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KINGDOM
BIBLE STUDIES
"Teaching
the things concerning the
The
Kingdom of God
Book
Two
By J.
Table of
Contents
Chapter Title
15. How the Kingdom Comes
(cont.)
16. How the Kingdom Comes
(cont.)
17. How the Kingdom Comes
(cont.)
18. How the Kingdom Comes
(cont.)
19. How the Kingdom Comes
(cont.)
23. Inheriting the Kingdom
(cont.)
24. Except you Become as a
Little Child
25. Except you Become as a
Little Child (cont.
26. Repent for the
27. Repent for the
Chapter
14
HOW
THE KINGDOM COMES
The
history of every son of God will eventually be the story of a progression from the natural
through the spiritual to the celestial; passing from the realm of darkness and death
through the realm of quickening, change and transformation, to the fullness of stature and
glory in the image and likeness of God; from the world of sinners through the realm of the
Church to the power and glory of the Kingdom of God; from the brazen altar of sacrifice
for sin in the outer court to the golden altar and table of prayer, praise and communion
in the dim light of the candlestick in the holy place into the Holiest of all, where
shines undimmed the more excellent glory of the undiminished majesty of God.
This
brings us to an important question Is the Church this
Again
I ask the question Is the Church this Kingdom, or, is the Church part of this
Kingdom? Many proclaim that this present age
is the Church age and that the coming age is the Kingdom age, thus
separating the Church from the Kingdom on the basis of time.
The difference, however, is not one of time but of relationship and
administration. For you see, the Church is a
present reality and the Kingdom is likewise a present reality. If you say that the Church is not the Kingdom, I
think you are accurate; but if you say that the Church is not part of the Kingdom, then
you are wrong. May I illustrate.
Now
the Church is the very heart of Gods program as He moves us toward His glorious
Kingdom. Are you moving with Him? It is my conviction that Gods great men of
the past moved with Him. When John Knox said,
Give me
The
Kingdom, however, is never to be identified as the Church.
Nowhere in the New Testament is such an identification made. The Kingdom is always prior to the Church. God is King. As
King He has a Kingdom. John the Baptist first
announced the Kingdom among men. The
Kingdom came into manifestation through Jesus Christ and He afterward created the Church. His disciples were first heralds of the Kingdom
before there was a Church. They were sent to
proclaim what they had seen and heard from Jesus of the rule of God. When Jesus sent the 12 and the 70 on their
missions, He sent them as ambassadors of the Kingdom.
They were an extension of His own ministry, and thus He gave them the power
of the Kingdom. Everywhere they
proclaimed the arrival of the Kingdom and demonstrated the authority and rule of God with
mighty signs, wonders, and miracles. Kingdom
and Church are related terms, but they are not synonymous terms. The term kingdom is found about 160
times in the New Testament. The term church
is found about 115 times in the New Testament. The
Kingdom is the dynamic rule or reign of God and the sphere in which His rule is expressed. The Church is a body of people the
congregation of believers. The Greek word for church is ECCLESIA meaning the called out
or an assembly.
In
Matthew 6:33 Jesus said, But seek ye first the
The
government is thus a higher dimension than a mere congregation of people. In
like manner, the Kingdom is the rule of God; the Church is a congregation of believers. The saints may see the Kingdom, enter
the Kingdom, receive the Kingdom, or inherit the Kingdom, but
being members of the Church does not make them the Kingdom.
You do not receive or inherit the Church! The many sayings about seeing and entering into the
Kingdom are not equivalent to entering the Church. You
may enter a Church by walking into the midst of the believers, but one does not enter the
Kingdom in that way. Every citizen of the
The
Church of the living God must remember that it is not the whole thing; that the Kingdom of
God is greater than the Church; that men must press into the Kingdom of God, through much
tribulation we must enter the Kingdom, and through qualifying we may be accounted worthy
of the Kingdom, but there is no need to press, suffer tribulation, or pay a high price to
enter the Church. The Church is, after all,
only an ecclesia, a people gathered out of sin and the world unto God through faith in
Jesus as Saviour. Just as the true Church
births the manchild, so is our experience in the Church a prerequisite for entrance into
the Kingdom. Is not this the very reason why
the Holy Spirit testified to each of the seven Churches in the book of Revelation, To
him (in the Church) that overcometh will I give power over the nations...to him that
overcometh shall I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I am set down with my Father
in His throne. It is the processing of
the Lord in the Church realm that qualifies one for a place in the Kingdom and the Kingdom
is greater than the Church. The Kingdom can be
the outcome only of a Church which has followed on to know the Lord, purged and purified,
changed and transformed, growing up unto a Perfect Man, unto the measure of the stature of
the fullness of the Christ. The Churches on
earth comprise forgiven sinners. The
Great
and powerful as the Church is, Jesus made very little of it, compared to the Kingdom. He said, I will build my Church (Mat.
16:18) and He mentioned it two times more in the eighteenth chapter of Matthew; that is
all Jesus ever said about the Church during His earthly ministry. He gave no church teachings; He
answered no church questions; He told no church parables; He made
no church promises; all He said and taught and demonstrated had to do with the
reality of the Kingdom. In all the Gospel
according to John the word Church is not once used. In
all the Gospel according to Luke the word Church is not once used. In all the Gospel according to Mark the word Church
is not once used. During the forty days
between His resurrection and ascension the Lord never once spoke to His disciples of the
Church, but on nearly every occasion when He appeared to them He opened the scriptures to
them and spoke to them of the
It
is the Kingdom, and not the Church, that breaks in pieces and consumes all the kingdoms of
the world and of the increase of which there shall be no end. The fervent prayers upon the lips of holy and
seeking men has ever been, not, Thy church come, but Thy kingdom come. Let your heart consider what I now say. Every man, woman and child who throughout this
blessed dispensation of grace has trusted Jesus Christ as Saviour and been washed in His
precious blood has been numbered in Gods great Book as members in His Church. We are now, one and all, in the Church of Jesus
Christ. We do not need to pray to enter, seek
to enter, press on to enter, overcome to enter, or meet any further qualification to
enter. We are the Church, and only by faith in
Jesus Christ and His salvation. Then
they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto
them about three thousand souls. And the Lord
added to the church daily such as should be saved (Acts 2:41,47).
