The harp was gay, and
when the prophets of old admonished the people, they threatened that the harp, the symbol
of joy and happiness, would be silenced unless the people repented from their sins. The
harp was one of the temple orchestra instruments and its tone is described as sweet,
tender, soft, and lyrical. I Chronicles 25:3 states that Jeduthun and his sons prophesied
with a harp, and I Samuel 16:23 says about David and Saul: "And it came to
pass...that David took a harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was
well, and the evil spirit departed from him."
Dr. Joseph Seiss, in his book
THE GOSPEL IN THE STARS, wrote: "The placing of that harp as the first Decan of
Sagittarius connects pre-eminent gladness, joy, delight, and praise with the action of
this great Archer with His bow and arrows. There is but one such sign in all the ancient
constellations, and that is associated with the going forth of this double-natured Bowman
aiming His arrows at the Scorpion's heart. That glorious Archer, as He appears in this
sign, answers to the Lamb as John beheld Him, standing, having seven horns and seven eyes
- all the fullness of regal, intellectual, and spiritual power. Heaven grew breathless as
it gazed, and a thrill went through the universal heart of living things. A new song broke
forth from the living ones and elders around the throne of Deity, accompanied by the
celestial harps, and rolled sublime through all the heavenly spheres, till afar in the
depths of space the voices of angelic myriads took it up, and every creature in heaven,
and on the earth, and under the earth, and upon the sea, and all things in these realms,
were heard singing and saying, ‘To Him that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb,
be the blessing, and the honor, and the glory, and the dominion for the ages of the
ages!" -- end quote.
Modern atlases depict the
constellation of Lyra by an eagle holding the harp, or a harp placed over the eagle. There
can be no doubt about the meaning -- that praise shall ascend up AS AN EAGLE TOWARD
HEAVEN. Two other conspicuous stars in this constellation are Shelyuk, which means
"an eagle" and Sulaphat, meaning "springing up" or
"ascending" -- as in praise. And this praise is associated with the going forth
of the victorious horseman. It is the celebration of His triumph in us, the extension of
His Kingdom over our land. It is also interesting to note that the name of the brightest
star in the constellation of Lyra is Vega, meaning He shall be exalted. Its actual
magnitude is very great, perhaps a hundred times that of our sun. This sparkling gem of
the summer sky directs our attention to the theme of universal praise, "I will sing
unto the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously" (Ex. 15: 1).
I would like to take this
harp out of the starry heavens above and out of the inspired pages of holy writ, and, by
the help of the Holy Spirit, touch the strings and bring out of them melody for our souls.
Music reflects the heartbeat of every culture. From the roll of African drums to the long
mountain horns of the Swiss Alps to the sound of banjos around the campfire, music speaks
a special international language of the heart. All people of all cultures express the
wonder and joy of life in the sounds of music. There is, I believe, not only the audible
song of earth, but symphonies which have always been playing in a realm that far
transcends our natural ears. The earth, nature, atmosphere, sun and moon, trillions of
blazing stars and shimmering nebulae above, together with ten thousand times ten thousand
and thousands of thousands of the heavenly hosts are lost in melodies far, far more
beautiful than any human ears can hear, but which can be heard by those who have
"ears to hear." There is built into every atom and molecule of creation the
harmony of a musical note; together the notes vibrate in a single and perfect chord which
makes the universe sing. In the beauty of allegory the scriptures declare that the very
elements give glory and honor unto the Lord of the universe. "For ye shall go out
with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth
before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands" (Isa.
55:12). "Sing, O ye heavens; for the Lord hath done it: shout, ye lower parts of the
earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein" (Isa
44:23). "All Thy works shall praise Thee, O Lord; and Thy saints shall bless
Thee" (Ps. 145:10). "Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord from the heavens:
praise Him in the heights. Praise ye Him, all ye His angels: praise ye Him, all ye hosts.
Praise ye Him, sun and moon: praise Him, all ye stars of light. Praise Him, ye heavens of
heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the Lord:
for He commanded, and they were created. He has also established them for ever and ever:
He hath made a decree that shall not pass. Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons, and
all deeps: fire, and hail; snow, and vapours; stormy wind fulfilling His word: mountains,
and all hills; fruitful trees, and all cedars: beasts, and all cattle; creeping things,
and flying fowl: kings of the earth, and all people; princes, and all judges of the earth:
both young men, and maidens; old men and children: Let them praise the name of the Lord:
for His name alone is excellent; His glory is above the earth and heaven" (Ps.
148:1-13). Some months ago a word from Bro. Carl Schwing crossed my desk and I was
especially impressed by the following thought: "Some nights ago, upon my bed, as my
thoughts were upon the Father, my spirit was carried away to the KINGDOM OF THE
ELEMENTS...I felt the strong wind blowing against my face, I reached out to touch the rain
and snow...I could hear the heaving of the oceans, and the song of the four seasons...I
heard the clapping of the trees...I heard the mountains shout for joy and the valleys
sing...and the song was always the same ‘Christ is Lord!' 'Christ is Lord!'
‘Christ is Lord!' I remained in that realm for an hour or so, as my body was in a
state of perfect peace. Tonight I understand more deeply what I experienced: the
Some time ago Bro. Paul
Mueller shared the following experience in one of his papers. "To help us understand
this truth, I would like to share with you a wonderful experience I had while in
A distant relative of mine,
Dr. Richard Eby, was accidentally killed a number of years ago when he fell to the street
from a three-story building. Instantly he was conscious in the realm of spirit. One moment
he was conscious with a flesh-restricted mind, the next moment with a heaven-released mind
whose speed of function was that of light. He was instinctively aware that the Lord of
lords was everywhere about him, though he did not at that time see Him. Hours later he was
raised from the dead, and of one of the wonderful experiences encountered in that heavenly
sphere, he says, "Music surrounded me. It came from all directions. Its harmonic
beauty unlike earthly vocal or instrumental sounds was totally undistorted. It flowed
unobtrusively like a glassy river, quietful, worshipful, excitingly edifying, and totally
comforting. It provided a reassuring type of comfort much like a protective blanket that
whispered peace and love. I had never sensed anything like it. This music was sounding
within my head, not from an eardrum. Obviously it was not airborne. Most unusual to me was
the absence of any ‘beat.’ Then I realized that without time this heavenly music
could have no beat which is a measure of time! I was hearing harmonic perfection,
undistorted by any interposed medium between me and its source, as heard
mind-to-mind." Richard Eby explains that since God is the Creator of the universe He
is the Composer of the Song of creation. This universal Song is the prime communication of
worship, praise and thanksgiving. Music became the resulting harmony from all creation,
both of matter and energy. All resonated in unison with the Spirit. It is like a triad of
sub-electronic particles with and around which God constructed everything in the universe.
The wave-forms we call Light; whereas the material-forms we call earth and water and air.
The original creation mirrored the composition and perfection of Person-God. All things
vibrated in unison with Him! There was total accord and harmony everywhere as the whole
cosmos was resonating with and in God. Each separate thing or being thus carried out an
appointed task in His scheme for the universe. A celestial-form of music resulted as the
morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy! Dr. Eby adds:
"The music around me suddenly seemed louder. I rushed to a nearby tree and grasped
its trunk to my ear: it was 'singing.' I lifted my right elbow to my head; it too emitted
the same joyous, beatless melody. Excitedly I stopped to pick some flowers, and found them
already in my hand. They too were ‘playing’ the tune!"
The atmosphere all about us
is permeated with this celestial song of creation. But only the sons and daughters of the
Most High can tune in to that higher frequency and sing its melody, for these are they who
are LED BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD. This music transcends any earthly sound, nor are there
necessarily any words of earth's feeble languages with it. It is not learned in words, nor
does it depend upon the skill of utterance. But it is a living vibration of all that GOD
IS which is released from the very substance of the spirit within, flowing outward from
the tabernacle of creation. This music is the beauty of holiness, the glory of the living
God, the divine communion between Christ and His body, the unspoken love between the
Bridegroom and the bride, the spiritual harmony between the Creator and His creation --
the triumphant symphony of glory! The source of power within this Song of songs is not
tones and chords or melodies and harmonic sequences but SPIRITUAL VIBRATIONS of divine
power and reality -- Perfect Love, Life Everlasting, Joy Unspeakable, Infinite Light --
incarnate in creation and redounding unto the praise of HIS glory! It is a Song born of
Life, Light, and Love. It doesn't merely tickle the outer ear or stir the soulish emotions
-- it pierces the very heart and spirit of men! The Song comes in a vibration of a love so
intense, a light so penetrating, and a life so transcendent that men's hearts are opened
and melted as they hear. The day shall come, my beloved, when every creature in heaven
above, in the earth beneath, and under the earth shall respond to the quickening power of
that Song and join their voices with all the heavenly hosts and sing with such lyrity of
being that the whole spirit, soul and body shall become enraptured into the beauty of
infinite harmony! Hallelujah! Creation shall be released! Chains of darkness and death
shall be broken! Captives of sin and sorrow and limitation shall be liberated as the
resurrected Christ comes forth from within!
We as sons of our heavenly
Father are called, not merely to sing that Song, but to BECOME that Living Song of Songs!
"And give Him no rest, till He establish, and till He MAKE
THE LOST CHORD
The story of the Lost Chord
has been told in exquisite verse, and in rapturous music. Perhaps you have heard of the
lady who in the autumn twilight laid her fingers on the open keys of a great organ. She
knew not what she was playing, or what she was dreaming then, but she struck one chord of
music, like the sound of a great Amen.
It flooded the crimson
twilight,
Like the close of an angel's psalm,
And it lay on her fevered spirit
With a touch of infinite calm.
It quieted pain and sorrow,
Like love overcoming strife;
It seemed the harmonious echo
From our discordant life.
It linked all perplexed meanings
Into one perfect peace,
And trembled away Into silence,
As if it were loath to cease.
Something called her away,
and when she returned to the organ, she had lost that chord divine. Though she longed for
it and sought it earnestly in unnumbered hours of practice, it was all in vain. It was a
lost chord. And so in our world today a voice of longing cries out of every human soul in
surges of incomprehensible yearning. It is a voice that is felt, not heard. None has ever
walked the pathways of this planet who has not felt the haunting refrain of that
"Lost Chord" moaning out its unutterable lamentation. And one and all try to
silence that plaintive cry as it sobs forth its heartbreaking sorrow beneath the burden of
a faint glimmer from some long forgotten memory...or world...or lost existence. Whenever I
hear the story of that "Lost Chord" it reminds me of the lost joy, the lost
peace, the lost power, the lost life that has fled from mankind. That whining refrain of
sadness, darkness and death, echoing weirdly out of each man's soul, is but the
fragmented, scrambled notes of the great Lost Chord, as they are released with harmonic
dissonance and discord. It is like the exquisite notes of a masterpiece sounded forth
indiscriminately without harmony. The notes may all be there but there is no lovely
melody, only a raucous racket. There is recorded in the book of Job the statement of a
glorious former time when "the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God
shouted for joy" (Job 38:7). That exquisite harmony was muted by sin and the
subjection of creation to the bondage of corruption, as mankind became overwhelmed with
the consciousness of this dense realm of the earthly, material and temporal. But through
the quickening Spirit of the resurrected and ascended Christ A NEW SONG IS ARISING -- the
Celestial Song of Creation begins to sing within our hearts again.
"Down in the human
heart, crushed by the tempter,
Feelings lie buried that grace can restore,
Touched by a loving heart, wakened by kindness,
Chords that are broken will vibrate once more."
