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"Teaching the things concerning the kingdom of God..."
FROM THE CANDLESTICK TO THE THRONE
Part 116
THE SOUNDING OF THE
TRUMPETS
(continued)
And the sixth
angel sounded, and I heard a voice
from the four horns of the golden altar which
is before God (Rev. 9:13).
In this part of the vision, there are
several very significant symbols to notice: the voice from the horns of the golden altar,
the order given to the restraining messengers, the great river Euphrates, the army of
horsemen, and the unrepentance of man. When the sixth angel sounded the very
first thing John heard and saw was a voice from the four horns of the golden altar
which is before, or in the presence of, God. The golden altar was seen earlier in the
visions, in chapter eight. It was on this altar that the prayers of
the saints, mixed with much incense, was placed, and from which they were offered unto God
by the messenger (High Priest) whose place it was to minister at the golden altar. The
golden altar was in the Holy Place, close to the second veil, just in front of the ark of
the covenant over which the Shekinah Glory shone. We
are told in Exodus 30:10 that the golden altar was most holy unto the Lord.
The golden altar had the blood of the
sin-offering applied to the four horns, or projecting points of it, once a year for the
purpose of making a ceremonial or symbolic impartation of the power of redemption into the
ministry fulfilled there. The placing of the blood on the four
horns indicated the world-wide efficaciousness of the power of redemption! The
blood was the basis of all the service presented at that altar. Without
the application of the blood, all service rendered there was unavailing. Only
after the blood was applied, could the prayers of the saints be offered with the incense
and ascend as a sweet-smelling fragrance to God. The
altar was a prophecy, a prefiguration of Christ our High Priest by whom, and
through whom, the sacrifices of our praise, worship, and prayers are offered unto the
Father in heaven (Heb. 13:15).
The blood is the life of Gods Christ, for the life is in
the blood, we are told in the book of Leviticus. Apart
from the indwelling life of Christ there can be no ministry that is acceptable to
God or profitable for man. John hears the voice coming not only
from the altar in the presence of God, nor even from the ministry of the altar, but from
the four horns of
it, those parts to which the blood has been applied. The
voice he heard was the voice of the Blood! It was the voice or the word out of the
very Redemptive Life of Christ! Therefore, the symbolic plagues and
death which come as a result of this voice cannot be, as many teach, the vindictive
judgment and unrelenting wrath of God against sinful humanity. How
absurd! As though the voice of the Son of God
who gave His life for the world at Calvary is now commanding that mankind pay horribly for
their sins! And that this voice of condemnation and
wrath would come from the very altar of prayer, worship, and praise! Oh,
no! This
is a redemptive, life-giving, delivering, transforming voice; in keeping with the symbol
it can be nothing else!
The golden altar upon which incense
offerings were made signifies the ministry of prayer, worship, and praise. By
the four horns of that altar the power of
that spiritual ministry is signified! Horns in the scripture are always
significant of power, authority, andkingship. In
Habakkuk 3:4 we are told that God is seen as having horns coming out of His hand: and there was
the hiding of His power. The
horns on the animals are their source and instrument of strength, power, defense, and
victory (Gen. 22:13). Four is the number of that which is
world-wide, universal, and all-inclusive. The fact that we have four horns here
points to the truth that all power is now given to Gods Christ in the
heavens and in the earth. The power of the Christ within is the
power of the horns of the altar within our hearts! In
this case the power lies in that which is spoken out of that realm, for John heard a voice from the four horns of the altar saying to
the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the
great river Euphrates. It is the altar itself which speaks
through the four horns. The voice emanates from the spiritual
ministry of prayer, worship, and praise of the altar. Furthermore,
the voice out of the horns of the golden altar must be speaking just at the right time, in
advance of the loosing of the four angels. It
must now be noted that this voice is a prophetic voice proclaiming the loosing of the four
angels. Such a voice from the four altar horns
symbolizes a great cry out of the Spirit, and from Gods anointed remnant, full of
strength and power, the power pictured by the four horns. They
now pray and travail mightily in spirit, not for four literal angels in the invisible
spirit realm to be released, but for a release within themselves of something which has been bound, keeping them
there on the border of Babylon.
Can we not see by this that it is by the
power and authority in spiritual prayer, praise, and worship that the four angels in the
river Euphrates are loosed. Truly
this is a spiritual work and a spiritual loosing! This
truth is made so very clear in the vision John saw just prior to the sounding of the first
trumpet. John was beholding spiritual realities
in the form of pictures. He saw the golden altar from the tabernacle of Moses, but now it
is the spiritual golden altar in the heavens of the Spirit of the Lord! The
golden altar of incense in the tabernacle of old was made of wood, overlaid with pure
gold. It
was three feet high and one and one-half feet square. It was the tallest piece of furniture
in the Holy Place and speaks of the highest act of worship possible, that of praise and
prayer and priestly intercession. On top of it rested a pan-shaped vessel,
called the golden censer, on which coals taken from the brazen altar in the Outer Court,
were burning. There was no chimney for the smoke to
escape by, so the room was full of it; the fragrance was sweeter than anything ever smelt
before! But it was not the wood which gave forth
such a sweet odor when under the action of fire; it was the incense which the High Priest
put on those burning coals that smelled so pleasant, and which felt so
refreshing to the spirits of those who ministered there. This
incense was made of four sweet spices, which gave forth their fragrance by burning. Their
sweetness was not known till they were submitted to the action of fire, when the odor was
sent forth in the smoke.
