FROM THE CANDLESTICK TO THE THRONE
Part
144
THE DRAGON, THE WOMAN,
AND THE MANCHILD
(continued)
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their
lives unto the death (Rev. 12:11).
What does it
mean that they overcame the great red dragon by the
blood of the Lamb? To Moses God said that
He gave the blood upon the altar to be an atonement for the soul, because THE LIFE OF THE
FLESH IS IN THE BLOOD (Lev. 17:11). That is,
the blood in the body is the life of the body. Ah
the power of any blood is in the worth of the life!
In the blood of Jesus THE POWER OF THE DIVINE LIFE DWELT AND WORKED hence its intrinsic value. He was the Son of God by conception, and the
Son of man by birth. He was a specially
prepared body to contain a specially prepared
blood that was to be the life of all
humanity! The blood was precious from the fact
that it was a unique blood which could do something for all humanity that no other blood
could ever do. It was the Word of God that
became flesh (Jn. 1:14), who was made a man. It
was the life of God that dwelt in Him! Jesus
did not live out of the natural life of human blood as all men have lived. He lived out of the indwelling life of the Father! That life
is His true blood, and that gave His blood,
every drop of it, an infinite value. The blood
of a man is of more worth than that of a sheep. The
blood of a king or a great general is counted of more value than hundreds of common
soldiers. The blood of the Son of God! It is in vain the mind seeks for some expression of
its value! All we can say is, it is His own
blood, the blood of the Word made flesh! The
life is in the blood. As the value of this
life, so the value of the blood. In Christ
there was the life of God; infinite as God is the worth and the power of that blood!
When Adam
transgressed, the life of God which had been breathed
into his nostrils, fled from his soul, and by that separation of soul and spirit all that
was left in mans natural conscious life was a residue, that mortal something which
flowed in the veins of his body. That blood
contains nothing of the life of God, and in its composition is similar to the blood of the
animal kingdom, for when the glorious power of divine life was separated from Adams
soul (consciousness), he entered into the kingdom of death.
Some say that there was no separation between man and God, but there was a separation right within man soul and body separated from
spirit. The soul cleaved to the body, and man
was unable any longer to live and walk after the
spirit. Before this Adams spirit and
soul had existed in blessed union. The record
states that Adam was made a living soul. From the Greek the statement reads, The
first man was made a zoe psuche (living soul). Zoe, throughout
the entire Greek New Testament, is always used in reference to the life of God divine life. Psuche, on the other hand, is used of the
natural life of animals and men. Since both
words are used of Adams life in the beginning, it is clear that he possessed a
physical life imbued, infused, injected, impregnated, and permeated with the glorious
incorruptible life of God! That is what made him not simply zoe, and not merely psuche, but zoe
psuche! It was soul and spirit in union!
This life, zoe, is the life Jesus promised to give to man when
He said, I give unto them eternal life (zoe), and
they shall never perish. This, beloved,
is the life that fled from Adams soul when he transgressed, leaving his outer man
ashamed, fearful, and dead. The life is in the blood, but our blood being
devoid of zoe life, incorruptible and divine life, is in reality dead blood and capable
of sustaining only physical life, and that
only poorly until man returns to the dust from whence he came. It is not without significance that, when the
bodies of men are embalmed, the first act is to remove the corruptible blood so that the
dead body may be better preserved. The fact
that a chemical in the veins can preserve a dead body is proof that the quickening power
of incorruptible zoe restored to union with
the blood of redeemed men will result in life and
immortality! Instead of corruptible and,
therefore, deathless blood, Adams blood corrupted through sin became subject to
death. To fully redeem this dead sinner, life
must again be imparted! The only remedy for
death is life! This
life is in the blood, so blood must be furnished which is sinless and incorruptible. None of Adams race could do this, for
in Adam all die. There was only one, yes, only one, who could
furnish that blood, the virgin-born Son of God, the man from heaven, the last Adam, with a
human body, but sinless, supernatural blood, inseminated by the Holy Ghost! By the power of Gods Spirit the soul and
spirit of this blessed firstborn Son were united as
the first Adams had been, and in the power of that united life He overcame the world!