Truly we experience those
moments when verbal praises are inadequate to even begin to express that which surges deep
within. There is a note, a chord, an inner song of rejoicing that finds no articulation in
mortal words. From whence cometh this? In the measure body and soul are brought into
subjection to, and union with, the spirit, the Song of the morning star begins to vibrate
once more -- there is a Song of songs to be sung unto His glory. It will be heard through
the celestial realms again as the NEW MORNING STARS take up that Lost Chord and begin to
express the Life and Reality of God in spirit and in truth. There is a glorious company
that stands upon Mount Zion with the Lamb, they are of the mount of the congregation, in
the sides of the north (Isa. 14:13; Ps. 48:2), brought there by the transforming grace of
God, and they sing as it were A NEW SONG before the throne, which no man (fleshly realm)
can learn. Well did Ray Prinzing write, "Thrilling to note that the word
‘song’ is the Greek word for an 'ODE'. An ode isn't the same as a 'hymn' which
is a song composed and sung, whereas an ODE is a spontaneous outflow of melody and praise
that finds its expression in song by the spirit's inner prompting. Men can learn hymns,
they are written out in notes and words. The unsanctified singer of 'rock and roll music'
records his album of hymns to collect that money too. But there is a SONG that the
unsanctified cannot sing, for it is not something produced by the carnal mind, it is a
RELEASING OF THE SPIRIT'S MELODY. It is a song that dates back to when the morning stars
sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy. We have carried within us a song
that could not be released because of the bars of self-will and carnal rebellion. But the
CROSS is canceling out the self, and the hour is close when the last vestige of the
threads of that veil shall be torn aside, there shall be an outflow of the Christ within,
a new song. Praise God, the day shall come when the world, long accustomed to the pipings
and shriekings of such distorted music, negative beats that inflame the bestial passions
of the flesh, shall awaken to hear the pure melodies of the harmony of God. Never again
will they be satisfied with the discordant notes and the off-beat that has so
characterized our generation. As they hear the pure song that flows from the Spirit, out
of the depths of our being, they shall hunger and thirst to be filled with the same, the
harmonious chord of the morning stars' song. Now a morning star means the first, early, or
foremost one. And they are given as the herald, messenger to announce the day which is
coming forth. The night might seem dark, but the morning star shines out to announce that
the GREATER LIGHT OF GOD shall soon be seen over all the earth. ‘The knowledge of the
glory of the Lord shall cover the earth, as the waters cover the sea.' Ah, this gives new
hope for coming days, His lighted stars betoken the victory" -- end quote. Another
has written, "The universe echoes with the harmony of spirits made one in the Father!
Yet taller, so much taller is our Elder Brother! Once we walked with Him...now we move and
have our existence in Him. Once He walked with us, now He moves and has His existence in
us...the two are One, and from that holy union comes forth God's Christ!"
I read the story of a young
man who happened to visit a church one Sunday. He listened to the church service and heard
an organ offertory played -- a Bach toccata. When the service was finished, the young man
inquired as to whether he could play the organ. "Oh no! Only our church organist is
permitted to play that instrument." But the young man persisted. Finally, they agreed
to let him play one piece of music. He looked over the stops, carefully set them, and then
he played the same number that was played for the offertory, a Bach toccata. There were
still people lingering around. They listened -- enthralled, and when he finished,
everybody applauded. The organist asked the young visitor, "What is your name?"
He said, "My name is Johann Sebastian Bach! I wrote that music!" And the
organist exclaimed, "Oh, to think that we almost would not let the master himself
play the instrument! Only now have we heard the real music come out." YOU, precious
friend of mine, are an instrument designed to be a channel of Life, Light, and Love. And
Jesus Christ is the Master and wants to play the strings of emotions and thoughts and
nature within you until you become a son indeed, the Song of the Lord in the midst of the
earth. Your life when it is hid with Christ in God becomes a beautiful thing: every drop
of blood is singing His praise; every pulsation of the heart is a joyful harmony keeping
steady time; your thoughts in unison with God are running along the lines which ever lead
to God, for they diverge not; they are not like comets rushing out into the darkness, but
they are like beautiful planets revolving around a Central Sun.
Handel Brown tells of a
German ruler who wished to possess a
Lord, make me an instrument
of Thy peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is discord, union;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy;
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled, as to
console;
To be understood, as to understand;
To be loved, as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
It is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Betimes the circumstances
surrounding us appear to be chaotic and hopeless. But we are much comforted by the
knowledge that the Composer and Conductor of this Symphony -- THE KINGDOM OF GOD -- knows
every part and every player and is able to execute all phases to its grand conclusion.
Discord only enters when we take our eyes off the Conductor or mistake another player's
notes for our own.
THE CELESTIAL SONG OF CREATION
GOD ALL IN ALL -- this will
be the grand conclusion of the great drama of the world's history and of Christ's
redemption. There will come a day -- the glory is such we can form no conception of it,
the mystery is so deep we cannot realize it -- when the Son shall deliver up the Kingdom
that God gave Him and which He won with His own blood and established and perfected from
the throne of His glory. "He shall deliver up the Kingdom unto the Father...that God
may be all in all." ALL IN ALL -- such is the grand goal of our God! He will yet be
everything to every one of His creatures, as it is fitting He should be. Nothing less will
satisfy His heart for "He has created all things, and for His pleasure they are and
were created" (Rev. 4.11). Nothing less will vindicate His love or form a fit
conclusion for the sin and sorrow and death of the ages. Let us with joy believe it! Let
us exult as we receive it! Let us be "laborers together with God" to accomplish
it! May this simple phrase, that the smallest child can utter, become the very basis of
our being, the background of every act, the key to every occurrence, a light in every
darkness, a balm for every wound, and our ages-lasting consolation and good hope.
Let us awake from the
terrifying nightmare of
When God becomes All-in-all
there will be no more preaching, teaching or prophesying. We won't need admonitions or
reproof because ALL will know the Lord fully for themselves and live wholly in and unto
Him. But there will be a lot of singing and praise! I think that music is something right
out of the heart of God, the pulsating of His divine life. In the scriptures music is
mentioned far more often than preaching as an expression of the spirit. Under Old
Testament economy the primary manner of presenting God's Word in the
The fourth Psalm is a Davidic
Psalm. The inspired superscription reads, "To the Chief Musician on Neginoth, a Psalm
of David." The superscription is a part of the Hebrew text, so we can know that King
David, the sweet psalmist of
The Lord Jesus Christ is both
the Director of the heavenly choir and the Song that it sings! He it is who sings praises
unto the Father in the midst of His elect. The praises that are sung in the midst of the
Lord's many brethren are not the feeble praises of man, but the very Word of the Lord
Himself. During the great Latter Rain outpouring of the Spirit in those heaven-blest years
following 1947, many thousands of the Lord's people entered into the high praises of God
that burst forth from within. We literally experienced the Christ of God singing praises
in the midst of His brethren. Some churches today are trying to "teach" people
how to praise the Lord, how to sing and dance "in the Spirit." I do not hesitate
to tell you that there is a realm of "strange fire" that is offered before the
Lord today. Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, "offered STRANGE FIRE before the
Lord, which He commanded them not," and "they died, when they offered strange
fire" (Lev. 10:1; Num. 26:61). Strange fire was simply fire of their own making --
fire that had not been kindled by the Lord. Then there was also STRANGE INCENSE. And so we
read, "Ye shall offer no strange incense..."(Ex. 30:9). Incense bespeaks of
WORSHIP. And regardless of how we want to say it, your worship is YOU. Worship is more
than speaking words, lifting the hands, bowing down - it is simply the expression of your
inner life toward the Lord. Paul says, "We are unto God a sweet savour of
Christ" (II Cor. 2:15). "A sacrifice unto God for a sweet smelling savour"
(Eph.5:2). We pour ourselves out to Him and it is to be IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH. But
strange fire and strange incense is that which is offered up from our own SOULISH EFFORT;
rather than the spontaneous outflowing of His life. In many circles the pleasure of music
as an art or as entertainment is provided, in place of the anointed praise and spiritual
worship that is inspired by the Spirit of God. "I hate, despise your feast days, and
I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though ye offer Me burnt-offerings and your
meat-offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace-offerings of your
fat beasts. TAKE TH0U AWAY FROM ME THE NOISE OF THY SONGS: for I will not hear the melody
of thy viols. But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty
stream" (Amos 5:21-24). "And the songs of the temple shall be HOWLINGS in that
day saith the Lord," we read in Amos 8:3. I have heard those howlings, my beloved,
even among "sonship" and "kingdom" people -- the noise and confusion
of people praising and worshipping God apart from the anointing, the hollow melody of
those who sing not by the spirit, having merely "learned" how to go through the
motions, creating the harmony with their lips, but with no divine flow of life. They are
trying to sing the Song of the Lord, but the voice of the Christ is not heard singing in
the midst. It has fallen upon my ears and I have discerned it by the spirit as the sound
of a pack of wolves howling at the moon in the night. The Word of the Lord declares that
the Lord Himself will sing praises to the Father in the midst of the church. It is not the
fleshly efforts of man, but the quickening presence of the King of glory manifesting
Himself as life in praise and worship among the many sons He is bringing to glory.
In the visitation of the Lord
as Latter Rain, we heard the "heavenly choir" singing praises to the Lord from
within the temple of His many-membered body. It was an incredibly glorious wonder to hear
such celestial harmony issuing from untrained lips of clay. As the saints were gathered
together by the Spirit and in the power o the Lord, the entire gathering, whether ten or
ten thousand in number, would all break forth into spiritual song and psalms and hymns,
and would all sing the same song BY THAT SAME SPIRIT. The organ, piano and other musical
instruments were in divine harmony with the many voices. One brother related the example
of a large congregation all singing Handel's Messiah, from beginning to end, singing every
word and every note in DIVINE HARMONY under the anointing of the Spirit, although no one
in the congregation knew Handel's Messiah. I have sung the Song of the Lord and sensed
every part of my being tuned, vibrating like a harp, the hand of the Master Musician
plucking from my strings a melody divine. Have you ever heard the heavenly choir? It is a
most remarkable experience, nothing like the empty sounds coming from the church systems
today. And when the beat is the polluted, satanic beat of rock music, there is no way that
it is going to be an offering acceptable to the Lord. The religious world speaks of
"Christian rock music," but I have no hesitation in telling you that the word
"Christian" and "rock" constitute an unnatural and unholy union -- an
abomination. The rock beat is the ba...ba...ba...beat of the jungle, a reversion to
savagery. There is actually very little melody, little sense in the lyric -- only rhythm.
The mass hysteria present in the rhythmic chants of primitive peoples is perpetrated today
upon the youth of our generation under the guise of "music." The so-called music
is loud, primitive, insistent, sensual, strongly rhythmic, and releases the phenomena of
mass hypnosis, contagious hysteria and the blissful feeling of being caught up in
all-embracing, animalistic, orgiastic experience. On the other hand, music that is
constructive contains always beautiful melody, wonderful rhythm and marvelous harmony; for
all constructive sound is comfortable to the feelings, forever producing ecstasy,
alertness and peace, energizing the mind and body, facilitating balance and self-control
in the listener.
Paul Mueller penned the
following words of wisdom for the elect of God. "The wonderful HEAVENLY CHOIR does
not sing the high praises of the Lord without purpose. All that God does is for a glorious
design, and He does nothing without an objective. The praises of the Lord which we
experienced in the last outpouring came forth to prepare His elect to hear His Word and
bring them to greater maturity. All that the Father intended to do in that last outpouring
He fulfilled in every detail to every one of His elect who were set apart for that glory.
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, the angel of the Lord appeared to shepherds as
they watched over their flock by night to tell them of His birth. Then, suddenly, there
appeared with the angel 'a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory
to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men' (Lk. 2:14-15). The
heavenly host thus appeared to the lonely shepherds to confirm the blessed truth that had
just been announced to them by the messenger of the Lord. The heavenly choir came with a
manifestation of Spirit power and glory. And we are persuaded that a similar manifestation
of Spirit glory will attend the birth of the corporate company of sons who are now being
brought forth. When this corporate Christ company is birthed into the fullness of His life
and glory, the heavenly choir will again sound forth the high praises of the Lord. Then
the glory that is now within us will be openly manifest to a waiting, groaning creation,
and will be joined with the greater glory of the heavenly hosts just as it was on that
night of HIS birth. The wonderful phenomenon that took place in the presence of the
watchful shepherds must have been a most magnificent event for them to witness. They were
accustomed to the loneliness of the night watches on the hills of
THE HARP OF PRAISE
We mentioned earlier that in
the constellation of Lyra an eagle is holding a harp. The message is clear - praise shall
ascend up AS AN EAGLE TOWARD HEAVEN. It is interesting to note that in nature besides man,
no animal can sing, unless it can fly. That is a very significant point, particularly when
you remember that even that which can fly does not sing if it is a scavenger -- one that
feeds on putrid flesh. Buzzards don't sing! Once the rotting flesh of our self-life and
the carnal mind has been dealt with and done away, we shall be able to soar into the
heavenlies and fully join in that heavenly chorus, intoning the glory of God.
