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"Teaching the things concerning the kingdom of God..."
FROM THE CANDLESTICK TO THE THRONE
Part 34
THE CHURCH IN EPHESUS
(continued)
“But this thou hast, that
thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes,
which I also hate” (Rev. 2:6). “So
thou hast also them that hold the doctrine
of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate” (Rev. 2:15).
When the Lord was showing John on Patmos what the seven churches would be
like, He commended the church at Ephesus because they hated the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which the Lord also detested.
In Pergamos, the third church, these deeds
had become accepted doctrine, which the Lord also hated.
When a name appears in the scriptures its meaning sheds light upon the
spiritual reality behind the name. What
are these Nicolaitanes? We
understand when we know what the name means!
Nicolaitane comes from two Greek words: nikao,
which means “to rule over” or “to conquer,” and laos,
which means “the laity” or “the people.”
Put these definitions together and you get a domineering ruling class
within the body of Christ whose main agenda is to get the upper hand, conquer,
subordinate, and subdue those who they consider “less gifted,” “less
knowledgeable,” or “less qualified” than themselves!
In the religious world there are those called “clergy” and there are
those who are called “laity.” These
are titles that have come to us from religious Babylon!
What were the “deeds” of the Nicolaitanes? They were exalting the “clergy” over the “laity”!
The clergy class were dominating the laity, the people.
The clergy exalted themselves whereas
the laity were abased. The clergy
became the authority, the power, the lordship in the church.
They became the fountain of all truth, they had the last word, they
called all the shots. The rest of
us poor folks are just “laity,” the dumb sheep that just follow and do what
we are told.
When there is a great move of God there always follows a move of man.
I have been blessed by God’s grace to be a part of some great moves of
God that came into the earth in former years.
These were sovereign moves of the Holy Spirit, and He moved upon those He
chose to move upon. What glory
there was! What power!
What manifestations of the Spirit! What
revelation of the Lord in the midst! What discernment by the Spirit!
What liberty for the Holy Ghost to work! What love and respect for one another! It was God overflowing men beyond themselves.
Well do I remember the day when the revival reached a certain point and a
meeting was called. Some of the
spiritual leaders had reached the conclusion that having begun in the Spirit we now needed to be made perfect by the flesh. Oh,
that’s not how they expressed it! They
had reached the conclusion that because of the increase in the work of God we
needed a little more cohesion and structure.
It was imperative upon us to take some measures to “protect” the work
of God from certain extremes, from the immature, from false doctrine, and from
the wolves. In that decisive moment
the long arm of flesh reached out in the
name of the Lord to put its clammy hand to the beautiful work of the Spirit! As this effort was organized the deeds of the Nicolaitanes became the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes and a new man-made “order” was
inaugurated. I do not hesitate to
tell you that I fled from their midst as fast as my legs would carry me, never
to return! Today there is barely a
flicker of the revelation and glory of those former days.
Man seeks by the wisdom of the carnal mind and by fleshly means to protect
and control the move of God — supposedly to keep it pure, to safeguard
it, to preserve and maintain the status quo, and to keep out all who are not
worthy. As soon as man puts his
hand to the move, the Spirit flees, the anointing lifts, and the glory departs!
Soon there is no life anymore — everything becomes organized,
structured, controlled, systematized, just a going through the motions of what
was once a beautiful flow of life and light and power.
This concept of the “authority” of God’s ministers shows up after
every new moving of the Spirit of God in the earth!
It is showing up now among sonship and kingdom people!
The phraseology changes from time to time, but the basic concepts remain
the same. But whatever the
phraseology or methodology, it is still THE
DEEDS AND DOCTRINE OF THE NICOLAITANES!
Where, then, is safety to be
found? Safety lies only in such a
recognition of the absolute folly of the control
of leaders and the utter apostasy of
the religious systems of man as will lead us to pass by all merely human authority, tradition, and methods to seek only and
always the divine illumination and sovereign guidance of the Holy Spirit of God!
Nor do we exclude ourselves from the list of those who should not be
followed. We are human as the rest
and our works are not yet perfect before God, though we follow after, if by any
means we may apprehend that for which also we have been apprehended of God.
We do hope that all who read these lines may be able to grant us this one
grace — the highest compliment that we can crave — that the burden of our
message is to point all men to a personal,
living relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and to the infallibility of the mind of Christ within each one who has received the spirit of sonship!
The following prophetic utterance given through sister Alma McClure
speaks directly to our hearts. “O, look not ye to another, saith the Lord, the holy One of Israel!
You are MY sheep; you have been purchased by MY love and sacrifice!
I am the Good Shepherd, who has loved you with an everlasting love! LOOK TO ME! For
I am a jealous God, and I will not share my glory with another!
Why do you look to man, and heap upon him honor and glory?
Why do you look to your human pastors, preachers, prophets, and writers
as though they were the source of
your salvation, your sustenance, your life?
Why do you look up to them with reverence, with praise, with pride in
them, and swoon at their feet, calling them wonderful,
marvelous, mighty men and women of God?
Why will you follow after men, rather than after ME? Why will you be blinded by their personalities, their
eloquence, their own soulish enthusiasm, which you accept as my anointing?
“O my people!
You are MY PEOPLE, and the sheep of MY PASTURE!
Return, return unto ME! You
have your eyes on those who are or should be MY SERVANTS!