But
those faithful and persevering ones who follow on to purge themselves of the corruption of
the flesh; who fully partake of the divine nature, putting on the mind of Christ; who give
all diligence to add to their faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge
temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience God-likeness, and to God-likeness
brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness
the love that is agape; to those who do these things the blessed promise is held forth of
an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (II
Pet. 1:4-11).
The
sun is setting rapidly upon this tired old age in which we have lived so long. The Church during this age has dwelt in the realm
of limitation, of mixture, equipped only with the firstfruits of the Spirit. As Paul by the wisdom granted unto him truly
stated, For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be
done away (I Cor. 13:9-10). The Church
of the dispensation men call the dispensation of grace pertains to the in part
realm. The Kingdom, on the other hand, is the
realm of fullness, an abiding, triumphant dimension of life.
Revivals are a characteristic of the Church realm. Fullness and permanence are characteristics of the
Kingdom realm. Gods purpose in His sons
is to move us from revival to unmovable stability from the Church to the Kingdom.
In
praying for and seeking revival we develop a revivalistic mentality which contradicts the
purposes of God for this Day. When one
examines revivals historically, he finds that when you live in the revival mentality you
are like a person who gets high on a drug you soon need another fix. Revivals throughout history are recurrent activity
activity that returns from time to time. Revivals
are those kinds of divine intervention which bring about awakening, followed by spiritual
declension and apostasy. It is a vicious,
never-ending cycle. Awake, asleep. Awake, asleep.
Alive, dead. Alive, dead. Delivered, bound.
Delivered, bound. Refreshed,
sluggish. Refreshed, sluggish. Filled, empty.
Filled, empty. Revivals are
oscillating in nature, swinging back and forth between two extremes. Furthermore, revivals are occasional and variable. They occur now and then. In and out, up and down, here and there, now and
then, back and forth, awake and asleep do you feel yourself getting motion
sickness?
In
the 1800s there was a revival called The Great Awakening. As someone has pointed out, unfortunately it was
followed by The Great Asleepening. We
dont need another Great Awakening so that we can have another Great Asleepening so
that we can have another Great Awakening. What
the world needs in this hour is not another revival. No
revival has brought the ultimate triumph of Gods Kingdom in the earth. No revival has brought the universal defeat of sin,
sorrow, sickness, limitation and death. No
revival has brought an end to war, strife, hatred, corruption, fear, tyranny, pain,
hunger, or any of the other problems and
curses that blight mankind. And no revival has
ever brought perfection and the fullness of God to the Church! Ah, our prayer should be, Lord, dont
send another revival! Our prayer should
be as our Lord taught us to pray, Thy kingdom come! I am not a revivalist. I am a Kingdomite!
I am a son of the Kingdom, an announcer of the Kingdom, a proclaimer of the
Kingdom, an ambassador of the
Our
God is abiding and progressing from glory to glory, from realm to realm, from age to age
not sleeping and awaking. The Kingdom
sons are builders who build a place for God to inhabit permanently not a resort for
Him to visit occasionally. I want to be a
builder! Jesus said, We will come and
make our abode with him. What God
desires in this hour is a place to stay, a temple to dwell in, a throne to sit upon, a
nature to be formed in, a Kingdom to rule from forevermore.
The focus in the New Testament is upon Christ and His Kingdom not
revivals. You dont read about revivals
in any of the writings of the apostles. The
word revival does not appear in any dictionary of Kingdom terminology. So far as the New Testament economy is concerned,
revival is an unscriptural and extra-biblical concept.
You wont find the idea anywhere! Jesus
didnt promise revivals. The apostles
never taught or exhorted or gave any instructions about revivals. Amazing, isnt it, how much of the language of
HOW
IS THE
GOVERNMENT
means to rule (govern) thoughts or the mind. The
suffix ment and the word mental are both derived from the Latin
root ment. Both human and divine government
are forms of mind-control; human government is by various forms of control by the carnal
mind, whereas the rule of God is by the direct control of the mind of Christ. The carnal mind molds and shapes the carnal man
through fleshly passions, impulses, propensities and expediencies. The carnal mind also influences and controls the
carnal man through outward agencies such as television, teachers, books, magazines,
movies, advertising, laws, fashions, parents, peer pressures, etc. The mind of Christ molds and shapes the life of the
sons of God by the inward law of life, by the living word of God, by the promptings and dealings of the Holy Spirit,
as well as through the outward agencies of godly examples, instruction, counsel,
manifestations of the Spirit, preaching, teaching, and the overwhelming presence and power
of God.
I
have written all these things that our hearts might be prepared for the truths that
concern the establishment of the
Furthermore,
many hold the absurd idea that the
NOT
BY FORCE
How
far can force go in this world? Is force the
final word, the end of all argument, the arbiter of every dispute? Men have tried to answer this on a thousand
battlefields. The answer is that force can go
a long way. It is a mighty power. Jesus was crucified by force. Roman soldiers must have cynically laughed as they
pressed His hands to the cross and drove the nails through His flesh. He was helpless before this overpowering might. Yet Christ had power to destroy those mens
lives if He had the will. When He stood there
with the cross in full view, He said to His persecutors that it was in His power to call
twelve legions of angels. If that heavenly
host which hovered about that Son could have once made itself manifest, O how they would
have swept that doomed city, that accursed conclave of false priests, and those wretched,
blind and filthy-minded heathen soldiers! How
the breath of these heavenly angels could have swept the life out of them and swept them
down into hell and the grave. But that is not
Gods way. That is not the mission of the
Son or the sons. Blessed are the
peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God.
Brutality
has been the hallmark of mankinds turbulent and violent history. Man has no answer to the dilemma. But God has the answer! It was brutal force that nailed the firstborn Son
of God to the tree but the third day He arose triumphant from the grave! The account says that the soldiers who guarded the
tomb were like dead men they were like dead men before the might, the
sheer might of this rising Life. Those
soldiers and the irresistible force of
His
light is the light of life. It is the same
glory that lighted the world in the beginning when the almighty Father said, Let
there be light, and there was light, and in Him was life, and His life was the light
of men. Nothing can stand before the power of
this light of life (which is love) and all things that are touched by its life-giving rays
are completely transformed thereby. Resurrection
life is the mightiest power in the universe. But
it is not force it is the quickening, transforming, creative power of life. That is the power of the
The
When
our Lord Jesus was ready to begin His great sonship ministry on earth, He was driven by
the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil (Mk. 1:12; Mat. 4:1). What a strange statement! The Holy Spirit drives the Son of God into the
wilderness to be tempted by satan, the arch enemy of all righteousness, a murderer from
the beginning, the father of lies! Ah, but it
was necessary for the Son to be PROVEN, made STRONG, to OVERCOME in these realms before
proceeding on into His glorious ministry and the agony and death of the cross. Remember Jesus was not only the Son of God,
He was the Son of man. And being both He was
capable not only of hearing from God, but hearing those things that be of man. So when we speak of that ancient serpent which is
the devil and satan, we are not talking about a beautiful and glorious fallen angel, but
that mind which savors the things of man the carnal mind. The carnal mind is the ground where the serpent
crawls. The flesh nature is the dust that he
feeds upon (Gen. 3:14). The apostle James put
it this way, Everyone is tempted when he is beguiled and allured by his own desire;
the desires conceives and breeds sin, while sin matures and gives birth to death
(James 1:14-15, Moffat).