The fire upon
the altar is the energizing, quickening, transforming presence and power of God Himself
who is a consuming fire (Heb. 12:29). The
purpose of the fire was to consume and transform every sacrifice placed upon the altar. The
fire is God Himself! The golden censer represents
each member of Gods elect, for the holy fire of God resides in the life of every man
and woman who has been baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire. What
ignites real, spiritual praise, worship, and prayer is the fire of God upon the altar of God in our hearts! There
is an unspeakable glory manifest in the spirit of worship and divine intercession that
ascends from the fire upon the altar of the hearts of those who truly worship the Father
in spirit and in truth. There is a living stream of the song
of the Lord and the prophetic
voice of the Lord that flows from our
innermost being as we stand at the golden altar of incense and worship the Father in the
Spirit and by the Spirit. This is not the religious prayers and
soulical worship of the popular churches, but the ministry of a people separated unto God
as a priesthood unto Him. What glory rests upon those called to be
Gods royal priesthood! What power flashes from the golden altar
of incense within! When the fire
of God energizes and empowers the
worship of His elect, even in our solitude, it comes from the altar of God out of the holy
fire of His presence, and there is a divine fragrance that ascends with it! And
out from the horns of the altar the voice of the Lord speaks of great and mighty things!
The prayers offered
upon the altar are the effectual prayers of those saints who minister as
priests in and by the spirit. Now
there are multitudes of prayers that are daily offered up to God. You
can go to any church and hear many prayers. People pray under all kinds of
circumstances. In times of distress, trouble, and
crisis, everyone
prays! Not every prayer is prayed in the
spirit and by the
spirit! Not every prayer rises by the
quickening power of the fire of God upon the altar! People
often pray very casually for whatever it is they want God
to do for them or for someone else. But true, spiritual, priestly prayer is
as incense. It
only rises by the work of the fire of God! In a number of places in scripture
incense is used as the symbol of prayer. David cried, Let
my prayer be set forth before Thee as incense (Ps.
141:2) There in the Holy Place the High Priest
burned the incense which ascended from the altar and wafted its way through the veil,
permeating the presence and throne of the Lord. Oh yes, incense permeates! When
the incense was burned in the Holy Place nothing could keep it out from the Most Holy
Place! The incense, before it was crumbled over
the live coals, was a cold, hard substance; but the fire transformed it into a spiritual
essence that penetrated through the
veil, under the veil, and around the veil, entering right into the presence of God and the
majesty of His throne in the Holiest of all! The deep spiritual meaning of this is
that when our prayers are offered by the quickening of the spirit and power of God,
nothing can keep those prayers from their destination, and nothing can prevent them from
being answered! There is such power in the true
spiritual praise, worship, and prayer of Gods elect, that there comes forth
from it in this significant hour a prophetic word of authority commanding the loosing of the four angels bound in the
great river Euphrates, at the border of Babylon, who are four messengers, or a four-fold
word that is bound or restrained at the boundary between religious Babylon and our
spiritual land of inheritance in Christ.
THE EUPHRATES RIVER
And the sixth angel sounded, and I
heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, saying to the
sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great
river Euphrates (Rev. 9:13-14).
The Euphrates is mentioned twice in the
Revelation here, and in chapter sixteen, verse twelve. The
epithet great is used in both instances: The great river Euphrates. The
literal Euphrates river begins in the Armenian Mountains and is about 1780 miles in
length, by far the longest and most important river of western Asia. It
is famous in Bible history and prophecy. This region was the site of the
inception of human sin; here the first lie was told, the first effort of mans own
religious works was performed, the first murder committed, the first grave was
dug, and the first confederacy for the purpose of war was assembled. It
was here the vast system of Babylonian idolatry originated. Israels
great progenitor, Abram, came from its other side into the land of Canaan. The
rivers Nile and Euphrates are prophetically designated as the southern and northern
boundaries of the promised land (Gen. 15:18). The
region of Euphrates was the scene of the long years in which the children of Israel
dragged out the wearisome days of their Babylonian captivity.
The books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, and
Zechariah all speak to a time in history when a remnant of the people of Israel came out
from their captivity beyond the Euphrates to return to the promised land of Israel and
build again the city of Jerusalem and the temple of the Lord. The
remnant of Israel came out from Babylon. The physical captivity Israel
experienced in Babylon symbolizes the spiritual captivity of the Lords spiritual
people to the carnal church systems of man with their false doctrines and confusion. Confusion
is a word that describes the mingling together of so many ideas and methods that nothing
is clear. Just as Israel came out of Babylon, and
therefore across the Euphrates, we too have been called
of God to come out of the ignorance and bondage of mans carnal religious systems,
control, rituals, ceremonies, programs, doctrines, and confusion.