Jesus came to
bring life to the world! Here is where His
blood differed from the ordinary blood or life of men.
His blood was precious in that it was able to do something for mankind which
mans own blood or human life could not do. The
natural blood or life of mankind was only for a few years at most, but the blood of Christ
was the life of the ages. So there must somehow be a discontinuance of
the blood of a few years, that the blood or the life
of the ages might be injected into mankind.
The thing of
importance about the precious blood of Jesus is not its physical structure, but the
glorious fact that blood bespeaks LIFE. What Jesus poured out was His life, His
holy, pure, undefiled, divine, heavenly, incorruptible life, the zoe, the quickening spirit, the life of GOD! He lived and walked out that glorious life in human
form and then poured it out as an offering to God. And
God took the offering and poured it out, in return, upon mankind! He
spake of the resurrection of Christ,
that His soul was not left in hell, neither His flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are
witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand
of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, HE HATH
SHED FORTH THIS, WHICH YE NOW SEE AND HEAR (Acts 2:31-33).
Ah the
Holy Ghost, the Spirit of God, but in a new
dimension the divine and incorruptible life of God as it had been perfected and
lived out in the life of the Son of God was now shed forth as the Spirit of the Son to be received by all men to
transform and lift them up high into the holiness, wisdom, and power of God. The precious blood of Jesus! There is an old Roman Catholic dogma which says
that Christ carried His blood with Him to heaven in a bowl.
Without even knowing its source, evangelical Christianity clings to that
ludicrous idea from the Dark Ages by perpetuating a form of mysticism around the physical
blood of our Lord. The bowl of blood as
carried by the high priest in the Old Testament is indeed a type from the outward, physical ceremony of the day
of Atonement. But in its spiritual fulfillment
there is no bowl in the universe that could have contained what Jesus carried into the
heavens! When Christ entered heaven (see
Hebrews, chapters 8-10), He carried not physical blood, which of necessity would be
corruptible blood, but His own DIVINE-HUMAN LIFE. He
did not transport a bowl of blood or a bucket of blood; He entered in His resurrection
body, with the full power of that divine life He had poured out on behalf of Adams
doomed race. If He had not poured it out upon
the cross, He would have forever remained the only perfect
man the only manifest Son of God. But, blessed be His wonderful name! He shed His precious blood, He released His divine
life, He poured forth His quickening Spirit that all may drink thereof and live! The power of His dying was in the power of His pouring out His life unto us, giving us His life
that we might live as He lives! Oh, the
mystery of it!
Beloved sons and
daughters of God! The blood of Jesus! Oh, think what it means! God gave it for your redemption from Adams
benighted race and your transformation into the image and glory of God. God accepted it in the true tabernacle, in heaven
itself, in the heaven of Gods Spirit, when the firstborn of the new creation entered
there and presented it on your behalf. God
points you to it and asks you to believe in its omnipotent energy, in its everlasting
sufficiency. Ah, this celestial man was
injected into a whole world full of men descended from the earth-man to impart something
we had lacked from the day Adam was driven from Edens bright portals. That something was life, living blood, for He said He came to give
life to the world. He could impart a life to
the world that would change it completely! When
our spirit is quickened by His Spirit, there is the release of divine life
within us; as that divine life is brought into marriage union with soul and body there is
raised up within us LIFE AND IMMORTALIATY! That
is why the sons of God are now able to overcome the adversary in all of his workings
it is by the power of the life of the Lord within!
That is the blood of the Lamb! And
that is the testimony, His testimony, our
testimony, that the power of HIS LIFE WITHIN avails and prevails! Truly, they overcame him by the blood of the
Lamb, and by the word of their testimony!
THEY LOVED NOT THEIR LIVES UNTO DEATH
and they loved not their lives unto the death (Rev.
12:11).
Hear the blessed
words of Jesus as He shows us the path to life and glory.
If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his
cross, and follow me (Mat. 16:24). Let
him deny himself
We might paraphrase these words, Let him forget himself.