You do not even realize that your eyes, your thoughts and your hearts are
not centered and focused on ME! You
think you keep your eyes on me, but so often, in reality, your eyes have strayed
off-center, and although you are aware of me, and your songs contain my name,
and your words include praise to me — yet you have let some man or woman step
in front of me! You look to the man
to speak for me, and have your eyes on him!
“Know you not that when you give
glory to man, you are not only opening yourselves for deception, but you are
setting that man up for a fall? You
are placing that one in a dangerous position, for the Lord must cause that one
to come down from his pedestal! Any
spark of pride that may be hidden in his heart will be fed and grow dangerously
by YOUR praise and exaltation of that man or woman!
Awake, thou that sleepest, and return unto ME! I, alone, am your Good Shepherd!
Come to ME, and I will feed you with the bread of life, and honey out of
the Rock! I shall give you the
water of Life, and cause that water to be a living well within you, springing up
to satisfy your thirst, and to flow out to bring life to needy souls around you!
O, come unto ME, and I will give you all that you need!
I will raise up faithful shepherds, who will feed you, and will take no
glory for themselves. They will
continually point you to ME, and you will no longer say, ‘Isn’t this man (or
woman) wonderful!’ But you will
see only ME, and say, ‘Wonderful, wonderful Saviour, Redeemer, the Most High,
who is King of my life!’ And you
shall worship ME, in Spirit and in Truth!”
Those seeking power want to control, to rule over others. They want to take charge and get their way.
They’re not interested in leading
by example, by humility, love, counsel, mercy, goodness and the anointing of
the Spirit. They manipulate and
maneuver to be in a position of authority so they can control others and coerce
them to get in line with their vision.
Though some accomplish this as masters of deceit, hiding the real truth
behind a façade of pious words and pretended spirituality, their domineering
spirit becomes evident when those who are supposed to follow don’t, but go on
to follow the leading of the Spirit. “Anathema!”
cries the ruler. “Rebellion!”
cries the tyrant. “Zap!” goes
the whip. Power people have little
tolerance for people who persist in seeking the mind of the Lord. The religious ranks are swollen with these power grabbers!
Authoritarianism is not confined to denominations.
It simply appears wherever and whenever prideful, though sincere, men are
in authority. Though it has
recently resurged under various titles and guises, such as “shepherd,”
“bishop,” “set man,” etc., it is an error that will sap the life of
God’s saints wherever it gains control. From
generation to generation it surfaces under different names, but its three basic
tenets remain the same: (1) When we speak, it is God speaking.
(2) To resist our authority is to resist God’s authority. (3) Those resisters must be marked as independent,
rebellious, and divisive; and must in turn be withstood and publicly denounced
and humiliated.
There are precious life-giving ministries in the body of Christ!
God is raising up faithful under-shepherds who care for the Lord’s
people and serve the elect of God. These
minister in the Spirit and by the Spirit in love, humility, and grace.
Some of the so-called “offices” have been greatly abused! In both the Old and New Testaments the word for
“shepherd” and “pastor” is the same word in Hebrew and Greek.
A pastor is simply a shepherd, and a shepherd is a pastor, both naturally
and spiritually. The Spirit of God
has dealt with me deeply and consistently through many years that the Lord’s
people should purge their conversation, purify their terminology, and remove
from their thinking processes the multitude of unscriptural expressions carried
over from Mystery Babylon. We have
both parroted and coined a great many terms that have been so misleading and
have led us astray from the way of the Spirit.
We, like the babes in the harlot’s house, often refer to a minister of
the gospel as “the pastor” of our church, or some other congregation of
saints. To hear all the Christians
today constantly talking about “our pastor,” “their pastor,” “your
pastor,” “my pastor,” and “the pastor,” one would certainly be led to
believe this position of “the pastor” must indeed be one of the cardinal
doctrines and most highly acclaimed offices in the New Testament!
The fact is, precious friend of mine, the term “the pastor” is
entirely foreign to the Word of God
and non-existent in the early church!
It is an extra-biblical term! There
was no one single man in the whole New Testament writings who ever occupied a
position called “the pastor.” Not
one church raised up by the first apostles had any such ministry as “the
pastor.” Oh, yes, there were “pastors” plural (Eph. 4:11)
mentioned only once in the whole New
Testament, but no single minister of God was ever elevated to the position of
“the pastor” of an assembly!
There is a good reason for this! You
see, the truth is that in every case in the Greek New Testament where the word
for pastor (poimen) appears in the
singular accompanied by the definite article (the), it is used in reference solely
to our Lord Jesus Christ! Thus,
He alone is THE PASTOR of the flock, THE SHEPHERD of the sheep!
The sweet singer of Israel stated it so aptly in his lovely Psalm when he
sang out by the spirit of inspiration, “The LORD
is MY SHEPHERD!” That is the same
as, “The LORD is MY PASTOR!”
But tell a so-called pastor that today, and he will charge you with
rebellion! Can we not see by this
that any man who takes to himself this title “the
pastor,” thereby usurps the headship of our precious Lord!
And those groups who have plural ministry, but one among them is
designated “the senior pastor,” “head elder,” or some other such title,
usurp even more blasphemously the position of
the Lord Jesus, since these terms are the spiritual equivalent of
“Chief Shepherd.” And the Lord
alone is the Chief Shepherd! (I Pet. 5:4).
