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"Teaching the things concerning the kingdom of God..."
FROM
THE CANDLESTICK TO THE THRONE
Part
58
THE CHURCH IN LAODICEA
(continued)
And by the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; these things saith
the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the
beginning of the creation of God (Rev. 3:14).
John the beloved had learned from Jesus, his Master, the truth of the priority of
God the truth that before everything is God. And now in holy vision this great truth is driven
home to him again, from the lips of the glorified Lord.
Some truths, when we have learned them, are to us like precious jewels which we
keep in a jewel-box, hidden most of the time from sight, our great satisfaction regarding
them being simply their possession simply that they are ours. Other truths, when we have learned them, are like
new countries into which our lives have entered, and in which they thenceforth constantly
live. There is a new heaven over our head and
a new earth under our feet. They fold
themselves about us and touch every thought and action.
Everything which we think, or do, or are, is different because of them.
As we reverently, with head bowed and shoes removed from off our feet, consider
this great truth of Him who is the beginning
of the creation of God, I would draw your pure mind to consider the processes of
the creative word of God by which all things visible and invisible in all dimensions of
time and space, and beyond time and space, are brought forth and exist. Before all things and behind all things and beyond
all things standeth God, eternal, omniscient, and omnipotent. God is spirit! The reality of God exists in the eternal
dimension of spirit, the dimension that is unique, special, and particular to His
identity. All that God is exists in that
eternal realm of spirit. And the testimony of
scripture is that He is before all things.
Let
us not conceive of God existing before all things in a linear way. The notion that God for many ages and
incomprehensible measures of time countless trillions of earth years
remained inactive and then at a comparatively recent date created the universe and our
world is both illogical and fallacious. This
view presumes that eternity preceded time, that
time began from several thousand to several billion years ago, and God was within the
eternity before that uncreative and unproductive.
Here, in the picture people have of God first contemplating the idea of a creation
and then resolving to bring it into existence, we have God suddenly becoming something (Creator) in recent history
that He had never been before!
There are two sublime statements in the written word of God concerning the
beginning. The Bible opens with the
assertion, In the beginning God created
(Gen. 1:1). Then in the New Testament the
fourth Gospel begins with the declaration, In the beginning was the Word
(Jn. 1:1). There is a deep mystery here! You see, in that long ago beginning where we meet
time and where we meet creation, we also meet the Word. In the beginning God created, and in that same
beginning there was the Word. In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was
not anything made that was made (Jn. 1:1-3).
Here we have two items, but we are not talking about two persons! We
have God and we have the Word. The Word was in the beginning.
And all things were made by the Word! Yet it was God
who did the creating. And the Word was God! That
is the mystery.
The Greek word Logos, or Word in English, was common in New Testament days. This Word is presented as One in the
beginning. Note the contrast between
in the beginning and the
expression from the beginning,
which is common in Johns writings. Satan
was a murderer from the beginning,
but the Logos was in the beginning. This beginning antedates the very first words in
the Bible, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, for of this
One it is stated, The same was (already) in the beginning with God (Jn. 1:2).
That beginning when God created the heavens and the earth can be
dated, although I doubt that anyone has yet dated it accurately. It stretches back into the mists of antiquity,
beyond recorded history. Whether it was
thousands or millions or billions of years matters little, but when you go back to that
creation the Logos, the Word, was already there, and that is exactly the way this is used
In the beginning was the
Word. Notice it is not that He is from the beginning, but in the beginning He was. It
was not in the beginning that the Word started out or was begotten. WAS is known as a durative imperfect, meaning
continued action. It means that the Word was
in the beginning. What beginning? Just as far back as you want to go! The Bible says, IN the beginning God created
the heavens and the earth. Does that
begin God? No!
Just keep going back billions and trillions and squillions of years as
man reckons time before creation. God
already was, and the Logos already was; He comes out of eternity to meet us. He did not begin.
In the beginning God. In
the beginning was the Word He was
already there when the beginning was!
Well, someone says, there has to be a beginning somewhere. All right, wherever you begin, He is there. In the beginning was the Word
five words in the original language, and there is not a man on the topside of this earth
who can put a date on it or understand it or fathom it.
This first tremendous statement starts us off in eternity, you see! Far away in the depths of my spirit I see that
from all eternity God has been creating. That
never-begun existence of the Word has eternally been the out-raying of the Fathers
nature. To deny the eternal existence of the
Word is to deny the eternal ability of God to
speak! How could God speak apart from His
Word? The reason the Word was already there
in the beginning, before creation, is because He is the CREATIVE WORD! And to say that God never created anything before
this present material creation in Genesis is to deny God His own being, nature, and
expression from eternity.