Thats totally unlike a child. It
can never be an action of immaturity! What is
the attitude of a child? Thats mine!. Give
me mine! Mama,
make him give it to me its mine! What is the attitude of the church in America? I want mine
I
want my blessing, my promises, my prosperity, my
miracle, I want
I want
I want
whats mine! Whosoever
will walk the same path that I walk, says the firstborn Son of God, let him forget himself. Let
him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me.
For whoever will save his life shall
lose it. The word there for life is psuche SOUL.
Whosoever will save, cling to, preserve, deliver his soul shall lose it.
Lose
is a strong word It means to utterly destroy. And
whosoever will lose his life (soul) for my sake
shall find it (Mat. 16:25). Whosoever will utterly destroy his own life, his
own soul, his own emotions, his own intellect, his own will, his own desires, his own
ways, his own opinions, for the sake of Gods Christ, shall save, preserve, and
deliver his soul! What a word is that! We are called to lose our soul, our life, yet to
save it in His!
That is because the old human consciousness and natural identity is not who we
are. Every son of God has laid down
his own feelings, wants, and opinions. Its
not about struggling with our soul its about killing it! Jesus
says, If you want to be a loser, heres how.
Just keep your own way of thinking.
Well, heres what I think,
someone says. I dont care! I dont care about what I think, either! Its not about what you think or what I think
its about the mind of Christ. The
great red dragon stalks about in every carnal thought.
Jesus says, If you want to be a son of God, heres how. Forget about your soul and follow me! Forget about your old false human consciousness of
the outer man, take up your cross, and follow
me to the mount of Crucifixion; I will lead you on to resurrection and you will follow me
into the new consciousness and identity of the CHRIST LIFE.
It is the revelation of Jesus Christ that is
being brought forth in this hour, not the ego of man.
Here is life and reality indeed! Here
is the glory of the new creation! Here is the
revelation of the Son of God with power!
REJOICE,
YE HEAVENS!
Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them (Rev.
12:12).
As we have
pointed out previously, heaven is nought but the eternal, invisible, and omnipresent realm of the
spirit in which God and all celestial beings dwell far above the realm of the physical, material,
earthly, and mortal. Not far above
in terms of space or light years, but far above in terms of eminence, quality, rank, and
state of being. Just as gold is far
above copper in beauty and value, and just as a king is far above a
ditch digger in wealth, rank, and power, so are those who dwell in the heavens of Gods Spirit FAR ABOVE those
who dwell in the carnal earth-realm and in the sensual sea-realm. No word written or spoken could hold more truth in
this regard that the words of the apostle Paul wherein he speaks of the exalted position
of the Christ: that ye may know
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, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name
that is named
(Eph. 1:18-21). It
is obvious here that the subject is not how far beyond the galaxies Christ went, but how
highly He is exalted in eminence, rank, position, and power above all other authorities in
heaven and on earth. Then Paul says, And He raised
us up together with Him and made us sit down
together with Him in the heavenly sphere. Therefore
we can say to every Spirit-led son of God, Rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in
them!
Dear ones, how
can we live in the heavens? Just by being in Christ! Christ
has ascended. Christ is now the highest heaven
in this universe! Most of those who read these
lines understand what it means to experience the ascended Christ, to daily live out our
lives in the victory and triumph of the Son of God who dwells in our spirit, and in whom
we dwell in blessed union, far above the
sorrows, strife, sin, problems, perplexities, limitations, struggles, fears,
disappointments, and death of the carnal realm. THIS
is sonship! In spirit I hear the wonderful
words falling upon the ears of the prophet of Patmos, Rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them!
Those
who dwell in heaven, who walk in the spirit, who think with the mind of Christ, who live
out of divine nature, are unaffected by all the woe and wrath
experienced by those who dwell in the earth-realm where the dragon lives. Those who truly walk after the spirit are not
depressed, perplexed, troubled, worried, or victimized by any kind of earthly
situation. When our affections are set upon things above, where Christ sits at the right hand
of God, and where we sit in Him and with Him, we are resurrected and ascended, for the
Christ with whom we are joined in spirit is the Christ who has ascended into the heavens! When you stand in union with Him you are high above
the mountains, not in the valleys. You are in
the heavenly places, far above the earthlies. The
things of earth grow strangely dim to those whose life is hid with Christ in God. For those who dwell in heaven everything is in the spirit. We
walk in the spirit, live in the spirit, pray
in the spirit, worship in the spirit, speak by the spirit, and do all things in and by the
spirit. This is sonship!