I instructed the brethren among whom I labored in years past that they
should never call me “the pastor” or “their pastor” because the Lord
alone is The Pastor!
I may be “a pastor” but I can never be THE PASTOR!
The saints were taught that if one came inquiring after “the pastor”
they should be told that the pastor is the Lord.
If they were asked, “Who is the pastor here?” they should reply,
“The Lord is the pastor here!” Should
the inquirer press the point they could then explain that brother Eby is one of
the ministries in the body, but THE LORD IS THE
PASTOR. God’s people, even
the called out elect, have been so saturated, so thoroughly brain-washed in the
errors of the carnal church systems of man, until we speak by rote the
ridiculous absurdities assimilated in the pews of religious Babylon.
How astounded we are when once we learn the truth and discover that the
cherished teaching or hallowed practice we have unwittingly assumed
to be godly and spiritual is not only unfounded in the Word of God, but is an
abomination in the sight of God!
My beloved, if ever you hope to reign with Christ YOU MUST BECOME
SUBMITTED TO THE AUTHORITY OF GOD IN THE SPIRIT — THE SHEPHERD OF ISRAEL.
And I’m not talking about coming to El Paso and submitting to my
ministry, or to any other man, or group of men.
It is amazing how “man” conscious even many who have received the
call to sonship still are!
They are looking for a man, a leader, a star, who can bring them into the
fullness of Christ, into immortality and the kingdom.
There is such a man, my friend — His name is Jesus!
Certainly we should walk in love and humility with our brethren,
“submitting ourselves one to another in the fear of God” (Eph. 5:21).
But there is only ONE HEAD of the body — the man
Christ Jesus! Some time ago I was
speaking at a Conference and it had been announced that I wouldn’t be able to
be there. At the last minute the
Spirit spoke to me that I should go. When
I walked in one of the brethren said, “A lot of people who didn’t come
because they thought you wouldn’t be here are going to be disappointed.” I replied, “That’s good
for them!” They shouldn’t be
following a man — they should be gathering
together unto HIM!
There are men in this word of the kingdom who would lead you to believe
that they alone have the words of life, they among all God’s prophets have the
true, deeper, spiritual, mystical revelation that will lead the sons to
perfection and immortality. Not
discerning the Lord’s body, elevating their word and their ministry above all
the Lord’s brethren, they draw disciples after themselves. But I tell you the truth and I lie not when I say that no
man can minister to you that which he himself does not possess.
If a man tells you that he possesses the secret and the truth by which
you can save your life and possess physical immortality, yet he himself has
neither stopped nor reversed the aging process, only a fool would commit his
life into his hands. Ah — there
is ONE, my beloved, who HAS STOPPED THE AGING PROCESS, WHO HAS CONQUERED DEATH,
WHO IS ALIVE FOREVERMORE, and this One holds the Key, He knows the Secret, He
Himself IS the Truth, and I must tell you today HE, AND HE ALONE, HAS THE WORDS
OF ETERNAL LIFE! All true
ministries in the body of Christ bear one signal mark of distinction: they do
not draw followers after themselves, they point
all men to the Lord; they do not set themselves up as the last word, the
only truth, they do not ask you to submit to them, or follow them to the
exclusion of the other ministries in this present truth, but they present you
unto HIM WHO IS THE HEAD OVER ALL THINGS TO THE CHURCH, WHICH IS HIS BODY.
I speak the truth when I say that the greatest need in this hour is for
the called out people of God to truly KNOW THE LORD FOR THEMSELVES.
Let all who treasure the beautiful hope of sonship seek God, and walk
with God, and know God, and hear from God, and submit to Him in all His ways,
yielding to His will, obeying His word, and God Himself will be your Father and
you will sup with Him, and He with you. Ask
the guidance of the Holy Spirit, thrust yourself in utter abandonment upon His
love and care, and before you realize it you will find yourself digging deep in
the storehouse of God’s treasures of wisdom and knowledge and sitting with Him
at His banqueting table. He will
spread a table before you in the presence of your enemies, He will lead you
through green pastures; He will reveal to you fountains of living water flowing from within; He will cause you to rest beside cool, still streams;
and HE, the Great Shepherd of the sheep will abide with you and your cup will
overflow with the unspeakable riches of His grace and the wonder of His glory,
wisdom, and power!
Clearly, the most faithful under-shepherd is not the Great Shepherd of
the sheep. Under-shepherds do not lead the flock! Every
flock has only one shepherd. The
under-shepherds bring up the sides and the rear to make sure that every sheep follows
the shepherd! Those who are
closest to the Lord, who know Him best, and are more deeply conformed to His
image, can only direct the searching soul to the Lord.
They can never satisfy the hunger of the heart that is going out after
Him. How we praise God for all the
help we have received through every chosen vessel that He has used to draw us
onward toward Him, and into a deeper relation to Himself.
With what gratitude to God do we remember those whom He has used to point
out to us a nearer approach to the reality of God. How tenderly we look back upon every faithful servant and
child of His, who brought us new light, who stirred within us a deeper hunger
for God, who opened to us an understanding of His great plan and purpose in us,
who provoked us to holy jealousy and emulation through their godly lives.