The harp is mentioned several
times in the book of Revelation and in Rev. 14:1-2 we read, "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. And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of
many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping
with their harps." In this passage we find this company standing with their Redeemer
upon
What saith the scripture?
"But Thou art holy, O Thou that inhabitest the praises of
Some time ago the following
prophecy came forth, declaring, "For surely men fill balloons with helium and the
balloons rise, and bear men up into the air to great heights. And as they ascend, and cast
out their ballast they ascend even higher. What they have done, and the heights to which
they ascend, is not because men have lost the pull of gravity, but because they have
hitched themselves to a heaven bound substance, and have cast aside the weights that hold
them to the earth. So, My people, I would say unto thee, cast aside every weight, and the
sin which doth so easily beset, and hitch thyself to the heaven bound substance that will
bring thee into My presence. For I would say unto thee that praise is heaven bound. It is
directed toward the Throne. It has a power and a force that will carry it to the Throne.
And in the midst of thy praise, thou shalt find thyself being lifted into the heavenlies,
casting aside every weight, every sin, every condemnation and guilt. In the midst of thy
praise thou art lifted into the heavenlies. I would bring thee up, and have brought thee
into heavenly places where thou has known in thy spirit newness of life, where thou hast
found a new dimension of the Spirit. The hour is at hand when I will have a people that
through their praises shall rise into the heavenlies. And as they cast aside every weight,
they shall rise even higher. And as their praises become heated up, ascending up into the
heavenlies, SO SHALL THEY ASCEND HIGHER INTO THEIR GOD."
There is something else that
we may fail to grasp that is an incredible principle in the
Yea, it is more than that.
Were God to command us to praise and worship Him He would thereby display the most proud,
egotistical, conceited, self-centered and vainglorious personality in the universe! Have
you never met an egoistic, self-seeking person reeking with the odor of their own
self-importance? I have known men who were obsessed with their importance and power who
manipulated others to constantly fawn before them and heap flattery upon them. There is
something in me that has always detested such and found them among the most despicable
specimens of manhood. Shall we now attribute such contemptible characteristics to the
great and glorious God! Can you imagine saying to anyone, "Thou shalt love me!"
"Thou shalt adore me!" "Thou shalt praise me!" "Thou shalt
rehearse in my ears how great and wonderful I am!" We have had the idea that God is
good and knows He is good; that God is holy and knows He is holy; that God is great and
knows He is great; that God is omnipotent and knows He is omnipotent; therefore He is
justified in commanding our respect, love and praise. But what is worship? It is simply
man's response to the REVELATION OF GOD. When we see God we will worship Him and our
worship will be in direct proportion to the clarity of our vision of Him. God has no need
to command us to worship -- He reveals Himself for what He is. The response of all who
behold the King in His beauty is the same -- the revelation redounds in blessing and honor
and glory unto God because He is worthy! Worship is man's response, not God's command. And
the response of the man to whom the Lord has truly unveiled Himself is as natural and
spontaneous as breathing.
God has revealed Himself in
nature and in His Word. We see God revealed in the thunderstorm. In fact the passage which
says, "Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness," is taken from the Psalm
which describes a great thunderstorm that sweeps off of the Mediterranean and crashes over
the hills of Lebanon and down into Judea, wrecking havoc on every side. David, the
psalmist, tells us that here the majesty and the power and the might of God was revealed
in the crashing lightning and the clap of thunder. Here we see the power of His arm and in
all of that we are to give glory to the Lord because we get some faint glimpse of His
might and His power. God has revealed Himself to us in His Word; preeminently we see that
revelation in His Son Jesus Christ who is the brightness of His glory and the express
image of His Person. Ultimately we behold the revelation of God in our own experience and
reality as CHRIST IN US, THE HOPE OF GLORY. Have you discovered the wonder of the Christ
within? Have you beheld the beauty of the Christ within; have you inquired of Him in His
temple? What makes people gamble! People don't gamble for money -- for very few win. They
gamble because of the thrill and the tingle of gambling. They gamble because they love to
stand right on the edge between total disaster and great wealth; because it makes their
pulses pound and their hearts throb. They do it for the thrill of it. What is the reason
people climb mountains and walk tightropes. It is the reason that people go to football
games! If you were to pass some law that a football game was to be watched scientifically
and dispassionately (like watching in a museum, for example), the stadiums would be empty
overnight. People go there because they find in that one or two hours a thrill. They are
lifted up out of the drabness and dullness of their life and find an excitement. They
become a "fan" and they shout and they scream for joy for their team. And yet,
it's an amazing thing that if person shows just a little bit of excitement and enthusiasm
for the living God, he is not a "fan," he is a "fanatic.” Because that
is what a fan means! Fan is but the abbreviation of fanatic. Are you a fanatic for
football, and blah for God? That is what a lot of professed believers are. They can work
up more enthusiasm for a football game in two hours than they have for God in the last
twenty years. The message is clear -- they have not yet seen the Lord high and lifted up,
with His train filling the temple. They have never discovered the treasure within their
field, the glorious and eternal reality of the Christ within!
Praise is not an instrument
by which we can "get" things from God -- it is our response to His reality
within ourselves. The Psalms are inspired songs of praise. Praise, not pity. That is the
repeated message found in the Psalms. Praise for the goodness and greatness of God and for
the constant care He gives His creation runs throughout the book. It carries, also, the
spirit of a deep devotion to God, and a willingness to trust Him in any circumstance. It
overflows with testimony of God's love, His faithfulness, His righteousness. The truths
found in Psalms reveal God's unfailing care for man. But they do it in a special way --
through praise. As it says in Psalm 107, "Oh that men would praise the Lord for His
goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!" Praise, of course, is
not something we plug into so that things will work out for us. The very thought
"Praise God” recognizes the presence and power of God right where we are. As
someone has written, "God is not moved by the breath of praise to do more than He has
already done, nor can the Infinite do less than bestow all good, since He is unchanging
wisdom and love." Praising God, then, isn't meant to persuade Him to help us.
Instead, it lifts our burdens by opening our eyes to God's presence within us, and we gain
a fresh perspective on spiritual creation, as, for example, in Psalm 104: "O Lord,
how manifold are Thy works.... Thou sendest forth Thy spirit and they are created."
But can praise actually help us in practical ways? Not if we're trying to use praise as a
technique. But if our praise is the natural outpouring of joy and gladness as we become
conscious of more and more of God's Life, Light and Love, then praise does have a
practical impact on our life, for God inhabits the praise of His people and there is the
revelation of HIMSELF. In the revelation of God we can "Praise the Lord from the
heavens and praise Him from the heights" (Ps. 148:1). We can so rejoice in the Lord,
we live in the praises; all heaviness, doubts, and fear are gone and we laugh at
impossibilities. As Evelyn Isaacs wrote, "The land of the miraculous is our native
land. If people would continue praising Him they would enter into the unceasing praise of
the spirit. It is then, all the powers of gravity would lose their hold and men would
ascend from plane to plane. There is no space in heaven, on earth, or underneath the earth
where spirit is not. It has no dimension, and goes beyond the extremist point of the
imagination. There can be no greater fullness than that of spirit, nor can there be any
greater height or depth. No mortal mind or eye can scan immortal heights, neither can
depths be plumbed. No substance can bring greater expansion than that of spirit for its
immensity and density are unscanned. No space is devoid of that which is substance so we
may cease reasoning with the finite mind and rise to the infinite. Those who are flooded
with the spirit, are not ordinary men, and unless God's people are moved into the place
they are called, they too will die" -- end quote.
All the sacrifices of the
heavenly realm into which we are now translated are spiritual sacrifices. The altar upon
which the spiritual sacrifices are offered is Christ Himself as it is written, "BY
HIM therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit
of our lips giving thanks to His name. But to do good and to communicate forget not: for
with such sacrifices God is well pleased" (Heb. 13:15-16). "The sacrifices of
God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise"
(Ps. 51:17). The "sacrifice of praise" in no way infers that we must
consistently and persistently mouth words of praise and thanksgiving unto God when we in
no way feel like doing so. That is the idea many people have. They feel they must
"wring" some praises out of their soulish senses in order to offer a
"sacrifice" of praise to God. To the contrary, the sacrifice of praise must be
the very BEST of our powers, like the lamb without blemish in the Old Testament,
painstakingly selected and carefully and reverently brought to the Tabernacle door. In the
awesomeness of His presence and glory we launch joyously down our little rivulet, until we
are borne out into the great ocean of praise, which is ever breaking in music around the
person of Jesus. Praise is one of the greatest acts of which we are capable; and it is the
transcendent service of heaven. In that blessed realm of spirit they ask for naught, for
they have all and abound; but throughout the cycles of glory the inhabitants of those
bright worlds fill them with praise. And why should not our earthly tasks be wrought to
the same music? We are the priests of creation; it becomes us to gather up and express the
sentiments which are mutely dumb, but which await our offering at the altar of God. The
praise of the order of sons is not that which is offered in the assembling of the saints,
in which so much is soulish instead of spiritual, but the daily expression of the spirit
of sonship -- thanksgiving and honor and glory to the Father in all things and for all
things, in the nitty-gritty of everyday experience and under the pressures and problems of
life. More than words, this sacrifice is an attitude, a disposition, a STATE OF
Chapter
26
SAGITTARIUS--THE
ARCHER
(continued)
The first of the Decans
(minor constellations) in the house of Sagittarius is THE HARP (LYRA). The harp is the
oldest of stringed instruments of music, mentioned in scripture almost from the beginning
of history. Throughout both the Old and New Testaments the harp is the supreme symbol for
praise and worship. Modern atlases depict the constellation of Lyra by an eagle holding
the harp, or a harp placed over the eagle. There can be no doubt about the meaning -- that
praise shall ascend up AS AN EAGLE TOWARD HEAVEN. Two other conspicuous stars in this
constellation are Shelyuk, which means "an eagle" and Sulaphat, meaning
"springing up" or "ascending" -- as in praise. And this praise is
associated with the going forth of the victorious Horseman. It is the celebration of His
triumph in us, the extension of His Kingdom over our land. It is also interesting to note
that the name of the brightest star in the constellation of Lyra is Vega, meaning He shall
be exalted. Its actual magnitude is very great, perhaps a hundred times that of our sun.
This sparkling gem of the summer sky directs our attention to the theme of universal
praise as every creature in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and upon the
sea, and all things in all realms are heard singing, and saying, "To Him that sitteth
upon the throne, and to the Lamb, be the blessing, and the honor, and the glory, and the
dominion for the ages of the ages!" (Rev. 5:13).
