THE BEAST OUT OF THE
EARTH
(continued)
And he
causeth all
to receive a mark in their right
hand, or in their foreheads
Here is wisdom. Let
him that hath understanding count the number of the
beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred three score and
six (Rev. 13:18).
The first key to
unlocking the mark of the beast is this beautiful expression: Here is wisdom. If
its wisdom were talking about, then its not philosophy, its not
intellect, its not seminary training, its not mathematics. Notice that our text does not say, Here is a
riddle; let him that is bright solve it, but plainly states, Here is wisdom. Clearly, we must have something different!
The second key
to unlocking this great mystery is this admonition: Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast. The person who has understanding does something
he COUNTS! The mystery yields only to
the understanding, that is spiritual understanding, for
Paul prays that our understanding be enlightened by
the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, and thus the enlightened understanding equals divine
revelation! HERE IS WISDOM: Let him
that hath
revelation count (calculate) the number of the beast. It should be evident to all who read these lines
that this, too, is wisdom: Let not him who has no
revelation attempt to count (decipher the meaning of) the number of
the beast! It is clear, the mystery has a
spiritual meaning. If we have spiritual
understanding we will be able to count or calculate the meaning of the number of the
beast. Let us trust the Holy Spirit to make it
real to our hearts!
Here is wisdom
Count the number of the beast. Why
would that be wisdom? The
word number means a fixed or definite amount.
It is also a limited amount, not more and not less than what is given. What is the significance of that? God has not placed upon His people a number! The
scriptures reveal that God has placed a token, a sign, a seal, a mark, and a name upon His
elect people but never a number! A
mark, yes, but not a number. A name, yes, but
not a number. To him that overcometh
will I give a white
stone, and in the stone a new name written,
which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it (Rev. 2:17). Him
that overcometh
I will write upon him the name
of my God, and the name of the city of my God
and
I will write upon him my new name (Rev.
3:12). And
I looked, and lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Zion, and with Him an hundred forty and four
thousand, having His Fathers name written
in their foreheads (Rev. 14:1). But
the beast has a number, and we are admonished to count
the number of the beast! And what is his number? We all know that the number is six hundred sixty
six 666!
No one who reads
the book of Revelation with a spiritual mind can have failed to notice that the word
name is far more than an appellative. It
expresses the inner nature and state of being of the person to whom it is
applied. Thus, the beast
represents something wild and ravenous in nature, the whore denotes something
unfaithful and impure, and the Lamb is one who is meek, pure, and
self-sacrificing. The name of the
Father expresses the character of Fatherhood, the name of the Son reveals the
character of sonship, the name of the city of God which comes down from God
out of heaven bespeaks the implantation of the divine nature and character into the life
of the man or woman who is born from above.
Let me say
again, as I have said so often in this series, one can never understand correctly the book
of Revelation so long as his eyes are fastened on events
in the outer world. The
understanding of the beast and
his image and his mark comes only by the inner illumination that
the Spirit brings. That is, they are revealed
by the flooding light radiating forth from the indwelling Christ! In that true light of God all that is not born of
God appears as it truly is, that it may be duly
brought to judgment, dealt with and eradicated from our lives. The fiercest beast I have encountered in my years
upon this earth is the beast of old Adams nature, the carnal mind, the human
consciousness, the seed of the serpent slithering about within my very own bosom. Yes, there is a beastly system which arises right out of this
earthiness, yet the heart of our natural life is still
deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? How I praise God with joy unspeakable and full of
glory for the penetrating light of Gods Christ which uncovers the subtleness and
deceitfulness of this wild beast, the bestial nature lumbering about in, and rising up out
of, OUR EARTH!
Thousands of Gods
elect who read these lines today have been illuminated by the Holy Spirit to see the
carnal church system of man for what it is the beast out of the earth having two
horns like a lamb, but speaking as a dragon. They
see it also as the harlot, Mystery Babylon the Great.
In truth it is an unholy trinity a wild beast, an unclean harlot, and
a corrupt city. Truly we have come to loathe
the carnality, shame, self-righteousness, spiritual fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,
deception, and tyranny of this corrupt system! Was
it not the light of the mind of Christ arising
within our lives that caused us to see it as it is? And oh, what struggles and dealings and
strippings we passed through as God purged our hearts from the love of Babylon and our
lives from its fleshly ways!
Now let us return to the number, 666. A lot of weird and varied explanations have been
given for the number 666. It is because the
numbers of the Greek alphabet have each a numerical value, that endless attempts have been
made to find some mans name the total value of whose letters make up 666, under the
erroneous idea that the beast is a man, and 666 the numerical value of that
mans name. Scarcely has anyone noticed
that the apostle John does not say, interpret the
number of the beast, as he surely would have done had it concealed a mans
name, but count the number of the beast,
thus signifying that it is in the correct understanding of the nature of the number itself that wisdom will be
displayed! One brother has pointed out that
the least probable of all interpretations are the attempts of many interpreters to find in
the cipher 666 the name of one or another of the conspicuous characters of modern history. All such are merely guesses and speculations, and
somewhat wild ones at that!