God is weary of
a lot of believers getting together in His name doing all those things that are not of His
Spirit. Fellowship and oneness in and by the spirit is the only gathering God is
interested in! God is the true builder, and we
are the material. God is not interested in the
outward edifice of a house of worship nor in all the carnal, outward
activities men perform in those places. God is
concerned with the inner house, or the spirit of
man. God is establishing us for His purpose
that He may reveal His nature and power in the inner sanctuary of our lives.
In one of His kingdom teachings the Lord Jesus spoke
of a day at the end of the age when He would send forth His angels, His messengers, and they shall gather together His elect from
the four winds, from one end of heaven to
another (Mat. 24:31). Notice that
the elect are not gathered from one end of the earth to the other, but from
one end of heaven to the other! Then
our Lords use of the word gather is significant. The word, literally, is a verb meaning to synagogue;
the inference is that the Lord sends out His messengers, the word of the kingdom
through His anointed ones, to gather together those who dwell in the heavens of Gods
Spirit, to gather His elect people into His New
Synagogue to consciously dwell in the highest heavenly realm in Christ. Jesus is actually quoting from Moses, who had
prophesied, If your outcasts are at the ends
of heaven, from there the Lord will synagogue you, and from there He will take you
(Deut. 30:4, Septuagint).
Soon after John
the Baptist was thrown into prison, Jesus left the country near Jerusalem with His
disciples, and went toward Galilee, the province in the north. Between Judea in the south and Galilee in the north
lay the land of Samaria. The Samaritans were
remnants of the ten-tribed house of Israel who remained in the land when most of the
people were carried off to Assyria. The
Assyrians, after conquering Israel, populated the area of Samaria with some of their
people and the Samaritans of Jesus day were of mixed blood, Israelite and Assyrian. Their religion was also mixed, They feared
Yahweh, we read, and served their own gods. The Samaritans hated the Jews, and in turn were
themselves despised by the Jews, and they scarcely ever spoke to each other. They worshipped the Lord much as the Jews
worshipped Him, but they had their own temple and their own priests. And they had their own scriptures, which was only
the five books of Moses, for they would not
read the other books of the Old Testament.
It was a long
and tiring journey from Judea back to Galilee, and as Jesus walked along the broad, hot
valley floor of the ascent of Lebonah, He would have seen the low-lying hills to the east
and the gradually rising heights to the west. He
would then come to Sychar, near the ruins of the ancient Shechem. And here, being much wearied from their journey,
Jesus and His disciples paused to rest at the well of Sychar. This well had been dug by Jacob, the great father
of the Israelites, many hundreds of years before. It
was an old well then in the days of Jesus. It was early in the morning, about sunrise, when
Jesus was sitting by Jacobs well. He was
very tired, He was hungry, and His disciples had gone to the nearby village to buy food. He was thirsty, too; and as He looked into the
well, He could see the water, a hundred feet below, but He had no rope with which to let
down a jar to draw up some water to drink.
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 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, who am a Samaritan
woman? Jesus answered her, If you
knew what Gods 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 demeanor
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 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 back 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 Jerusalem is the place where men
should go to worship. Now, which of these is
the right place? Her concern, and the
major issue of the moment for her, had to do with the specific proper location for
worship. In this respect, this woman differed
little from the multitudes in this hour who ask, Where should we worship? What church should we attend? What ministry should we submit to? What covering should we be under? The Lord did not dodge her question! Jesus said to her, Woman, believe ME, the
hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the
Father. But the hour cometh, and now is, when
the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such
to worship Him. God is a spirit: and they that
worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. The time would come, said the Lord, when both
this mountain and Jerusalem, as well as any other geographical
locality, or appointed structure, would be completely irrelevant as a condition to worship!
A newspaper
article some years ago 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 Jerusalem
is essential to serving God, many of whose 613 biblical commandments can be fulfilled only here.