It is my purpose in these
articles on THE HARP to take the harp out of the starry heavens above and out of the
inspired pages of holy writ, and, by the help of the Holy Spirit, to touch the strings and
bring out of them melody for our souls. Our heavenly Father has acknowledged us as His
children. He tells about how He has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places, and how we were with Him in the celestial councils when the worlds were framed,
when the gargantuan galaxies and the distant array of spiral nebulae came into being, when
in the heat of nuclear fury the first photon burst forth at the fastest of all speeds at
the command of the One who said, "Let there be light" -- with that command a
universe of raging infernos came into existence -- and you beheld all this! And every time
a new sun was born, or a new solar system came into being, or a new life was formed, you
were filled with joy at the wonder of Father's great and glorious plan, and all the sons
of God shouted for joy, all the morning stars sang together, rejoicing over each creation,
its splendor, its magnitude. My beloved, you are not an insignificant, purposeless blob of
earth trapped on a smaller-than-usual planet full of ailments and disorders, lost amidst
millions of other whirling galaxies. YOU ARE THE CHILDREN OF THE MOST HIGH. I want you to
know that your names were written down in the Family Book in the heavens, the Lamb's book
of life, before the light of the sun ever brought the beauty of the dawn or kissed the
everlasting hills. Never forget -- the sons of God were with the Father before the world
was, eternal children of the heavenly Father whose plan and purpose and power and love
reaches out throughout all time, and who gave the world His best when He sent His
First-begotten into the world. He has redeemed His own, He has brought forth a
first-fruits of that redemption, He has established them into a Kingdom, to bring a
wayward world devoid of spiritual consciousness back into relationship with Him. This
earth, this solar system, this vast universe beyond is not going to be left to someone
else. No one is going to come in some distant age and behold the desolation and ruins of
this planet, as they look at the ruins of ancient empires, and say, Here it is, the place
where the Christians lived; here it is, the planet where Jesus lived and died and rose
again; here it is, the world where the sons of God once aspired to deliver the whole race
from the bondage of sin, sorrow and death, and lift it up to righteousness, joy, peace and
life in the Spirit. That chapter of history, precious friend of mine, is never going to be
recorded, because you are a part of God's bright today and His endless tomorrows, for you
have been with Him from the beginning, and are going to be with Him in His creative and
redemptive and reconstructive work in all the glorious age and ages to come, when every
knee shall bow in homage and every tongue shall frankly and openly proclaim that Jesus
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. This is the message of the Kingdom! This
is the great gospel of God! This is the word of the sons of God, that mighty household of
warriors in the earth! This is the unmistakable message proclaimed from times immemorial
by the portentous portrait in GOD'S BIBLE IN THE SKY, the wonderful picture of Lyra, the
Harp, held high by the Eagle. The message is clear -- in all, through all, by all, and
unto all THE LORD SHALL BE PRAISED! The Oracle can by no means fall short; the Prophecy
cannot fail. It is written in the Signs of the heavens, it is written in the pages of Holy
Writ, it is written in the minds and hearts of God's sons. The almighty Father calls on
you to stand, to conquer the darkness, to break the power of the adversary, to vanquish
death, to know that you can move forward with new assurance, new faith, new strength, new
understanding; for His purposes for you abide forever.
THE NEW SONG
"And I looked, and lo,
on
We have pictured here for us
the company of the firstfruits unto God. These are a company of overcomers as signified by
their having the Father's name and the name of the Lamb written on their foreheads.
"Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go no
more out; and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My
God...and I will write upon him My new name" (Rev. 3:12). The number of them is
144,000. The number is symbolic, as are all the scenes in the Revelation. Twelve is the
number of divine government. The number is twelve squared: twelve times twelve. It is
divine government brought to its fullest and ultimate expression and reality. It is not a
literal one hundred and forty four thousand; it rather means that all who make up this
company have attained unto a place of rulership with the Lamb in the
They sang a song that no one
else could sing. A song bespeaks of an experience. Aboriginal people often do this. We
civilized ones do not; it is something we have lost through our civilization. A dear
brother told of his experience while in missionary work in
Today God is declaring new
things...and every time God declares a new thing there is a NEW SONG. The new song of the
Spirit that is being sung throughout the earth in this hour is not the work of
accomplished musicians whose talents have birthed a new sound -- but the new song of the
Spirit is the expression out of a people of the "new thing" that God is speaking
and doing in the midst of His elect. Long millenniums ago the sweet singer of
No man can learn that song
but the hundred forty and four thousand which are redeemed from the earth realm, from the
power of sin and the dominion of death. As the triumph of His life works within we are
more and more learning to sing that song, the new song. The melody of praise which arises
from the soul set free is rising as a sweet incense unto the Lord. All praise to the Lamb
who hath redeemed us! All praise to the Lamb who hath given us of His victory! He alone
shall be exalted! He alone hath gotten the victory! The new song, no mortal can learn, for
it is born of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Even now there are beginning to vibrate
within those chords of Life, Light and Love which shall burst from our being in
manifestation as the shackles of sin and the grave clothes of death are left behind. At
the dawn of creation we sang the Song of the ages, when once the morning stars sang
together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy. How glorious it was! Yet this new song
shall be greater far than that primeval song -- for the Song of Redemption exceeds the
Song of Creation, as the new creation transcends the old. It is the blessed privilege of
every apprehended one to join in the glad tidings of victory as we approach our destiny in
God. We were begotten, called and ordained in the bosom of the Father in an environment of
singing and rejoicing. And when we are restored to the glory that we once had with the
Father before the world was, we shall surely embody a Song as we never have before. As
Paul Mueller so aptly wrote: "Surely all the Lord's apprehended ones can sing and
give praise to the Lord for His goodness and mercy. By His omnipotent Spirit, the Lord is
able to put a song in the heart, even though that one may be bound up and imprisoned by
the soul that is darkened by doubts, fears and unbelief. Because of His life within, we
are able to Sing and praise the Lord. We have been given a glimpse of the glory before us
and can now sing and rejoice in the spirit of triumphant victory. We should be comfortable
midst the true spirit of praise, worship and rejoicing, for we received our instructions
in that environment, and we are also returning to that same divine realm of glory, light
and life. We will lift up our hands in the holy sanctuary of the Lord, and will bless Him
when we have arrived at the end of our journey to His house. Then our praises to Him will
bring forth His blessing out of
"The prophet foretold
our ascent up to the hill of Zion in this very night, when he said, 'Ye shall have a song,
as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goeth
with a pipe to come into the mountain of the Lord, to the mighty One of Israel. And (in
the same night-time) the Lord shall cause His glorious voice to be heard, and shall show
the lighting down of His arm...with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering and
tempest, and hailstones' (Isa. 30:29-31). The good news we may now receive and cherish is
that we shall have a song to sing during this present time which is the night of this
dying age of man. The song we now sing is not a song of doom, gloom, and despair, but a
song of victory, of triumph, and of jubilant fulfillment. In spite of the darkness and
gloom all about us, we have a song to sing that defies all human reasoning and
understanding. It is the song of the redeemed, the song of the Lamb and the song of Moses
(Rev. 5:9 14:3 15:3). This song we now sing was not given us by man, nor could we have
ever sung it while in captivity in
THE SONG OF MOSES AND THE LAMB
In chapter fourteen of
Revelation we have the 144,000 singing a new song, accompanied by harpers harping with
their harps, and shortly there follows another of these beautiful and illuminating
passages wherein we read, "And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and
them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark,
and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. And
they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great
and marvelous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, thou King of
saints" (Rev. 15:2-3). "The song of Moses and the Lamb" -- whatever can it
mean? Well, we will see, for we will turn to the passages in the scriptures, in which the
idea is referred to. We will take the song of Moses first. You will find it in Exodus 15.
It is the song of the great leader of
Now what is the song of the
Lamb? The teachers and preachers in the church systems suppose it means that the
blood-washed throng, the believers out of all the ages, around the throne of God in
heaven, whose toils are over and done with for evermore, are there singing "Worthy is
the Lamb that was slain." And among this throng they include all who are saved by
free grace alone, including the last murderer who has paid the penalty of his crime, and
died in the odor of the electric chair; or the loathsome degenerate, whose flesh has
reaped corruption as a result of his immoral life style, but who has achieved an
eleventh-hour death-bed repentance, and now stands with Moses and the saints of all ages
before the throne of God in heaven singing, "Worthy is the Lamb!" If this is
your conception, my friend, you frustrate the meaning, for that is not the thought
conveyed by the Spirit of God in this beautiful passage. The Seer of Patmos, who was in
the Spirit on the Lord's day, looks as it were from heaven, but it was upon earth that he
gazed. "I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous" (Rev. 15:1). What he
saw from heaven was what you and I are doing, and he describes the sons of God on earth as
singing the song of Moses and the Lamb. True, it is the song of heaven too, but it is a
song that is begun on earth, and only those who have sung it here are entitled to sing it
there.
Let us see now some of the
references to this in the New Testament. The Lamb is first and foremost our Lord Jesus
Christ, together with the body of the Lamb, that glorious company who have followed Him
all the way to
Of that on-going song we
read, "And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters" (Rev.
14:2). John was listening as from heaven, and the voice that he heard was not only there,
it was here, singing, as it were, a new song. "And I heard the voice of harpers
harping with their harps: and they sung as it were a new song...and no man could learn
that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the
earth" (Rev. 14:2-3). He does not mean that they had been plucked away from the
earth, for our Lord's prayer had to be answered: "I pray not that Thou shouldest take
them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil" (Jn. 17:15).
And, lastly, our text: "And I saw, as it were, a sea of glass mingled with fire"
-- like the Red Sea -- "and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over
his image, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of
God. And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb,
saying: Great and marvelous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways,
Thou King of saints" (Rev. 15:2-3). So Jesus from His throne, and the saints around
it, and the warriors on earth, join in one glad triumphant song; IT IS THE SONG OF MOSES
AND THE LAMB. The song of the Iamb is not the song of sinners saved by grace; it is the
song of joy out of sorrow, of peace in the midst of storm, of perfection out of suffering,
of light out of darkness, of righteousness triumphing over sin, of victory snatched from
the jaws of defeat, of life conquering death. It is the song of the overcomer! The
"Lamb" bespeaks of the humiliation and suffering that leads to life and
exaltation. Ah, there is no victory without a battle, no overcomer without the powers of
death and hell. My soul, consider! what was that which to the Seer of Patmos made the
harmony complete? It was the vision of a vast multitude taking up the song -- the
experience -- of the Lamb of sacrifice. There was a time when, to that multitude, the
spectacle of sacrifice would have brought discord to the heart; but in the completed
harmony it brings joy. The sweetest music is the song that is born of experience. The
universe is all music, but it is not all music to our ear. We only hear a few chords, and
they are minor chords. The minor chords seem discords when they stand alone; they lack the
full symphony to bring out their symmetry. Thou art living in a world of perfect music,
only thou hearest but a small portion of the music. Often art thou saying that the coming
melody shall atone for the jarring chords. Nay; say rather that the jarring chords
themselves shall be revealed as part of the completed harmony! The melody is not to come;
it has come already; it has only to be revealed, and then the harpers stand upon the
glassy sea. Until we thoroughly understand how suffering is preparation for reigning, we
shall never be enthralled by the song of the Lamb. The minor chords get a meaning and
receive a vindication when we stand upon the sea of glass and sing and harp this song. Do
you not know that this was from the outset the goal of your being -- to be made perfect
through suffering? It was for this that your first innocence was clouded. It was for this
that your first joy was dimmed. It was for this that you were lowered from the
Just as the Israelites of
old, after having passed through the Red Sea dry shod, stood upon the shore singing the
song of Moses, Miriam and the women playing upon their timbrels, while their enemies
perished in the waters, so these victors of our text, having passed over another sea and
through the fiery trials of this earth life, stand at the transparent sea mingled with
fire, where all is purged, purified, and transformed, singing a similar song of triumph
for the manifestation of divine judgment, which is called "The song of Moses and the
Lamb." What might this company be? What might be the sea upon whose shore they sing
the song of victory to their Lord and Deliverer? Me thinks I have stood upon that very
shore. This song is sung by a people who have been redeemed from the world systems
symbolized by
"What a wonderful
Kingdom song! Moses and all
THE PLACE OF WORSHIP
Soon after John the Baptist
was thrown into prison, Jesus left the country near
Just at this moment a
Samaritan woman came to the well, with her water jar upon her head and her rope in her
hand. Jesus looked at her, and in one glance read her soul and saw all her life. He knew
that Jews did not often speak to Samaritans, but He said to her, "Please give me a
drink." The woman saw from His looks and His dress that He was a Jew, and she said to
Him, "How is it that you, who are a Jew, ask drink of me, a Samaritan woman?"