The four angels bound in the river
Euphrates signify a word and a ministry that is bound at the borders of our inheritance in Christ. This
word, this ministry is no longer in the full captivity of religious Babylon, but neither
has it been released to enter into the full inheritance of the land of promise. Though
these can no longer function within the man-made systems of religious Babylon, or the old
order church systems, neither have they attained to the measure of the stature of the
fullness of Christ. That this is the truth signified by
these symbols no man can suspect or understand unless it has been given him to know what
is meant by the great river Euphrates, and by the four angels bound there.
The Euphrates river bordered Babylon and
was that which had to be crossed either to enter Babylon or to leave Babylon in the
direction of Canaan. Sometimes it stood for Babylon itself,
sometimes for the land of Canaan, but most often as a border or separation between the
two. The
prophet Jeremiah revealed how the Euphrates represents Babylon when he said, Thus
saith the Lord of hosts; The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high
gates shall be burned with fire; and the people shall labor in vain
and they shall be
weary. The word which Jeremiah the prophet
commanded Seraiah
when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah into (captivity in)
Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil
that should come upon Babylon, even all these words which are written against Babylon. And
Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When thou comest to Babylon, and shalt see, and shalt read all
these words; thou shalt say, O Lord, Thou has spoken against this place, to cut it off,
that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate for
ever. And
it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book, that thou shalt bind a stone
to it, and cast it into the midst of Euphrates: and thou shalt say, Thus
shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise
from the evil that I will bring upon her (Jer.
51:58-64).
The Euphrates river stands for a
separation between the kingdom of Babylon and the promised land of Canaan just as the Red
Sea was the border and boundary of Egypt and must be crossed before the children of Israel
could begin their journey to the promised land, and just as the Jordan river flowed at
Canaans border and had to be crossed in order for the Israelites to possess the
land. Religious Babylon appears
prominently in Johns visions in later chapters of the Revelation, but here we are
given a view of a word and a ministry that has arisen and departed from Babylon, beginning
the journey to their spiritual land and inheritance in Canaan, which is the fullness of
Christ; but they have not fully entered into their inheritance, being bound or restrained
at the very borders of Babylon.
That the river of Egypt, the Nile, and
the river of Babylon, the Euphrates, were the divinely determined boundaries of the land
of Canaan is stated plainly by the Lord when He gave Abraham the promise, Unto
thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt (the Nile) unto the great river,
the river Euphrates (Gen.
15:18). Again in Deuteronomy 1:7 we read that
the children of Israel received the command: Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the
mount of the Amorites, and unto all the places
nigh thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the vale, and in the south, and by the
sea side, to the land of the Canaanites, and unto
the great river, the river
Euphrates. The same we read in Deuteronomy
11:24 and Joshua 1:4. We find that the promise was realized in
a literal way in the time of Solomon, for of him we read that he ruled over all the
kingdoms from the river (that is, Euphrates) unto the land of the Philistines (I Kings
4:21). A number of other passages allude to
this river as the boundary of the land of promise, and therefore I find that in its
spiritual sense the river Euphrates represents the ideal and real boundary line between
the spiritual and heavenly kingdom of God and the carnal and earthly kingdom of religious
Babylon. That is the mystery!
We will understand this great truth when
we see by the spirit of wisdom and revelation that the symbolic four angels
bound in the river Euphrates are the Lords elect, His firstfruits company! Not
that all of us are still bound there, though some may indeed be, yet none of us can
testify that we have now entered into the fullness of our inheritance in Christ! Not
one of us can claim absolute perfection and maturity, nor have any of us put on bodily
immortality and been manifest as sons of God, delivering creation from the bondage of
corruption. We have truly received the call to
sonship, we are now on our way into the full stature of the firstborn Son of God; each of
us has attained to our present standing in Christ, and I
do not doubt for a moment that some of us are yet bound in the great river Euphrates!
This has been a part of our experience
since we first heard the cry of the Spirit to Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her
sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues (Rev. 18:4). This
was pre-figured by Israel. They had been carried away captives into
Babylon because of their departure from the ways of the Lord. When
the call of God came to those in Babylons captivity, it was this same call, Come
out of her so that you may escape her punishment! Oh,
yes! God
was about to judge Babylon, and it was time for the Lords people to come out from
her, not only to escape the judgment, but also to enter into all the glory of their own
land of inheritance. The Jews who were captives in Babylon
had become so situated in this foreign land, that they became insensitive to the Spirits
call. They
had their priests and their laws, and carried on their religion as best they could right
there in Babylon. Very few were tuned into Gods
purpose, they cared not that God had chosen Jerusalem, that the temple was the center of
His presence, nor that Zion was without a ruling king. They
had mingled the word of the Lord with the superstitions and ways of Babylon, had become a
reproach among the nations, and lost their purpose in God to be His chosen ones as a
peculiar nation.