At the same time, the interview with the Palestinian pointed out, So
sacred is Jerusalem, Muslims believe, that a good deed committed here has one thousand times the normal weight, while a sin
committed here has one thousand times the
normal gravity. Opinions and sentiments
concerning Jerusalem still run deep and are strongly felt by the carnal-minded after two
thousand years! Even many Christians, even
Spirit-filled Christians, spend much money
flying to Jerusalem to keep the feast of Tabernacles at the appointed time of the Old
Testament law! The modern day city of Jerusalem
still is the object of a struggle for power involving pride, envy, oppression, and
tyranny.
The Samaritans
for generations had worshipped God in their holy mount Gerizim, and the Jews had for
generations worshipped in their temple in Jerusalem. Each
scorned the others place of worship and
Jesus is here speaking to the woman of Samaria and telling her that PLACES ARE OF NO
CONSEQUENCE! God is a spirit and
mountain worship will not be acceptable! Neither
will temple worship in Jerusalem be acceptable to the Lord!
If man is to worship God, then man must worship God as He is and
where He is
OMNIPRESENT SPIRIT! Man must
not worship God as he thinks He is or where man thinks He may be. Carnality and the natural mind attempt to bring God
into a realm that will enable them to see God according to their belief. Therefore some worship idols or images of metal,
wood, or stone. Others worship the sun or the
elements. Some must go to a building, which
they call the house of God, to worship God and others must have all manner of
rites, ceremonies, vestments, and objects in order to worship Him. Some must have a Jesus in a body of flesh, before
they can worship God. But Jesus said that God
is seeking a people who will worship Him in
the realm and sphere in which He exists in
spirit and in truth! Worshipping a
location is not spiritual worship. Oh,
you say, I do not worship the location, I just go there to worship God. Precious friend of mine, if you must go there in order to worship God, YOU ARE WORSHIPPING THE PLACE! Worship has nothing to do with going
anywhere! That is what Jesus was teaching that
day at Jacobs well. When we worship the
Father in spirit and in truth, it separates us from all the helps and crutches. Such a worship takes away all the traditions of
men, all the ceremonies and all the rituals and all the orders and forms of worship
that every religious body of people are cumbered with.
We wont go
to a mountain, neither will we find it necessary to go to a temple. We will not
have to work anything up or pray anything down. Certainly
the Lord draws His people together for seasons of fellowship, praise, instruction, and
edification. We do not oppose such gatherings,
as the Lord ordains. But true worship will not
take place just on Sunday morning between the hours of eleven and twelve, and perhaps a
night or two each week. True worship is a
CONSTANT, CONTINUAL STATE OF BEING! God is
spirit, and who can know spirit except God takes us unto Himself in the realm in which He
abides. God Spirit and Truth
fills all space, is everywhere present, eternal and unchanging. When we live and walk in the spirit we are always
dwelling at home in Him! We are always able to
know and experience Him in the heaven of His
presence, the true home and heaven of the consciousness of the life, reality,
substance, and power of God within.
This is one of
the great truths that God has revealed to His sons in this day of the Lord, which the vast
majority of believers have not grasped to this day. The
place of worship has absolutely no bearing
whatever 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 are admonished and required to gather themselves together in that place so that they may worship God. Anyone who claims to be able to worship God equally
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 religious systems of man are built upon having
a place for people to come to so that the works and promotions 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 led
by the Spirit and is UNTO HIM, and the place and order become inconsequential. It is when the physical place becomes important, or
mandatory; it is when preachers and organizations lay a law upon you, demanding your
attendance, your submission, and your allegiance to them and their program, asserting that
you cannot make it to heaven, or into the kingdom, or to manifest sonship, or into life
and immortality apart from their teaching, their
order, their ministry, their program, their elders, their prophets, their apostles it
is there that worship in spirit and in truth is usurped by worship in this mountain
or in Jerusalem. Religion always
dictates to us these three things: 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 the place, time, and techniques
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 is a new worship, which Christ Jesus, the heavenly
spiritual man, initiated two millenniums ago; and then put down and abolished the worship
at the mountain, and the worship at Jerusalem, when He ushered in 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. He who is a Jew inwardly worships in his temple, his body being the
temple of the Holy Ghost. Those who are Jews outwardly, in the old covenant, 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, in the new and
living way, sings and prays and rejoices and ministers in the Holy Ghost, their bodies
being temples of the Holy Ghost. And yet not
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 son of God is putting on within himself as Christ is raised up 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 off 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. God does not honor
them as His abode. 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 the saints that is truly unto Him: but in point of fact it is
not in any building made with hands that God 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 Lords 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! Therefore
rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them!