Jesus answered her, "If you know what God's free gift is, and if you knew who it is
that says to you, Give me a drink, you would ask Him to give you living water, and He
would give it to you.” There was something in the words and the looks of Jesus which
caused the woman to sense that He was not a common man. She said to Him, "Sir, you
have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where can you get that living
water! Are you greater than our father Jacob, who drank from this well?"
"Whoever drinks of this water," said Jesus, "shall thirst again; but
whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst; but the water that
I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up unto everlasting life.”
“Sir," said the woman, "give me some of this water of yours, so that I will
not thirst any more nor come all the way to this well.” Jesus looked at the woman and
said to her, "Go home and bring your husband and come here." "I have no
husband," answered the woman. "Yes," said Jesus, "you have spoken the
truth. You have no husband. But you have had five husbands, and the man you are now living
with is not your husband." The woman was filled with wonder as these words penetrated
her soul. She saw that there was a man who knew what a stranger could not know. She felt
that God had spoken to Him and she said, "Sir, I see that you are a prophet of God.
Tell me whether our people or the Jews are right. Our fathers have worshipped on this
mountain. The Jews say that
A recent newspaper article
was entitled, ISRAELIS AND PALESTINIANS STRIVE FOR SPIRITUAL AND POLITICAL HOME. It
included the views of a rabbi and a Palestinian activist. The interview with the rabbi
stated, "Today, Jews believe that worshipping in
This is one of the great
truths that the vast majority of church members have not grasped to this day. That is,
that the place of worship has no bearing whatsoever on the act of worship. Today, in order
to hold together the system, the religious system men have developed, there must be a
place of worship, and men must gather themselves together at that place so that they may
worship. Anyone who claims to be able to worship God at any time and in any place becomes
a heretic to the organized religionists. For, if the places of worship were taken away,
and men truly worshipped in spirit and in truth, the whole religious system would fall
apart. There would be no reason for it to continue. The whole religious system is builded
upon having a "place" for people to come to so that the works of men may
continue to be carried out. Again, let me affirm that God does indeed gather His people
together, but such gathering together is UNTO HIM, and the place and order becomes
inconsequential. It is when the place becomes important, it is when preachers and
organizations demand your attendance, your submission, and your allegiance to them and
their program, asserting that you cannot make it in to heaven, or the Kingdom, or sonship,
or immortality apart from their teaching, their method, their order, their program -- it
is there that worship in spirit and in truth is usurped by worship in "this
mountain" or in "Jerusalem." Religion always tells us where, when and how
to worship. Ah, but the Spirit, like a rushing wind carries us off to that realm of spirit
and truth...far beyond place, time and methods...into the very presence of the
Father...for it is there we gather to worship!
Let all who read these lines
know of a certainty that worship in spirit and in truth is the worship of the New
Covenant. This worship of the New Covenant and Testament is a new worship, which Christ
Jesus, the heavenly spiritual Man, the second Adam, set up almost two millenniums ago; and
then put down and abolished the worship at the mountain, and the worship at Jerusalem,
when He set up this worship in spirit and in truth. And this spirit and truth must every
man and woman know within themselves, by which they may know the God of truth, who is a
spirit, within their spirit. The Jew inward worships in temple, his body being the temple
of the Holy Ghost. And the Jew outward, in the Old Covenant and Testament; they sing and
pray and preach in their temple, an outward temple made with hands. But the Jew inward, in
the spirit, in the New Covenant and Testament, the new and living way, sings and rejoices
and ministers and prays in the Holy Ghost, their bodies being temples of the Holy Ghost.
And not yet the outward body of flesh, but the body of the inward man, the house from
heaven, the spiritual body, the body of the Christ which every man who is putting on
Christ is building within his own reality of Christ within. The type has passed, and we
know that the temple built with hands is no more. But what do we see! Men are trying to
reproduce it or to invent a substitute for it, thus perpetuating the Old Covenant, to walk
as outward Jews. Church buildings, cathedrals and temples are pawned as the meeting place
with God! Call these "churches" if you will. THEY ARE NOT CHURCHES. The very
name is a blasphemy. They are mere buildings; and there is nothing sacred or holy about
them. They are not the "house of God" as the ignorant love to call them. We
praise God for the privilege of gathering together with those of "like precious
faith," and rejoice in any assembling of saints that is truly unto Him: but in point
of fact it is not in any building made with hands that the Father is worshipped. Ah, how
greatly we misconceive our true position! We certainly need not the Tabernacle of Moses,
the Temple of Solomon, nor any cathedral or so-called church building to worship the
Father or to minister as the Lord's anointed; because we are constituted priests of the
HEAVENLY TABERNACLE, which no human hand ever reared, and which is the true meeting-place
between God and His spiritual priesthood, yea, of all who come to God.
It is an indisputable fact
that in all of the recorded history of the human race men have been prone to associate
their worship of God with places and things, and to attach some special sacredness or
power to that place of thing, until the places and things become more important than God
Himself. Many precious folk imagine that because they met God in some glorious experience
in such and such a building, room, or seat, they will find Him there again. I remember
seeing people during the great healing campaigns of the late 1940's and early 1950's, long
after the tent was folded, the lights out and the trucks departed, returning to stand in
the saw dust at the exact spot where the glory of God had been seen, expecting to meet God
in just the same way again. Jesus said: God is not a place, a building or a mountain; God
is SPIRIT. You cannot confine God to a temple or a time. God does not move exclusively on
Sunday morning at twenty minutes past eleven, following three choruses and two minutes of
singing in the Spirit. His Spirit is everywhere, all the time. Whatever your expression or
ministry is it should be able to function at any time and in any place, just as well as it
does at "church.” That is how Jesus ministered. He ministered in the fields, in
the mountain, in the streets, in the homes, on the lake, and in the temple. His meetings
never started at ten and ended at twelve. He was the
I was greatly blessed many
years ago by the following words written by George Hawtin: "There is a place in God
where saints may dwell ten thousand times more real than any natural realm. There is a
true temple, NOT MADE WITH HANDS, eternal in the heavens. It is the mystical temple, which
is HIS BODY. There is a church which is THE TRUE CHURCH. Its happy saints dwell in the
realm of the Spirit, and, because they do, they continually worship God in spirit and in
truth. I anticipate that many will ask, 'How do we worship God in Spirit?' But this you
will not discover until the hour comes when you learn that neither in this mountain, nor
in
There is a wonderful
scripture passage which is troubling to many wherein the inspired writer admonishes,
"Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but
exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching" (Heb.
10:25). Be not alarmed or distressed because of those who would use the letter of this
word as a hammer to bring condemnation to one who does not attend their weekly or daily
set times of assembly! Nor, on the other hand, should you use your "liberty" as
an excuse to "do your own thing," becoming self-righteous in your
"freedom," independent and exalted in your own "spirituality," cutting
yourself off from the body of Christ! Both extremes are unbalanced. On the one hand, there
is the person who is in bondage to a group or leader or religious system, being careful to
observe the letter of the law, attending every time the group assembles, regardless of the
spiritual quality of the meeting. The other extreme is the one who is so independent and
self-sufficient that he holds nothing but contempt for any gathering, regardless of the
presence and leading of the Holy Spirit. In seeking to be free, he has come into bondage
to lawlessness and rebellion. He is going his own self-righteous, puffed-up way, not being
led by the Holy Spirit. May the Lord, the righteous Judge, bring us into balance, that we
may truly be free in our spirits from man's religious requirements and bondages, yet
humble before the Lord and before our brothers and sisters in Christ, ready to serve one
another, and ready to receive from each other, as He leads, and gathering together as He
directs, with meek and receptive hearts.
But there is a truth in this
passage beyond all this. The Greek word for "assembling" is EPISUNAGOGE. It is a
compound of the Greek prefix EPI with the word SUNAGOGE from which we get our
transliterated English word Synagogue. EPI means super-imposition -- that which is above,
higher than, highest, upon. SUNAGOGE means a meeting, assembly, or gathering. Putting
these two together, EPI-SUNAGOGE means THE ABOVE SYNAGOGUE, THE HIGHER MEETING, THE
HIGHEST ASSEMBLY, THE HIGHER-THAN-ALL-GATHERINGS! It bespeaks of something greater far
than merely collecting so many breathing bodies together in one place. It is a meeting in
a higher realm, on a higher plane, in the high places of the Spirit, and in the heights of
Truth. It is a gathering together in a dimension above. It indicates an assembling IN THE
SPIRIT, as Paul also testified, "And hath raised us up together, and made us sit
together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:6). Tens of thousands, yea, tens
of millions of believers gather together in "church buildings" every Sunday
morning, and because they make the effort to get out of bed, get the family ready, and
drive off to warm a pew, they are convinced that they have met the requirements of the
divine fiat: "Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together.” My beloved,
they have not even touched the hem of the garment of this truth! We are not to forsake or
neglect that wonderful seating we have together WITH CHRIST IN THE HEAVENLIES! That is
precisely what the passage is saying. Hebrews 10:25 is nothing but lifeless words, until
one sits in the presence of the Father, joined in worship with kindred spirits, and
partakes of that holy communion within the veil! It is only as spirit calls to spirit that
the depths of eternal truth are opened. And multitudes who meet together every week for
singing, teaching, etc., have never discovered the glorious and eternal reality of that
ABOVE SYNAGOGUE. They do not meet or minister or live from that higher-than-all-heavens
realm of HIS LIFE.
When we meet with a company
of the elect, we are not to think of them as the whole of those with whom we worship and
minister. The true priest is one of a great festal throng, which is comprising the
spiritual temple built of the living stones of redeemed and transformed men and women. As
priests in the HEAVENLY SANCTUARY, the TRUE TABERNACLE which is above, we are but part of
a great and universal congregation consisting of all the elect saints who have gone
before, and those now living, gathered out of all ages, and throughout the vast universe
of God. The preacher, the prisoner, the traveler, the mother, the king -- all meet there
IN THE SPIRIT REALM, and worship and minister from thence. All are priests, and yonder is
the great High Priest of our profession, who has pressed through the heavens and ever
lives as the Minister of the heavenly sanctuary. He is "a minister of the true
tabernacle." And such are we! He has raised us up and made us sit together with Him
in these heavenly places, and He has made us to be a kingdom of priests. It is not
"in church" on Sunday morning that we know the power of this priesthood; it is
IN THE SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH, it is ASSEMBLED TOGETHER IN THE ABOVE SYNAGOGUE, in reality
wrought within, every moment and everywhere and in every situation and circumstance as we
live and walk and move in HIS REALM.
The regenerated spirit
becomes a component factor in the sweet harmony of God's spiritual Kingdom. And what a
Kingdom! And what a harmony! In duration it is from everlasting to everlasting. The
granite hills shall melt away; the earth shall leave its orbit and fall into the chaos of
crashing worlds; Orion, Arcturus, and Pleiades shall cease to travel the holy aisles of
heaven; the sun shall be turned into darkness; the heavens shall be rolled back as a
scroll, and as a vesture shall they be folded up; but beneath the scepter of the King
eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, our Father, the Kingdom of Heaven shall
still remain and move on in sweetest harmony with His holy will. For in this high and holy
Kingdom no forces ever clash, no laws ever fail, no truth ever goes astray, no beauty ever
fades, no light ever loses its luster, no good ever grows less, no life ever gets old, no
love ever becomes cold, no joy ever ceases, no harmony ever has a discord. From the time
when the morning stars sang together and the sons of God first shouted for joy, rhythm and
rapture have rolled upward and onward through all the boundless and eternal spiritual
universe as the sweet expression of the mind and will of almighty God. This universe, this
higher-than-the-heavens universe, this
THE CELESTIAL SONG OF
CREATION
More than a hundred years ago
a preacher by the name of George T. Lemmon penned the following report: "At the last
session of Parliament Tomlinson brought his wonderful Apollo Chorus of four hundred and
fifty voices. The members of this Chorus were his own choice from the twelve thousand
members of his four great classes of the three preceding years. Every member of the Chorus
was a soloist of skill and power, yet all were here massed as the keys of a splendid human
instrument of harmony. For the closing session of this remarkable assembly they were to
sing the "Hallelujah Chorus." Dr. Barrows had pledged the Parliament that they
would hear such music as had never charmed their ears before, and the music that thrilled
six thousand souls that night more than fulfilled the pledge. The Chorus rises. The
gallery has been given over to their use. Here at the right rise one hundred basses. Next
to them stand eighty tenors. Across on the left are one hundred and twenty altos, and
stretching in a double row from end to end of the rear gallery are one hundred and fifty
sopranos. No orchestra is to share tonight with the full, rich melody and uplifting power
of the human voice. The piano gives the chord, and then the only instrument that aids the
choral host is the tiny baton in their leader's hand. The moment has come in the movement
of the oratorio for the songs of men to lift their ascription of praise and honor to the
Christ of God. First bursts forth the deep tones, repeated over and over again, of the
rolling, stirring bass: 'He shall be King of kings. He shall be King of kings.' Then the
altos lift the same great title on the pinions of their melodious tones: 'He shall be King
of kings. He shall be King of kings.' The tenors are now inspired, and still higher they
raise the glorious strain: 'He shall be King of kings. He shall be King of kings.' Now
with full voice the one hundred and fifty sopranos ring out high over all 'And Lord of
lords. And Lord of lords.' And then the four hundred and fifty joining, voice to voice,
swell the exultant unison: 'He shall be King of kings, and Lord of lords. He shall be King
of kings, and Lord of lords. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!’