The
battle lay not with some mythical personage outside of the Christ. The conflict was within. The voice was an inner voice. The suggestion was in His mind, its power in His
emotions and will. God speaks to us in our
mind and spirit. Satan also speaks in our mind
and emotions. There is no monster without. There are three things in this vast world which are
not of the Father, and only three the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and
the pride of life; briefly, appetite, avarice, and ambition.
These are the power of satan. I
do not think you will be able to avoid the conclusion that all the inventions, creations
and contrivances of man are in existence to cater to these three things. It was with these three things that Eve was tempted
in the garden. She saw the tree was good for
food (the lust of the eyes), a tree to be desired (the lust of the flesh), a tree to make
one wise (the pride of life), and the temptation was not from without but from within. How remarkably the three temptations of Jesus in
the wilderness parallel these three! Every
temptation of the devil comes to us through the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh,
and the pride of life. There are no others. Not for Adam and Eve, not for Jesus, and not for
us.
Let
us consider for a moment the third temptation of Jesus.
There is great wisdom, understanding and power in the truth I now set before
you. By it we comprehend the ways of the
Jesus
is here confronted with the question: Shall I win the world through self-effort, by
worldly methods, by military might, by force of power, and conquer it in order to bring it
salvation? Does the end justify the means? Alexander, Caesar, Napoleon all faced a similar
question. For they too did not merely have an
eye to conquest. In the back of their minds,
though naturally on a much lower plane than the divine and exalted level of Jesus, was the
desire for welfare and peace. They would
ruthlessly overrun the people for their good! They
would force them to be blessed, improved, prospered and happy! Any means were justified by the end. But the vision of Jesus is as clear as sunlight. He realized that the plan was no inspiration from
His Father in heaven, and was therefore earthly, sensual, and devilish. To adopt it would be to fall down and worship
the god of this world.
It
is impossible to possess the world, or to conquer it by carnal means, even for God,
without loss of purity, without using guile and hateful force, without trampling mens
lives, killing, destroying, plundering, and locking up masses of men in prisons, which is
equivalent to worshipping the very devil whom we intend to drive out. Matters not whether Hitler does it or whether Jesus
Christ does the same thing riding out of the heavens on a white horse and with His armies
from heaven ruthlessly and brutally smiting the kingdoms of the world! It is the same.
There is not one iota of difference. And
yet I tell you that this is exactly how millions of Christians conceive of the arrival of
the
Accordingly
the clear and lofty answer wells out from the holy soul of every son of God as it sprang
up from the soul of that firstborn among many brethren: It is written, Thou shalt
worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve! In other words, Gods business can only be
done in Gods way and by Gods power! Here
we can marvel at the loftiness of the Pattern Son. In
an instant He passes through the sum total of the experiences that we encounter in
innumerable succession in our journey into the fullness of God and to the throne of
universal dominion: Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou
serve! That is the first law of sonship. May God make this wonderfully real to the heart of
every elect son of God.
So
Jesus saw through the intoxicating visions and glittering prospects which the devil
conjured up before Him. He renounced worldly
power even the power that He might have used in a spiritual way for His
purpose, the establishing of the
As
we consider the call of God in sonship for this significant hour, let us look unto Jesus
who is our Pattern and Forerunner. When He was
tempted to merge the power of the Spirit with the methods of the world in order to bring
the Kingdom of God to pass in the earth, He rose up from the place where the kingdoms of
the world shimmered before Him, where crowns flashed and banners rustled, and hosts of
enthusiastic people were ready to acclaim Him, and quietly walked the way of poverty and suffering to the cross. He walked the road where the great and the rich of
this world will despise Him, but where He is the brother of sinners, the companion of the
forsaken and lonely, the sharer of the lot of all who know not where to lay their head,
the comrade of the insulted and injured, to whom He reaches out with the power of divine
love. He chose to walk the way of the cross
and of obedience to the ways of His Father, He who could have possessed the whole world in
one bold stroke. And that is why the story
closes with the angels ministering unto Him.
Did
He stake His life on the wrong card, this Jesus of Nazareth?
Did He make a bad exchange when in the hour of temptation He preferred the
ministration of angels and the presence of the Father to the riches and honor of this
world? If He had accepted the kingdoms of this
world and their glory He would be
forgotten today. He would have become a great
king in history, buried in the history books of our schools.
He would have become a venerated museum piece if He had signed the
pact with the devil. But because He learned
obedience to the voice of the Father He has become our Elder Brother and our King, and
therefore we too know that this sonship is our destiny; with the crown and the throne and
priesthood after the order of Melchizedek
If
there is one lesson every son of God needs to learn it is this: One must not, yea, cannot,
utilize the strength or wisdom of the flesh or the ways of the world to promote and build
the
In
a certain Christian college there is a speech club called Ambassador Club. During each meeting of this club there is a
question and answer forum during which the Topic Master can ask various
questions of the members relating to current events, weather, human interest and other
topics of his choosing, including subjects relating to the Bible. One day the question was: In the Kingdom of God
what will you do first after you receive your resurrection body and have all power? The
answers were many and varied, some good and some questionable. The first thing I will do, clamored one
freshman vigorously, is to wipe out all the churches, destroy all of their
buildings, pile all of the steeples into one big pile and burn them in sight of all the
pagan people that are still alive. That will
show them who is boss. Obviously this
student didnt know much about what he was saying, because if he wiped out all of the
churches he would be killing a great many people, for, after all, churches are people and
not buildings.
Still
another student had his mind made up as to how things should be run, and replied: I
will go into the ghettos and force all those lazy poor people on welfare and food stamps
to go to work and earn their food, or else they can starve. Compassionate Son of God! Merciful Saviour!