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 of the earth, and to attach some special
sacredness to that place or thing, until the places and things become more important than
God Himself. Of a truth I tell you that such
are earth-dwellers, minding earthly
things. 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 have
known people who, because they received the Holy Spirit while sitting in a particular
chair, then sit other folk in that same chair so they, too, can be filled with the Spirit,
as though there were something magical with God about that chair! I remember seeing people, during the great healing
campaigns of the late 1940s and early 1950s, long after the lights were out,
the tent folded, 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. But He wasnt there in
manifestation! God has no concern for places
He is seeking a people!
Whatever your
expression or ministry, it should be able to function at any time and in any place, just
as well as it does at church. God
does not move systematically after opening prayer, three choruses, and a few minutes of
singing in the spirit. The
firstborn Son of God NEVER ONCE MINISTERED IN THAT WAY! He
ministered in the fields, on the mountainsides, in the streets, in the
homes, by the seaside, or in the temple. HE
HIMSELF was the temple of God at all times and in every place! His meetings never started at ten and dismissed at
twelve. Oh, no!
God manifested out of the temple of His Son at all times and in every place. This will be
the mark of the manifest sons of God! Their
ministry will be the sovereign, spontaneous, continuous, unrestrained, unplanned,
unrehearsed, unprogrammed, omnipotent outflow of Life and Light and Love! It will change lives, transform churches,
revolutionize cities, and conquer nations. It
will redeem society, demolish every false religion and system of man, and sweep the
nations and all things into the kingdom of God. IT
IS THE MINISTRY OF SPIRIT AND TRUTH.
Even
now we must learn to live and walk in the spirit if we treasure the beautiful hope of
sonship to God! Our Father is teaching us that
we must no longer seek out a place where we can move in the spirit because we
are the temple of God and our whole life IS WORSHIP! While
I am not at all opposed to gatherings, preachings, ministerings, etc., the fact remains
that the way it is being done today, even among kingdom people, is still after the old order of the feast of
Pentecost. Seems to me the new order has not
fully come in but certainly the Father is drawing us to walk only in and by the
Spirit and not after the old order of a dying age. For
me, the answer does not lie in continuing to do the old, nor yet is it in refusing to meet
or minister in a visible and corporate way at all it is just being led by the
Spirit each and every day, doing only what we see our Father doing.
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 more, as ye see the day approaching (Heb.
10:25). Be not alarmed nor 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 one use his liberty
as an excuse to simply do his own thing, becoming self-righteous and puffed-up
in his freedom, independent and exalted in his own superior sense of spirituality,
cutting himself 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, feeling
compelled to observe the letter of the law, attending every time the group assembles,
complying with all their requirements, to prove himself faithful, regardless
of the leading of the Spirit or the quality of the meetings.
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 his supposed freedom. Even
though Jesus was Himself the temple of God on earth, He still went at times into the
synagogues and into the temple of Herod as He was led by the Spirit. He was not under law neither bound to such orders, nor bound from them. Now
that is true freedom! Freedom to be led by the Spirit!
But there is a
truth in this passage beyond all this. The
Greek word for assembling is episunagoge. The word, literally, is a verb meaning to synagogue. 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 words together, epi-sunagoge signifies
THE ABOVE SYNAGOGUE, THE HIGHER MEETING, THE HIGHEST ASSEMBLY, THE HIGHER-THAN-ALL
GATHERING! It bespeaks something far greater
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 highest places of the Spirit, in the very 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 the 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 a warm 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 depart from, or neglect that wonderful seating we have together WITH CHRIST IN THE HEAVENLIES! That is precisely what the passage is saying. How can we be assured of this? By taking the passage in its context! The subject of the verses leading up to this
passage are concerned with our entering in to the MOST
HOLY PLACE.