The truth is, we
can never fully comprehend the reality to which the spirit of inspiration points until we
compare this mark, this number in the forehead, with the very next verse Revelation
14:1. Remember, in the original there are no
chapter or verse divisions. It is a continuous
flow, and no sooner does John finish with this mark, this number in the forehead of those
who worship the beast and his image, than he says, And
I looked, and lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Zion, and with Him an hundred and forty-four
thousand, having His fathers name written
in their foreheads. The contrast
is between 666 and 144,000. That is the
mystery! Yet, the number 144,000 is not written in their foreheads, only the Fathers
name is written in the forehead! Six is the number of the natural man, and we will
speak more of this later. 144,000 is the
number of divine government. In reality, twelve is the number of divine government, and
twelve squared by itself and multiplied by one thousand is divine
government brought to its absolute fullest, totality, and perfection!
As I have
mentioned, six is the number of the natural man. The
natural man is a beastly man, his power is the power of the flesh, his intelligence is
that of the dust realm, his thinking is earthly, his nature is beastly, his ability and
authority are limited, and all this describes not only the natural man but also the
character of that religious system which rises
up out of the soulical nature of this man. Six
is the number of toil, works, self-effort, sweat, and fatigue. In that long-ago covenant of God with His earthly
people He commanded them, Six days shalt
thou labor and do all thy work. Even
earlier the Lord had told the sinful Adam, Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in
sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it
bring forth to thee
in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return
to the ground (Gen. 3:17-19). The full
week is not expressed in the six, but in the number seven.
The seventh day is the day of mans rest, when he rests as God rested,
when he enters into Gods rest and rests
with Him, thus experiencing ultimate unity, union, and oneness with God in the fullness of
HIS LIFE. The seventh day was hallowed, made
sacred. In it man realizes his divinity, his
divine nature, the new creation man Christ. But
the seven is lacking in the six! Therefore six
speaks of the fullness of man, man in all his powers, but without God,
apart from God! Have you
ever wondered who it was that taught the world that every grave should be dug six feet deep? A common expression for stating that a man
is dead is to say that he is six feet under.
It is impossible to over-emphasize the importance of this fundamental truth:
The natural man is a dead man dead to
God, dead to truth, dead to reality, dead to spiritual and heavenly life. In Adam he has descended into the classification of
the lower creatures the beasts. And
natural men, educated natural men, natural men with high degrees from prestigious
universities behind their names anthropologists, biologists, and scientists of
various disciplines are often only able to see the animalistic life of the natural
man, and therefore espouse the unenlightened theory of evolution! From the day of Adams fall until now his
thoughts, his works, his inventions have only been beastly.
Six
being the number of the natural man, and also the number denoting the toil, work, effort,
sweat, and fatigue of that man, can we not see that 666 is the more than one-hundredfold
accumulation of the number six, representing nothing other than the never-ending, never
rest-attaining labor and toil of mans own working, those self-consuming,
self-destroying but non-attaining WORKS OF SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS which are the hallmark of
all of mans religion! The number 666 is
therefore the symbolical number of all the false churches, all the self-driving, all the
flesh-oriented programs, running, working, organizing, doing, doing, doing, but never
coming under the leadership of the Spirit or the divine government of the mind of Christ!
We are marking
out the character of wisdom, because wisdom is what directs one to spiritual
understanding, which in turn gives the ability to calculate, discern, understand count the number of the beast! To count the number means to know the quality or
nature of that which the number stands for. The man who is unable to count, discover, or
understand the nature of the beast as revealed
by his number is not a wise man! He is devoid of understanding, and is, therefore, a
foolish man. Wisdom sees all things as they
really are! There are no illusions and no delusions
with wisdom!
As I stated
previously, for many decades and centuries Gods people have been speculating about
this strange phenomenon John describes as the mark of the beast. Yet there is a depth in this that goes far beyond
what many of us have imagined! Revelation
13:17 lists three alternatives, two in addition to what most Christians have heard of. Let us see!
that no man might buy or sell, save he that
had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number
of his name. Notice the three
alternatives. (1) the mark of the beast
(2) the name of the beast (3) the number
of his name. It is indeed remarkable that
the Holy Spirit speaks of the number of the name of the beast; that is, the
number representing and standing for the name. Why
not be content with the name itself? John
might have been satisfied with the knowledge that the name of the beast,
whatever it be, must be a name which expresses the inner nature of the beast; and he may
have said no more. But the Holy Spirit
revealed a further detail not the name alone, but the number of the name a most profound depth of
insight into the nature of the beast!