What an example of false priesthood!
At least Jesus created bread and fish and wine for the poor and famished to
eat! Another outstanding example of things to
come in the millennium was voiced by a junior, who stated: Since we will
be ruling with a rod of iron, I will force all people to keep the Sabbath, and then all
the rest of Gods laws, and if they dont do as I say I will punish them and
force them to obey me. Here, of course,
was an answer born of a smattering of
knowledge and an overdose of ego. Obviously
not all the comments were as harsh as these, and a number were quite good and well thought
out, but these comments do illustrate the attitude that many Christians have regarding the
way they would rule and reign in the Kingdom of God. Just
what is the attitude we should have of ruling the nations and all things? And what is the first thing you would do, precious
friend of mine, should you wake up one fine morning a manifested son of God, a King-Priest
in the Kingdom of the Father with all power and authority in heaven and in earth!
True
peace and blessing will not come to this war-torn world by military might and power. True and lasting peace and blessing will come only
by the overwhelming, transforming power of Gods love through His sons of love in the
Kingdom of love. The
The
question is just this: How is this Kingdom to be administered? Let me say again how it cannot be administered. It cannot be administered by force. Men have tried that method. They have used fire and sword to make Gods
Kingdom come. Peter had that spirit when he
pointed to the two swords the disciples possessed. Mohammed
followed this plan when he gave men the alternative either of Islam or death. In the early part of the fourth century, the
monarch of the
Imagine
the whispering that went around
The
Crusaders, spurred on by the eloquence of Peter the Hermit, committed the same blunder. The old Saxon and Gothic kings, who when they
accepted Christianity themselves compelled their people to be baptized as well, followed
the same mistaken method. But these people did
not advance the
Force
may increase the numbers of a sect, it cannot add one to the membership of the Kingdom. The sword may compel a man to change his name; it
can never compel him to change his heart. Oh,
no; it is not by the sword that Gods Kingdom will come, not by a literal sword out
of the mouth of the Christ nor in the hands of the saints.
To all ecclesiastical persecutors Christ says, Put the sword up into
his sheath. Not by the sword is the
Kingdom to come, but by the cross. This is the
weapon we have to use in our warfare. Not the
cross and the sword, as
The
Captain of our salvation is not General Joshua crossing the Jordan, but Jesus the Lamb of
God upon the throne. Therefore He made His
triumphal entry into
There
are different kinds of government but of one thing we may be very certain the
God
is love; and love does not impose its will upon us, or enforce it against ours. Love woos and wins by a principle far higher than
brute force. Should Jesus return to earth to
enforce the laws of His Kingdom with carnal weapons all that could be accomplished would
be the erection of larger and more secure prisons overflowing with ever-increasing masses
of rebellious humanity. Force does not
transform it merely breeds contempt. Love
transforms. Love changes the nature. Love wins the allegiance of the heart. Love forms an indissoluble bond. Love makes one.
Love captivates the will. Love,
though omnipotent, is very gentle. God reigns
by infinite wisdom, power and love and the greatest of these is love. Love conquers all!
And King Jesus came to earth to reveal that love and the Fathers
Kingdom.
The
SPIRIT OF MIGHT which shall rest upon all of Gods sons is not the same kind of might
known by the people of this world; it is not the might of force, of marching armies, of
clanging swords, of tanks and bursting bombs, for these exist only in the realm of carnal
might. The might of God is spiritual might. If our eyes have been opened by the Spirit of God
we will see that the nature of all our work in the
Praise
God for the exalted road that leads to
We
are looking forward with great anticipation to Gods Kingdom dealings with ALL
NATIONS. Humanity is thirsting for these
living waters from heaven! Let us not sell
creation short. Arise, saints of God, and come
away with the enChristed to the holy mount of God, the Kingdom of the Anointed, the Feast
of Tabernacles, the Holiest of all, the throne of God in the sons of
The
day is nigh at hand when there will be no more thick darkness, no more gross
darkness resting upon the minds and hearts of earths teeming billions. And at the close of that day, instead of growing
darker, the world will have reached the high noon of its light of the knowledge of
the glory of the Lord, and its sun shall never set.
The Sun of Righteousness is the arising of the glory of the Lord shining in
His full strength and majesty, dispelling the darkness, bringing in the day of victory,
life and blessing. This Day has already dawned
upon us and shone in our hearts, but creation awaits its Day. There has been a dawn for us and, blessed be God!
there shall be a dawn for all creation. The
peoples of our planet will not remain in the icy clutches of an ever-deepening darkness
until all hope is gone, until there is nothing but total darkness and death. No, light will appear more light than the
world has ever seen at the manifestation of the sons of Light. The illuminating rays of glory will fill the earth,
your earth, my earth, their earth, until all the shadows and darkness of night have been
chased away.
All
the carnal thinking of man, all the delusions of this gross material realm, all the
doctrines of devils, all the superstitions, myths, folklore and fairy tales of religion,
all the human creeds and dogmas, all human precepts by which men are taught to fear God
rather than to love Him; all political intrigues, all humanistic education and
institutions, all the myriad citadels of sin and vice and crime, are to be swept away,
replaced by the glorious KNOWLEDGE OF THE LORD AND HIS TRANSFORMING GRACE. The Sun of Righteousness shall arise and arise
until there is no more night anywhere in Gods vast universe. No man anywhere will be able to escape the glory of
God in the face of Gods Christ. WE ARE
THE DAWN OF IT, the firstfruits, praise His name! Arise,
shine; for thy light is come, and the GLORY OF THE LORD
is risen upon THEE. For, behold,
the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but...HIS GLORY SHALL
BE SEEN UPON THEE. And the GENTILES (NATIONS)
SHALL COME TO THY LIGHT, and kings to the brightness of THY RISING (Isa. 60:1-3). And the NATIONS
of them that are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the
earth do bring their glory and honor into it...for they shall bring the glory and honor of
the NATIONS into it (Rev. 21:24,26).