Hear it! Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new
and living way, which He hath consecrated for us,
through the veil
and having an high priest over the house of God; let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of
faith (Heb. 10:19-22). Hebrews 10:25
is nothing but lifeless words, until one sits in the presence of the Father in the Holiest
of all, joined in worship with kindred spirits, whether they be near or far, 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., never have discovered
the glorious and eternal reality of that ABOVE SYNAGOGUE!
They neither meet nor minister nor 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 and heavenly 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 traveler, the mother, the ditch-digger, 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 passed through all the heavens and ever lives as the
minister of the heavenly sanctuary. He is
a minister of the true tabernacle. It
is the above tabernacle! And such are we!
He hath 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 or our assembly together with Him in the heavenlies 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! Oh, the
wonder of it!
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 fills his
soul with its songs. He apprehends its truths,
enjoys it 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 Fathers good pleasure to give him the kingdom! His life is not measured by years, but by its
possibilities and expansiveness. He has
already been translated into this heavenly kingdom! This
is what we are not to forsake, depart from, or neglect, my beloved; we are not to forsake
this UPPER-SYNAGOGUING of ourselves together
the communion and fellowship and expression together in this highest of all realms
IN CHRIST AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD! If
ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of
God (Col. 3:1). Though we should
meet and sing a thousand songs and preach a thousand sermons out of the Good Book
if we fail to touch that high realm of life and reality in the spirit we have not upper-synagogued
at all, having merely assembled and done some religious things on the low plane of soulish
activity in the earth-realm! Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell therein!
I feel to close
this portion on the heaven-dwellers with a sweet word from brother Carl
Schwing. He that dwells in the
secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Such awesome words, such a marvelous promise, such
a blessed assurance. The secret place is the
assembly place of the most High and His vast family of sons.
It is large enough to contain the vastness of the universe; yet, it is small
enough that a world-weary son can enter, close the door, and be alone with the Father. Not many during earths time have been taken
beyond the closet of the secret place. However,
there has always been the few that were chosen to remember their place by Him
finding
their all within the secret place of their Beloved. My
brother-sister-sons: The secret place of the most High is never far away. When we are lifted up, it is there. When we are cast down, it is there. As we walk through the trials and tribulations of
the world, it is there. When suffering is
placed upon us, it is there. In the beauty of
our aloneness, it is there. In the valley of
the shadow of death, it is there. It is always
there for us
it is everywhere for us
because we have made the Lord, even the
most High, our habitation.
THE
DRAGONS SHORT TIME
Woe to the
inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil has come down unto you, having great
wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short
time (Rev. 12:12).
Let us
prayerfully consider what is meant by the statement,
he
knoweth that he hath but a short time. Unfortunately,
tradition says he knows that he has but a short time because Jesus is coming back and the
millennium is about to begin. Hogwash! Thats not at all what the Holy Spirit is
indicating. The adversary knows that you have
identified with the truth as it is in Christ, you now know who you are, what your true identity is, and
the word and spirit of Christ have been raised up into the throne of your life. He knows that you have laid hold upon the power of
the ascended Lord who reigns over all things and now nothing
shall be impossible unto you! He knows
that you have no desire any longer to dwell in the dust realm of the soul, or in the sea
realm of the passions and motions of the flesh where he dwells. He knows that his time is short because you will no
longer tolerate his lies and deceptions in any department of your being, in any vestibule
of your house, or in any street of your city the city of God which you are! Thats what he knows and he knows that
his ability to operate in any way or do anything in your spirit, soul, or body is now
drawing to a close!
Considering
all the glorious, divine, and august things written in all the preceding verses about the
victory of the sons of God over the dragon nothing can be more certain than the
fact that Satans perception that his time is short has nothing whatever to do with a
second coming, the millennium, or the end of the world,
for none of those things are even alluded to in chapter twelve. Its all about the
manifestation of the sons of God! It
is indeed wonderful!
To be continued
J. PRESTON EBY