"Then, as if from out of
the eternal splendors, a voice that would sound the hearts of men put the query: 'How long
will your hallelujahs ring! How long shall Christ be King of kings, and Lord of
lords?" The Chorus gives reply. Deep as from hearts long schooled in sorrow, but now
alive with joy, rolling out the profound utterance of the bass: ‘He shall be King of
kings, and Lord of lords, forever and forever and ever and ever and ever.' Then the altos
lift the confident acclamation, as from hearts in which the Christ was newly born
‘Forever and forever and ever and ever and ever.' Higher still the tenors steadily
raise the resounding note of faith, as though they would conquer the world with song:
'Forever and forever and ever and ever and ever.' Then, like a prophecy of the music that
carols from the spirits of the ten thousand times ten thousand burst out the sopranos with
the same unending song. Once again the full Chorus unite their soul-revealing voices, and
on and on and on as though time were already dead, they repeat the stirring truth. This
time not four hundred and fifty merely, but thousands added unto them, are singing the
spirit-inspired chorus. For once at least God heard from hearts His Spirit taught that
matchless chorus sung, and as I joined my voice to that heavenly throng moved by the
anointing of worship there flashed upon my mind a vision of the day that is to be, when
from out of the everlasting city the Son of God shall come enthroned in glory and the
gathered host bend adoring hearts to the Lamb who for them was slain. Then, as about that
great throne there gathered the people from the ends of the earth, and the kings of all
nations laid down the scepters of their power, I heard the thunderous bass of Africa's
ransomed millions roll out the adoration of their hearts to Him who broke the shackles of
their darkness.
I cannot tell how all the
lands shall worship.
When, at His bidding, every storm is stilled,
Or who can say how great the jubilation
When all the hearts of men with love are filled.
But this I know, the skies will thrill with rapture,
And myriad, myriad human voices sing.
And earth to heaven, and heaven to earth, will answer,
At last the Saviour, Saviour of the world, is King!
Thirty centuries ago the
Psalmist cried out in spirit, "Praise ye the Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul. I will
sing unto the Lord as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my
being" (Ps. 146:1; 104:33). All the way through the book of Psalms, even in its most
sorrow-laden passages, you feel that you are walking in a smoldering volcano of praise,
liable to burst out at any moment into a great flame of thanksgiving to God. And as the
book draws to its close, the flame leaps high from the crater: here you have praise, and
nothing but praise. You have perhaps watched a great conductor bringing every member of
his orchestra into action towards the close of some majestic symphony, have seen him, as
the music climbed higher and higher, signaling to one player after another, and always at
the signal another instrument responding to the summons and adding its voice to the music,
until at the last crashing chords not one was left dumb, but all were uniting in a
thrilling and triumphant climax. So these final Psalms summon everything in creation to
swell the glorious unison of God's praise. They signal symbolically to the sun riding in
the heavens, "You come in now, and praise Him!" Then to the myriad stars of
night, "You now, praise Him!" Then to the mountains, piercing the clouds with
their summits, "Praise Him!" Then to the kings and judges of the earth,
"Praise Him!" Then to manhood in its strength and maidenhood in its grace and
beauty, "Praise Him!" Then to the multitude of the redeemed in earth and heaven,
"Praise Him!" The crescendo continues until the wide universe is shouting with
every voice the praise of God alone. The Psalms in their sequence show forth the
redemptive progression that can only end when every heart beats in unison with the heart
of God; when every mind shall harmonize with divine wisdom and purpose; when every knee
shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father!
Herein is fulfilled the
Oracle of Lyra in the heavens, the prophecy of the Harp written eternally in the
shimmering night skies above! The loving, praising, worshipping attitude of the whole
universe is to be complete and perfect. Thus all the ends of the earth shall offer up
their praise and thanksgiving to Him for His great love and salvation and inflow of life.
What a THANKSGIVING DAY that will be! Every knee on this globe, and in the heavens above,
and in the underworld shall confess the Lordship of God and His sons. What a TESTIMONY
MEETING! There has never been one like it. The summing up of the universe is the
revelation of harmony. It is not that the harmony comes at the end, but that the harmony
is revealed at the end. The universe is all music, but it is not all music to our ear. We
only hear a few chords, and they are minor chords. The minor chords seem discords when we
hear them in their fragmented position; they lack the full symphony to bring out their
symmetry. Often our hearts cry out that we are living in a world filled with discords. The
Father must teach us that we are living in a world of perfect music, but we only hear a
small portion of the music. Sorrow, pain, disappointment, heartaches, frustration, and
travail, not to mention sin and death, seem to our ear sad and discordant notes. Often we
feel that the coming melody shall atone for the grating chords. Nay, my brother, my
sister; say rather that the grating chords themselves shall be revealed as parts of the
completed harmony. Then shall we fathom the depths of the wisdom and the knowledge of God,
then shall we understand His ways that are past finding out, then shall we see just how it
is that all things work together for good. The melody is not to come, it has come already;
it has only to be completed to be revealed, and then the harpers shall stand upon the
glassy sea.
Chapter
27
SAGITTARIUS-THE
ARCHER
(continued)
The second of the Decans
(minor constellations) in the house of Sagittarius is ARA-THE ALTAR. It is illustrated as
an altar, placed significantly in the up-side down position. It is one of the southernmost
constellations in the heavens, and the regions below this were considered from ancient
times as the lower regions, the underworld, the regions of darkness, referred to as
"outer darkness.” Ara is seen as an altar or burning pyre, up-side down, pouring
fire into the dark and hidden abyss. The Greeks used the word Ara in the sense of a curse
or the effect of a curse--ruin and destruction. The spiritual symbolism here bespeaks of
the consuming fires of judgment which devour the mighty enemies of Sagittarius. So the
constellation of Ara reminds us that the conquering Sagittarius (Christ) goes on in His
battle beyond the wielding of the sword to the complete destruction by judgmental fire of
all that opposes Him from the kingdom of darkness. Scripturally, it is expressed by the
apostle Paul in these graphic words: "And to you who are troubled rest with us, when
the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire
taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ: who shall be punished with age-lasting destruction from the presence of the Lord,
and from the glory of His power; when He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to
be admired in all them that believe in that day" (II Thes. 1:7-10). Peter also speaks
of a day when the world will be purged by fire. We know what it is for saints to
experience Christ as a refiner's fire consuming the hay, wood and stubble out of our
lives. Let us now meditate upon what it means for the world to be purged by fire.
THE THREE WORLDS AND THE THREE HEAVENS
There are important time
divisions in the plan of God which the scriptures refer to as "worlds" or
"ages.” The word "world" does not generally refer to this physical
planet with its mountains, oceans, rivers, trees, etc. The word is often translated from
the Greek word COSMOS which means "an order, system, or arrangement of things.”
The present order, system, or arrangement of things upon this earth involves all the
institutions, organizations, laws, traditions, customs etc. which have been developed to
either control or give motivation to the lives and actions of men and nations. This
includes all governmental systems, educational institutions, religious organizations,
economic orders, traditions, customs and every other thing that gives form and substance
to our present social order. All of these, together with the time period during which
mankind functions within their frame work, constitute a biblical "world."
In Peter's second epistle,
chapter three, we are told of three such "worlds. "Knowing this first, that
there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying,
Where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue
as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of,
that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water
and in the water: whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
but the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved
unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not
ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a
thousand years as one day. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what
manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and
hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be
dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to
His promise, look for NEW HEAVENS AND A NEW EARTH, wherein dwelleth righteousness"
(II Pet. 3:3-13).
If we truly desire to
understand the marvelous things which relate to the day of the Lord, we must look at them
from the standpoint of God and not from the human (carnal) standpoint. That is, we will be
forced to take a spiritual viewpoint instead of the natural. Bible teachers of prophetic
subjects have in the vast majority of cases taught from the natural, literal
interpretation, and that is the reason there is so much misunderstanding concerning
prophetic subjects today. With this in mind, let us reverently go back and take a closer
look at the significant words of the apostle Peter. "For this they willingly are
ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out
of the water and in the water: whereby THE WORLD THAT THEN WAS, being overflowed with
water, perished." Now let us read this from the New English Bible: "In taking
this view they lose sight of the fact that there were heavens and earth long ago, created
by God's word out of water and with water: and by water THAT FIRST WORLD WAS DESTROYED,
the water of the deluge. And THE PRESENT HEAVENS AND EARTH, again by God's word, have been
kept in store for burning." That first world, then, existed from the time of the
creation unto the flood. Thus, the entire period of time from Adam to the great Deluge is
called "a world" -- the world that then was.
What kind of world was that
ancient world? The Bible says of it: "And it came to pass, when men began to multiply
on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the
daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all they chose. And God
saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and every imagination of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that He had made
man upon the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man
whom I have created from the face of the earth. And the earth also was corrupt before God,
and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and behold it was
corrupt, for ALL FLESH HAD CORRUPTED HIS WAY UPON THE EARTH. And God said unto Noah, The
end of all flesh is come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence through them;
and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth" (Gen. 6:1-13). Peter writes of that
world, "Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished"
(II Pet. 3:6). Does the fact that the world of that day "perished" and was
"destroyed" mean that we are not living on the same earth that saw the flood in
Noah's day? Does it mean that this planet was obliterated so that it no longer existed!
Does it mean that Noah was "raptured" off to some distant planet or to some
far-off heaven somewhere while God created a new earth for him to live on? Of course not!
Then what "world" or "earth" was destroyed by the flood? The scripture
shows plainly that it was a world of people and a WAY OF LIFE--a COSMOS-- a social order,
a world system and arrangement of things! So we see that the world that was destroyed in
Noah's day was not this physical earth of mountains, valleys, rocks, rivers, trees and
oceans, for of that earth the scripture is emphatic that "one generation passeth
away, and another generation cometh: but THE EARTH ABIDETH FOREVER" (Eccl. 1:4). And
again, "For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God Himself that formed the
earth and made it; He hath established it, He created it not in vain, He FORMED IT TO BE
INHABITED" (Isa. 45:18). It is clear that while God did not destroy the planet, He
did bring an era of unbridled wickedness and utter depravity to a screeching halt and
total end, thus destroying, not only fleshly men, but a WHOLE WAY OF LIFE including all
the institutions, organizations, governmental systems, economic orders, religions,
traditions, customs etc. that were characteristic of that corrupt civilization.