The
manifestation of the sons of God shall utterly eclipse anything we have ever read in the
Bible or in Church history! The
Chapter
15
HOW
THE KINGDOM COMES
(continued)
I
write today to the elect of God scattered abroad that our hearts might be prepared for the
truths that concern the establishment of the
As
we consider these thoughts, may God almighty grant that His Spirit may instruct us in the
way of truth and understanding. When John the
Revelator beheld the Lord coming upon a white horse, followed by the armies from heaven,
he saw a sharp sword going out of His mouth that with it He should smite the
nations: and He shall rule them with a rod of iron (Rev. 19:15). In the midst of all the confusion and darkness of
this hour the Spirit of God is calling out a people for His name. He is training them in the school of obedience and
refining them in the furnace of affliction. He
is stripping them of self-interest, draining them of self-will, plucking from their hearts
all the deceptive ways of
These
sons shall be able to raise their voices in mighty declarations of authority. The authority is rooted in their own experience. By the understanding of the Almighty they shall
have conquered the dragon of sin and limitation and death in their own lives. Then shall be fulfilled on the grandest scale ever
the word spoken by the Lord, And these signs shall follow them that believe; in my
name they shall cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up
serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands
upon the sick, and they shall recover (Mk. 16:17-18).
Some people have thought this meant to be able to handle poisonous snakes
without being bitten. Others have supposed it
meant that IF you accidentally took up a serpent, as Paul did on the
The
Word of God comes riding upon a white horse, and the army of the sons of God follow Him,
all riding upon white horses. What a scene! The horse is an animal that men ride. Its like a car its a vehicle. The horse in scripture is a symbol for THE BRINGING
OF GODS PRESENCE AND POWER IN WARFARE. It
signifies STRENGTH AND SWIFTNESS IN BATTLE (Isa. 2:7; 30:16; Jer. 12:5; 51:27; Eze. 38:4;
Hos. 14:3; Joel 2:4; Heb. 1:8). ...I
have taken away your horses (Strength) (Amos 4:10).
On the negative side, whenever the word horse is used in relationship with
fleshly humanity it signifies human strength. Isaiah
31:1-3 informs us: Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses,
and trust in chariots (that is human strength and human ability), because they are many;
and in horsemen, because they are very strong...they look not unto the Holy One of Israel,
neither seek the Lord! Again, Now
the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses are fleshly (strength), and not
spirit. For thus saith the Lord
God, the Holy One of Israel; in returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in
confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not. But
ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses (human strength and ability) and confound the
riders on the horses (those who trust in human strength and ability) (Hag. 2:22;
Zech. 10:5).
On
the positive side, wherever the word horse is used with righteousness, or divinity, or the
Lord, or things heavenly, it means heavenly, divine or spiritual strength. And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon him was called
Faithful and True, and in righteousness He doth judge and make war...and the armies which
were in heaven followed Him upon white horses (Rev. 19:11,14). That is, they followed Him in heavenly, divine,
spiritual strength. In Habakkuk 3:14-15 the
prophet, reminiscing about
When
the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven riding on a white horse He does not come alone. Even before the flood, Enoch prophesied of this
appearing of the promised One, and said, Behold the Lord cometh WITH TEN THOUSANDS
OF HIS SAINTS (or, holy myriads of Himself) to execute judgment upon all (Jude
14,15). John saw, and writes, The
armies, the ones in the heaven, were following Him (Rev. 19:14). Christ Jesus is the Head and the Leader as He goes
before; His holy ones follow in His train, for as many as are led by the Spirit of God,
they are the sons of God, and these are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. They are represented as armies. They come forth as a body of fighters. He has many under His command. The armies of the heavenlies are His, and He does
battle with them, by them, through them, and as them, even the called, and chosen
and faithful. There is no infantry. There really is no cavalry, for all of the horses
are white, and every one who follows Him is of exalted rank.
It is an army of princes, a host of mighty dignitaries, kings and priests
unto God. Moreover, they have no
weapons, except the sharp two-edged sword that proceeds out of HIS MOUTH, which is the
Living Word of God. They are dressed in white,
for they are all righteous, cleansed by the crimson tide in which His cloak was dipped. He comes as Warrior, Judge and King, and they share
with Him in the same character. They are
warrior judges and kings with Him. They are
clothed in fine linen, pure and white, which is the righteousness of the saints. They wear no armor.
They are immortal and incorruptible and cannot be hurt nor stopped.
TYPES
OF GOVERNMENT
In
the world there are a variety of types of government.
There is the Republican form of government.
A Republic is a state in which the rule is conferred by the people to a
certain portion of the people, elected by the
people to represent them. Our country, the
Totalitarian
government is where one political party suppresses all opposition. Some examples of totalitarianism are Nazism,
Fascism and Communism. In the days of the
famed Robin Hood (A. D. 900-1300) we find the Feudal form of government. Feudalism was a system of government by lords who
owned all the land. The people worked for the
lord who owned the land and their lives were completely dominated by the lord over them. These lords, in turn, were themselves ruled by a
more powerful lord or king of the country. Plutocracy
is another power which rules this world the rule of the rich. In Plutocracy the wealthy class of people control
the government and generally maintain their status by domination of the poor and by
keeping them repressed.
And,
of course, there is Monarchy. An absolute
Monarchy is where the king has total authority. Many
of the governments in Old Testament times were Monarchies.
If
one were asked to define history in a single sentence, he would be wise to say, History
is an unbroken record of the failure of human government. Almost any form of government would be perfect, if
the governors possessed perfection. The
tragedy of human failure is resident in the fact that no government can be more perfect
than the administrators thereof, who are generally no more perfect than the people they
rule, indeed, in many cases less perfect. Never
at any time has there been a nation composed entirely of righteous people, not Gods
ancient people,
NOT
BY DEMOCRACY
I
believe in the rule of the people, by the people, and for the people, I hear many
people say. You do? No you do not.
Not one person who reads these lines who is an intelligent, honest,
God-fearing person believes in it. It is the
most deceiving creed going. You say that you
believe in the rule of the people, by the people, and for the people. You say that democracy is the most perfect form of
government inspired by God and given to the founders of our nation. Let us contrast life under democracy with the
atmosphere of the
Well,
what is found on the other hand is
listed in the previous verse. Galatians 5:19-21, is what Paul called the
works of the flesh. This is what he
writes: Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and
debauchery, idolatry and witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish
ambition, dissensions, factions and envy, drunkenness, orgies, and the like. It is interesting to note that every one of the
behaviors that Paul listed under the works of
the flesh ARE LEGAL IN AMERICA TODAY! Go back
and read the list again. These are all legal
in
You
see, when
Nobody,
really, can tell us Americans, what freedom is. Is
not this the land of the free? Nowhere in the
world is there more freedom than we enjoy in this country, born out of a desire to be
free. For freedom we live and for freedom we
die; not only for ourselves, but for others as well. From
countries where freedom simply does not exist, people, desiring to be free, have come to
The
kind of freedom we have in
Let
me ask you a straight question. Are the
majority of the people in your city saints or sinners?