If God never until recent times created anything, then God eternally never spoke, for His Word is creative. When
God speaks things happen! If God ever spoke
before Genesis 1:1, then He created! These
truths are self-evident. There has never been
a time when there was nothingness and only God in existence. The scripture says that He is before all things, but that doesnt
mean that He eternally existed alone and inactive, only that He is the origin, the source,
the cause of all things, as it is written,
For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things for all things
originate with Him and come from Him
(Rom. 11:36). When you see something existing, whether now, or
in some creation previous to this present one, or in another creation after this present
one, you can be assured that behind that thing, yea, before that thing, there was God for He is the
source and origin of it all! That is what
Paul meant when he penned those remarkable words declaring of God, and of His Word,
He is before all things!
Like all other names, THE LOGOS has its own meaning a meaning which does not
appear in the English translation, the Word.
Logos carries with it the idea of a word spoken, speech, eloquence, reason, thought,
intent, and concept. It refers not only to
the word that is spoken, expressed, and manifested, but also to the purpose, thought,
intent, and will of God behind that which is expressed.
For the word of God is quick, and powerful (Heb. 4:12). The word of God is quick. That doesnt mean fast; rather the word is
LIVING! Thats how it is in the Greek. You see, a word is the expression of a thought, a
purpose, an intent, a will. In order to have
a word, you need a Thinker. The Father is a
great Thinker! The Father thought, and then
the Father spoke. And from the bosom of the
Father, the Word came forth and that Word was LIVING and POWERFUL! That Word was, in fact, the LIVING CREATIVE ENERGY
OF GOD. A word is spoken by forcing air or breath out through the mouth. Shhiiish!
The Hebrew word for spirit is ruwach meaning breath or
wind. God speaks by His Spirit! His Word is formed by His Spirit or Breath, just
as our words are formed by our breath. Can
you not see the mystery? The Spirit is Life! Jesus
said, The words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit and they are life. He
meant that His words originated out of the action of Gods Spirit, just as our words
originate out of the action of our breath. And
therefore they are a Living Word for they are
formed and proceed out of His Living Spirit! It
was by Gods Word that all things were created, for the Word flowed forth from the
eternal wisdom by which God declared the purposes of His infinite mind, and it came forth
in the power of His Spirit. The Word flowed
forth from divine omnipotence by which He brought all the starry heavens and all the hosts
of them into existence. Consider the
divisions of matter: energy, motion, phenomena. ENERGY:
In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God thats energy! And how was that energy released? God SPOKE! And
God said, Let there be
and there
was!
Every rational person has to confront this problem of how the universe began. That is the reason evolution has been popular
it offers to the natural man an explanation for the origin of the universe. Of course, it does not offer him an explanation
for the origin of energy or matter! You must have an explanation for it, if you do any
thinking at all. Where did it come from? Well, here is the answer, In the beginning
was the Word. God spoke. That is the first thing that happened. When God speaks, when the Word goes forth, energy
is translated into matter. That is all matter
is it is energy slowed down in its vibration until it changes form, becoming
tangible and visible. What is atomic fission? It is matter translated back into energy
poof! it disappears. Creation began with
energy. In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God, the Word was God. The Word came out of God by the power of His
Spirit. The plans and purposes of God for the
ages were conceived in His mind and spoken forth in an omnipotent decree through THE WORD,
the SPEAKING, LIVING, POWERFUL, CREATIVE WORD that was with God in the beginning.
Creation having been brought forth, the Word then stood in unique relationship
between God and His creation. Logos means not only the inward thought and
purpose of God, but the utterance, expression, or manifestation of that thought. The eminent Greek scholar, Dr. M. R. Vincent,
comments on this word, Logos therefore signifies both the outward form by which the inward thought is
expressed, and the inward thought itself. The idea is of God, who is in His own nature
hidden, revealing Himself in creation.
Every person is revealed by his word! The
word is the expression of the one speaking the word, as it is written, Out of the
abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. One
may speak beautiful words of compassion and love, or stinging words of malice and hate. When these words spill out of ones mouth we
know what manner of person He is! He has
indeed birthed a part of himself and nothing
around him is ever the same again, for his words are powerful and creative, reproducing in
others out of himself. Christ is indeed the
Word, for He was birthed right from the heart-center of God. That which was expressed by Him in thought, word,
and deed, was the very essence and character of His Father.
When this Word became flesh and dwelt among us, the glory of the Father could for
the first time be seen in the world as a personality. He is the manifest declaration of the Father. He that has seen me, has seen the Father;
for I and the Father are one. He
is the sole expression of the glory of God, the Light-being, the out-raying or the
radiance of the divine, and He is the perfect imprint and very image of Gods nature,
upholding and maintaining and guiding the universe by His mighty word of power (Heb. 1:3, Amplified).
We sometimes try to comprehend the God that is not of this natural realm, this
material dimension, by looking at ourselves and thinking God looks like us. The truth is, God doesnt look like us! As beautiful and noble as mankind is, God
doesnt in any way resemble man. There
is no old man with a long flowing white beard sitting on a throne up in the
heavens! The Word was made flesh in the
person of Jesus Christ, but the man Christ
Jesus was not sitting there with God upon a throne from eternity. The nature, the function of the Word, was there
with God in the beginning, and this nature, this expression of God as Word was God. All the faculties and attributes of God were
eternally with God and were God. All that God
is in spirit, character, and substance are eternal realities in God, unchangeable and
invariable. The Word, the Logos, was in God
from eternity.
