THE SEVEN ANGELS WITH THE SEVEN LAST PLAGUES
(continued)
“They
sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying…Who
shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? for Thou only art holy: and all nations shall come and worship before
Thee; for Thy judgments are made manifest” (Rev. 15:3-4).
Nothing
is more evident in the Word of God than the fact that God has a great and
wonderful plan which He is working out among the nations of earth. Many saints recognize that God has a
predestined purpose for each of His people, an appointed end for Israel,
a glorious purpose for the Church, and a foreordained plan for the manifest
sons of God. We must also understand
that the Lord has a determined plan and purpose for ALL NATIONS.
God is actively dealing with NATIONS!
Many wonderful prophecies reveal God’s ultimate purpose for the nations
of mankind, when “ALL
the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord, and ALL KINDREDS
OF THE NATIONS shall worship before Thee, for the kingdom is the Lord’s and HE
is the governor among the nations. Yea,
ALL KINGS shall fall down before Him: ALL NATIONS SHALL SERVE HIM” (Ps.
22:27-28; 72:11)). It is obvious that
all nations do not today serve the Lord, neither do all kings (rulers) fall
down before Him. China does not serve the Lord,
neither do its rulers acknowledge Him. Turkey
does not serve the Lord. Egypt
does not serve the Lord. Vast numbers of
nations in Europe, Africa, Asia, and even in the Americas
do not today serve the Lord, and few of their rulers fall down before Him. But the day is surely coming when all nations
shall be joined to the Lord and fulfill their obligations to Him as their Maker
and Redeemer!
That
is the prophetic message in the song of Moses and the Lamb! All the holy sons of God sing that song, for
it is the song of redemption and kingdom blessing for all men and every nation. Only the blessed company of the
overcoming sons of God intone this song of salvation for the nations! Only the enlightened elect of the
Lord in whose hearts have been birthed the beautiful truths of reconciliation,
manifest sonship, and the triumph of the kingdom of God, who have departed out
of the precincts of religious Babylon,
passing through the purifying processes of the sea of glass mingled with fire,
have been given voice to sing the beautiful strains of this song of Moses and
the Lamb! Others cannot at this time learn this song, for their minds are blinded by
the deceptions of the harlot church systems which see only doom and gloom for
the nations and eternal damnation for the vast majority of earth’s inhabitants. Rejoice, O ye sons of God, and lift the song
up on high!
Do
you not think that it is most significant that the song states clearly that all
the nations shall come and WORSHIP before the Lord? It does not say that they will profess to be
Christians, or that they will be baptized, join the churches, attend services, study
the Bible, keep the traditions, observe the rituals and ceremonies, or a
thousand and one other things that people do to distinguish themselves as
“Christian.” Oh, no! But all nations shall come before the Lord
and — worship! The thing that
makes all the difference is what is meant by “worship.” The late Carl Schwing stated it so well when
he wrote, “Today, as always, the Father is seeking those who will worship Him
in spirit and in truth. Such worship is
not part of the mainstream’s preplanned programs or rituals. It has nothing to do with the day of the
week, nor the hour of the day, nor the location. It does not matter if we are standing,
kneeling, or sitting. Nor does it matter
how much time we spend, or how many words we speak. It is the joy of worshipping Him face to face and hand to hand and heart to
heart. It is a divine bonding of our
spirit with His Spirit. It is a deeper
knowledge of Him, a knowing of Him,
the pathway of Life. When we enter this
place of profound worship in the spirit, we have gone beyond the natural senses
of seeing, touching, feeling, doing…into the realm of knowing that He is face
to face with us…knowing that His hand is holding ours…knowing that the
conversing is from His heart to ours and from our heart to His. Perchance, we would see His face, or touch
His hand, or feel His heartbeat, because He who hears in secret rewards us
openly…it is because He has anointed our closet with the oil of His presence,
and has given us a flashback
of a time we have long forgotten.” Think
of it! All nations shall come before the
Lord and shall WORSHIP! No wonder only
the elect sons of God can sing this song — only the ministry of the sons of God can deliver the nations into this place! The church systems bring people and nations
into the practicing of religion — the
sons of God bring them before the Father as WORSHIPPERS! Worship in
spirit and in truth! What a song! What a transformation! What a destiny!
This
is the hour, my friend, when the song of Moses and the Lamb is ringing out
through the corridors of the world for all mankind to hear! Here let us pause long enough to call your
attention to the thought that Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, is an infinite
musician, and sings a song that is infinite in every perfection connected with
song or singing. Has it ever dawned in
your understanding that the firstborn Son of God is the consummate,
superlative, and transcendent Singer, and that He Himself is the leading voice
in this great song of Moses and the Lamb?
We often hear of David sweeping his harp and singing his sweet psalms,
but why should we overlook the fact that the Lord has His harp, and is the
choir-leader in that ultimate song of complete victory which is sung on the shores
of the Glassy Sea? John tells us in
another place that he heard the voice of Jesus like the sound of many
waters! When the great waves billow up
and break on the sea-shore, they give forth all
the sounds of the octave, from the deepest bass to the highest treble; and so
the voice of Jesus sounded to John — His voice leading a multitude of voices —
like the beautiful music of many waters on the rocks at Patmos.