How we praise God for those who warned and instructed us through the
exhortation and admonition that they gave in the hour of need, or in times of
weakness or immaturity. How our
hunger for Reality, abandonment to God’s will, and desire to follow the Lamb
all the way to mount Zion, have been increased as we have seen that mysterious
light which radiates from the spirits of those who have soared with Him into the
heavenly heights. While we thank
God for every instrument He uses in our lives, how little one or all of these
precious ones can be, compared with our Beloved, if in any way they take His
place and draw us to themselves rather than to Himself.
We must esteem every servant and instrument of God “exceeding highly in
love for their work’s sake,” but we must never permit them to usurp the
place of the Good and Great Shepherd in our lives and affections.
Therefore the elect of God in this hour have no desire for an
under-shepherd to lead them; and when
they do not yield to them, they appear as though they were a stranger.
But that is not it at all — it is that the Lord Himself is becoming ALL
to us!
The following confirmatory words are from Elaine Cook. “During the summer there are always numerous
‘gatherings’ being held. Some
have ‘stars’ that you simply must hear! I was praying about this and the Lord answered me.
‘In those in whom I am now coming forth, there are no
‘stars’ so-claimed by men. It
is a meek and lowly people — so hidden away and obscure that their names have
never been heard in ‘the spiritual market place.’
They are not known for special giftings or mighty prophetic words, but they know Me. This
is the standard for My ‘mighties’ of this day — they that know
Me! It matters not at all if
they are known and acclaimed of man, or even if their brethren know them not.
‘The Lord knoweth them that are His.’
‘And I know who is paying
the price to receive the glory of My nature.
“‘My church does not yet realize that they must become nothing before they can have My true
power working in them. The
power of gifts is not from the nature
of man. It is from the gift that I have given unto the man. I am preparing those who look not for outward gifts to show their spirituality, but whose nature is like Mine because they have been submissive to
letting the fire do its work until the strength of the natural man has been
utterly subdued. These are My Man in the earth
— even that man that is as the fine
gold of Ophir. Look for no other man
to arise but this one. You shall know them by the nature
that has been inworked into them at great
cost’” — end quote.
We are still speaking of the deeds
and doctrine of the NICOLAITANES — those who would subvert you, rule over you, and
control your walk in God. The true
church is made up of people who have been quickened by the Spirit and made alive
in Christ — not denominations, meetings, or programs.
These people can have fellowship one with another, but their spiritual
walks are individual paths, sovereignly directed by their heavenly Father.
Today, the hierarchical structure of the church systems has grown into a
monster that exercises a lordship over the souls of men.
When one bows down to a code of limited doctrines, worldly organization,
and hierarchical domination, he despises God’s ever-expanding revelation,
denies the leadership of the Spirit in his life, and forfeits his own spiritual
inheritance.
Walking out your spiritual life under the domination of Nicolaitanism is
the repudiation of one’s walk in the liberty and power of the Spirit of God
within. The control from the
pulpit, the structured programs, orchestrated worship, and formulated creeds are
the cataracts of spiritual vision. They
make you blind to the on-going purposes of God and the unfolding glory of God!
Yielding to their authority is the numbing of the mind of Christ within
you. It is your acceptance of
serfdom and your abdication of sonship. When
you bow to the puppets of Babylon you can never move beyond the little patch of
salvation that they control! Under
the dominion of “lords” you disavow your submission to Christ the Head,
relinquish your personal responsibility to the Father, cast away your spiritual
birthright, and sell your soul into servitude.
Still, most Christians today prefer the comfort of vassalage in the great
slave camps of Babylon, rather than to walk freely with God and develop into
spiritual kings and priests. This
domination produces children who never grow up!
As babes at the breast they are ever dependent upon a suckling church.
Thirty years later they will be sitting in the same pew, believing the
same things, going through the same motions, standing up when they are told to
stand, sitting when they are told to sit, singing when they are told to sing,
clapping when they are told to clap, and getting all their life from the actors
on the platform. They never learn
to feed themselves or stand tall and strong in the kingdom of God!
THAT, my beloved, is why the Lord hates
the deeds of the Nicolaitanes! That
is why I hate the deeds of the
Nicolaitanes! That is why every
overcoming son of God hates, detests,
abhors, and loathes the deeds of
the Nicolaitanes! To the saints in
Pergamos the Lord said, in regard to them that held the doctrine of the
Nicolaitanes, “Repent, or I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight
against them with the sword of my mouth” (Rev. 2:16).
The “sword of the Lord’s mouth” is His anointed, living WORD! The
Lord Himself is now arising in us to fight against the deeds and doctrine of the
Nicolaitanes by the word of the Lord! Through
the power and might of HIS WORD, the Lord will destroy the evil influences of
these “blind leaders” and will bring deliverance to His people. But,
in the meantime, all true sons of God will have OVERCOME THE DEEDS AND DOCTRINE
OF THE NICOLAITANES! Not one of
God’s sons will be found in the bondage of man’s spiritual domination, for
they will have overcome that bondage, as we read, “He that hath an ear let him
hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; TO HIM THAT OVERCOMETH WILL I GIVE
TO EAT OF THE HIDDEN MANNA…” (Rev. 2:17).
Indeed, God has “hidden manna” for His overcomers who are able to overcome
the deeds and doctrine of the Nicolaitanes.