God
always possessed the ability of speech! Thats what the Word is
Gods expression in speech, the emanation of His thought. God purposed to make His Word visible, just as we
do when we write our thoughts in a book or present them in a stage play or a movie. What was Gods original language? Was it English?
Was it Aramaic? Was it Chinese? Someone says, Hebrew was the original pure
and divine language. Was it? It really doesnt matter, because when God
decided to speak clearly and definitively to man He spoke in the person of His Son, Jesus
the Christ. Jesus Himself is the language of God!
Jesus spoke Aramaic that was the common language in Galilee in the days of
Christ. God did not speak to humanity in
Aramaic, however. God spoke in His Son! It was not what Jesus said or the language
He spoke that made Him the Logos, the Word it was who and what He was! Jesus didnt just speak the words of God, He was and is
the Word of God! In order to come down into a
world of darkness and reveal Himself unto men God made His Word flesh. The Word was not made Hebrew. The Word was not made a book. The Word was made flesh! The
Word did not become a language, the Word became a man and dwelt among us and we beheld His
glory, the glory as of the uniquely begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
We
have already shown that God is before all things. This
shows that He exists in the realm of nothingness, that is, no-thing-ness, a dimension far
removed from our conception of things or matter. So what was the first thing God did out of His
nothingness His no-thing-ness? He made
words. He spoke! The inception of all creation is just this:
And God said, Let there be. Isnt it interesting that that is the first
activity of God recorded? Why did He not
create first, and then speak? Why did He not
first play a harp, and at the sound of the music stars were born? The mystery is just this when God spoke HE
EMANATED OUT OF NOTHING INTO SOMETHING! His
first emanation was in the form of words. The
Word is God. The Word is not something God
created, the Word is God Himself in emanation,
expression, revelation.
God
didnt speak in English or Hebrew when He said, Let there be light! Had you been there you wouldnt have heard
anything! We are not to suppose that a voice
was heard in the chaos, for His speech was the very creative energy of His thought and
flowed forth as spirit and life. His speech
was the putting forth of His power, which was the emanation of Himself. Here we are dealing not with a power as such, but
with a personality. That which God put forth
is Himself. God is not a reservoir of power. He IS power!
The putting forth of His power is the putting forth out of Himself of Himself. The Word is not another person, a second God, a
second person of the Godhead, but GOD HIMSELF IN EMANATION.
Yet
when the Word of God is communicated to man it takes a form that man can
understand. Language is a miracle and a gift
of God. Jesus Himself is called the Word, so
its no surprise that words are what
join us to God and to our neighbors. Words
are so bound up with what we call thought that its sometimes hard to
distinguish the two. The French philosopher
Rene Descartes said, I think, therefore I am.
That is true, but he needed more than just thought to prove he existed; he also
needed the words! I dont know that he
lived, or what manner of man he was, because of his thoughts I know because of his
words. Understand this and you will
understand a great mystery: Gods Word is the connecting link between God and His
creation!
So
we conclude that the Word as it has been revealed to man has been the visible
expression of the invisible God. In other
words, the invisible God embodied Himself in a visible form that could be seen, heard,
touched, handled, understood, and comprehended on the earth plane. The Bible declares that God is a
spirit and since God is spirit He is invisible and unknowable unless He chooses to
manifest Himself in some form visible to man. God
told Moses, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and
live. No man hath seen God at any
time. Not only has no man ever seen
God, but no man can see God (I Tim. 6:16). Several
times the Bible describes God as invisible (Col. 1:15; I Tim. 1:17; Heb. 11:27). Although man can see God when He appears in
various forms, no man can see directly the
invisible Spirit of God. The physical eyes of
man have never beheld a spirit; all he sees is the form that spirit manifests itself in.
Since
God is an invisible spirit and is also omnipresent, He does not have a body as we know it. Every time God wanted to talk personally to
someone or manifest Himself, He had to borrow, as it were, a body to manifest Himself in. All through the Old Testament God revealed Himself
and dealt with man on mans level through the use of what theology calls theophanies.
A theophany is a visible manifestation
of God, and we usually think of it as temporary in nature.
To make Himself visible, to communicate Himself on the material plane, He
manifested Himself in a physical form. Even
though no one can see the Spirit of God, he can see a symbol or a representation of God. The Logos, or the Christ, is God revealed! It is God in His Self-revealings. The Logos is God expressed, God uttering Himself,
Gods means of Self-disclosure.
God
often appeared to men through the manifestation of the angel (messenger; word) of
the Lord (Jud. 6:20; II Sam. 24:16; I Kings 19:5-7).