Only a few, a remnant, returned to the
land in answer to Gods call. What happened to the remainder? They
became partakers of the promises of God against Babylon! When
Babylon was defeated and spoiled, those who remained with her were again put to the sword
and carried further into captivity by the beast nations. There
is absolutely no place of compromise! If you do not have the desire to be in
the presence of God (Spirit), or in His house (temple ye are the temple), or in His
government (New Jerusalem), or as a reigning king (Zion, sonship), you will remain a
captive in the spiritual Babylon. And if you have come out of Babylon, but
are now bound on the borders of your true and glorious inheritance in the nature, glory,
and power of Gods Christ, then hear today the voice from the four horns of the
golden altar, sounding as a trumpet in the land, proclaiming, Loose
the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates!
Ah, this word comes prophetically from
the midst of a people who are the priests of the Lord at the golden altar! There
is such power in their praise, in their spiritual worship, and in their spirit-energized
prayers, that it brings forth that word of authority commanding the loosing of a word and
a ministry from the border of Babylon! It speaks release to the Lords
called and chosen elect to arise and enter on in to the fullness of their inheritance as
sons of the living God! In earlier days of Gods dealings
we all arose to come out, yet there was a season when we had obeyed the Spirits
call to come out to the best of our understanding and ability, but though we separated
from our previous entanglements in the worldly church systems, and separated from many of
the more glaring errors taught by them, and were in that measure separated from Babylon, yet we had not at that time received
the full revelation of the high calling of God in Christ and the deep purgings,
processings, and dealings necessary to bring us into our full inheritance as manifest sons
of our Father. Thus, we were not yet separated unto His great sonship and kingdom purposes! We
had come out as far as we could, but still had not pressed on to possess our inheritance
in our new promised land! Oh, yes! It
was there that
we were bound in our word, in our vision, in our experience, in our ministry,
in that great river Euphrates, at the boundary between
religious Babylon and the spiritual and heavenly mount Zion! To
those who stand at the boundary of their inheritance I today speak release unto a new, fresh, full word of revelation,
experience, glory, and transforming power! Arise, my beloved, and possess your land
promised in Christ before the foundation of the world! It
is indeed wonderful!
There are some today who have come out
to the border of the land and feel that we have gone far enough. Talk
about the inheritance beyond the River in the hills and mountains of Canaan, in the courts
of the temple of God, and the kingly splendor of mount Zion, and it is thought to be
far-out teaching. What we have is good. Why
be concerned about anything more beyond the River? Let us just camp right here at the
fertile valley of the Euphrates, and seek an enlargement of what we have already received. We
speak in tongues, we have gifts of the Spirit, we prophesy, we dance in the Spirit, we
have beautiful singing and worship, and some healings and miracles. Why
get excited about things far-out beyond the Euphrates? Why
seek after perfection, the mind of Christ, incorruption and immortality, the glory of
manifest sonship, or reigning with Christ in the
kingdom and delivering creation from the bondage of corruption?
The Euphrates is also symbolic of the
spiritual borderland between the world of darkness and the glories of Eden; between flesh
and spirit; between half-heartedness and abandonment to God; between childishness and
maturity; between carnality and spirituality; between the carnal mind and the mind of
Christ; between the realm of death and the fullness of His incorruptible life. It
is not enough to have revelation of the high calling of God in Christ. It
is not enough to have visions of the life of sonship to God. It
is not enough to see by the spirit a realm of perfection and glory where the carnal mind
is exchanged for the mind of Christ and death is swallowed up of His life. Revelations
and visions are not possession; and though they may be from God, they are only given to
encourage us to hasten our footsteps that we may enter in! It
is not enough for us to leave the world and religious Babylon and begin the journey; we
must hasten on to the end, follow all the way, and finish our course even to the last
step.
How many who start on the journey,
settle down at the great river Euphrates! How many settle for something better
than what God has called them out of, but less than
what they have been called to! Ah, yes, this borderland is an
alluring place, a subtle experience, a crafty and cunning temptation. It
is the territory between Babylon and mount Zion where are felt the powers of both, but in
the mixture neither are fully experienced. Those who abide here settle down
comfortably in some New Testament Church order, with shepherds, worship teams,
and gifts of the Spirit and fail to GO ON! These
concern themselves with the first principles of the doctrine of Christ, of
repentance from dead works, faith, baptisms, laying on of hands, a future resurrection and
eternal judgment (Heb. 6:1-2), and lay these foundations again and again, refusing to leave them in order to go on to
perfection!