No
man could know the name written upon the white stone given to him that
overcometh save he that receiveth it. In
other words, no one but an overcomer can have that experience which enables him to truly
comprehend the new name the nature of God wrought within. The world can never understand the man who has
received the call to sonship. Much less the new nature itself! What strange mysterious element is there in the
nature of the new creation man that keeps him pressing relentlessly onward toward an
invisible goal when friend and foe alike tell him that he is a fool to continue pursuing a
vision which brings him nothing but misunderstanding, separation, persecution,
tribulation, loneliness, and friendlessness? The
inner command to completely and forever forsake the corrupted courts of Mystery Babylon to
put on the mind of Christ, to be conformed to the image of the Son, and to know the wonder
and glory of sonship to God, makes him endure the cross, despise the shame, incur the
scorn of fellow Christians and the wrath of the church systems, scoff at tribulation, and
count every loss to himself as a gain for Christ. Ah,
such a walk can never be understood by any save he that receiveth it! Oh, yes! The
glory of sonship to God is worthy to be written on pages of gold with the ink of silver,
but none of earths vaunting philosophers and theologians can ever comprehend such
truth and character and divine purpose as lies within the Christ-nature!
In
contrast to this, those who are partakers of the nature of the beast do not know the name stamped upon them,
do not discern the character they bear, and have no idea of the carnality and
deceitfulness of the nature and system in which they walk, for they are deceived. And
he doeth great wonders
and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth
So many people today are worrying about what
the mark of the beast is going to be. They
themselves have taken that mark! The very fact
of their not knowing what that mark is proves they have taken it, for only deceived people receive it! History reveals how that during the inquisitions
and persecutions by the Roman Church in past centuries, many believers who would recant to
escape torture or death were branded on either the hand or forehead, or both, with a
cross, even as cattle are branded to denote ownership.
But that visible mark, which allowed those who took it to live and carry on
ordinary business pursuits, was merely an outward mark to denote that they now subscribed
to and upheld the doctrines of Rome and the deceptions of the wild, ravenous beast. Bearing a more subtle form of the mark, the whole
realm of organized Christianity today subscribes to those same kinds of doctrines,
traditions, rituals, and deceptions in varying degrees.
Those who walk
in carnal minds and dead-letter-of-the-word understanding of the things of God can never
understand what the mark is! Those imbued with
the spirit and nature of the bestial religious system of man bear the mark of the beast
but are completely devoid of understanding of what it is!
But HERE IS WISDOM: Let him that hath understanding COUNT the number of the
beast! Such understanding comes alone by
revelation! There are two marks the
mark of the Fathers name and the mark of the beast and it takes a revelation
to know either! As it takes revelation from on
high to know the new name of the Christ, so it takes revelation from God to count the
number of the name of the beast!
One of the
earliest occurrences of the symbolic use of this mysterious number 666 is in
the primitive case of the giant who defied the armies of the Lord in the days of David
Goliath of Gath. This man symbolized
the bestial system of the world. Goliath was six cubits (and a span) tall (more than nine
feet). His spearhead weighed 600 shekels of
iron. Who is this uncircumcised
Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God? asked David (I Sam.
17:26). Davids glorious victory over
Goliath beautifully typifies the victory of Christ and His body over the bestial system. The persistence of the number six in the family as well as the stature and
equipment of Goliath is one of the keys to the understanding of the number of
the beast. Goliath had a brother of great
stature who significantly had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot! (II Sam. 21:20-22).
Such information is by no means coincidental, but the events were planned
and orchestrated by the Spirit of God and are written for our instruction, learning, and
admonition upon whom are come the ends of the ages!
The full
significance of the number 666 however, is disclosed in the book of Daniel in the account
of King Nebuchadnezzars great image set up in the plain of Dura, of dimensions sixty by six
cubits. Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold whose height was three-score cubits and the breadth thereof six cubits (Dan. 3:1) Goliath grows in dimensions and in importance the
nearer we get to New Testament times. The
image on the plain of Dura is ten times the
dimensions of Goliath, and the number of the beast in Revelation, chapter thirteen, is ten
times that of the image of Nebuchadnezzar! The
connection in history and prophecy is clear
and certain.
Prior to the
erection of this golden image King Nebuchadnezzar dreamed of a great image and was told by
Daniel that the dream was a revelation from God of the course of human history from that
time all the way down to the day when the kingdom of God should be established in the
earth. The image Nebuchadnezzar saw in his
dream had a head of gold, and according to Daniels interpretation that head of gold
was the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar himself! Thou art this head of gold (Dan. 2:38). The dream-image traced the rise and fall of the
four great empires of Babylon, Media-Persia, Greece, and Rome, which dominated the
civilized world, in succession, right down to the day when Christ came into the world and
forever changed the course of history, establishing a kingdom among men which is eternal
and heavenly and which therefore could not pass away, but must grow, develop, increase,
and ultimately conquer and destroy all worldly power in the course of its redemptive,
reconstructive, and transformative purpose.