This angel of the Lord appeared to Hagar, spoke as though he were God,
and was called God by her (Gen. 16:7-13). The
Bible says that the angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in a burning bush, but then says
God Himself talked to Moses out of the bush (Ex. 3; Acts 7:30-38). The angel of the Lord appeared to Israel in Judges
2:1-5 and spoke as God. Judges 6:11-24
describes the appearance of the angel of the Lord to Gideon and then says the Lord looked
on Gideon. Again the angel of the Lord
appeared to Manoah and his wife, and they believed they had seen God (Jud. 13:2-23). The deity
of this unique angel is proved by the fact that he is (1) identified as God
(Gen. 16:7-13; 18:2-13; 22:1-18; Ex. 3:2-28; Jud. 2:1-5; 6:11-16). (2) is recognized as God (Gen. 16:9-13; 18:2-13;
22:1-18; Ex. 3:2-18; Jud. 2:1-5; 6:11-16). (3)
is also described in terms befitting the Deity alone (Ex. 3:5-14; Josh. 5:15). (4) calls Himself God (Gen. 31:11-13; Ex. 3:2-14). (5) receives worship (Josh. 5:14; Jud. 2:4). (6) and finally speaks with divine authority (Jud.
2:1-5).
God
appeared to Abraham as a smoking furnace and burning lamp, and as a man (Gen. 15:1,17;
18:1-33). In this last instance, God
and two angels appeared in the form of three men (Gen. 18:2) and ate food provided by
Abraham. Two of the angels left to go to
Sodom while God remained to talk to Abraham (Gen. 18:22; 19:1). God appeared to Jacob in a dream and as a man
(Gen. 28:12-16; 32:24-32). On the latter
occasion Jacob wrestled with the man and proclaimed, I have seen God face to
face. The Bible also describes this
appearance as the angel (Hos. 12:4). God
appeared to Moses and to all Israel as a
cloud of glory and a pillar of fire and spoke to Moses face to face in the
tabernacle out of the cloud (Ex. 13:21; 33:9-10).
When
God brought Israel out of Egypt and into the wilderness, they had one very distinctive
sign. They had the cloudy pillar by day and
the pillar of fire by night over the encampment. These
told all of the surrounding nations that Israel belonged to Yahweh, that their God was in
their midst in power and glory, and they were under Gods protection day and night. The cloud and the fire were visible both day and
night and no enemy could come into the camp even by night, for the fire made it as light
as day. I do not believe that Christians
today have any real conception of the marvelous and great
work which God did in delivering the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt! We have seen pictures painted by some of the great
artists supposedly to illustrate this, and we have seen Moses striking the rock with some
half-dozen people around him drinking from a stream little larger than a finger, with a
cow or two and a few sheep standing near. What
a crude conception of the majesty and glory by which the mighty Yahweh delivered His
people!
It
is estimated, on the basis of the biblical record, that there were at least two to three
million Israelites that came up out of Egypt. God
did a wonderful and mighty work in that Exodus! It
was not a little handful of people that left Egypt, but it was millions that God brought
out. Little wonder that some of the people
asked if God could set a table in the wilderness! For
this was a great multitude and God was taking them into a desert place where there was
little food for man or beast. There was no
water, and God had the Israelites take no supplies or provisions with them. GOD WAS THEIR SUPPLY and OUT OF HIMSELF He would
feed them!
God
further manifested Himself in the sight of all Israel through thunder, lightnings, a voice
of a trumpet, smoke, fire, and earthquakes (Ex. 19:11-19; Deut. 5:4-5,22-27). He also showed His glory and sent fire from His
presence in the sight of all Israel (Lev. 9:23-24; 10:1-2).
Job saw God in a whirlwind (Job 38:1; 42:5). Various
prophets saw visions of God. To Ezekiel He
appeared in the form of a man, enveloped in fire. To
Daniel He appeared as the Ancient of Days. Many
other verses of scripture tell us that God appeared to someone but do not describe in what
manner He did so. For example, God appeared
to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Samuel (Gen. 12:7; 17:1; 26:2,24; 35:9-15; I Sam. 3:21). Similarly, God descended on mount Sinai and stood
with Moses, revealed Himself to seventy-four elders of Israel, and came at night to
Balaam, and met Balaam on two other occasions.
All
of these were the Logos, the Word! The Word
was not a separate person from Yahwey or a separate God any more than a mans word is
a separate person from him. Thus, the Logos,
the expression, manifestation, and revelation of God appeared in many forms. The burning lamp, the smoking furnace, the burning bush, the tempest, the angel, the
cloud, the pillar of fire, the form of a man each had its ministry, all in turn
served the one grand purpose, like the ray that is broken into many prismatic hues, each
revealed something of the nature, power, wisdom, purpose, will, and glory of God. We find
that in the phrase and the word was with
God that this word with is the Greek pros meaning TOWARD. All that the manifestation of the Word of God was,
all that He said, all that He showed, all that He did, was pointing TOWARD THE FATHER. Hence He is rightly called THE WORD OF GOD. The Word revealed God, led Him forth into view and
caused men to turn toward Him, to understand Him, to know Him.