I would not say that all men in
You
have been told that government of the people, by the people, and for the people
is a divine form of government, given by the mind of the Lord to our founding Fathers. Where do you find that in the Bible? Nowhere. The
issue is one of authority: is it from God, or from man?
If God is the sovereign authority over all things, then His Word alone can
govern all things. If the ultimate authority
is man, then all things must serve man and bow down to man.
The doctrine of human rights and democracy is the
humanistic replacement for the rule of God by the Spirit.
Man is regarded as sovereign and that is humanism, pure and simple. All forms of government are needed in Gods
great demonstration of human incompetence. Little
as we may like some of them, let us recognize Gods wisdom even in their faults, and
be thankful for the lessons that they teach. We
speak of our present age of democracies as though they were something completely new. That is not so.
Both
In
his comments on Jesus healing of the demoniac boy when He had come down from the
mount of Transfiguration, George Hawtin has strikingly written, It will not be
necessary for me here to endeavor to convince anyone that the world is now struggling
helplessly between the fires of tribulation and the waters of judgment. Listen to the news any day at any hour and what do
we hear? More violence. More killings.
More break-ins. More robberies. More conspiracies.
More defrauding. More wars. More terrorism.
More armaments. More uprisings. More rebellions.
More air crashes. More
earthquakes. More tornadoes. More volcanoes, more floods, and more mud slides. More drug abuse.
And an ever-increasing number of children born either crippled in body or
retarded in mind, and, worst of all, no good news anywhere.
The poor, sad, distraught, demon possessed world, groaning and travailing in
pain, is waiting for the sons of God to reach the glory and honor of adoption, waiting for
the transfigured family of sons to say, Bring him to me.
Far
away in the depths of my spirit I hear the voice of the prophet Isaiah, saying, And
He will destroy in this mountain (the mountain of the
Let
us now carry the thought of the contrast between democracy and the
If
you are going to have the rule of all the people you might just as well govern a family by
the children, or govern a factory by the employees and apprentices. Government does not come from below, unless it
comes from hell, and that government is Confusion
Certainly
that explains in simple to understand language the present corruption in both our nation
and our government. The thing that needs
changing in this dark world is the sinful heart of man.
Out of this dread fountain there stems all that is wrong in human relations. God has filled this earth with every good and
perfect thing that man can need. It is all
good, just as He pronounced it in that long ago beginning.
He has provided it in such abundance that there is more than plenty for all. It is the selfishness and lust of the hearts of the
few which result in hunger, privation and want on the part of the many. There is beauty and grace in the entire creation,
but the perverted heart of man twists these gifts of God into objects of lust and
indulgence, violating the very purpose of creation. The
builders of the New World Order each are erecting their gossamer structures upon a rotten
foundation. Share the wealth, and in a few
years the few will have it all back again. Revise
political trends and give power to the oppressed (as it was supposed to be under
communism!) and they quickly become the oppressors! Pass
laws enforcing goodness, ethics, and morality, and after a short time enforcement becomes
lax and as the new generation arises they will throw off the yoke that they hate.
THEOCRATIC
GOVERNMENT
I
tell you today that I do not believe in democracy I believe in Theocracy. And I have no hesitation in telling you that old
Abe Lincolns prediction will ultimately come to naught when he said, The
government of the people, by the people, and for the people SHALL NOT PERISH FROM THE
EARTH... Oh yes, it will! The word of God is sure: The God of heaven shall set up a kingdom,
which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it
shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever
(Dan. 2:44). The
Theocratic
principles are at entire and positive enmity with democratic principles. In the
And
I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the
kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ (Rev. 12:10). The
What
makes this order so different from a democracy is that the heads are not voted in,
therefore they cannot be manipulated by the voters. The
difference between theocracy and dictatorship is that no man has authority in himself, it
is not a carnal authority and he cannot be a boss and demand servitude. But I would have you know that the Head of
every man is Christ... and the Head of Christ is God (I Cor. 11:3). That is the precise order of headship in the
The
business of the sons of God is to establish the Theocracy the rule of God in the
midst of men. Only with the mind of the Spirit
can we discern the rule of God. Paul speaks of
it in Philippians 3:20 where he says, For our conversation is in heaven. The Greek word here translated conversation
is POLITEUMA politics! Plainly he says,
Our politics are in heaven. Our
politics are not out of the Democratic party, or the Republican party, or anybody elses
political party our politics are right out of the realm of the Spirit and Power of God.
Our politics are the RULE OF GOD BY THE SPIRIT. In all of our life and relationships we have no
other politics, no other agenda, no other authority, no other source of blessing to
humanity.
Since
the Church is a part of the
All
ministry in the house of God is of divine appointment, on whatever level it may be. Only the Holy Ghost can do these things. There is no such thing in the
This
church voting is all nonsense. I
should just as soon ask a flock of sheep to vote where the shepherd should lead them. I should just as soon expect an army to vote as to
what general should lead them. What army would
ever be able to fight successfully, if all its officers, captains, majors, colonels,
brigadier-generals, and commander-in-chief depended upon the votes of the soldiers! I should like to know what kind of an army that
would be. If I were on the other side, I
should like to meet that army, because I would put it to rout the first thing. I should have no fear of an army where the soldiers
elected their own officers and voted whether to go into the battle or not. If they are not pleased today, they put them down
tomorrow. If the battle is going badly, they
stop and take a vote whether to fight on. They
would change about thirty times a month. I
would know what could be done with them if I were on the other side. The devil does not give a snap for the man-made and
man-run church systems of this world where your ministers have to preach to please the
people, or else have the people butt them out of the pasture. Nice kind of thing that, is it not? Nice mess you have gotten yourselves into, treating
ministers as if they were cooks. If they do
not happen to season the doctrinal soup from the pulpit to your satisfaction, you say,
Go! And they have to go. Nonsense!