History reveals
the accuracy of Nebuchadnezzars dream and Daniels interpretation. The image of world
empire with all its power and pride was brought down to nothing by the power of the WORD
OF GOD! All this was clearly made known to Nebuchadnezzar,
but rather than bowing before the majesty of the God of heaven who gave even him his
authority and kingdom, his importance as the head of gold went to his head and
he was blinded by his own importance and glory. Deceived
by the falseness of his own heart he sought to grasp after the worldly glory that was his,
and filled with delusions of grandeur he began construction of an immense image of gold
which he set up in the plain of Dura. Its
precise measurements sixty by six cubits showed the impressive dimensions of his pride, as he
modeled the image after the one in his dream, but instead of making the head alone of
gold, he made the whole image of gold, usurping all the power and pride of all kingdoms
UNTO HIMSELF! He forgot the prophets
warning Thou art this head of gold
the God of heaven
HATH GIVEN THEE a kingdom, power, strength, and glory
and lifted up
his heart in self-pride, usurping the glory of God, taking that which was given by God and
using it to his own ends and for the glorification of HIMSELF, requiring that all mankind
should worship HIS IMAGE whenever they heard the music of his pretentious orchestra. The worship of the image meant in fact the worship
of himself, who designed and built the image.
It is a horrible
blasphemy against God to exalt the flesh and the world of man, in the place of God, and to
take the high and holy things of God and use them for the promotion of SELF. And do not think for one moment, precious friend of
mine, that the error of Nebuchadnezzar has not been repeated again and again throughout
church history, and especially in this our day! Hear
now these sobering and anointed words which some years ago came across my desk and are
just as true today (if not more) as they were then:
There is a
great and damning fault among Christians which seems to be past explanation. It is a fault that has developed and grown more
grotesque as the years have come and gone. Men
and women have come to desire and covet spiritual things, not for the glory of God and the
honor of His eternal purpose, but that they themselves might become great men in the
earth. Many a man has spent long periods in
fasting that he might attain a great spiritual gift, yet all the time he is supposedly
seeking the gift, his talk shows that his mind is full of hope that he will become a great
and powerful minister to whom people will look with awe and pride. This is wrong seeking and a very great evil. Many a man has sought after the gift of healing
not because he was burdened for the sick, but because the gift would bring him honor among the people. He expected that it would bring him crowds and fame
and money. Oh, let men search their hearts
before they ask God lest they ask amiss to consume it upon their own lusts (James 4:3).
Man is not
satisfied by possessing earthly things. He
secretly wants to possess the things of God as well and that for himself apart from God. Why did Nadab and Abihu wickedly offer strange fire
before the Lord? Did they not want to possess
for themselves what only God possessed? Why
did Simon, the sorcerer, offer money for the
gift that Peter had? He cared nothing for God,
but in the gall of his bitterness and the bond of his rebellion he wanted to possess for
himself something that belonged only to God
and must not be had apart from Him. Do you not
think that this strange desire exists today? Do
men desire the gifts of God to bring all glory to God, or do they covet them as a means of
self-promotion and self-exaltation? How is it
that so many men who seem to have gifts from God soon become the center of a little
universe of their own where all roads lead to them and all fingers point in their
direction? Let us face it. Men not only want to gather temporal things about themselves, but they also crave to
have eternal things for themselves and to possess them in themselves and for the benefit
and glory of themselves. The carnal mind is an
eternal enemy of God! It is a beastly mind! It refuses to become subject to the law of God, and
indeed it is powerless to do so. But it
secretly desires the things of God, wisdom, righteousness, and power, so that it may be AS
GOD.
The whole
church system itself is not one whit different. At
the present time the existing church system appears to be making significant gains all
over the world. Probably more people go to
church than ever before in history, but, while numbers increase and costly buildings are
erected in ever increasing and lavish profusion, while world-wide efforts costing billions
are the thing of the day, the people for the most part have lost their sense of the
majesty of God. Gaudily clad worldlings talk
glibly about being born again; they speak with
tongues, honor the pope, and even join their voices with those who hail Mary as the mother
of God. Full well do they fulfill the words of
Jesus spoken to the church of Laodicea, Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with
goods, and have need of nothing: and knowest not that
thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked (Rev. 3:17). Gods counsel to all who are joy-riding with
the system is: Buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white
raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear;
and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see (Rev. 3:18). The gains of the church system have practically all
been external gains and the fearful loss has been internal.
The beauty of the life in the Spirit has been exchanged for the luxury of
fine temples with comfortable pews. The songs
which once swelled from hearts filled with Gods Spirit and holiness are now on the
hit parade, being popularized by unsanctified professionals from Hollywood or Las Vegas. It is an enormous, degenerating calamity! It is an abomination that maketh desolate! The Page.
To Nebuchadnezzar,
king of Babylon, Daniel said, Thou art this head of gold. But Nebuchadnezzar took the glory conferred by God
and used it to deify himself! He built his own image and commanded men to worship it. His
image was all of gold, the gold of the great city of Babylon. All its wealth was the wealth of the world, mined
and fashioned by the hands of men. And was
this not what the devil offered Jesus when he showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, saying,
All these things will I give Thee, if Thou
wilt fall down and worship me (Mat.
4:8-9). Ah the same voice heard
centuries before on the plain of Dura! And it
is heard still. It is reckoned with today BY
ALL WHO WOULD FOLLOW ON TO KNOW THE LORD. Oh,
yes!