The apostle Paul frequently spoke of the vast mysteries of God and, in speaking of
them, he left no shadow of doubt that naught but the revelation of the Lord could unfold
those eternal mysteries. One of the grandest
of those mysteries is set forth by the apostle John in these wonderful words: And
the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,
and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth (Jn. 1:14). Concerning Jesus
Christ, whom the scripture discloses as the Word made flesh, it is written, who is the image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15; II
Cor. 4:4); the express image of His
person or the very image of His
person (Heb. 1:3). And we note that
this word person is actually from the Greek word hupostasis meaning THE SUBSTANCE, or the
substratum, what lies under. All the character and inner nature of the Divine was
expressed through our Lord Jesus Christ! All
the motive, the purpose, the heart and intent of God toward His creation was revealed to
us through Jesus, to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto
Himself (II Cor. 5:19). The seed of our new creation life is this same Logos, the Word is again being made flesh in us, and through our union with Christ Jesus in
and by the Spirit we are to be as He is.
God no longer needs to borrow or materialize Himself into a
body in which to express and reveal Himself, no more does He send the burning
bush, or the fire, or the cloud, or the angel, or the form of a man.
For the first time Yahweh has a permanent, eternal body in which to walk and talk
and show forth Himself to mankind THE CHRIST, Head and body, His house of sons! In the Old Testament manifestations the revelation
of Himself was in fragments. No one
manifestation could speak all truth, each was but one or two syllables in the mighty
sentences of Gods speech. At the best
the view caught of God was partial and limited. But
in Jesus there is nothing of the piece-meal revelation!
In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily (Col. 2:9). He
has fully revealed the Father! Whosoever hath seen Him hath seen God; and to hear
His words and behold His glory is to get the full-orbed revelation of the infinite.
The question follows: How could the Word become flesh? How could God become a man? The Greek text has it, not that the Word was
made flesh, but that the Word became flesh. There is a vast difference between these two
propositions! If I say, The wood was made into a chair, it denotes an action
upon, an action from without; some person or force beyond the wood acted upon the wood and
the wood, by no involvement on its own part, was
made into a chair. If, on the other hand,
I say, The young man became a
doctor, it denotes an action on the part of the subject. Nobody outside of the young man forced him and
somehow made him a doctor, but he himself went to medical school, studied,
burned the midnight oil, passed the exams, fulfilled his internship, and thus he became a doctor. Was made bespeaks of an action upon an
object from without; became bespeaks of a personal accomplishment from within!
Let his mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the
form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him(self) the form of a servant, and
(thus) was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross (Phil. 2:5-8). In
all this He did
it Himself! God Himself, through the
power of His Word, brought forth Himself as a man. Oh,
the mystery of it! When we think of
Christs humiliation we think of Him being born in a stable in Bethlehem and dying
upon a cross. But that is nothing at all
compared to the humiliation of God becoming a man,
as man is in corruptible flesh thats
humiliation! And this Word of God, the very
creative energy of God spoke Himself into flesh! It
was no more difficult to transmute Himself into flesh than to create any other thing. He became what He had created back in the
beginning. He created man now He
Himself became a man. He became flesh.
When you say flesh the word in the Greek doesnt mean meat
a body and blood. It means the total
personality. He became a real man not
something different!
THE WORD B-E-C-A-M-E F-L-E-S-H!
The language of God is His Word. God
and His Word are inseparable. The same
eternal Word that spoke the worlds into existence became flesh and dwelt among us! The Father spoke and from the bosom of the Father
the Word came forth and was made flesh and tabernacled among men. GOD was manifest in the FLESH (I Tim. 3:16). The Speech of God became the Son of God in human
form. Here comes God out of eternity, He
comes to Bethlehem, a little baby that made a woman cry.
And notice now, And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the ONLY BEGOTTEN OF
THE FATHER, full of grace and truth (Jn. 1:14).
Now He is saying something else! This
Word made flesh is the SON OF GOD full of grace and truth. The word full means that you just
could not have any more! He brought all the
Deity with Him, and He was full of grace and full of truth when He came down here as the
SON OF GOD.
Surely these are simple truths that even a child can understand! The Word was made flesh. The Word made flesh was the only begotten of the
Father. The Word made flesh was the Son of
God. But note well, my brother, my sister, it
does not say that the eternal Word was the Son, nor does it say that the Son was made
flesh. Oh, no!
The Word made flesh was the Son!
Can you not see the mystery? The Word
has now become the Son and the Son is now the Word. There
is no truth in all the scriptures set forth, and greater emphasized, than that Jesus was
the Son of the Father. God Himself dispatched the mighty angel Gabriel
from heaven to first declare it! As the hour
approached for Jesus to be conceived in the womb of the virgin Mary, Gabriel announced to
the astonished Galilean maiden, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power
of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore
also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God (Lk. 1:35).