This ‘hidden manna” is new
spiritual food that is reserved only for those who dwell in the Most Holy
Place of His Glory! Therefore, the
overcomers who overcome the deeds and
doctrine of the Nicolaitanes are seen worshipping WITHIN THE HOLIEST OF ALL.
Amy Semple McPherson was a woman mightily used of God in the early part
of the twentieth century. Many
remarkable prophecies came from her lips and some of them are as timeless as the
prophecies of the scriptures. Here I would share a few that have special
significance for God’s elect in these days.
These prophecies cover the entire period of church history, from the days
of the early church all the way to the manifestation of the sons of God.
THE SIEVE OF THE LORD. Behold,
two hands — strong hands — hands of the Lord; and in His hands is a sieve.
He is sifting, sifting, sifting His people.
Once they were small, and but as dust — then could God use them, but
when they ceased to be small and helpless, when they gathered themselves
together in separated lumps, they became big and hard and unyielding, and the
Lord wept over them. He could no
longer mold or shape or fashion them. There
were the lumps of unbelief, and the lumps of pride; those lumps of self and
doubts and fears; those lumps of formality and ceremony; God could not put them
into the body. He could not form
them into that glorious body, for they were no longer yielded and submissive in
His hands. Once they were small,
but now harder and harder and wider the lumps had grown, until they were blind,
deaf and dumb and slow of understanding. Then
were formed the lumps of organization and Catholicism.
Oh, the stiffness and hardness of those lumps! “I must break them; I must smite them with the hammer of my
Word. I must have a broken, sifted
people through whom I can have my way. I
must separate a peculiar people unto myself.”
THE GREAT SIEVE. Behold the
hands of the Lord. He put the
broken lumps into the great sieve He held in His hands.
The sieve had large meshes, and as He did shake and begin the work of
separation, many of the smaller lumps and dust went through the sieve.
Many hearts were broken and contrite under His dealings; but the bigger
lumps of doubts and fears and unbelief, He had to throw them away.
He loved His people, but those who would not become broken, He had to
throw aside. Many went through the
sieve in those early days. Many of
the smaller lumps passed through the coarse sieve, but they were still hard and
lumpy.
THE SECOND SIEVE. So He made
another sieve of smaller meshes, and put in His people, who had passed through
the first sieve.
He shook them and tried them, separated them and sifted them.
Many rebelled and refused to go through, so He had to lay them aside.
But some went through this second sieve, and precious were they in His
sight. Those who went through the
sieve had to go through the world. They
had to let go one of another; they had to let go of themselves and of the
opinions of people. Those who
passed through the sieve had to let go all foolishness and pride.
O, that sifting — that separating!
The Lord gathered them in His hands.
There were still a few little lumps.
They were still His people; but those who would not believe and be
broken, He had to throw aside.
THE FINE SIEVE. Those who
had gone through the sieve were not sifted fine enough, nor little enough to be
molded, so the Lord made for Himself a still finer sieve.
Who can understand the plan of the Lord? Into the finer sieve He put His people, and He is sifting and
trying people, who will let Him have His way.
All doubts and fears must be eliminated. All selfishness, the old nature, all desire for earthly
honor, popularity, and recognition, must be taken away. All hardness, stiffness, and stubbornness must be taken away.
All flesh, even good flesh, must be left behind.
All selfish ambitions, all gossip, all earthly, idle words, and foolish
communication, all falseness and shallowness, and desire for earthly leadership,
must be gathered together and cast out. His people He will try again!
He will sift them the second, the third time. The fourth time and the fifth time shall He sift His people.
Ah! He shall have a people
who can go through the finest sieve — pass the finest test, whose hearts are
broken, whose spirits are mellow and yielded and who are abandoned to His will.
He shall gather them together; not a grain shall be lost. But He shall gather His people together from the East and
from the West, from the North and from the South — from the uttermost part of
the earth He shall gather them in. He
shall hold and mold them in the palm of His hand as fine dust.
Once the lumps were large. They
were big and great, but He could not use them.
His people are a peculiar, sifted, tried people, who are as the dust of
His glorious feet; and with that dust He
shall form a body, even as He did from Adam in the beginning, so shall He
form this body. They shall be
yielded in His hands; they shall be pliable under His dealings.
He shall make them into members of the body and fasten them together with
cords of love.
FORMING THE BODY. The Head
shall be joined to the neck — the neck to the shoulders.
The arms shall take their places in the sockets, and they shall not be
stiff, but shall be oiled, and soft and mellow with the Spirit.
Their breasts shall be of Faith and Love, and shall be full.
All the parts of the Body shall be in their places.
The spine shall be formed together, and the loins shall be formed and
rest in their sockets. From yielded
dust shall be formed strong limbs — legs and pillars of marble, not to be
removed. Of the humble members
shall He form the feet; they shall be humble, and bear about the other members,
yet without feet the body could not walk.
GIVING LIFE TO THE BODY. Then
shall He breathe upon this body — upon His yielded, slain people. He shall breathe life into the nostrils.
They shall walk not by flesh, but by the Spirit of the Lord.
They shall be strong and do exploits!
From the Head shall grow the long hair of separation and praise to God
— not one missing.
COMING TO THE BODY. Soon He
cometh! Ah, soon He cometh — this
King of glory. His sifted, humble,
tried people shall He take by the hand, and stand them upon their feet — many
members, one Body, and catch them up to reign with Him upon His throne!