The borderlands are a dangerous place
for all who settle
there. If they are not drowned in that swift
and terrible river, they eventually retrace their steps and are found in the world from
whence they came, for it is so very close, and so very comfortable, and there is no
treacherous journey and no battle to possess it. Ah,
we praise God for these borderlands, for it is needful that we pass through them, but pass we must! The
vision of a distant land of beauty and fruitfulness and glory does not feed nor satisfy
the one who sees it. It must be experienced! It
has to be entered into, possessed! Moses
did not go over into Canaan, though for forty years he bore the children of Israel as a
nursing mother bears a child upon her bosom, and stood between God and His people as the
mouthpiece of God. God took Moses up on the top of mount
Pisgah and let him view the land, but He told Moses that he could not go over to possess
it. The
sight was, no doubt, beautiful to this servant of God; and yet how was he profited by the
milk and honey, which flowed in the land that he beheld?
Though the vineyards were ever so green
and fruitful in the promised land of Canaan, what joy could they bring to him who would
never enjoy their fruits nor drink of their vintage? Though
the pomegranates were large and luscious, though the olive trees were green and loaded
with fruit, he would never eat of this perfect fruit nor be anointed with the pure,
abundant oil. Though the sun shone brighter than he
had ever seen it in Egypt, or during those forty years in the desert, where he was taught
in Gods school of solitude, how did it profit him? He
would never be warmed by its gracious rays! And what shall it profit us, my beloved,
if we settle down in the borderland, if we allow ourselves to be bound in the great river
Euphrates, in the in part realm of spiritual experience, in the glory of that
which falls short of the promised fullness, in an old church order rather than
the glory and the power of the new day of the kingdom of God; in the satisfaction of
blessings and gaining an occasional victory rather than overcoming all
things, even unto the last
enemy, which is death; in contentment
with the indwelling of His Spirit instead of a total TRANSFORMATION INTO HIS
IMAGE!
He who writes these lines is fully aware
that neither in writing them, nor yet in reading them, can I, or you, lay hold upon the
fullness of Christ. It must be walked
out experientially in each of our
lives as we are released by the word of the Lord from that place where we have been bound in the borderland, in the great river
Euphrates. We must arise then, and make the journey
all the way to the heights of Zion! The apostle James put it so succinctly: But
be ye doers of
the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves (James 1:22).
There were some among the disciples, who
were privileged to behold the glory of manifest sonship, and the glorious One who is the
firstborn of this Order. Shortly before Jesus accomplished His
decease, He took Peter, James, and John up into a mountain apart from the others. And He was transfigured before them; and His
garments became glistering, exceeding white; so as no fuller on earth can whiten them. Peter,
in speaking afterwards of this ineffable experience wrote, We
were eye witnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father
glory and honor, when there came to Him such a voice from the excellent glory, This is my
beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we
heard, when we were with Him in the holy mount (II
Pet. 1:16-17).
Though Peter, James, and John beheld the
glory of Christs sonship and heard the voice of the Father witnessing to Him, they
could not enter into that glory at that time. Before they could themselves enter into
the glory of sonship to God they had a course to run,
they had a ministry to fulfill, they had battles to fight, victories to win, they had a
faith to keep even unto death. Only when they had done these things,
could they enter into this glory, which they beheld upon the mount of transfiguration. So
it is with us. How beautiful is that land of far
distances! Our souls are ravished by the
revelations of our high calling, which we see in spirit while
upon this high elevation, caught up in the Spirit. But
we must come down and hasten over the path that leads to the possession of all that we
have seen, and all that God has offered us. There is no working of the adversary so
treacherous as the working of deception that would make us mistake for possession the great revelations God gives of sonship and the kingdom of
God and our high calling in Him!
Well did Ray Prinzing write, The
Holy Spirit imparts a revelation on how much the institutional religious system is a part
of the present day Babylon, and then He whispers in your heart, Come out of her, my
people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. So,
painful as the process has been for some, we come out to walk day by day as the
Holy Spirit would lead. Yet we find that that
word is not finished with its work in
us for then it must purge out all the traits of Babylon that are in us. It
is one thing to be called out of Babylon, it is quite another to have all of Babylon
purged out of you. BUT THE WORD WENT FORTH, He spoke it in
your being, and when THE WORD HAS FINISHED ITS INWORKING, you will be free of Babylon,
inside and out, because His word will not return unto Him void, it will have prospered in
all that He sent it to do!
Pre-requisite to His receiving us
on any deeper level, is be ye
separate! We must come out from
all the unholy realms of Babylon, and no more touch that unclean thing! Coming
out is a process, wrought by degrees, as He strips away the old, and prepares us for the
new. Many
think they have come out perhaps they have physically, but often their mind is
still in the clutches of the old traditions. So wrapped in the cocoons of creed and
doctrine, there is a long process of coming out, just as there is also a long process of entering in to
the new. There is a long process to where we
truly worship the Lord in spirit and in truth, untainted by any of these other things. Holiness
is a separation, not only from, but also unto
presenting ourselves unto the Lord, placing ourselves before Him for His sovereign
disposal.