When Jesus had been baptized by John in the river Jordan, God spoke from heaven and
said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I
am well pleased (Lk. 3:22). Again, when
Jesus had taken Peter, James, and John up into the mount, and was transfigured before
them, a voice came from heaven and said the same thing, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him
(Mat. 17:5). There is neither time nor space
to even begin to quote the vast multitude of scriptures that declare Jesus to be the Son
of God. Even the devils that possessed some
people, recognized Him as Gods Son. The
Roman Centurion, when he had witnessed the things that happened when Jesus was crucified,
with astonished wonder cried out, Truly this
was the Son of God!
It seems, from the writings of the apostles, that it is very important that we
believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Not
that He was GOD THE SON, as popular religion tells us, but that He was GODS SON. God the Son is not a scriptural term. You will not find it anywhere in the Bible! The blessed second person of the
Godhead is not a scriptural term. It is
not in the Bible! Jesus is in the
Godhead is not a scriptural term. The
Bible, in fact, says just the opposite! Here
is what the scripture really says: For in Him
dwelleth all
the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Col.
2:9.) If the reader will earnestly consider
these words he will surely see that the scripture does not say that JESUS IS IN THE
GODHEAD; rather, it says that THE GODHEAD IS IN
JESUS! Is there not a world of difference
between Jesus being in the Godhead and the Godhead being in Jesus? THE MAN CHRIST JESUS CONTAINED WITHIN HIMSELF ALL
THE FULLNESS OF GOD! And He still does! In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily, but it doesnt stop there, for it goes on to say, And ye are complete
in Him. Can we not see by these
words that the body of Christ is the completion
of Gods Christ, the fullness of God is revealed in Gods called and chosen
elect, and only in that blessed and awe-inspiring fact is fulfilled the words, For
in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
YOU ARE THE BODY IN WHICH THE FULLNESS
OF THE GODHEAD DWELLS! You are the body of Christ!
The fullness of God dwells in the Christ bodily!
That is the mystery! It is God dwelling in us that makes us sons of God, just as it was God dwelling in Jesus
that made Him the son of God.
The Son of God did not become the Word; it was the Word who was made flesh and became the Son.
Jesus knew that the Word in Him was God. He
was actually living and acting and speaking the Word which was God not the word
that God had spoken! It wasnt teaching
the scriptures that made Him the Word of God, but the revealing of the mind, heart, and
will of the Father. That is why He was able
to still the sea, raise the dead, change the elements, discern the thoughts and hearts of
all men, and do all the other tremendous things He did!
The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself; but the Father that
dwelleth in me, He doeth the works (Jn. 14:10).
The Deity in Jesus was not God the Son; the Deity in Jesus was THE FATHER! Jesus was the Father speaking! He
constantly acknowledged that of Himself He could do nothing, it was the Father dwelling in
Him that did the works. Would that not be a
strange thing for the second person of the Godhead to say I can
do nothing of myself, the Father in me doeth the works? One God is impotent, while the other God is
mighty! The work of Jesus, the Son, however, was the extension of the Fathers work. This extension did not only occur through Jesus,
but it also occurs through us! That is what
sonship is! We are not God the
sons, but we are the sons of God and it is the Father dwelling in us
that makes us sons and who does the works.
This brings us back to the Logos, the Word. The
clear and unmistakable testimony of scripture is that In the beginning was the Word.
In the beginning the Word already was. He
comes out of eternity to meet us. He was
already there when the beginning was. But
nowhere do we find the scripture that says, In the beginning was the SON, and the
SON was with God, and the SON was God. Oh,
how men misquote the scripture! You see, my
beloved, the eternal WORD was MADE FLESH and so BECAME THE SON, the Son of God, full of
grace and truth. Jesus was and is the Word,
and the Word existed as long as God existed, but the Son was that eternal Word made flesh,
and we in Him are the Word made flesh, for God is finding expression in us as we are born
of His Spirit, conformed to His image, matured in His nature, filled with His mind, the
revelation of the Father in the Son here in the earth realm. The Son was that eternal Word made a man, yea, a God-man, dwelling among us,
resurrected, glorified, ascended, coming again in His many-membered body of God-men, the
very sons of God, who are as He is in this
world, Emmanuel, God with us forevermore!
The Christ is the Word of God and the words that He speaks are spirit and they are
life! As the Word, Jesus could say,
Before Abraham was, I AM (Jn. 8:58). But
as the Son He receives the witness of the Father, Thou art my Son, THIS DAY HAVE I
BEGOTTEN THEE (Heb. 1:5). The mystery
is that God in the spirit of every man is the Word of God!
Deep within every man is the testimony of God, even that Word which from the
beginning was the life of men, and which now enlightens every man coming into the world (Jn.
1:4,9). That is why all men are
religious by nature and are seeking after God in one way or another. For a man to believe in God, and the spiritual
world, and to desire God is just as natural as it is
for a dog to bark. The dog barks
because it is inherent in his nature to bark. In
the same way there is a word in each
of us from the moment we enter this world, the voice of God in our spirit! That voice, however, is muffled and distorted by
the outer flesh, the carnal mind, and the manipulation of the spirit of the world. That is
why we must be regenerated, our spirit quickened by Gods Spirit, bringing the release of the Voice of God within us! Then as that Word within us is made flesh, made substance within us, raised up by
the quickening power of the Spirit of God (our salvation) to find expression in the
totality in of our being WE BECOME THE SONS OF GOD!