The world of old passed away
and there was no memory left of it. The earth was now free of the iniquity and ungodliness
which had cursed it before the flood. I have often wondered how it must have seemed to
Noah and his family when they stepped out of the ark onto an earth cleansed of sin. To
know that they were the only people on earth and that God was beginning a new age, a new
dispensation and a new way of life through them. That the earth had been washed free from
the perversion, violence and shame that had polluted it. They were to be the beginning of
a new race of people to populate the earth. And yet, we must remember that the same old
sinful nature was being loosed upon the earth again after the flood, for that nature was
in Noah and all his family. It had not yet formed itself into a "world" -- an
institutionalized way of life. But in this new world God began a new method of dealing
with mankind and would introduce Himself into the human race. Noah built an altar and then
we read in Gen. 8:21, "And the Lord smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord said in His
heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of
man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every living thing
as I have done."
THE WORLD THAT NOW IS
Peter identifies the second
world and the second heaven for us. "But the heavens and the earth, WHICH ARE NOW, by
the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and
perdition of ungodly men. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in
the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing
then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be...
(II Pet. 3:7-12).
Peter here refers to THE
HEAVENS AND THE EARTH WHICH ARE NOW. And what kind of world is this second world-the one
in which we live? This world began at the end of the flood and continues until "the
day of the Lord," at which time it too "passes away.” Let us look at some
of the characteristics of this present world. The apostle Paul writes, "Who gave
Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from THIS PRESENT EVIL WORLD" (Gal.
1:4). The description of this present world declares it to be evil, and Paul asserts that
we are being delivered or saved out of it through Jesus who gave Himself for us. One
cannot read these words without a feeling of utmost wonder at the revelation that just as
it was the ark that saved Noah from the world of his day, so it is Christ who saves us
from this present evil world. Noah was saved from his world by a ship, whereas we are
saved from our world by a glorious Person! To be delivered from this present evil world
does not mean to be "raptured" off to some "beautiful isle of
somewhere" any more than Noah was removed to another planet when he was
"saved" from the world that then was. Of Noah's blessed deliverance we read:
"For Christ hath also once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might
bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: by which
also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometime were disobedient,
when once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a
preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were SAVED BY WATER" (II Pet. 3:18-20).
Yes, precious friend of mine, Noah was saved by water-the very same water that destroyed
the world! He was saved from a world, but the wonderful truth is that he had been
"saved" from that "world" a long time before the waters of the flood
arrived! For even as the scripture declares of Jesus, that He was "harmless,
undefiled, separate from sinners," so the Word also testifies of Noah that he was
"a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God." Noah was
saved. From the world of his day. He was no part of it, though it was all around him. Noah
was different. He danced to a different tune. He lived out his life by a different set of
standards. He walked with God while all the rest of mankind wallowed in the filth of the
lusts of their flesh. And now, in this our day, God has sent forth His Son Jesus to save
us from THIS PRESENT EVIL WORLD! Vast multitudes of men and women all about us walk
through this life with their minds closed, their hearts centered in this old world. How
men's hearts and lives are tied to this world! The man who is living in this world is
forever worrying about earthly things -how he can provide more in the bank for old age,
how he can provide more to see and hear and taste and feel and smell--the pleasures of
this world, how he can be sure he will never want for food, clothing or shelter. His
concern is that the physical man, the earth-man, the man of this world will never be in
need, never be unsatisfied or dissatisfied. He is always mindful of the comfort,
entertainment, protection and provision of the natural man. However much we may elaborate
on this point, we will not express it more aptly than did the apostle Paul when he
declared, "For they that are after the flesh, do mind the things of the flesh."
On the other hand, there is a small minority who spend their lives minding the things of
the spirit. The welfare of the spiritual man, the new creature, the inward man, the
heavenly man is uppermost in their thoughts, for they seek the mind of Christ. They, like
Paul, "die daily" to this present evil world, counting it as a passing thing
that is destined for destruction. The child of God stands out as the revelation of the
divine power of Jesus Christ to come into the spirit of man, and change it and make it
lovely and pure and wise and powerful like God Himself. To come into the mind of man, and
take possession of all its faculties, infusing the mind of Christ until that man esteems
the fashions and fantasies of this world as less than nothing, seeking always to be one
with the Father. To come into the nature of man and transform it by the power of God until
his thoughts and desires and actions are filled with wisdom and understanding, manifesting
the life and glory of the world to come, the new heavens and the new earth wherein
dwelleth righteousness. These, being after the spirit, mind the things of the spirit.
These are putting on immortality and incorruption, for the Christ shall come into even our
diseased and mortal bodies until the action of the Holy Spirit revolutionizes every cell
of the blood as it is written, "I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed:
for the Lord dwelleth in Zion" (Joel 3:21). This, my beloved, is what it means to be
SAVED FROM THIS PRESENT EVIL WORLD!
How many of the Lord's
precious people in ignorance do err, always equating salvation with heaven and hell.
Religion has indoctrinated its servants into the idea that God's great and eternal
purposes are basically of geographical or territorial consideration. Religion teaches that
we are saved from one "place"--hell, to go to another "place"--heaven.
And of course neither of these places are on this earth, so therefore the only purpose for
our being on this earth at all is to make preparation to get out of here and go someplace
else! Too long preachers have tried to scare people into heaven by painting lurid and
horrible pictures of hell, rather than preaching Jesus Christ the power of God, and the
wisdom of God, who is made unto all that believe wisdom, and righteousness, and
sanctification, and redemption. I know of nothing that will so thoroughly awaken the
fathomless depths of wisdom and understanding than the blessed knowledge of the sacred
mystery that Christ saves men right now FROM THIS PRESENT EVIL WORLD. And while you, dear
reader, may be one of those waiting to be "evacuated" off this earth to spend
eternity in some far-off heaven somewhere, Peter expresses the true desire of all sons of
God who groan for the deliverance of the creation and the coming of the
It is very essential that
those who study the word of God should always keep in mind that "world" means an
order, system, or arrangement of things. This involves a way of life, social structure,
culture, philosophies, political ideologies, religion, economics -- all products of the
carnal mind of man. It is difficult for many of the Lord's people to understand this one
simple truth: "THE WHOLE WORLD LIETH IN WICKEDNESS" (I Jn. 5:19). The entire
passage is even more enlightening. "And we know that we are of God, and THE W-H-O-L-E
W-O-R-L-D LIETH IN WICKEDNESS." The Amplified Bible correctly translates the latter
part of the verse: "The whole world around us is under the power of the wicked
one." This whole world system not only made its bed in wickedness, but it lies in and
is under the control of THE WICKED ONE-- the satanic spirit incarnate in the Adam man. How
few truly comprehend the vital significance of this! How many precious saints are yet
deceived into believing that there is at least something of God in the politics of this
world, in the educational programs of this world, in the economic system of this world, in
the fashions, laws, philosophies, and culture of this present world system. This is
especially true of believers in the
There is a simple, but sure,
test by which one may discern whether anything pertains to the
Are we willing to permit
everything around us, and all within us, to be judged by this test? All of our desires,
hopes, ambitions, actions, teachings, prophecies, commitments, involvements? Let us apply
this simple test to a few of the things in the world around us with which we are all
acquainted. POLITICS -- Is the political in the
It is my deep prayer that by
these few examples we may see how easy it is to move out from under the power of the
Armed with this understanding
we can grasp the full import of the message delivered by John. "And we know that we
are of God, and the whole world around us is under the power of the wicked one." This
world is not for us. Its ways are not for us. Its methods are not for us. Its fashions are
not for us. Its spirit is not for us. We are different. We are of God. We are called to
higher things. We are led by the Spirit, the sons of God. God is saving us out of this
world. Those apprehended to sonship are overcoming this world even as Jesus said, "I
have overcome the world" (Jn. 16:33). John wrote, "For whosoever is born of God
overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our
faith" (I Jn. 5:4). Peter admonishes, "Whereby are given unto us exceeding great
and precious promises that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having
escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust" (II Pet. 1:4). And finally,
the apostle James warns against walking in the spirit of this world or being entangled
therein: "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the
world is enmity with God! whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy
of God! " (James 4:4). And, thank God! this world shall pass away. Not the earth that
we live on, but the world. This whole present carnal system of things. And with it, all
the chaos, sin, war, crime, poverty, pain, pride, deceit, death; yea, all the ways of man
shall be brought to an end. We look for NEW HEAVENS and a NEW EARTH wherein dwelleth
righteousness. And the time for this change is at hand. It is already happening in God's
elect, for we are children of THE DAY. Many think that we have come to time's last hour
with nothing ahead but fear, catastrophe and annihilation. True, we are living in the
closing days of the age, God's great clock of time is tolling out the dark hours. Six
thousand years of man's mis-rule has cursed the earth. And now we are living in the most
momentous days since the dawn of history. It is the breaking of the day! We have arrived
at the hour for the NEW WORLD ORDER to begin. Even now as we learn to rise up in God, to
walk in HIS WAYS, to be LED BY HIS SPIRIT, to know HIS VOICE, to be CONFORMED TO HIS
IMAGE, the nature, glory and authority of that NEW HEAVEN AND EARTH is being formed within
us! There has been released from heaven in the last several years a great and wonderful
expectancy. It is the expectancy that all heaven is about to break loose in the midst of
the Lord's people and on a worldwide basis. Do you identify with that expectancy? God is
raising up voices throughout the length and breadth of the land to say, "The earth is
about to see the glory of God in an unprecedented way." A host of heavenly messengers
has been released to every corner of the globe bearing the message: "And the glory of
the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it, for the mouth of the Lord
hath spoken it" (Isa. 40:5). Even as I write the world is in the greatest spiritual,
political, and economic change since World War II. The consequences of the demise of
Marxism and resulting realignment are not yet apparent, but one-third of the world will be
directly affected. The decade has changed -- the century and the millennium will soon
change. History's "odometer" will turn up to 7000 -- the beginning of the
seventh day since Adam sorrowfully departed from
THE END OF THE WORLD
A friend said to Mark Twain:
"I am worried. The world is coming to an end." "Don't be worried,"
replied the famous humorist, "we can get along without it." Mark Twain may not
have known it, but he spoke the truth. We can get along without it, because God has
arranged to fashion a new world by fire. The apostle Peter wrote "But the day of the
Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a
great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works
that are therein shall be burned up" (II Pet. 3:10).
In keeping with the modern
use of language we might speak of the three worlds of II Peter 3 as the world of
yesterday, the world of today, and the world of tomorrow. Much of the misunderstanding and
misinterpretation of God's purpose for humanity has been occasioned by a failure to
understand what a world really is. The biblical "end of the world" has been
misconstrued to denote the burning up of the literal earth, and all things upon it. On
account of this misunderstanding of what is meant by "the end of the world" many
saints have feared its approach. Many Bible students have endeavored to project it far
into the future and others have come to look upon it as a mere superstition of the Dark
Ages, unworthy of being given any serious consideration. But when we realize that what the
Bible speaks of as the end of this present world, means just what we now see taking place
as the whole world political, economic and ecclesiastical system is weakening and
preparing to collapse, then the whole subject takes on an important, yea, a vital meaning
to all who are interested to know what the world of tomorrow, the third world, is to be
like. I tell you by the word of the Lord that God is even now creating a mighty
"vacuum" in the world, that into this void may rush the power and wisdom and
life of God through His manifested sons.
Let us look at the parable of
Jesus about the wheat and the tares, in Mat. 13:39-41. Here Jesus is explaining the
parable to His disciples, and says, "The enemy that sowed them (the tares) is the
devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore
the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.
The Son of man shall send forth His angels (messengers), and they shall gather out of His
Kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity." Evangelists have taken
this statement about the end of the world and have painted some very lurid and frightening
pictures of the holocaust which, they say, will destroy this earth. The END OF THE WORLD!
The very thought strikes terror into many hearts. It sounds ominous indeed, and it will be
for all the pride and haughtiness of men who now rule in wickedness over this earth. But
when we see what a "world" really is, and consequently what the "end of the
world" really is, we get a glorious picture of the beginning of a new age. It is not
the earth that is ending, but an age, an order, a system of things, a condition, a state
of being, a WAY OF LIFE. So you can stop looking for the sudden destruction of this
planet, and begin looking for what really is about to happen--the closing, conclusion,
consummation, and completion of this present evil age with its reign of unrighteousness,
darkness, bondage and death, and the coming of a new age, a new world, a new order and
system of things in which the sons of God will rule and bring the blessings of the Kingdom
of God upon all the families of the earth.