I
have heard it, too, and have stood enraptured in that heavenly choir as my
voice has blended with His and with those elect sons of God singing just as the
writer to the Hebrews has shown: “For it was an act worthy of God and fitting
to the divine nature that He, for whose sake and by whom all things have their
existence, in bringing many sons into glory, should make the Pioneer of their
salvation perfect through suffering. For
both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. For this reason He is not ashamed to call
them brethren; for He says, I will
declare (reveal) Your name to my brethren: in
the midst of the worshipping congregation I WILL SING HYMNS OF PRAISE TO YOU!” (Heb. 2:10-12, Amplified).
THY JUDGMENTS ARE MADE MANIFEST
“Who
shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? for Thou only art holy: for
all nations shall come and worship before Thee; for Thy judgments are made manifest” (Rev. 15:4).
We
are living in an hour when God is moving mightily in the hearts of His called
and chosen people preparing them to bring forth righteous judgment in the earth. “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God” (I
Pet. 4:17). Judgment begins at the house
of God, saith the Lord! Oh, how that
message has been butchered by the ministers of Babylon!
Do you know what most folk believe it means? They think it’s saying that God is going to
bring the hammer
down on His people. To them it speaks of
severity or an awful day of accountability and reckoning. That’s not what the inspired apostle is
saying at all! First of all, the
“judgment” is not a negative, it’s a positive.
It translates the Greek word krisis from which comes our English
words crisis, critical, and criteria. A krisis, a crisis or critical time, is a turning
point. Very sick people often
reach the point of crisis where their fever breaks, or they regain consciousness; it is
the turning point in their illness, the crisis where their condition begins to
improve.
God’s
judgments are always unto victory! In
the New Testament context God’s judgments are neither punitive nor vindictive,
but rather therapeutic and corrective.
Ray Prinzing once pointed out: “The certainty of justice and correction
is sure — not as a negative whipping as payment for sin, but as a chastening to
teach, a discipline to learn — ‘For when
Thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn
righteousness’ (Isa. 26:9). The
process is not an end in itself, but the means to an end — through all the
judgments a vital correction is made, bringing forth a ‘godly sorrow that worketh repentance to salvation’ (II Cor.
7:10). His judgments do not save us, but
they condition and prepare us to receive HIM who is our salvation. They cause us to turn to the Lord in
repentance, and we find He has been drawing us to Himself through it all.”
People
quote the scripture, “Judgment must begin at the house of God,” and their first
thought is, “Oh, my, Ananias and Sapphira are going to fall over dead any
minute now!” But that’s not what this
passage is saying. The King James
translation is faulty. “Judgment must
begin at…” “At” is the Greek
preposition apo meaning “away
from.” It’s not a picture of God
bringing wrath down upon the people of God, but it’s a picture of His
righteous, redemptive judgments flowing like a river out from or away from the
house of God! It is not the house of God
receiving the judgment, it is the
house of God dispensing the
judgment! Young’s Literal translation
reads, “It is the time of the beginning of the judgment from the house of God.” The
Concordant New Testament says, “It is the era for the judgment to begin from the house of God.” The Emphatic Diaglott renders, “Because the
season is coming for the judgment to begin from
the house of God.” The message is
clear — contrary to what we have been taught and have believed — the time is not coming for judgment to begin
UPON or AT the house of God, rather, the time comes for judgment to PROCEED
FROM THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD!
As
the prophet has said, “But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the
mountain (kingdom, government) of the
house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains (strong
kingdoms), and it shall be exalted above the hills (weaker kingdoms); and
people shall flow unto it. And many
nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain (kingdom)
of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us His
ways, and we will walk in His paths: for the law shall go forth from Zion, and
the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And
He shall judge among many people…” (Micah 4:1-3).
Can
we not see by the passage above that the house of God, the mount Zion
of God, and the holy city Jerusalem,
are the source of the law of God, the
word of God, and the judgment of God! Oh,
yes, the judgment does indeed begin or start with each one of us as He does His
wonderful work within; then as our own house has been thoroughly judged and
made right, and the sons are perfected and made ready, this judgment goes from or
out
from the household of God to bring correction and blessing to the
nations. It cannot flow out until it has
first been wrought within. It is within
God’s own people that the judgment of God does its perfect work. Therefore do we stand upon the glassy sea
singing with all our hearts, “All nations shall come and worship before Thee;
FOR THY JUDGMENTS ARE MADE MANIFEST!” Where
are God’s judgments — their reality, power, purpose, and accomplishment — made manifest,
made apparent, visible, plain, clear, discernable, perceptible? IN THE LIVES OF GOD’S ELECT!