“He that hath an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches…” (Rev. 2:7).
Some years ago Harvard astronomers dialed outer space and have been
listening for an answer. Their ear,
eighty-five feet in diameter, is a receiving dish located near Boston. According to a column in USA
Today, this endeavor is the most extensive search ever conducted for
intelligent life in outer space. The
project is using a sophisticated, computerized radio receiver that allows the
scientists to listen and to analyze 128,000 frequencies at once, twenty-four
hours a day. Whether this project
is still running I don’t know, but listening for intelligent messages from the
heavens is an exercise that EVERY SON OF GOD IS ENGAGED IN EVERY DAY!
Jesus said, “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith.”
So what was the Lord saying? Each
person has two ears — one on each side of his head.
But He wasn’t talking about a natural ear! He was talking about a spiritual ear! He was talking about an individual who has the ability to hear
what the Spirit is saying from the heavens of God’s Spirit!
We can all hear what man is saying, but only one with a spiritual ear can
hear what the Spirit is saying! How
important it is that we HEAR ARIGHT!
I am reminded of the story of the man who found himself one day in total,
abject poverty. Having nothing to
eat and no place to spend the night, he knocked on the door of a very big house,
in the rich suburb, confident that here he could get a free meal.
When the man answered the door he said, “Sir, I’m hungry.
Can you give me a meal?” The
man said, “No, I will not do that. What
I will do is give you an opportunity to earn it.
Wait here.” A few moments
later the rich man came back with a can of paint and a brush and said, “Here
you are. You go around the back of
the house. You’ll see a porch
there. I want you to paint it.
When it’s finished you come back here, ring the bell, give me the paint
and the brush and I’ll give you a meal.” Only a very short time elapsed.
The front doorbell rang. The
rich man answered it. There was the
poor man saying, “I finished the job, now can I have my meal?”
The man said, “You have painted the whole porch already?”
“Yes, the only thing is, sir, it wasn’t a Porche — it was a
Mercedes!”
How often have heard the Lord like that!
Because of our dullness of hearing, our lack of spiritual understanding,
we misinterpreted the will of God and went down a path not of His bidding.
Many of the Lord’s people are like the story I read about Jack Harris.
Jack became convinced he was losing his hearing.
He went to a specialist, who gave him a thorough checkup.
The doctor pulled out a gold watch and asked, “Can you hear this
ticking?” Harris said, “Of
course.” The doctor walked to the
door and held up the watch again. “Now
can you hear it?” Harris
concentrated and said, “Yes, I can hear it clearly.”
The doctor then walked out the door and into the next room and said,
“Can you hear it now?” Harris
said, “Yes.” The doctor said,
“Mr. Harris, there’s nothing wrong with your hearing.
You just don’t listen.”
It is true — at times we just don’t
listen to the Spirit because we are tuned in to our soul, to our own
desires, to the voices of strangers, to the world, or to our own natural
understanding. The carnal mind is
exceedingly dull and spiritually retarded so that truth
cannot penetrate! The carnal mind
is exactly like the man in a story I read once which told of an Englishman who
long ago went on horseback to a certain village to collect a sum of money.
As he was returning with his gold tied to his saddle, he stopped at the
roadside at noon to eat his lunch. With
him was his faithful dog who was his constant companion.
He untied the sack of gold and set it beside him that it might not be out
of his reach at any time. After he
had eaten, he fell asleep for a few moments.
Then he mounted his horse and continued his journey.
But he forgot his gold. The
dog began to run in front of the horse and bark and turn back, but the man went
on his way. Then the dog began
frantically to snap at the horses heels and turn back.
But still his master did not understand. At last he decided that his dog had gone mad.
With great reluctance he turned in his saddle
and shot the dog through the head. The
faithful beast looked at him with questioning eyes; then he dropped in his
tracks, and the man went on his way.
Oh, yes!
That is just the spirit of religion and the carnal mind!
It views the voice of the Spirit and the revelation of Truth as some kind
of “madness” and often through history the church systems chose to “shoot
the messenger” rather than get off their horse, get down on their knees, and
search out what the Spirit was saying, and regain
their inheritance!
The Lord is speaking to His called out, yet not everyone is hearing it.
So the admonition comes, “He that hath an ear, let
him hear!” Yes, let him know
that to overcome in this area of hearing
is to receive all the promises, to gain the inheritance.
As Ray Prinzing has often said, you cannot live on a borrowed revelation.
The Spirit must personally quicken it to you, that it becomes life
in your own heart, and light upon your
pathway, if you are to walk it out and receive within yourself the promise it
contains. May we continually be
able to say with Samuel, “Speak, Lord; for Thy servant heareth” (I Sam. 3:9). Then
we will be established in the new purposes of God! When the Lord says, “He that hath an ear, let him hear what
the Spirit saith to the churches,” in the minds of most people this is
interpreted as saying, “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Bible says.” You
are not going to hear what the Spirit says as long as you are only
Bible-oriented. We thank God for
the scriptures, for they testify of Him and of His great plan and purpose, but
we will never hear what the Spirit is
saying until we become SPIRIT-ORIENTED!
You can hear with the natural ears, you can hear words, you can hear the sounds,
and it all makes sense and seems right. But
there is another ear, an inner ear, a spiritual ear, a hearing in the Spirit,
and he that hears with this ear will truly hear what the Spirit is saying! You must have this spiritual ear quickened, and I’ll tell
you why. Sound is vibration.