An
image has been erected on the modern plain of Dura, by the modern king of Babylon, the image of the beast, and just as in Daniels
day, the beast causes all who will not bow the knee and pay homage to this image of the
beast should be killed cut off. Thank
God! There is in our day a remnant, a
Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego company who refuse to bend the knee or to pay any homage to the
beast or his image! The ultimate test
for every son of God is just this: What will he do with what he receives from the Lord? Will he use it to his own ends, for his own profit
and exaltation, or will he, like Abraham of old, offer it as a sacrifice upon the altar of
full obedience to God? Every man and woman who
has received the call to sonship will sooner or later face this test, and how he or she
deals with it will determine whether he or she stands in his or her place among the manifest sons of God or whether he or she becomes just another one of the many antichrists.
The
self-exalting spirit is not the Spirit of God it is the spirit of the golden-gilded
monstrosity of Babylon. By it millions are
deceived to flock to the charisma of covetous men. If
you will listen to these modern-day Nebuchadnezzars, these self-appointed kings of Babylon,
you will seldom see the humility of Gods Christ, but the showmanship and arrogance
of one who purports to be the very power of God. It
is given them to give life unto the image of the beast and cause the image of the beast to
speak. This
image speaks great swelling words, professing to
be some specially chosen vessel, commissioned to bring the gospel to the whole world in
these last days. To listen to their glowing
reports and exaggerated testimonies one would be led to believe that just about the whole
world is turning to God and marching to Zion. Yet,
I do not hesitate to tell you that if their human effort, their public relations
companies, their monthly fund-raising letters, their begging for money, their lavish
fund-raising seminars in the worlds plushest resort hotels, and their abominable
gimmicks were taken away, their programs would collapse
before years end!
Now
let us return to our previous thought of the number
of his name 666. On that
distant day upon the plain of Dura Nebuchadnezzars image of gold was sixty cubits high and six cubits wide.
Throughout the book of Revelation the number seven is prominent as the sacred number of
completeness and perfection. The contents of
the book opened by the Lamb is contained under seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven
vials a trinity of sevens. It is in this book that the number
of the beast is also represented as a trinity of
sixes, and the contrast, as well as the intrinsic meaning of the number, intimates,
that whatever else it may be, it is a perfect number of imperfection, or rather a number
denoting perfect or absolute imperfection. In the Bible the number six refers to man
is uniquely a human number. Man was
created on the sixth day, mans appointed days of labor and toil are six, the Hebrew
slave was to serve for six years, and for six years the land was to be sown. Six is the number of mans unredeemed nature,
old Adam THE FLESH! The 666 is then, as
it were, the number six swollen, blown up
in its greatest potency and yet, when increased to the uttermost, it is still no
more than six FLESH! Human nature, that is, the natural man, old Adam,
always falls short of the sacred number seven, the
fullness of divine power, glory, and perfection. And
try as it may, it can never be more than the lesser six
which is also the broken twelve
the broken government of God! It is therefore
the rule of the flesh!
The
number then is important, not the name. We are never actually given the name of
the beast, but we understand the name by the number of the name. We listen to the words, His number is six
hundred sixty six, and we have enough to make us tremble. It is flesh raised
to an exceedingly high level of manifestation! In
this number there is a depth of perverseness, pride, presumption, self-righteousness,
religiosity, deceit, carnality, and shame which no one can know except him to
whom it is revealed by the blazing light and deep searching of the Spirit of God. David, understanding something of the awful depth
of the wickedness of the human heart cried out, Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and
know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way
everlasting (Ps. 139:23-24).
Perhaps
now the enlightened mind can understand how it is that from the very beginning, when Adam
was banished from the blessed garden of God, six has been the number of mans labor apart from Gods rest! And oh! how man labors! The carnal mind is always contriving new ways to work for God.
In this hour we are continually being admonished to get involved,
get involved in politics, get involved in the church programs, get involved in community
activities, or in a hundred different things. Christians
should be involved! they say. The church
system is crying for people to become involved in her activities, and her programs are
legion, but in all this cry for involvement I hear very little being said about GETTING
INVOLVED WITH GOD! The Lords command to
the apostles was, Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem,
until ye be endued with power from on high. In simple language this means to do nothing until
you are so yielded to God that He can work THROUGH YOU!
The firstborn Son of God said that He did only those things He saw
His Father do, and spoke only those words He heard from His Father. Does that not explain why He spent thirty years in Nazareth,
the place of no good thing, doing nothing so far as His sonship ministry
was concerned? Ah, He was not really doing
nothing, for He was growing in stature, and in wisdom, and in favor with God and man. He was becoming! The Father was not showing Him any great works
or speaking to Him words to be uttered in the hearing of men. He waited for the time of His showing
to Israel, and until that day His only involvement was with His Father!
As
one has written, Come near to the holy men and women of the past and you will soon
feel the heat of their desire after God. They
mourned for Him, they prayed and wrestled and sought for Him day and night, in season and
out, and when they had found Him the finding was all the sweeter for the long seeking. But the beast will have none of this! He is busily engaged in his own human effort and
grandiose program and has no time to seek God, no
time to wait upon God, and no time to become
that son that the Fathers heart is yearning for.