Ah,
here is a people that knows the ways of His judgments, a people in whom and
through whom the righteous judgments of God can be executed! The scriptures are continually revealing this
grand and glorious truth. The Lord Jesus
Himself explained it on this wise:
“For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the
Son…and hath given Him authority to execute judgment…because He is the Son of
man” (Jn. 5:22,27). To the faithful in
Christ Jesus we now proclaim this message — that judgment which is committed to
the Head Son is executed through His
body, His many brethren. “And I saw
thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them…and
they reigned with Christ” (Rev. 20:4).
“I beheld and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed
against them; until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints
of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom” (Dan.
7:21-22).
Many
people hesitate to believe that the saints will judge the world (and even
angels!) because of the words of Jesus wherein He said, “Judge not that ye be
not judged…” (Mat. 7:1). But Jesus
wasn’t telling us not to judge! He went
on to say, “For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what
measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again” (Mat. 7:2). If you consider with reverent honesty these
words of the Lord, who is the righteous
Judge, you will see that Jesus was not telling us not to judge, rather, He is
showing us HOW to judge! At another time
Jesus said, “WHEN ye judge, judge righteous judgment.” Ah, that is the crux of the whole
matter! DO NOT JUDGE UNLESS YOU CAN
JUDGE RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT! That is why
the judgment is given only to the saints,
to the overcoming sons, to the house of God, to the holy city Jerusalem,
and to the mount Zion company!
The
Greek word for judge in the words of Jesus above is krino meaning “to discriminate, to exercise discernment, to make a
decision.” To tell us not to judge
would be like telling parents never to make a wise decision for their
child. So the reason the adversary
created that religious spirit — that we shouldn’t judge — is because if we
don’t have judgment we have no victory, for judgment and justice are unto
victory. Without judgment no decisions
are made. It is like the morals in
today’s society — no absolutes, no black and white, it’s all gray, it’s all
“relative,” and our children and young people are crying out for those
absolutes. Jesus taught absolutes, and
He didn’t teach us not to judge, He taught us how to judge. After speaking of judging He
went on to say, “And why beholdest thou
the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in
thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to
thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is
in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first
cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then thou shalt see clearly to cast
out the mote out of thy brother’s eye” (Mat. 7:3-5).
It
should be plain to every understanding heart that divine judgment will not be
given into the hands of hypocrites. That
is the point the Lord is making! All
judgment is committed unto the SON, therefore judgment is given only to
SONS. To the hypocrites the Lord is
saying, “The problem is you can’t see your brother. The reason you can’t see your brother is
because you have a beam in your eye — in your vision, in your
understanding. In how you see your
brother you have a beam, a huge obstruction, a grotesque perversion.” The Greek word here means a beam so big that
it could hold up or support an edifice — it’s a joist, a log. The mote is just a little speck, a grain of
grit that blows into the eye. You get
onto your brother about the mote — the speck — that is in his eye, which you
can’t even correctly discern because of the beam, the huge chunk of humanity,
that is in your own eye. It is of great
importance that we see how it is that the MANIFEST JUDGMENTS OF GOD are
revealed only through that company that has crossed over the sea of glass
mingled with fire and been purged and purified, have gotten the victory
over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of
his name. These sing the song of Moses
and the Lamb, proclaiming that the time has come when all nations shall come
and worship before the Lord, for within
them HIS JUDGMENTS ARE MADE MANIFEST!
Oh, the mystery of it!
If
we are not judging by the nature of Jesus, if we are not judging in the same
spirit He does, if we are not the personification of His goodness, forbearance,
mercy, long-suffering, and redemptive power, then we are not the manifestation
of HIS JUDGMENTS and are worthy of being censured and removed from the throne of judgment. Judgment doesn’t flow out of what you
know. Judgment doesn’t flow out of a
title, position, or office. Judgment
flows out of the life and nature of the Son of God! “…for
THY judgments are made manifest.” Ah,
my dear brother, my precious sister, do you desire a part in the glorious
ministry by which the world shall be judged?
Then my prayerful recommendation to you is that you draw very close to
the heart of Jesus, sit at His feet, tarry long in His presence, fall intensely
in love with Him, learn His ways, be filled with His Spirit, be joined in one mind, life, and nature with Him and He
will create within you the heart of a redemptive sonship judge! His judgments will be manifest IN YOU. The wonderful result will be that all nations
will come and worship before Him! That
is the mystery.
It
is the uncovering of that people in whom God has inwrought and birthed His
righteous judgments to deal with the sin, ignorance, and rebellion of men,
bringing deliverance,
producing a mighty change unto salvation and righteousness. He will deal with every man according to the
measures needed to correct and make right what is wrong in him. Is that not how He has dealt with us, His
firstfruit company? If you yet entertain
the carnal notion that by judgment God will sentence
every man according to what he deserves, then Jesus would have to apologize
to those men who crucified Him, because He didn’t give them what they
deserved! Rather He prayed for them,
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Do you believe God answered that prayer? The lovely One from whose gracious lips these
redemptive words fell also said, “Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard
me. And I know that Thou hearest me always…” If
I were to say, “I am sincerely convinced and truly hope that I shall see every
reader of these lines get exactly what they deserve,” would it not strike
terror in your soul? Let us then stand
assured of this marvelous fact: BECAUSE OF CALVARY you
deserve the best God has to give and all men deserve the best of God through
you! “Who shall not fear Thee, O
Lord, and glorify Thy name? for Thou only art holy: for all nations shall come
and worship before Thee; for Thy
judgments are made manifest.”