The air around us is a gas. The
sound that we hear is waves that make the air move and strike our ears.
Sound waves are caused by the vibration, or shaking of something.
It is the vibration that strikes our ear, is transmitted to the brain,
and then interpreted as sound.
That’s how you hear with the natural ear.
I’m sure you’ve heard the old hypothetical question, “If no man is
in the forest and a tree falls, does it make a sound?”
In other words, is the vibration itself sound, or is it the interpretation
of the vibration by the brain that makes it sound?
We were visiting some friends in Arkansas a while back. There was a little plaque on the wall in the bedroom where we
stayed which said, “If a man speaks in the forest, and there is no woman to
hear it, is he still wrong?” And
you know, the funny thing was that all the ladies in the house were laughing
about that, they thought it was so cute; somehow they perceived it as a “put
down” to the man. I read it and
said, “How can that be a put down of the man?
Because with some women, men are always wrong; and if it’s asking if a
man speaks and there is no woman to hear it, is he still wrong, it seems to me
that it should be a put down to the women!”
You see, it’s a matter of perception!
So we had a little fun with that! What
I’m saying is that sound as vibration reaches the ear and is then interpreted
as sound. That’s how it works.
You see, things that fall upon our natural senses, upon the ear, for
instance, are understood and interpreted by the brain.
But in the spiritual world, when we hear the living word of God, we
don’t hear it with the outer, natural ear at all, for if you hear it with the
natural ear it will go to the brain and be interpreted
by the carnal mind, by our natural, human understanding.
It will be just a dead letter
of the word. The living word of God
is received only by the inner, spiritual ear, and then the spirit transmits it to the mind in purity, because the word of God
is pure. When the vibration is
natural and is transmitted to the brain by the nerves
from the outer ear, we receive a carnal understanding of what is transmitted.
But when the vibration is spiritual and is transmitted to the mind by the
spirit, then the word becomes life and light!
“The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit
and they are life.” Hallelujah!
Tony Salmon, in one of his sermon tapes, shared a beautiful illustration
of this truth. He said, “I wanted
to bring my dog whistle to the meeting tonight to illustrate a point.
When you have a dog whistle and blow upon it there’s a sound produced
on a frequency that the human ear cannot hear.
Now, a person who doesn’t understand this would open that whistle and
blow it and say, ‘Aha! I can hear it!’ You
see, when you blow the dog whistle there is a superficial sound made which you can
hear. Air is rushing in and there is sort of a whistle.
Some people think, ‘Ah, I can hear that.
I can hear it as good as the dog can!’
No, you can’t. You
haven’t heard the high frequency — you’ve heard a lower frequency.
There is a sound that humans can hear, but if there is a dog here and
I’m blowing the whistle, we’re hearing one sound and the dog is hearing another sound.
“This is a little scary, but this is reality.
The sound we hear is reverberating on a lower wave at a lower vibration,
and the limited ability of our ears can hear that; but what the dog hears is
something completely different because the dog’s ears are tuned to a higher
frequency or vibration. Now, hear
me — what we do in this gathering is blow a trumpet. I find in many meetings that the people who are getting the
most excited and are saying, ‘Yes, I hear, I hear, I hear that word,’ are
merely hearing the wind that’s rushing through the whistle — they really
haven’t tuned their ears to hear the higher
tone of the Spirit! My desire
is that when we speak and blow the trumpet that you will go home saying, ‘I
have heard the voice of my Beloved.’ Don’t
you know that when the voice came to Jesus saying, ‘This is my beloved Son, in
whom I am well pleased,’ there were some who were tuned in to hear the voice
of the Father and they said, ‘God is speaking.’
But others said, ‘No — it just thundered,’ because they were
further away or lower down in the spirit and could only hear the wind rushing
through the whistle, as it were. When
Moses was up on the top of the mountain He saw God face to face and God spoke to
him there; but at the bottom of the mountain the people heard only the longer
sound waves coming down and all they heard was thunder!” — end quote.
I speak the truth with all soberness when I say that the Spirit is saying something in this hour! What the Spirit is saying cannot be heard with the outer ear
of the fleshly mind of human understanding.
When the word of God comes to you, my brother, my sister, can you hear
what the Spirit is saying, or do you hear only the words of the vessel it may
flow through? Vast multitudes of
believers, even those who have received the word of reconciliation, sonship, and
the kingdom, attend meetings and go away saying, “Oh, that was a good message,
I really enjoyed that.” But did
they hear what the Spirit was saying?
Did the Spirit say something to
them? Was there a word beyond the spoken words that penetrated to the spiritual ear and
spoke as the oracle of God to the inner man?
When this happens, this is the
revelation of Jesus Christ!
The church in scripture is always feminine.
The church is called a bride, it’s called a wife, it is espoused to
Christ, and is the body of Christ in the same way that Eve was flesh of Adam’s
flesh and bone of Adam’s bones (Eph. 5:21-33).
The church is the soul of God. The church
is the woman, the womb-man where the seed is planted to bring forth new life.
Reverently now I would draw your attention to the word selected by the
Holy Spirit in speaking of those who have the inner ear, who truly hear
what the Spirit is saying.