We stated earlier that in that long ago beginning where we meet time, where we meet creation, we also meet the Word. In
this fact lies the great and eternal truth of Gods creative processes.
Creation will become very meaningful to us once we understand that it is at the
borderline of eternity and time that we meet the Word. Where time and eternity junction is where we find
the Word! Where spirit and matter
meet is where we encounter the Word! Where God and creation
interface is where we confront the Word! Now,
why is that? Its because in creation
God, the eternal Spirit, is PROJECTING HIMSELF OUT
OF HIMSELF TO BRING FORTH HIMSELF IN ANOTHER DIMENSION.
And He does this by His Word!
Creation
begins with this simple action, And God said. The projection of God out of Himself is His Word! And God said, let there be.
In that blessed moment the thought of God, the intent of God, the will of God, the
energy of God, the creative force of God, the authority and power of God issued out of
Himself and produced on another plane the form
of that which He spoke. And thats why
the scripture says, We are aware that an idol is nothing in the world, and that
there is no other God except One. For even if so be that there are those being
termed gods, whether in heaven or on earth, even as there are many gods and many lords,
nevertheless to us there is but one God, the Father
(not the Holy Trinity!), O-U-T OF WHOM ALL IS, and we for Him (I
Cor. 8:4-7). Again, O, the depth of the
riches and of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God!
How inscrutable are His judgments, and untraceable His ways! For who knew the mind of the Lord? or who became
His adviser? or who gives to Him first, and will be repaid by Him? seeing that ALL is OUT
of Him and through Him and for Him: to Him be glory for the ages! Amen! (Rom. 11:33-36).
Our God and Father has been pleased to leave us in no doubt or uncertainty as to
how or where all things began, but in clear, unequivocal language stated the source and
goal of all things for our assurance and joy. All
originated IN HIM, came forth OUT OF HIM, created from the substance of His own divine
energy and being! Agnostics, atheists, and
evolutionists are the most careless and unscientific
of all thinkers and reasoners. The fact is
that for every effect there must be a cause. The
order, harmony, laws, complexity, power and beauty of creation demand a cause, indeed
a great mind and a vast source. To
have an effect without a cause is the most ludicrous concept imaginable! All things came out of God in and by His Word!
Let me put it this way. Suppose you are the creator and you are spirit. Beside
you there are no things. You are all there
is! But your desire, your intent, is to make
some things. You cant reach outside of
yourself because there is nothing there no material of any kind out of which to
construct any thing. You cant latch on
to something that exists apart from or beyond yourself.
So you must make it out of yourself! That
is what it means, For of Him, and out of Him, and through Him are all things!
The
agency of this change from the invisible to the visible, from spirit to matter, from God
to creation is THE WORD! God projects Himself
out of Himself to bring forth Himself in another dimension.
This process is accomplished by THE CREATIVE WORD OF GOD! The word is the seed that comes out of Gods
mouth, and it has the energy to perform everything that it is sent to produce. When Gods Word is heard and received by us
it produces Gods purpose in us by the energy of that word. When the Word of God goes forth it goes forth in
the power of Gods life and spirit and is able to make the conversion from pure
spirit to things visible and tangible. It
happens through the Word which is the seed. The seed of a man is called sperm and comes forth
through the sex organ to produce another life. The
seed of God comes forth out of His mouth and is called His Word, and just as a seed
planted in the dark soil of a garden springs forth into the world of light and is raised
up into another form, the form of wonderful plants, so the seed of God brings forth God on
another dimension. There is contained here
another revelation of the Creator of the universe. Universe is a compound word, uni meaning one, and verse meaning spoken word. One spoken word!
Gods Word! He didnt need
anything more than that. It was a very short
uni-verse, simply let there be and
there was! That is the greatest moment of
history. It is the story of creation. What we call the universe is the
manifestation out of one spoken word of God! Oh,
the mystery of it!
When
God projects Himself out of Himself to bring forth Himself on another dimension there is
an intersecting or interfacing of
dimensions! That junction is the Word! That is where time and eternity, spirit and
matter, God and creation, and the Father and His sons all meet at the Word. The Word is the crossroads, the star-gate, if you please, where two dimensions
connect. To pass from one dimension to the
other you must go through the interface or stargate.
The Word is the passageway from eternity to time, from spirit to matter, from
invisible God to visible creation!
Today
God is bringing forth a NEW CREATION! He is
not producing this new creation by any method different than all other creations. Only His intent
and purpose is different therefore what He speaks is different! The new human-spiritual or God-man creation is
being formed by the seed the Word of God! Being
born again, not of corruptible seed, but of
incorruptible, by the word of God which liveth
and abideth forever (I Pet. 1:23). I
think the following beautiful chorus was written by Charlotte Torango:
Im
created by the Word
Resurrected
I stand;
Brought
forth in the likeness
Of
the great I AM;
Of
Gods great plan
I
in thee, Thee in me, and we in Him!