The following words by brother Scott Paris are so
instructive here. “When your heart is
after God, you can be comfortable in His holy presence, for His concern is for
the heart. His courts of holiness cannot
be tramped on by those whose hearts are cold and who externally produce shows
of humility and personal commitment.
Father never has, and will never be satisfied by
external displays of godliness or religious activity. New truth from the seven golden vials is
beheading you to the old letter-of-the-word interpretation. You abandon your heart to His will and look
eagerly for His full manifestation in you.
And in your brokenness, and only in brokenness, do your hands drip with
His oil. And your vessel overflows with
His living water. You are chosen to
restore the ancient ruins, and to recover the people lost to generations of
desolations. A word from your lips delivers a man into the kingdom of Father’s
dear Son. You are reclaiming what the
enemy has claimed, you are delivering
to the Father what past generations have let degenerate. Your hands, your words, your acts of love,
flowing with His presence, shall restore a generation to God. With untold joy, you realize that it is not
too late to experience the fullness of God.
Yes, it is clear now. So
clear. You were never called just to sit in a pew. You were called to minister from within the
Father. He called you to be redeemed,
and to redeem. Your life is now to
flourish with His life, resurrection life, as a priest of God and of Christ
(Rev. 20:6). How could you have missed
it? To be converted merely to hold on
until the end was never Father’s purpose and
intention, but to flourish with His love as all creation is gathered into Him. We came out of His fullness to enter into His
allness. He is ‘all in all’”
— end quote.
THE TEMPLE OF
THE
TABERNACLE OF THE TESTIMONY OPENED IN HEAVEN
“And
after that I looked, and behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in
heaven was opened” (Rev. 15:5).
“And
after that…” How wonderful this is! But after what? Ah, after we can sing the song of Moses and
the Lamb, after all these beautiful fruits are expressed in our walk, after all
the righteous judgments of God are manifest in our lives, after all that — not
before, not during, but after — “I looked, and behold, the temple
of the tabernacle of the
testimony in heaven was opened.”
The tabernacle was erected in the wilderness and
the temple was
a permanent building on the same plan builded in Jerusalem.
Both buildings were divided into two apartments — the holy place and the
most holy place — the latter being typical of the realm of the fullness of
God. The word “tabernacle” in our text is the Greek word skene meaning a “tent.” It refers to both compartments, holy place
and most holy place, for in the wilderness both were housed in one tent
structure made of skins. The word
“temple” is in the Greek naos meaning
“to dwell,” thus indicating
the dwelling place of God, or the most holy place. The “testimony” is the ark of the covenant
containing the testimony of God, that
is, the tables of the law, the golden pot of manna, and Aaron’s
rod that budded. Thus the expression
“the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony” signifies “the tent of
God’s dwelling containing the ark of His covenant” — that is, THE MOST HOLY PLACE
— that is what John saw opened in the heaven of the Spirit of the Lord!
Truly,
we are the temple of the
living God, as God has said! The
scriptures about the temple of God
are so beautiful, so clear, that we are surprised when we hear people speaking
of the temple of God
as something the Jews or the Antichrist will build over in Jerusalem.
We are God’s building! We are God’s
house! We are living stones built up a spiritual house — the temple of the Lord! God dwells in us! Your body is the temple of the
Holy Ghost! There is a temple of the
testimony, the most holy place, within each one of us. This most holy place is our spirit, where we
receive the witness of God. It is where
His life (golden pot of manna) dwells, where His word (tables of the law) is
revealed, and where His divine choosing (Aaron’s
rod) is known. This most holy place of God
is within us as the sacred temple of our being.
The only problem is that the world hasn’t been able to see the Christ in us!
That
the temple, or most holy place, was opened
bespeaks a truth higher and far more glorious that that of the rent veil.
In that long ago temple on earth centuries had passed and it seemed
as if that veil would hang there forever shielding the glory of the Lord. And then a lone and desolate figure, upon a
cross on a hill outside of Jerusalem,
cried as He died, “It is finished!” Suddenly the earth shook and reeled, like
a drunkard, the mighty immovable rocks rent and split. In that awesome moment two huge invisible
hands reached down and took hold of that veil in the temple, so strong that six
yoke of oxen could not pull it apart, and those divine hands tore it asunder
from top to bottom. I have heard people
say that when that veil was rent at the crucifixion of our Lord, the two
compartments of the holy place and the most holy place were made one.
But that cannot be! Yes, the
veil was rent, split — but the veil
was still there! It had only been split down the middle,
like the curtain on the stage of a theater.
The compartments were still divided.