Peter informs us of the time
and the manner in which this world will end. He says, "But the heavens and the earth,
which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of
judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the
night...seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought
ye to be...hasting unto the coming of the day of God wherein the heavens being on fire
shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat" (II Pet. 3:10-12).
The prophet Zephaniah speaks of the same judgment and the same fire, saying, "Wait ye
upon Me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey; for My decision is to
gather the nations, to draw together the kingdoms, to pour upon them My indignation, even
all My fierce anger. For all the earth shall be DEVOURED with the FIRE OF MY ZEAL. Yea,
then will I turn unto the people a pure language (the pure word, a living revelation
uncontaminated by human tradition), that they may call upon the Lord, to serve Him with
one consent" (Zeph. 3:8-9). What a day!
This "fire of God's
zeal" is a symbol--and a forcible one--representing the intensity of the judgmental
dealings of God which shall involve the whole world system. That it is not a literal fire,
as some suppose, is evident from the fact that the people remain after it, and are
blessed! "For all the earth shall be devoured by the fire of My zeal. T-H-E-N WILL I
TURN UNTO T-H-E P-E-O-P-L-E a pure language, that they may call upon the name of the Lord,
to serve Him with one consent." That the people who remain after this devouring fire
are not the saints or the elect is evident from the fact that they are then turned to
serve the Lord, whereas the saints are turned (converted) already. This time of burning
was foreseen by the prophets as the great and terrible day of the Lord when the earth
would quake, the heavens tremble, the sun become dark, and the stars withdraw their
shining. It would be a day, said the prophet, when "a fire devoureth," and
"a flame burneth.” Over and over again the prophets used the word
"fire." Many times in the Bible the word "fire" is not the fire of
combustion as we commonly know it. The scripture teaches that God uses fire as a cleansing
and purifying agent. When we read that the Holy Spirit came as "tongues of
fire,” we do not suppose these were literal fires singeing the hair of those upon
whom they sat but rather a representation of the character of the Holy Spirit coming in
power to cleanse, purify and transform. Certainly it will be a fire of judgment upon the
world. However, it will be not only a fire of judgment but a fire of cleansing and
purification. The process of change that will produce the new heavens and the new earth is
seen in these words: "Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved what
manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness..." It is
remarkable that two thousand years ago a divinely inspired writer should have used the
term "dissolve", which has become suddenly fraught with modern meaning through
contemporary science. "Dissolved" was the same word Jesus used when Lazarus
stood before Him in front of his burial tomb, bound in grave clothes. Jesus said,
"Loose him, and let him go" (Jn. 11:34). Dissolved and loose are both translated
from the same Greek word LUO, and when this world "shall be dissolved" it shall
be "loosed" from its grave clothes of fear, ignorance, disease, poverty, sorrow,
bondage and death. The whole creation shall be let go into a new and glorious state of
existence. Every one of us has dissolved a tablet in a glass of water. What took place?
The tablet disappeared, loosed from its solid form, but it was not destroyed. Instead of a
solid, it became a liquid. It changed its appearance but not its substance. It assumed
another form of existence. Some such dissolving as this will take place in both the
heavens and the earth -- the spiritual and the natural realms -- not destruction or
extinction, but a change into new forms, conditions, and occurrences. The Lord declares,
"Behold, I make all things new" (Rev. 21:5). God will do this by means of fire.
This leads us to ask these questions: Why a new heavens and a new earth? Why fire? Why
judgment? Why cataclysmic change? Why not instead of these things the continuation of
human progress producing a golden age? The answer lies in the fact that sin and death
cannot be destroyed by any scientific process. Just as God sent Jesus to redeem His body
and prepare the vast family of the sons of God, so there must be another divine event to
end evil in the world. Jesus came with His gospel of grace to build His church, but the
sons of God will come with their rule of authority and power to conquer the nations of the
earth. The new heavens and earth will emerge from a world on fire. Every vestige of sin,
rebellion and corruption must be destroyed. All of society with its various institutions
must be purified. Every aspect of the primeval curse must be obliterated. The world must
be let loose and freed from the restrictions and limitations imposed upon it by the curse
of sin and death. There must be a universal riddance of the rule of the carnal mind and
nature, so that no handicaps are carried over into the structure and composition of the
new world. Praise God! "The world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that
doeth the will of God abideth for ever" (I Jn. 2:17).
The ancient world was
destroyed by water, and the present world shall be destroyed by fire. The fact that the
water was literal leads some to believe that the fire must also be literal, but this by no
means follows. Under the Old Testament all things were literal, whereas under the New
Testament all things are spiritual. The
The only light in the
The prophet Daniel spoke of
the coming of the Lord in judgment and described the awesome scene: "I beheld till
the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days, did sit, whose garment was white as
snow, and the hair of His head like the pure wool: His throne was like the fiery flame,
and His wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him: and
ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him: the judgment was set" (Dan.
7:9-10). So we also read in the Psalms: "Our God shall come, and shall not keep
silence: a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about
Him" (Ps. 50:3). So again in Isaiah it is written: "Behold, the name of the Lord
cometh from far, burning with His anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: His lips are
full of indignation, and His tongue as a devouring fire: and His breath as an overflowing
stream (of fire). Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared: He hath
made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the Lord,
like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it” (Isa. 30:27-33).
There is no better way to
deal with filth than to deal with it by fire. The final work of God in this world will be
the destruction of the world by penal fire. That will change all things. That will melt up
all the real estate, so that no man will be able to tell you where his original grab was.
That will burn up all the stocks and bonds. That will melt all the gold and silver, and
destroy all the landmarks, and make of this world a New Heaven and a New Earth wherein
dwelleth righteousness. Every man's work will eventually be tested by fire. The fire will
try every man's work of what sort it is. If you and I build into our spiritual activities
wood, hay and stubble, the fire will find it out, and the wall will come tumbling down.
Every child of God is building his spiritual life upon the foundation that is Jesus
Christ. There is no other foundation that can be laid, or is laid. We are either building
the quality of gold, silver or precious stones or the weak and unprofitable things of
wood, hay and stubble that are soulish self-efforts and carnal. If the works that I do are
gold, then surely it must mean that I am building out of the Spirit. Am I led by the
Spirit of God? Or am I fulfilling my own ambitions? There is a vast difference. The heart
of man, even the believing man, is often found to be desperately wicked in this regard. It
is not difficult to find men who glibly make great claims to being led by the Spirit of
God, but many, alas, are involved in gaining a following and building their own kingdom,
though they imagine they are building for God. Beware the man who tells you that he alone
has the truth, that he alone bears the message of the hour, that you will not hear the
deep secrets of the Lord from any other source, and his word alone holds the key to life
and immortality, to sonship and the fullness of God. These people still move in the wicked
spirit of the
Let us get to the foundation
of things. The foundation of the revelation of God is the revelation of a God who answers
by fire. When
Moses, it is universally
admitted, was the heir apparent to the throne of
I do not say that God did not
teach Moses something in those forty years. No doubt He did, but he had to go away into
Midian and marry a Midianitish princess; and he was settling down to be merely a master of
large flocks, when God revealed Himself by fire. It took a fire to do it. As Moses, forty
years after his exile, was walking there in the plains near to the Mount of God, he saw a
strange sight. It was a burning bush, right there in the midst of the plain, and the more
he looked at it, the brighter it seemed. Strange that it did not burn up! The brighter it
burned, the brighter the bush seemed to be. He said, "I shall go nearer and see this
strange sight." When he drew near, he heard a Voice out of that bush say, "Draw
not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest
is Holy Ground." It is my own conviction that God ordered Moses to get out of his
shoes so that GOD COULD GET INTO THEM. Moses had walked in his own way long enough; now it
was time for him to walk in God's way. He did as he was bidden, and then he heard from
that bush the Voice of Yahweh saying, "I AM." That Voice told Moses to go back
to
It is a terrible thing to
neglect your call, and have to come back to it after forty years. Terrible! Terrible! You
must fulfill God's purpose in your life. God will have it done, and if it is not done one
way, it will have to be done another. Moses was hand-picked; schooled in all the wisdom of
the Egyptians, de-schooled on the backside of the desert; from kingly robes to a
shepherd's smock, from the banqueting hall to the lunch bag, from a master- builder to
dunking lambs, from knowing it all to knowing nothing. At forty years of age he could take
on all comers, at eighty he didn't know if he could speak up for
The first apostles were
constantly arguing about which of them would be the greatest in the
In
Many years ago there was
found in an African mine the most magnificent diamond in the world's history. It was
presented to the king of England to blaze in his crown of state. The king sent it to
The baptism of fire is that
baptism which enables us to receive God Himself: the all-consuming, the ever living fire.
Christ, who was baptized with the baptism of suffering and death, arose triumphant; He
reigns in heaven; He reigns on earth; and He will establish His Father's Kingdom over
every heart, and every spot of ground. Because He lives, we shall live also. We cannot
die. Let us live it, and carry the fire that will consume every unclean desire in every
heart, in every home, in every city, in every nation, until the earth is purged with the
purifying power, and Christ our King has come to reign, until the time when every foe is
vanquished, and He delivers up the Kingdom to God, even the Father. As Peter told us,
"The heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store,
reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." We read
about the passing away of this present cosmos, the heavens and the earth, and the
establishing of the new in Isa. 65:17. "For behold I create new heavens and a new
earth, and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind." Hallelujah! What
a wonderful thing that God will so thoroughly cleanse our own little world and the whole
vast cosmos (world order), that even our minds will be purged from the remembrance of it.
Wonder of wonders, to be able to forget that sin and death ever existed! God will make
such a good job of His work, that the past will be completely obliterated and never
thought of any more. Blessed be His name!
THE WORLD TO COME
The coming "world"
will be one that will see the fullness of God in operation through His sons, the
demonstration of the mighty power of the
The heavens and the earth
which are to come are the third heavens and the third earth since that long ago beginning.
Paul knew a man who was given a glimpse of that third "heaven," that coming
arrangement in which the saints will reign from the heavenlies. He says he was
"caught away" (spiritually or physically, or both, he could not tell, things
were so real to his view) down the stream of time to the new condition of things, the new
heaven, hence the third heaven. He thus saw things AS THEY WILL BE under the ministry of
the sons of God, things which he might not at that time even disclose, for they were
"not lawful to be uttered" (II Cor. 12:2-4). Doubtless these were the same
things John the beloved saw afterwards, and was permitted to express to the church in
symbols, which things may only be understood as the Spirit of God brings to light their
fulfillment within us. John, in the revelation given to him by our Lord on the Isle of
Patmos, was in vision carried down through the church age and its changing scenes of
church and state, to the end of this present world, and there in spirit he saw satan
bound, a manchild ascended to the throne, a hundred and forty four thousand sons of God
standing with the Lamb on Mount Zion, the perfected and glorified bride of Christ, the New
Jerusalem in glory and exaltation, a royal priesthood ministering the blessings and
benefits of the Kingdom of God to all kindreds and tongues and peoples and nations, the
NEW HEAVENS (spiritual government) and the NEW EARTH (social order) established; for the
former heavens and the former earth were passed away.
Rejoice, O ye saints of the
Lord, for the end of the world is upon us! ARA -- the up-side down altar of fire -- is now
ready to pour its judgment upon the depths of the kingdom of darkness and all things shall
be committed to the fire for purification. "Behold, I make all things new!"
saith the Lord. It is important that we make a difference between "all new
things" and "all things new." God shall not end this world and call forth
the new by destroying either His creatures or His creation. Not one thing, not one person
shall be lost! He shall bring this world to an end and establish the new heavens and the
new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness by MAKING A-L-L T-H-I-N-G-S N-E-W --changed,
purified, and transformed by fire. Blessed be His wonderful name!
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