Even if he holds a Wednesday night prayer meeting it never seems
to be a prayer meeting, but becomes a teaching
session, testimony service, planning discussion, or something else. Other than a formal opening and dismissing prayer,
there is nothing there that will transform men or move the heart of God.
Let
anyone reading this who has had experience on a church board in the organized church
systems try to recall the times when the board
waited upon God and truly consulted the Lord until He revealed His will in the matters
under discussion! Or try to remember the times
when any chairman suggested that the brethren should fast and pray and wait in holy
brokenness before God to see what instructions the Holy Ghost had for them on a particular
question. Board meetings are habitually opened
with a formal prayer or a brief season of prayer, after which the Head of the
church is respectfully silent while the real rulers take over!
What church
committee goes to the Holy Spirit for direction? Do
not the members invariably assume that they already know what they are supposed to do and
that their only problem is to find effective means to get it done? Plans, rules, literature, visitation, fund-raising
dinners and projects, guest speakers, entertainment, concerts, dramas, advertising, music,
and all kinds of inventive methodological techniques to promote the work of
God absorb all their time and attention. The
prayer at the beginning of the meeting is for divine help to carry out their plans! Apparently the idea that the Lord might
have some instructions for them never so much as
enters their heads. After all who ever heard of waiting on
the Lord or expecting to hear from
God in a committee meeting!
What foreign
mission board actually seeks to obtain and follow the guidance of the Lord? They all think
they do, certainly, but what they do in fact is to assume the scripturalness of their
ends and then ask the Lord for help to find ways to achieve them. They may pray all night (not likely!) for God to
give success to their enterprises, but Christ is desired as
their helper,
not their Lord. Human
means are devised to achieve ends assumed to be divine.
These then crystallize into policy, and thereafter the Lord
doesnt even have a vote!
In
the conduct of meetings where is the Lordship of Christ to be found? The truth is that today the Lord rarely controls a
service, and the influence He exerts is very small. We
sing of Him, clap to Him, and preach about Him, but He must not interfere; we will worship
our way, and go through our time-honored forms, rituals, and ceremonies, and it must be
right because we have always done it that way, as have the other churches in our sect. And those in the so-called move of the Spirit
and sonship and kingdom walk are generally not much further
advanced. Doesnt everyone know that a
meeting must begin with a few choruses,
followed by singing in the spirit and a brief season of worship, and then is the time for a prophecy or two? A few more choruses, a little more worship,
prayer, announcements, offering, and the sermon, following which the pastor or guest
minister gives an altar call and/or operates in his gift. Dont be deceived, brethren, we have created
our very own little pattern, our unique little form, our Spirit-led SYSTEM! Surely, beloved, you cannot miss the obvious number of his name in all of this
666 flesh, FLESH, F-L-E-S-H! Oh,
yes, even in the high places of God the flesh grasps after the things of the Spirit for
the promotion of SELF. The carnal mind is
always desirous of spiritual gifts. It likes
to appear honored of God and accepted. That is
why there are so many false prophets, false teachers, false healers, and false miracle
workers in the world. Men who love people to
think they are the great power of God will, in spite of all their apparent wonders, hear
God tell them on that day, I never knew
you! I was never intimately acquainted with you!
The
beast out of the earth is the religious system that arises out of the soulical nature of
man. While we once looked about for a
laser-tattooed identification number, or a microchip in the forehead to be the mark
of the beast was it not truly there for us to see all along, for John plainly
told us, HERE IS WISDOM. Let him that
hath understanding count the number of the beast; for it is the NUMBER OF MAN and HIS
NUMBER IS SIX HUNDRED, THREE SCORE AND SIX. Now,
I am aware that the King James Bible says that it is the number of a man,
but the indefinite article a is supplied by the translators and is not
necessarily included in the Greek, since that language has no indefinite article. It can quite well be translated without an article
at all, as in Psalm 8:4, What is man (not a man), that thou art mindful of him? In our text the word for man is not
Adam, but anthropos, meaning a human
being; humanity; human-kind. It denotes the human race as against any other species
of being. The Concordant New Testament
correctly translates it, for it is the number of mankind. Anthropos is
the word used in II Timothy 3:17 wherein we read, That
the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Man of God is not referring to a
particular man, or one single man, but rather to every man of God. It is a corporate expression denoting a company of
men. Likewise, the number of the beast is not
referring to one man; its every man who possesses a soulical nature capable of
spawning religious attitudes, actions, traditions,
and systems! Thus we see that the number
of the beast that is called the number of a man is the number or nature of a
corporate man or set of men and not one man we are to look for. This man is already here and has been
here from the dawn of history! He has found a
unique expression since Christ birthed His church in the earth, bringing forth in the
midst of the Lords people another system, a beastly
religious system calling itself the church and which bears a striking
resemblance to the Lamb of God but speaks words which sound like the voice of the dragon!