In
His resurrection and ascension the Lord Jesus did not stand in relation to His
elect in a most holy place from which the veil had been removed, for of His
entrance into that realm of fullness in God the writer to the Hebrews
testifies, “That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to
lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both
sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; whither
our forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for
ever after the order of Melchizedek” (Heb. 6:18-20). Again, “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, that is to say, His flesh” (Heb.
10:19-20).
Can
we not see that Jesus went through the rent veil into the
fullness of divine life and glory. By
that rent veil He opened and consecrated the way for us to follow, to pass
THROUGH the veil into that glorious realm. NOWHERE IN THE BOOK OF HEBREWS DOES IT SAY
THAT THE VEIL IS REMOVED! The veil was rent, but not taken away. The way into
that most holy place consecrated for us is through
the veil. You can’t pass “through” a
veil that isn’t there! Therefore the
veil remains to this day! We will
understand a great mystery when we see that the veil is the converging point
between the “in part” realm and the realm of God’s FULLNESS. The way into the fullness of God, into the
full stature of sonship, has been opened by Jesus, our forerunner. By His resurrection and ascension He has
entered in! And now we, His younger
brethren, have boldness by the blood of Jesus to enter into the Holiest — but
that is only one half of the divine equation.
“Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest…let us draw near.” It is a call to God’s elect to enter in
through the rent veil, into the place to which the blood has been brought,
where our great high priest lives, where the ineffable glory of the Most High
God shines so brightly, where the golden
pot of manna of His incorruptible life is revealed, where the heavenly law
of His divine nature is disclosed, where
Aaron’s rod signifying His divine priesthood on behalf of all creation
officiates — there to live and walk and work always in the fullness of the
Father!
Christ
Jesus has opened the way into the Holiest of all! This is the full salvation and the full
inheritance of God that belongs to the saints!
Oh, the glory of the message! For
fifteen centuries Israel
had a sanctuary with a most holy place into which, under pains of death, no one
might enter. But now the call goes
forth: Enter in! The veil is rent! The way through has been consecrated for you! God wants to welcome you to His bosom, into
His fullness. Henceforth you are to live
in union with Him. Son of God, daughter
of God, the Father longs for thee to enter in, to know and dwell in His
fullness forevermore! This has been
“present truth” in our generation. Multitudes of God’s elect have received the
call to enter beyond the veil into
the fullness of God! Yet — when the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony is opened
in heaven, something transcendent transpires — the veil is removed! In fact, even the outer covering of
skins that enclose the “sanctuary” is likewise stripped away and the
most holy place of God stands opened, revealed in the heavens! None of the coverings that have concealed His
glory is any longer there. There is no
need for any to have boldness to “enter in beyond the veil,” nor is there any
need for any to “come out from behind the veil.” THERE IS NO MORE VEIL! The temple of God
stands wide open in the heavens of the Spirit, revealed for all to see! It is most solemn to contemplate that no
longer do men only enter in to that most holy place, but there is also released
from thence a mighty transforming ministry right out of that center of holiness
and power!
Ah,
yes, we are the temple of the
living God! The only problem is that
the world has not been able to see the glorious fullness of God in Christ within us because of the veil, the outer
covering of flesh. But here the veil is
removed, the ark of God is seen, the full glory of God is revealed, the sons of
God are manifest (unveiled, uncovered) and
GOD IS SEEN! Just as a curtain opens at
the beginning of a Broadway play revealing the set and the characters in the
play — so God draws back or removes the veil so that no man has to pass through
the veil in order to behold the glory of God.
It is a manifestation, a revelation of the full nature, glory,
and power of God out of His temple of sons!
Oh, God, what a word! But not
only is there glory streaming out of the temple, there are also seven angels
having the seven last plagues. What can
it mean? The Word of God tells us very
plainly that the source of judgment is
the same as the source of mercy. Both flow from the heart of God! Both are essential to His nature. Both can be understood only at the cross of
Jesus Christ. Therefore both are redemptive in character! Chapter fifteen of the Revelation gives the
source of all the judgment messages that follow. God reveals His innermost sanctuary, the
place of His throne, which is also the place of His heart, and shows us that
judgment flows from there. Great is the
mystery!
THE SEVEN ANGELS COME OUT OF THE TEMPLE
“And
the seven angels came out of the temple,
having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their
breasts girded
with golden girdles” (Rev. 15:6).
Let
us now consider one of the significant “keys” to understanding the book of
Revelation. The “revelation” means an
“unveiling” or a “revealing.” This
revelation is given in symbols, and only the spirit of truth from God can
decipher the symbols. The visions were
given to John “in the spirit” and it is only “in the spirit” that understanding
comes. The reasonings of the natural
mind are completely fruitless and entirely futile. There are key words throughout the book. One of the key words is the term
“temple.” We find that word first used in
chapter three, verse twelve, and then appearing a total of sixteen times
throughout the book. When you follow
through you find that God promises to make the overcomer a pillar in the temple of God, God measures the temple, opens the
temple, speaks out of the temple, sends forth the ministry of His messengers
out of the temple, and many other wonderful things. All that happens concerning the temple takes
place in relation to the very same
temple, which temple we are! Understand what is happening to the temple, what’s happening in the temple, what’s happening around the temple, what’s coming forth from the temple, and you will see
clearly what God is doing to His
people, what God is doing in His
people, what God is doing around His
people, and what God is bringing forth out
of the midst of His people. God’s people are His temple people!