How thankful we are that He can
lead us far beyond the confines of our human comprehension, and open up to our inner man
the vision of divine reality. In His own unique way He brings our
thoughts and imaginations into conformity to His will and purpose. How
we pray for a break-through, beyond all the barriers which have held us in limbo, in
dimensions of emptiness, waiting for His time and season for full manifestation. Verily,
He brought us out from thence, that He might bring
us in
(Deut. 6:23). Called out of the world, called out of
religious Babylon, called out of self with its own will and way, to be brought into the
FELLOWSHIP OF THE SON to partake of Him, be brought in to be found in Him the unlimited expanses of His love, where
we might walk that path which the vultures eye hath not seen, bringing us into His
glory. May He lift us up from the low way of
religion, into the high way of His Spirit!
end quote.
Call to remembrance here that the reason
for the loosing of the four angels which are bound in the river Euphrates is that they may
enter on in to their full inheritance. The inheritance was the land that
stretched all the way from the world of Babylon, beyond the Euphrates river, on to
the borders of the land of Egypt. While there are many beautiful spiritual types in Israels
entrance into and possession of the promised land, the fact remains that throughout the
Old Testament one reads the history of a physical people receiving natural blessings in an
earthly land. In the Old Testament the Lord always
referred to an earthly land. You can recall how many times from the
twelfth chapter of Genesis to the end of Malachi the Lord stressed the land again and
again. The land
the land
the land I
promised to thy fathers; the land I promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; the land I
promised you; I will bring you into the land; I will give you the land; I will bless you
in the land. It was the land, the land, always the
LAND! Yet,
the whole expanse of that which God promised Abraham and his seed could not be found in
that natural plane of things that he explored, for it spoke of greater things that
which is spiritual!
If we know the scriptures and have light
from God, we will realize what is meant by the land. In
the hidden language of the Spirit, the symbol of land has the meaning of
inheritance. Many scriptures speak of the fact that
all the inheritance of Israel was in the land! But
the New Testament teaches us something deeper. Land is not the destination. Being
in a sacred space does not guarantee that one will act more nobly. History
is also replete with examples the rebellious Israelites at mount Sinai, right at
the very holy mount of God; the marauding, plundering, ravaging armies of the Crusades,
and the suicide bombers of today all show that you can be physically in a so-called
holy place and still not be holy! One
would think that after possessing their land the children of Israel would be ready to
fulfill their destiny in God. Moments of triumph do fill the record
the lightning conquest of the land, the new capital in Jerusalem, the magnificent
holy temple, and under Solomon a brief blazing empire across the Fertile Crescent. But
the overall feeling of the Old Testament books is disillusionment the judges fail,
the kings fail, the priests fail, the people fail, even the temple fails. Because
of these failures God flushes the people from the land He promised them. He
exiles them. Then Jesus came! He
came and revealed the great mystery that the land was merely a symbol of
everything the people of Israel were longing for. He
introduced the people to something higher: an understanding of the nonphysical dimensions
of God, our Father who is in heaven, God who is spirit and can
be worshiped only in spirit and in truth. Then
with the coming of the Holy Spirit the essence of the land was transferred to a higher,
spiritual plane. The question might be asked, Then why
does God promise land to Abraham at the very beginning? Because
God relates to man on two levels the plane of the physical and the plane of the
spiritual. As a nation, the people needed land. But
in their spiritual life, they did not need land. The
firstborn Son of God came into the world to reveal the great truth that physical land,
political power, even a temple made with hands, are not the ends for Gods people. FELLOWSHIP
AND UNION WITH GOD IS THE END! You do not need land, laws, priesthoods,
rituals, or temples in order to experience
and know God. In fact, those things detract from
knowing union with Him! Therefore, the land is but a figure of
CHRIST AS OUR ALL IN ALL!
In
the Old Testament the descendants of Abraham were brought into the land, first from Egypt
and the wilderness, and again from Babylon. In the New Covenant those born of the
Spirit are brought into
Christ. Have you truly realized that Christ is
now the territory of your life? Christ is the land! The
inheritance is in the land, and Christ is the land!
that He might gather together in one all
things in Christ, both which are
in heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him: IN WHOM WE
HAVE OBTAINED AN INHERITANCE, being predestinated according to the
purpose of Him
(Eph. 1:10-11). So many glorious realities are oursin Christ! Time
would fail me to quote the many scriptures that explore the expansiveness of our
inheritance in Christ. You may feel today that you are living
on this earth, compassed about, hedged in, and shut up by the myriad problems, pressures,
frustrations, and limitations of this world. But
you must realize that this earth, nor any part of it, including the land of Israel, Great
Britain, America, or any other place, is not your real land; nothing of this world is your
sphere of living! 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, not
on things on the earth. For
ye are dead, and your life
is hid with Christ in God (Col.