“HE that hath an ear…” Notice
it is HE, the term used is masculine. Now the Spirit is speaking of sonship!
He is speaking about growing up unto the measure of the stature of the
fullness of Christ. This truth is made crystal clear where the Lord speaks to the
overcomer, saying, “HE that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be
his God, and HE shall be my son”
(Rev. 21:7).
There is as much difference between the church and the overcomer as there is between the bride of Christ and the manifest sons of God! The church of chapters two and three of the Revelation is the woman, the womb-man where the seed is planted to bring forth the manchild of chapter twelve. It is the woman of chapter twelve who, in fact, bears the manchild. The woman is glorious beyond description, clothed with the sun of Christ’s glory, with a crown of twelve stars of divine government on her head, and the moon of the cold reflective light of outward laws, rituals, ceremonies, and ordinances under her feet. This woman is typified by the two churches of Smyrna and Philadelphia against whom the Lord spoke not a word. What a beautiful and splendid woman she is!
However,
sonship is the hope of all
creation! It is the hope dearest to
the heart of God. He has
irrevocably purposed to rule the world by sons upon whose shoulders will rest
the government of the world. The
nations of them that are saved will walk in the light
of the bride-city, the New Jerusalem, but they will be governed by the throne in
the midst of the city which is the sons of God. “To HIM that overcometh
will I grant to sit with me in my throne” (Rev. 3:21).
In the ages to come the whole universe will be ruled by sons of God who
will deliver the creation from the bondage of corruption.
No promise of world rule was ever given to the church in the whole
book of Revelation! The promise is
reiterated again and again to the overcomers
who are the sons of God (Rev. 21:7).
The
church, the bride of Christ, and the overcomers, the sons of God, make up the
vast family of God, and at the head of
that vast family stands Jesus Christ, the firstborn of the new creation, the
firstborn from the dead, the firstborn of every creature, the firstborn among
many brethren. The mother and her
sons, with Jesus Christ the Head, are but one family, the cherished wife of the
Lamb, beloved of Christ as His own soul, and the sons of God who shall rule the
creation of God in a harmony surpassing the sweetest symphony the earth has ever
known.
Moses served as a wonderful example and pattern of hearing the voice of
God. When Moses was gone into the
tabernacle, then he heard the voice.
It is not said that the voice began to speak; rather the contrary is
implied. The voice would seem to
have been speaking all along, but it was only now that Moses heard it.
Why did he hear it now? It
was because now for the first time he had put himself in the attitude of
hearing. It was when he entered
into the tabernacle, it was when he consciously and deliberately and
purposefully entered into the presence of
God, that there woke within him the conviction that God had all the time
been speaking with him.
It must be the same with us! Often
we are crying in the silence of the night that no divine voice has visited us.
Ah, but have we only listened for it with the ear of sense?
If so, it is no marvel that we have missed its music!
The voice of God cannot be heard by the ear of sense; its tones make no
impression, set up no vibration, on the surrounding air, they stir not the waves
of the earthly atmosphere. Its
accents are too still and small to be caught by the natural ear; they are
speaking incessantly, but they are drowned by the thunder, the earthquake, and
the fire. If we would hear them we
must enter the inner tabernacle, we must open the inner ear!
Have you
not read the words of Jesus wherein He taught that miracles are only wrought by
faith? Why are miracles only
wrought through faith? Not because
God is narrow or limited, but because truth is broad and unlimited.
The eye cannot see music, the ear cannot hear colors; neither can the
natural receive the spiritual! The
Holy of holies is the domain of the spirit, the audience-chamber of the soul.
Within its holy temple there is heard the voice of God, the voice of the
Spirit. Here the mystery of life is
unveiled. When we enter into the
secret of God’s pavilion to speak with Him, there breaks upon our hearts the
wondrous revelation of all that God doth speak!
When Jesus taught the people He emphasized the need to hear His word. To John
on Patmos He said, “He that hath an ear,
let him hear.” The great mystery
is that not one of us can create within ourselves the hearing ear! The wise
man wrote these words of truth and understanding: “The hearing ear, and the
seeing eye, the Lord hath made even both
of them!” (Prov. 20:12). That
is why the Lord said, “He that hath
and ear, let him hear.” If you
have a spiritual ear, then the Lord Himself gave it to you!
You can no more create your own spiritual ear than you save yourself,
heal yourself, or manifest yourself as a son of God. This is the calling and the work of God!
I trust you are as blessed by this truth as I am.
It is thrilling to realize that if we, as God’s elect, have a hearing
ear, it is only because HE called us, chose us, ordained us, predestinated us,
quickened us, and gave us the hearing ear!
Perhaps the
most important truth you should know at this time is that you have an ear to hear. It
is doubtful that you would be reading this writing if you didn’t have an ear
to hear! Not only that, but we have
within us all the divine faculties necessary to attain to the fullness of
Christ. His divine power has given
unto us all things that pertain to
life and god-like-ness! There is
nothing lacking of the divine resources in our lives.
We have that inner, spiritual ear to hear. Now listen and hear what the Spirit is saying to His elect in
this new Day! We do this by
renouncing the self life of the Adamic mind and nature, by turning a deaf ear to
the world and the things of it, and tuning our spiritual ear to hear His voice,
declaring the pure word of the Lord.
To be continued… J.
PRESTON EBY
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