John’s
vision now returns to the seven angels with the seven last plagues. The ministry of the symbolic “seven messengers”
streams forth from the precincts of the ark within the temple — from the very
throne of God — from the very heart of God — the heart-throne of mercy and of
judgment. The seven last plagues come out of the temple! It should be plain to any thinking mind
that when we look at these seven last plagues we are not seeing something that
is coming from the Russians,
nor from the Red Chinese, nor from some ecological disaster, nor from some
alien attack from outer space, nor out the bottomless pit, nor from the mouth
of the great red dragon, nor from the antichrist in Israel, for these are
things which proceed out from the very glory
in the temple of God, that is, out from the midst of God’s called and chosen elect!
The vials are indeed
judgment vials — and is it not the saints
who shall judge the world!
Judgment is coming out of God’s temple, but keep in mind, my beloved,
that nothing breaks forth out of the temple
of God
that has not been first worked into
that temple!
Now
consider the scene! The seven messengers
come out of the temple, having the seven last plagues, clothed in pure and
dazzling white linen, and having their breasts
girded with golden girdles. In
consideration of these beautiful truths it will be instructive to look again at
the significant scene in chapter eight of the Revelation. “And I saw seven angels which stood before
God; and to them were given seven trumpets”
(Rev. 8:2). Before God! Before the throne! In the Holiest of all! Is it not clear that the position of these
seven angels with the seven trumpets is
identical with the position of the seven angels with the seven last plagues, as
well as the seven lamps of fire, which are identified as the seven spirits of God? The great truth is that these are the
same seven angels of the seven churches! Therefore, the sound of their trumpets is
a sound that comes out of the midst of God’s elect! Consider this, my beloved. Seven lamps of fire are burning before the
throne, right where the seven angels proceed from. Ah, it is a ministry out from the
midst of God’s elect — seven trumpets —
a seven-fold message. They are sounding
forth a word in the power of the seven-fold anointing of the Spirit! And now they are seven messengers bearing seven
vials of the passion of God — and they go forth again under that same seven-fold anointing! These messengers represent the coming
forth of a powerful proclamation and operation of the Spirit that comes
directly from the throne of God! They
come out of the naos, out of the
innermost shrine of the temple, out from the deepest depths of the divine
Spirit, and out from the manifest presence of the Lord in the temple of His
body, right out of the heart of God in His called and chosen elect. The ministry that goes forth is HIS MINISTRY
— not the programs of man, not the schemes and plans of carnal men building
kingdoms, supposedly for God, but actually for their own ego trip. For this ministry they are anointed to bring
judgment upon God’s carnal people, to bring chastening and purification, to
correct what is wrong in the house of the Lord!
Oh, how wonderful these things are!
As
you follow these seven angels all the way through the book of Revelation, you
find that their relationship is to everything that happens in the three realms
men live in upon earth. They sound the
trumpets that affect the earth-realm.
These same angels pour out their vials into the earth-realm. Follow these seven angels and you will see
how they are identified with every
activity of God that affects the earth-realm!
The vials are God moving in a ministry out of His temple of sons in
a seven-fold dealing to effect the purification of all the people of God yet
dwelling in the low realms of the flesh and the carnal mind — the vast
multitudes of nominal, immature, carnal Christians. Out of this qualified, holy temple of His dwelling proceeds
this ministry.
This
ministry is represented as “seven angels” or “seven messengers” who are dressed
in the garb of priests, they come out of the temple arrayed “in
pure and white linen, and having their breasts
girded with golden girdles.” Nearly all
commentators agree that the description alludes to the vestments of the
priesthood, signifying that they come walking in the nature and power of divine
priesthood, thus denoting a positive work of God rather than a negative
one. The gold around their
breasts represents the divine life and nature; their heart is the heart of
their Father. Such oneness with the
divine nature of God, their ministry is totally righteous, executing the will
of God to perfection and unto victory.
They are not sent to destroy men’s lives, but to deliver, purify,
mature, and transform them!
The
question follows — Why do the messengers come out of the most holy place, out
of the “temple of
the tabernacle of the
testimony” — that is, specifically, out of the place of dwelling of the
“testimony” which is the ark of the covenant. It is designated that it is from the dwelling
place of the ark that the seven messengers come forth bearing the seven
last plagues in which is filled up the wrath or the passion of God. Let us consider with all solemnity this ark
which seems to be the authority, purpose, and power behind the activity of the
seven messengers!
It
is a certain box or chest, not very large, some five feet long and three feet
high and broad, resting in the most holy place.