In
the case where a number is used to denote the
characteristics or the nature of a thing, the article is unnecessary. With this understanding the statement, instead of
being an insoluble puzzle, becomes perfectly clear. The
number of the beast is the nature of the beast, and the number 666 is shown to
be the NATURE OF MAN! Not a man,
but MANKIND ALL NATURAL MEN! It
signifies the measure of man, that is, his inward state of being manifested by his outward
actions, and how these are perceived by those about him. As
the wise man wrote, I said in mine heart
concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, that they might
see that they themselves are beasts (Eccl.
3:18). Here is wisdom let him
that hath understanding count the number of the beast. The one who is wise is the one who within
himself has this living understanding that the nature of the beast is also the nature of man! Therefore,
the nature or character of religion and the carnal church system is
FLESHLY!
The
power that initiates this marking of all mankind with the bestial nature is the dragon
that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan.
Can we not see by this that it was in Eden that the mark was first impressed
upon mankind! The terrible truth is that a man
with no God-consciousness, having never been quickened by the washing of regeneration,
walking only in his own carnal understanding and perceptions, obeying the animal instincts
that lurk in his members, that man, I say, in the quality of his life is no better than a
beast! If you dont believe that, then
you have not come to an understanding of the truth. Remember
this not all beasts are wild! Some
beasts are domesticated. Some of these domesticated beasts have degrees behind their names
and teach in our schools, universities, and seminaries.
Others of these likeable, loveable, domesticated beasts run for political
office and hold positions in our government! Others
have attained to positions in the church systems of man and are called Father
or Reverend. There are good
beasts, smart beasts, cute beasts, entertaining beasts, cunning beasts, wise beasts, hard
working beasts, faithful beasts, but they are still beasts.
I do not hesitate to say that we
are living in a world of beasts! Thats
the mark of the natural man, of the human nature, of the Adamic consciousness. A man apart from union with God, for better or for
worse, is no better than a beast.
The
mark of the beast is not the myth fabricated by the church systems, it is not something
imposed by government from some scientific world of computers and computer chips. In the 1960s computers were the new,
nightmarish things, and when people talked about computers they would whisper, Ah,
have you heard about the beast? There was supposedly a huge computer in Brussels
that had everybodys name and number in the whole world! The wild speculations of religious deceivers went
from there to the universal product code. Why,
that code is of the antichrist, they chortled. You
see these two black lines here, those two black lines there that is 666, the mark
of the beast!
I
can hardly wait for that new identity chip because, you see, the joke will be on them
it will represent a mistaken identity, for they dont know my true identity,
because I have been born of God, God is my Father, and I am a son of God, a new creation
species of Christ! A chip in old Adams
forehead can in no way affect my true identity of the Christ-life that I am! Ive already had my identity change. For me to live is Christ, for Christ is my life. You
can put all the chips you want to in my fleshly forehead, or tattoo, or laser any mark you
choose and it will not change one iota who I really am.
The mark of the beast is already in the forehead of the old natural human
identity. The moment we fall back into the old
carnal, earthly, natural, human, Adamic way of thinking about ourselves and the world, and
act out of that mind-set, the nature (mark) of the beast is manifest. Does this not show that any literal mark applied by
man has no power whatever to either add to, or take away from, that which is already
there?
In dealing with
issues so vast and extensive as those we have considered in these messages on THE BEAST
OUT OF THE EARTH, I am well aware that I have passed over many wonderful truths of
overwhelming importance. As the beastly spirit
has been uncovered, and the beastly religious system unmasked, my great concern has been
that beyond it all men might truly, as never before, SEE THE LORD! My deepest desire is to know Christ, not
antichrist. I want to know not just about Him,
I want to intimately and fully KNOW HIM! The
deepest cry of my heart is that the Holy Spirit will take the things of Christ and make
them real to me. Therefore I am more
interested in CHRIST than I am in the beast, and I am more concerned about the MARK OF GOD
than I am with anything that pertains to the mark of the beast!
We stand before
God in truth as did the queen of Sheba before Solomon as we read in I Kings 10:4-5, And when the queen of Sheba had seen all Solomons
wisdom, and the house that he had built, and the meat of his table, and the sitting of his
servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and
his ascent by which he went up unto the house of the Lord; there was no more spirit in her. There is no more of our own spirit within us as we
are melted before the revelation of the glory of the Lord in this great day of the Lord! For those who have received the call to sonship,
incomplete as the present revelation is, yet we find that God is beginning to cause us to
realize something of the magnitude and wonder of the work He is doing within our own
beings as He brings His many sons to glory.
No man who ever
lived walked more faithfully with God than our
Lord Jesus Christ, and none was ever endued with so great an anointing as He. Mighty were the signs and wonders that followed the
outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost, yet even that bountiful outpouring was given by
measure, the mere earnest of the Spirit; but of Jesus Christ, the firstborn Son
of God, it is written, God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him (Jn. 3:34). Time an again I have marveled at the wisdom with
which He spoke, the nature in which He walked, and the power with which He ministered!