3:1-3). Giving thanks unto the Father,
which hath made us meet to be partakers of the
inheritance of the saints in light
and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son (Col. 1:12-13). The old land is but a type of Christ as
everything to us! By virtue of the new birth we now have
the ground to enjoy all the riches of God in Christ! God
gave us this ground. It is greater than any ground in Israel,
Great Britain, America, or anywhere else! We have obtained an inheritance, not in
Israel, not in America, not in the earth, not even in the heavens alone; but rather IN HIM. This ground is our land and we may enter
in and fully possess all its glories by faith! Isnt it wonderful!
I deeply feel that most of the Lords
people are still living in the old land the shadow and have
discovered but little of the true land, the substance of which is Christ. What
a vast difference there is between the shadow of an object and the object itself! Shadows can be beautiful, as when, for
instance, a day draws toward late afternoon and the mountains cast long shadows, creating
wonderful illusions, but with no substance to them. It
is my conviction after sixty years of ministry that multitudes of Christians are today
contenting themselves with the shadow instead of the substance.
I think we can look upon the shadow and
the substance as picturing two sorts of lives lived by Gods people. There
is a life, if we can indeed call it such, which is just a shadow of the real thing; things
spiritual are not real to the one living in it; the whole thing reeks of the scent of the
earthiness of the old natural land. These folk, though religious,
church-going people, may even sing choruses, clap their hands, speak in tongues and
prophesy, but in most aspects of their daily lives MIND EARTHLY THINGS. They
preach a lot of frothy discourses concerning the abundant life, but the abundant life of
which they speak is not the abundant life ofChrist
Himself, but mere external blessings
of answered prayers, healing, health, jobs, houses, bank accounts, automobiles, clothes,
and a thousand other earthly things which they imagine represent the abundant
life. It is not the abundant life of those
who dwell in heaven but of those who dwell upon the earth. All
through the book of Revelation we are told what befalls those who dwell upon the
earth! The abundant life is experienced in
CHRIST THE SUBSTANCE, not in the shadow. A mans life consisteth not in the
abundance of the things he
possesseth, saith the Lord. If God has favored you with temporal
things, then you may accept them with thanksgiving, but do not deceive yourself by
supposing that these temporal things are a sign of Gods favor or your great faith or
spirituality, for such is not the case. The fleshly Israel of old enjoyed all
these earthly things for which men seek, but they did not have the abundant life Jesus
came to bring!
Only the Holy Spirit can make this real
to us, but one of the most significant utterances ever made by the apostle Paul is found
in his epistle to the Ephesians. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with allSPIRITUAL BLESSINGS IN HEAVENLY PLACES IN CHRIST (Eph. 1:3). The
source of all blessing is God who is Spirit. Every
good and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights (James 1:17). However, the blessings and benefits
which make up our inheritance in Christ are not primarily temporal, physical,
or natural blessings for the outer-earth-man. They are not mere creature comforts. Oh,
no! They
are spiritual blessings bestowed upon the inner-new-creation-man. These
spiritual blessings are received and experienced only in heavenly places in
Christ Jesus. They are in Him and are communicated from the high and holy realm
in which He dwells. These are the blessings of the life
of sonship, and when you have appropriated all the blessings of this new and heavenly land
which is Christ, you
will be a manifest son of God. That
is the
richness of this land!
This glorious land is the realm of incorruption which lies beyond the power of temptation,
sin, limitation, sickness, sorrow, or death. It is filled with blessings which God
has covenanted with all who dwell in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, blessings of
wisdom and knowledge, of joy and peace, of love and faith, of grace and glory, of
righteousness and power, of the mind of Christ and the image of God. The
mark of a son is
when he asks most often for spiritual blessings instead of temporal blessings. One
will know that he is no longer numbered among the lusty throng who dwell upon the
earth when, in all his seeking, he seeks only and always those things which are
above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God.
The words of the inspired apostle Paul
come ringing like a trumpet through the centuries, the truth falling like dew upon the
spiritual ear of each called and chosen member of Gods Christ. The
Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if
children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ (Rom. 8:16-17). Again, And
because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying,
Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant,
but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ (Gal. 4:6-7). An
heirship always implies an inheritance. But
there is a truth deeper and more wonderful than this! As
the ocean includes the seas, the bays, the straits, which, though known by separate names,
are parts of its majestic and all-embracing fullness, so is there a dimension of HIS
INHERITANCE that encompasses ALL that is ours in Christ.
In the law of the Old Testament
priesthood, The Lord spake unto Aaron, Thou shalt have no inheritance in their land,
neither shalt thou have any part among them. I AM THY PART, and THINE INHERITANCE,
among the children of Israel (Num. 18:20). It was a very satisfactory arrangement
for the pious priest. He could not own any land in Israel. But
he could well dispense with the olive yards and vineyards, the cornfields and homesteads
of Canaan, if he might have GOD HIMSELF as the strength of his heart, the source of his
supply, and his portion forever. And the Psalmist eagerly caught at the
thought, gladly surrendering all portion in this life, if only he might be satisfied
with God (Ps. 17:15). The LORD is the portion of MINE
INHERITANCE and my cup (supply): Thou maintainest my lot. Yea,
I have a goodly heritage (Ps. 17:5-6).