In
that harlot system which calls itself the church, they have been applying democratic
principles to what is supposed to be a theocratic institution. Every honest man must admit that the Church cannot
be the
How
is he called? In many denominations it is
about the same. They generally go upon the
same basis that the people have the right to call the minister. Do you not know how the people call the minister? In the first place they have to think of the
ministers salary. If they go about it
the best way, the committee will say, We will get a first-class talker, a
charismatic man with eloquence and charm. He
will attract crowds of people, fill this church, and boom the town. We cannot afford to have any but a polished man. The consequence is that they go to the wealthiest
business tycoon in the church and say, How
much will you help us, Mr. Flesh-pot, to get a good minister? He takes enough time to get the cigar out of
his mouth and silently damn them, and then he begins to think. After all, I cannot afford to let these
fellows get just anyone, because I put $50,000 into that church last year, and this town
must have a man who can talk. Well, I will
think about it. So he tells them he will
think about it.
At
last he sends off to some place where there is a promising young rising star, a fellow who
is a go-getter and is talking away. He is
pretty bright. Mr. Flesh-pot, who is chairman
of the committee, and pays all expenses, brings the young fellow to town to hear him
preach some trial sermons and see whether he is the man or not. The question then becomes a question of salary. The whole question of the call being from God is
decided by the salary paid. That settles the
whole thing. You do not expect it to be a call
of God, if there is not more salary paid than you are now receiving. Mr. Flesh-pot, who has not a spark of spirituality
or godliness in him, rules the whole thing. The
committee must do as he says. As a result a
man is chosen who praises society, who charms and entertains, who lives in the world, who
walks after the flesh, who minds earthly things, who will not damage any of the interests
of Mr. Flesh-pot or any of the other pots in the church, who will be very
gentle with sin and every carnal thing. A
meeting is called and this man is put before them, and the people vote upon it. But the primaries have already been
held and Mr. Flesh-pots nominee must be voted for.
What is the consequence? Dumb
dogs in the pulpit! I would rather break
stones in the street than to be a minister of that kind.
And I would rather eat pork and beans three times a day than to be dependent
upon any people for a salary as one of
Now
I fully realize that the conditions are not quite that extreme in many Evangelical,
Fundamentalist, Pentecostal and Charismatic denominations where the people love to think
that they are true to the Word of God and are led by the Spirit. But I have been there and I know, and you
know, that self-pleasing, pride, fleshly zeal, political manipulations, financial
interests, clout of those who have money and control the purse-strings of the church, and
a great number of carnal considerations are always involved where the people call the
preachers and control the ministry. The
ministers of
Democracy
will always produce, sooner or later, mans man and mans plan
rather than Gods man and God's plan. This is true in all societies and on all levels
where Democracy rather than Theocracy is practiced. Democracy
in the church or Democracy in the
It
is the mind of Christ that will order and govern the world in the
Sons
of God, Gods Christ, are the instrument to bring the divine order of God into the
lives of all men, for the Head of every man is Christ.
The will of God on earth is in truth the
Ah,
God could sovereignly and independently right every wrong and restore the whole creation
to purity and soundness and beauty and incorruptibility in an instant with one sweep of
His great hand, if that were His plan. But God
has a better plan! He is processing a people
to bring His peace, His righteousness, the beauty of His nature, His glory and His will to
all men and all creatures, beginning on earth, and extending to the extremities of the
unbounded heavens. God has not chosen to bring
forth the magnificence of Himself in creation independently and single handedly the
sons of God are the farmers He is raising up to establish the harmony of His
purpose and the majesty of His Kingdom throughout all His domains. The first area of land that He has given us to work
over, and bring forth a crop unto righteousness, is ourselves. Today God has chosen to bring His Kingdom to pass
in all the earth through us. Plant wisely,
water faithfully, cultivate carefully, my brother, my sister, that there shall be an
abundant harvest of salvation and righteousness unto the ends of the earth.
Jesus
Christ preached the good news of the
Gods
Theocratic government will yet break in pieces and consume all other kingdoms, within and
without. And He doesnt need your vote! You dont need to believe it to
make it come to pass. It is not going to
happen just because enough people want it to!
No, it is happening and shall continue to happen in spite of all of us
the Kingdom is coming whether the world expects it or not! The world wasnt expecting Jesus two millennia
ago. The world wasnt expecting the power
of God that came at Pentecost. The world wasnt
believing for the apostles to appear on the scene in the power and
demonstration of the
I
believe in the rule of J.
The
gospel of the
The
The
day is coming when the devil will not rule any more in any of these places. The day is coming when there will be no more voting
in America, no more elections, no more corrupt politics, no more national networks with
their stars and superstar newscasters covering major conventions, no more convention halls
decorated in bright colors, or delegates wearing
loud-colored casual or sports attire, many with outlandish oversized hats. No more whoop-and-holler demonstrations, or
thousands with balloons, like little children at play.
No more political signs and placards, no more of the usual politics being
played secretly from smoke-filled hotel suites away from convention halls the
jockeying for selfish advantage, political gain and coveting of power. No more polished speeches and lying orations
promising everybody everything and delivering nothing.
The
day is coming when the saints shall judge the earth; when the overcoming sons of God shall
be given power over the nations to rule them with the iron rod of righteous dominion and
transforming power; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers. Let all men know that it is the Almighty God who is
the designer and architect of all the nations of the world.
The time periods and localities in which nations flourish have all been
pre-arranged by the will of Him who worketh
all things after the counsel of His own will (Eph. 1:11). The truth of this cannot be made any plainer than
it is by Moses in Deuteronomy 32:8: When the Most High divided the nations their
inheritance, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the people according
to the number of the children of
How
plain it is that it was GOD who, from the beginning, set the bounds of habitation or the
national boundaries of ALL NATIONS. These
boundaries were established in relation to
Yes,
God set the bounds of habitation for all nations and planted
David,
the sweet singer of
Many
precious fragments reveal Gods ultimate purpose for mankind, when ALL
the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord, and ALL KINDREDS OF THE
NATIONS shall worship before Thee, for the kingdom is the Lords and HE is the
governor among the nations (Ps. 22:27-28). Almighty
Father! Thy Kingdom Come!
Chapter
16
HOW
THE KINGDOM COMES
(continued)
When
our Lord spoke of the
NOT
BY LAW
In
the
But
does the law of Moses give us a body of social, economic and political regulations which,
when applied, will rescue our nation or any nation from its woes? If a serious problem exists in our society, can we
scan the precepts of Moses for a solution? When
we discover the Old Testament law to resolve a moral and social difficulty, is it an
expression of the Kingdom Jesus taught to lift out the regulation as found in Moses and
write it in the law books of our state? Some
are claiming that this is Gods method of establishing the principles and power of
the
The
Church goes out and protests abortion, they demand that the law be changed. The people of God go out and protest homosexual
activities, same sex marriages, and a score of other moral issues, demanding that laws be
passed based on the laws of God. They have the
Old Testament mentality that thinks the way to make
All
Christians who are out protesting abortion and pressing for legislation to ban it and
other evils are condemners of the world. The
spirit of sonship is not in them. The
priesthood of mercy has not been raised up in their hearts.