Oh, yes! The Word of God is a seed. When the Lord Jesus taught the multitudes the
awesome principles of the kingdom of God, He told them and us that the kingdom of heaven
is like unto a man that goes out and sows seed in a field.
He spoke several parables which embody different aspects of this great truth, the
parable of the seed that fell into different kinds of soil; the tiny mustard seed that
became a great tree; the seed that produced different percentages of harvest, and so on. The seed is the word of the kingdom, Jesus said. The life, the power, and the substance is in the
seed! The Word is God! The invisible power of God in His Word results in
a visible manifestation on another plane! When
the Word of God, the Word of the kingdom, or the Word of any purpose of God in your life
comes to you, my brother, my sister, eternity comes to you.
That which is formed in your life is transmitted out of God, through the Word, and
into you. The Word is the connection, the
crossroads, the intersection, the junction, the stargate, the interface between God and
your destiny as a manifest son of God!
The
power to change you, transform you, and make you everything that God has apprehended you
to be is in that Word, for the Word is a creative seed with power. God is even now changing His called and chosen
elect into the image and likeness of Himself, and He shall change even our vile body that
it may be fashioned like unto Christs body of resurrection and glory. Yea, our Father shall change all things in this
world and bring about a new order. How shall
He do this? By speaking forth His Word! By the simplicity of His Word God created the sun,
moon, stars, and all the hosts of the universe in the beginning! By His Word He created the heavens and the earth
and everything in them! By His Word our
omniscient and omnipotent Father put the animals, the birds, the fish, and all creeping
things on this earth. By His Word God formed
man and placed him in the paradise of Eden. Also
by His Word our sovereign Father birthed the church age and all the accomplishment of it.
Now,
also by His Word, our creative Father has ushered in a new age, a new feast, a new day, a
new manifestation and glory, a higher order of the kingdom of God on earth! Those who are walking in the Spirit know of a
certainty that this new age and order has begun. It
has been birthed and has now begun in the hearts and lives of Gods sons! And it has come to us by His Word! When we catch a vision of that realm where
eternity and time converge, where spirit and matter meet, where God and creation
intersect, where the Father and His sons connect, we will understand how it is that all
the purposes of God are fulfilled by the simplicity of the Word! We know that as we proclaim the Word of the
kingdom the Father has sent forth into our hearts, that it shall bring forth a creative
harvest in all the earth until all peoples and tongues and nations are brought under the
righteous dominion of the sons of God. It has
already brought forth a mighty harvest of sons
throughout the whole world who are maturing into the stature of Gods Christ!
Faith
is not rooted in the word of a man, but in an eternal
utterance. Gods Word cannot be
divorced from Himself! If you hear the Word,
you hear God. The Word of God is just as
fresh and vigorous as when He stood on creation morn commanding chaos to loose its hold
and let order come forth. The Word falling
upon our inner spiritual ear is as powerful and life-giving as when Jesus was here
speaking to the tumultuous sea, commanding, Peace!
Be still! or Ought not
this woman, whom Satan hath bound, be loosed from her infirmity? or to the impotent
man by the pool of Bethesda, Arise, take up thy bed and walk! or to Lazarus in
the dankness of his tomb, Lazarus, come forth! or when he spoke to the demons
but two words of authority, Come out! There
is no long cajoling, hoping, straining, but His Word is final and divinely effective. All must bow.
He is Master. He rules sovereign. Elements, disease, sin, demons, and death all give
sway to His Word. FOR HE IS THE WORD!
That is the secret for every son of God. We
are becoming the Word, the Word made flesh in
us, so that the Word is more than something we speak it is what we are!
In the dawning of the ages,
Stands the Logos all supreme;
The beginning of creation,
Time begins and ends in Him.
Of creation, Hes the Alpha,
Time and timelessness doth span;
Of salvation, Hes Omega,
Mediates tween God and man.
In beginning is the Logos,
The projection of Gods Word;
Heads, both old and new creation,
Beginning both to one accord;
At first in time the Logos stands,
Radiation of Gods grace;
As the vital, living Word,
Integrates the human race.
Towards the Father is the Logos,
The expression of His mind;
Generation of Gods essence,
Breath of Life to all mankind.
First He stands in Gods own image,
Representing God in man;
For the Father is the Logos,
A trajection of His plan.
The Logos spans both first and last;
Alpha and Omega He,
Proceeding from the Fathers heart,
Permeates humanity.
Reflecting Gods effulgent love,
The glory of the Father, we
Stand completed in the Logos,
Actually His Word to be.
For the Logos stands inChristed,
Bridging time and eternity;
And the eer expanding Word,
Brings to man Christs liberty.
Man united in the Logos,
Speaking all things into one;
Bringing forth the consummation
Rise and shine Ye Blessed Son!
Dora Van Assen
To be
continued
J. PRESTON EBY
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