Ah, as Gods kings and priests our inheritance is God Himself! That is the true inheritance of every son of God! Not golden harps. Not golden streets. Not walls of jasper or pearly gates. Not a cabin in the corner or a mansion over the hilltop. Not wings and a white nightgown with which to flit about over the Elysium hills of glory. There is something deeper, more inward and rapturous the possession of God. HEIRS OF G-O-D! Not merely heirs of the things of God, but heirs of God Himself. Oh, the mystery of it! Oh, the wonder of it! Heirs of all the communicable glories of the divine nature and power. To know Him, to explore His being, to live on His fullness, to discover new tracts and continents in the terra incognita of Godhead, to see and share His glory, to be transformed into His image, to receive His authority and power, to be filled with His wisdom and knowledge this is the heritage of the sons of God. Blessed be His wonderful name!
Beloved, you and I have been given an inheritance in the Lord Jesus Christ. He has left us a title deed to His very own wisdom, righteousness, nature, glory, and power! Of course, Jesus lived in absolute poverty while on this earth; He owned no land, no vast estate, no great herds of cattle, no store of gold or precious stones, no account in the bank. But He willed to us riches greater than the diamond mines of South Africa, greater than the oil fields of Saudi Arabia, greater than the gross national product of the United States of America. Jesus has provided us an inheritance that makes us far richer than a Rockefeller, Bill Gates, or any Middle Eastern oil Sheik. It is the inheritance of all the riches of His very own life and glory! Once you understand the value of this inheritance you will count everything else in your life and in this world as mere rubbish. You will seek after it with all your mind, strength, and heart, and be a glad and willing heir to His legacy.
Indeed, people,
yea, the Lords people, seem exceedingly slow to recognize the value of our
inheritance in Christ. Just like when the Mount Morgan Gold Mine in Australia was first
opened up, more than a century ago, a poor farmer sold the land, which he had dexterously
tilled for years, to the Morgan Brothers for $3,200, and went insane, sometime after, when
he found that the same land was sold for forty million dollars! All about him was a
treasure beyond his feeble comprehension, and rightly his, if only he had discovered and
mined it, but he entered not into the possession of its value. Just as naturally, just as
easily, and just as tragically only with longer and more serious consequences
most believers today are busy cultivating for God and miss altogether
the unsearchable riches of God, by failing to mine the gold.
The
most important thing we can seek God for in this life is the value of our inheritance in
Christ and its waiting to be claimed! As this vision is birthed in your
heart, you will begin to hear the voice from the four horns of the golden altar saying to
the sixth angelwhich has the trumpet, LOOSE THE FOUR ANGELS WHICH ARE BOUND IN THE
GREAT RIVER EUPHRATES! Ah, yes, there will be a loosing, a release within you to
arise from that place where you now are, to press forward into the land of your
inheritance. Truly this is the sound of the sixth trumpet! It speaks of Gods mighty
work in His elect to bring us into the fullness of Christ as sons of the living God! Here
we are nearing the end of our journey, for in the days of the voice of the seventh
angel,when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God (Christ in you) should be FINISHED,
as He hath declared to His servants the prophets (Rev. 10:7). Arent you glad!
Kelly Varner
shared these challenging and penetrating words: Since the great outpouring of the
Spirit in the late 1940s and early 1950s, Gods people have been hearing
these glorious truths of sonship and inheritance. But what good is it to know these things
if we continue to hesitate to walk in them? We are not the first people to come to the
threshold of the Kingdom. One generation has already died in the wilderness of fear and
unbelief. If you and I do not arise and walk in what our Saviour died for, then we, too,
shall go by way of the grave and wait for our children or our childrens children to
get us out! The creation is groaning for real deliverance, not merely some deeper teaching
or some higher concept. We must bring the invisible into the visible. This Gospel of the
Kingdom must be translated into a lifestyle that all men can read and understand. Someone
must come forth and demonstrate, If you have seen me, you have seen the
Father!
Our
friend, Jackie Caporaso, once expressed this truth thus: We are at the border of the
land. We are hearing the rallying trumpet the sharp word which is calling us to
press on! This is what Jesus has prepared us for. This is why He led us to overcome daily
our personal battles, small or great. Will we find it in our hearts to follow Him all the
way and overcome the intimidations, doubts, weariness, pain, discouragements, and all the
things which would keep us from the goal? Indeed, Canaan represents that place in God
where the sons of God who have valiantly fought their own battles, and now led by Jesus,
are putting all enemies under their feet
sin, sickness, corruption, and death itself
being the last enemy to overcome. May God release within all who read these words
that word, that life, and that ministry,which have been bound at the border of our full
inheritance in Christ, even in the great river Euphrates!
To be continued
J. PRESTON EBY
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