It had other functions as well, for when Israel traveled through the desert,
the ark always went before them, carried at the head of the procession by the
priests, and all the multitude followed the
ark. It preceded Israel as they entered their
promised land, and was carried before them in all of their battles, gaining the
victory over their enemies. It brought
blessing, power, glory, and triumph wherever it went! It represents a truth — and that truth it
really is, that dwells in the sanctuary and that is moving on before them and
on which their eyes are always fastened for inspiration, hope, direction, and
victory. The central truth of the ark is
that they are God’s chosen people. How can we know this? We know because it is just that — THE ARK OF
THE COVENANT. It is the ark of the “covenant” between
God and His people! God has entered into
covenant with His people, making them uniquely HIS, and the ark is the testimony
of that covenant, the place where God and His people meet and converge. God’s presence, life, nature, glory, and
power in and upon that ark, together with the people following and exalting the
ark, constitutes the covenant between
Yahweh and Israel. That truth — the
union between God and His people — not any mere box of wood and gold — is the reality which leads Israel into the
place of their inheritance!
It
is inside the ark, this truth of their union with God, in the shape of three
sacred and venerable objects — two stone tablets, upon which God had written
His law, a golden pot of manna miraculously preserved, and a rod with buds upon
it which had been the divine evidence of His priesthood among them in the house
of Aaron. God’s law, that is, His nature; God’s incorruptible life; and God’s divine
priesthood, order, selection, and anointing
— those are the SPIRITUAL REALITIES represented within the ark of the
Lord’s covenant. These are the power
within His covenant with His people!
The power of God’s covenant with you, my beloved, lies in His nature,
His life, and His ordination. Apart from
these you can never
be
the people of God! What
qualifies you as a son of God is the inworking of His divine nature, His
incorruptible life, and His mighty hand of dealing. This is the “ark” of His covenant! These three realities grouped together within
the ark constitute the one truth — that God is our God and we are His people,
the expression and manifestation of Himself in the earth! He has taken us for Himself, we belong to one
another, He is our inheritance, we are His image and glory, His life is our
life, His heart is our heart, His mind is our mind, His nature is our nature,
and His purpose is our purpose. His land
is our land! In Israel of old, it was that truth
which they set at the head of their army; around that truth the silver trumpets
blew; behind it the whole multitude of people marched;
and when they camped that truth was set at the very center of their
encampment. They followed after it all
the day-time, and they clustered around it all the night. No wonder that the ark in which the symbols
of that great and eternal truth were enshrined came to be as God present in
their midst! When it was lifted up it
was indeed
God rising to go against His enemies and
theirs. When it was set down upon the
ground it was God Himself planting Himself among the many thousands of Israel. Oh, the wonder of it!
And
now, how far off all this seems! How
long ago, how far away this caravan of Israelites
trampling along through the weary sand between Egypt and the Promised Land, with
their strange ark borne along before them!
But if we have really got what the picture means, and if you have really
minds and hearts to look not at the symbol across the ocean and across the
millenniums, but to grasp the spiritual
reality it conveys to us, I hope to
make you see in that procession following the ark the picture of the new
covenant now established between God and His spiritual people, the
picture of a life reconciled, sanctified, regenerated, quickened, begotten
again, covenanted, given away and dedicated to God, a people joined to the Lord
as one spirit, His very own sons, to bear His image, to manifest HIM in the
earth, and bring His kingdom to pass.
The
soul led and protected by its covenant with God — that, then, is what the ark
represents. I think we often hesitate at
that word “covenant.” It has an ancient
sound. It was a word under which
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob conceived
their relationship with God. It was also
the arrangement between the nation of Israel and Yahweh. But now it often seems as if the word had a
hard kind of “contractual” sound about it.
It would seem to us as if God is standing and weighing out His love and
blessing, grain by grain, against the scrupulously exacted equivalent which man
is called upon to render. It seems to
miss the whole idea of freedom and spontaneousness which we rather love to make
prominent in the thought of our relationship with God. It seems as though God is saying, “If you
will keep up your end of the deal I will keep up mine, we’ve got a contract you
know, and I’m going to hold you to it.”
It appears as though our relationship with God is performance
based. It demands too much self-effort
and places too much responsibility upon us to measure up to God’s
requirements.
Yet,
is it not true that it is impossible for God to do anything for man, without
man’s meeting God with a response? Is it
not true that we must “yield” ourselves under the mighty hand of God, in order for
Him to exalt us? God smote Saul of
Tarsus down on the road to Damascus
and chose him as a special vessel unto His purpose, but did not Saul respond,
saying, “Lord, what will you have me to do?”
The Lord instructed him to go into the city and perform certain things,
and Saul arose and obeyed, and became the great apostle God had chosen him to
be. That is covenant!
God cannot bless and use a people unless the people are obedient. God cannot speak to a soul unless that soul
will listen. God cannot lead a man
unless that man will follow. “As many as
are led by the Spirit of God, they
are the sons of God,” — not “as many as are pushed, shoved, or compelled!” The kingdom of God
is embodied in this reality of necessary mutualness in the relationship of God
and man — covenant. “Draw near to me,
and I will draw near to you.” “Do this,
and you shall live.” “If you will be my
people, then I will be your
God.” “I will be a Father to you, and ye
shall be my sons and my daughters.”