In the Gospel of
John, chapter five, Jesus has come up to Jerusalem to attend the feast. As He reaches the city He comes to the Pool of
Bethesda and looks into the pool. There are
five porches around that pool. He passes
through the porches, and at last comes to a poor man, sick for thirty-eight years, who has
been pushed away from the sacred spring. The
man is lying there miserable and weary and we can imagine the unutterable cry of his
heart, Oh, Yahweh Rophekha! Yahweh my
healer! Hast Thou come to earth? Is it true that Thou hast come to save us? Oh, Yahweh Rophekha!
Hast Thou come to open the eyes of the blind, to give hearing to the deaf,
and to make the lame to walk? Oh, Christ of
God! Hast Thou no hope for me? He pauses as he hears the Voice. Wilt thou be made whole? And he looks up into the face of a Man who is
looking down at him, asking that strange question, Wilt thou be made whole?
Now you can
imagine a man in this condition, who has been carried there for over thirty years, turning
around and saying, What is the use of asking me such a question? My mother carried me here to this pool when I was a
baby, my father brought me here when he could. The
hands of those who loved me best are moldering in the grave, and I have only a few friends
to carry me here now. But others push me back
and when the water is moved I cannot get down to the pool.
But I still hope. I have been
thirty-eight years sick. Of course I am
willing to be made whole! Why would you ask me
such a question? Thats what a man
today probably would have answered. Why
of course I am willing! But he doesnt talk like that. The Man that is speaking to him has said, Wilt
thou be made whole? and there goes right down into his heart a strange sensation,
his whole being vibrates like a harp when every string is touched by a master hand. That Voice is unlike anything he ever heard. Wilt thou be made whole? Gently he explains that he has no man to help
put him into the pool, but that others when he is coming, step down before him. Then he waits with his eyes fixed on the Man who
has so strangely appealed to his will, for perhaps this Stranger is a good man who will
tarry with him and help him into the water. He
gets ready but the very next moment he hears the Voice of Him who is the
Resurrection and the Life, of Him who is the Lord of lords and King of kings say, Rise,
take up thy bed and walk! And in a
moment there comes into his body with that Word, power; and he rises, takes up that
bedroll, rolls it up and walks home, set free from the bonds of Satan who has bound him
for thirty-eight years.
Precious friend
of mine, ponder if you will, this solemn inquiry: Have you truly seen and
met Jesus
the Christ? Has the Holy Spirit ever revealed
to you that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God?
Has He come to you, not as a man in the streets of ancient Jerusalem, but in
mighty spirit-power to deal a death-blow to the works of the flesh and of the devil in
your life, to renew your mind, transform your nature, and completely and forever make you whole in
the image of God? If you have seen Him even
through a glass darkly, you will be as Isaiah who wrote, In the year that king Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and
lifted up, and His train filled the temple. Above
it stood the seraphims: and one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory. And
the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with
smoke. If we see Him in this way, we
will cry as Isaiah did, Woe is me! for I am
undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of
unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the
Lord of hosts.
Thank God that
is not the end of the story! I earnestly pray
that God will give a spirit of true humility to
all who read these lines, for we recognize the weakness and uncleanness of our outer man,
the flesh. I know, as all honest hearts know,
that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing.
But our Father has the remedy! Not
only does He heal the lame by the Pool of Bethesda, causing him to stand tall and walk in
the strength of manhood, but He heals every member of His body from all the impotency,
blemishes, and corruption of the Adamic consciousness and raises up within us the image of
God and the glory of Christ that we may walk tall and confident as God-men in the earth. Any man who sees the glory of God and longs to be
rid of the filth of his flesh and the wretched defilement of the bestial system of the
world will certainly cry with the Psalmist, Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me and know my
thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting
(Ps. 139:23-24). The same Isaiah who made
the humble and honest confession quoted above went on to reveal Gods goodness and
greatness to usward. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having
a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: and he laid
it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me! Thus has the Lord revealed that when His
purging process is complete in His apprehended sons, the hour of their sending forth will
quickly follow. Even in the darkness of this
dread day all creation is standing on tiptoe to see the wonderful sight of Gods sons
coming into their own! And truly we ourselves
do groan within ourselves, waiting for the hour of unveiling, the manifestation of the sons of God!
Years later
Isaiah revealed the faithfulness of the Lord unto His called and chosen elect. He
giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no
might He increaseth strength. Even the
youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they
shall mount up with wings as eagles; thy shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Do you see the
Christ high and lifted up upon the throne in your temple?
What part does He have in your life? Oh,
you say, I am a member of the church. I
attend its services, I take its communion, I participate in its outreaches, I sing psalms,
I have had hands laid on me, I have gifts of the Spirit, I prophesy, and I believe in
miracles! You can have all these things
and never see
Christ! When we see Christ, my friend,
neither heaven above nor earth beneath can find terms grand enough to express the wonder
of His presence, or the miracle of His transforming power that comes into our lives with
His Word, or the hope of His sonship revealed within us, for in seeing Him we are
eternally changed into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree
of glory to another! Oh, the wonder of it!
To be continued
J. PRESTON EBY