“The marriage of the Lamb is come, for
His wife hath made herself ready.” “Ask
and it shall be given, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened
unto you.” In every case, for God and
man to come together both must do something, God cannot meet live men as the
sunlight strikes a dead rock, merely giving itself to what is helpless, but as
the sunlight strikes a live tree which must open to receive its bounty. There is no covenant with the rock. There is a covenant with the tree!
Jesus
is called “the mediator of the new
covenant.” Ah, the believer has
entered into a covenant with God! It is
a great and precious truth. What does it
mean? Jesus said of this covenant, “This
is the new covenant in my blood.” Therein lies the secret power of this
covenant! “In my blood” signifies the
power of HIS LIFE. “The life of the flesh is in the blood.” Blood denotes life — and the new covenant
is not a written, dry, cold contract on paper.
Oh, no! This covenant is in
His blood, in the power of HIS DIVINE LIFE! It is a LIVING CONTRACT, binding by the
energy of a united life as we are made
one in Him. “He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit” — that is
the Living Covenant! “For this is the
covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord;
I will put my laws into their mind, and
write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to
me a people…” (Heb. 8:10).
That
is a man’s covenant-consciousness under the new covenant. The covenant is in the power of His indwelling life. It is not the tablets of the law in a wood
and gold box, but the power of His divine nature released in a people! It is not a golden pot of manna in the ark,
it is His incorruptible life raised up within us! It is not Aaron’s
rod that budded laid in a chest in the most holy place, rather it is His anointed ministry imparted into our
lives by the power of the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven! And when a man becomes aware that out of that
inward covenant where God has met and joined with him in the depths of his
being is arising the impulse and destiny of his life; that what is keeping him,
guiding him, empowering him, and filling him with understanding, wisdom, faith,
joy, righteousness, and power all issues from His union with God in the spirit —
that man has himself become the “ark”
of the covenant!
When
our spiritual mind begins to comprehend that God has entered into a living
covenant with all His people, then we are able to understand clearly why God
would send His seven-angels-ministry to pour out the vials of plagues upon His
people. We are living in the hour when
God has a controversy with His people because they are not keeping the covenant!
He is leading, but they are not following! Untold millions of the Lord’s redeemed people
are carelessly and ignorantly living beneath their privileges. He is speaking, but they are not
listening. He is calling, but they are
not responding! God’s people are
destroyed for lack of knowledge, for those who spread the table before them feed
them the husks of God’s word, and not the corn. He has redeemed them for a purpose, but they
have other plans. They expect to be
blessed, but will not be obedient. They
have polluted the sanctuary, they have walked after the flesh instead of the
spirit, they have mistaken the soulical for the spiritual, they have loved the
outward forms of religion while despising the reality, having a form of
godliness they deny the power thereof, they have chosen law over life, error
over truth, and have broken the covenant of life which would draw them into the
Holiest of all.
Therefore
the Lord will come to His people as a refiner’s fire and as fuller’s soap; and
He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and He shall purge the sons
of Levi, and purify them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord
an offering in righteousness (Mal. 3:1-3).
This is also the ministry of the seven angels and the seven
plagues! Purging is getting rid of
unwanted and unnecessary material. When
Hitler came to power in Germany
he instituted a “purging” of the government.
He cast out all those who were not in favor of his agenda and whom he
believed he could not trust to cooperate completely with him. Those were put out of office. When a conspiracy to get rid of him was
discovered there was another purge.
Those involved in the purge were not just relieved of their
responsibilities, they were executed. Every
time there was a change of leadership in the old Soviet
Union there was a purge of the high officials. Many were demoted to a lesser office, some
were retired altogether, while others were promoted to higher positions of
power. Some were even put to death. This is what is called a “purge.”
The
Lord comes forth out of His holy place to purge
and to purify His people! The only difference is that in this purge He
is not getting rid of some of His people, but He is getting rid of the one
man who is deceiving and polluting His people — old Adam.
Oh, yes! It is the old Adamic man with his
carnal mind, his human mentality, his earthly desires, his fleshly ways, his
distorted vision, his vain philosophies, his soulish religion, his demonic lies
and deceptions — this is the man He comes to purge away!
Purging and purification are simply the PROCESS OF ELIMINATION. The fiery ordeal does not make the silver any
better or any more silver than it already is.
The intense heat of the furnace
does not improve the quality of the gold.
It merely removes the impurities so that the gold is pure — unmixed with the dross of no
value.
The
message is just this: If you are a carnal Christian living below God’s high
purpose for you — breaking His living covenant of righteousness, glory, wisdom,
and power — THE SEVEN ANGELS HAVING THE SEVEN LAST PLAGUES ARE COMING AFTER YOU!
To
be continued… J. PRESTON EBY