The spiritual dynamic of the
People
want to get all the pornography off the news stands. Am
I in favor of pornography? Certainly not! Am I in favor of legislating it out of the land? If I am I become a minister of the law of the Old
Covenant, not a minister of deliverance to creation. I
tell you today, I will preach to somebody, I will proclaim the love and power of God to
him, I will demonstrate the mercy and goodness of the Lord toward him, I will do
everything within my power to touch that heart and change that life with the grace of
Jesus Christ to experience the holiness of God, but I will not compel him by condemnation
and law and punishment that is not the way of the Kingdom of God. I am not a minister of the law, I am a priest of
the Most High God. God is raising up His
Kingdom from within men, not from without men. The
sons of God are Ambassadors of that Kingdom that establishes righteousness in the earth by
transformation, not by compulsion. Mans
government is the instrument of the sword, not the sons of God. We are bound in the spirit to represent only the
interests and principles of the
Preachers
travel up and down the land with their fingers pointed at sinners, picking out a new sin,
the sin of the week, to preach against. Their
whole message is that the media is ungodly, the government is corrupt, the New World Order
is a conspiracy, the educational system is immoral, the abortionists, homosexuals, and
others must be stopped, and they breathe out threatenings, hell-fire and damnation against
the world from their perch high upon a crag on mount Sinai.
Thats not Gods way at all! Our
heavenly Father calls us to assume a posture that causes the light of God to shine upon
the just and upon the unjust. The way of the
Kingdom is not human government. The way of
the Kingdom is not trying to get everyone to agree on a law that forbids unrighteousness
and godlessness. That is the way of mans
government, they can only deal with evil by restraint.
But that is not Gods Kingdom economy.
To reign in the Kingdom the heart of the Father in heaven must be raised up
within us. Sin cannot be gotten rid of
externally. The whole concept of the Kingdom
as taught by the preachers today is absurd.
This
may surprise some of my readers, but sons of God are not called to point their fingers at
the evils of society. JESUS NEVER DID! God did not call us to crusade and announce, Abortion
is evil, you should not do it. There ought to
be a law! No, I do not condone
indiscriminate abortion. No, I am not for
drugs and immorality and crime. But God did
not call me to condemn the world to condemn either these social evils or those who
practice them. The people of God must offer a
solution to sin instead of preaching against it. And
our solution is not more laws. History proves
that laws solve nothing. Does our war on
drugs remove drugs from the streets and school yards of our nation? Absolutely not!
Did Prohibition eradicate alcohol and drunkenness from
You
can get rid of all pornography, you can close down all the abortion clinics, you can close
up all the brothels, all the adult book stores, all the nude strip-joints, and all the
hell-holes of sin, pass a million laws against sin, send out the army in the streets to
enforce them, and sin will still erupt in your very midst because it is the heart that is
deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Outward
sins are merely an effect of the inward sin of heart and nature they are not a
cause. Man does not sin because he sees sin,
he sins because its a nature to do it. The
fact is, I couldnt have been anything at one time except a sinner because as long as
I remained in the consciousness of Adam I would forever be in a consciousness of sinning. But once you begin to come into the consciousness
of the Christ the whole concept of sinning becomes foreign to you. You become centered in a God-Christ consciousness
which becomes the spirit motivating your actions, the law of life within. Christ within becomes the animating principle and
power of your being unto righteousness. And
this, precious friend of mine, IS THE POWER AND THE GLORY OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD!
Let
me say it again the laws of Moses have absolutely nothing to do with the
Times
without number I have heard good people rejoicing in some godly piece of
legislation that is before congress, or in their involvement in the anti-abortion
movement, or that Christians have gained positions on the local school board, or that the
ten commandments are posted in a court room or school building. But consider this, oh tradition bound man! The law was given by Moses, but grace and
truth came by Jesus Christ. May the
Spirit of God make it powerfully real to all who read these lines that the
Righteousness
cannot be legislated. You cannot turn
Let
me illustrate. Suppose that there are two
meetings going on at opposite ends of the city. Both
are led by preachers. One is engaged in
spiritual ministry. The power of God is moving
and men are coming to Christ, broken, weeping, contrite, repenting, calling upon the name
of the Lord, their chains of sin and darkness broken, washed away by the power of God,
becoming new creatures in Christ Jesus. Saints
are being strengthened, the ways of the Lord are being established in hearts, the plan and
purpose of God are being quickened in the consciousness of those seeking the Lord. The
other preacher is heading a political movement to enlist Christian political
activists in the project of holding demonstrations, lobbying government to put
prayer back in the schools, initiate programs to get kids off of drugs, outlaw
pornography, nude dancing, adult book stores, etc. Now,
which of these two preachers is acting as an Ambassador of the Kingdom of Heaven; which of
these preachers is doing the work of the Kingdom of God; which of these two is causing the
Kingdom of God to come upon men; which of these two is introducing men to the Realm of
Heaven; which is reigning in some measure with Christ from His throne of heavenly power?
There
should be no doubt in any spiritual mind. The
soul-saving preacher is certainly moving in a dimension of the
It
is my deep conviction that the time appointed of the Father for the manifestation of the
sons of God is nigh at hand. Sons of God shout
it loud and clear! Let the earth know her
redemption draweth nigh! The King of Love is
coming! Hallelu-yah! The Deliverer is coming out of
Now
dont misunderstand me. I certainly am
not opposed to good and godly laws in our land, nor to Christians exerting their influence
for righteousness in society or government. That
is all well and good and to be commended, and I praise God for it. JUST DONT CALL IT THE
This
is why I have consistently refused to become involved in movements, or organizations, in
campaigns, crusades, and whatever work is dedicated to anti something. If I become a militant moralist to fight the
degeneracy in our midst, if I work myself to death screaming against the communists, if I
labor day and night warning Gods people and the nation against politicians, the
Illuminati, the world bankers, the Tri-lateral Commission, the United Nations, the New
World Order, and all the other conspiracy theories will it deliver even one soul
from the power of darkness and translate him into the Kingdom of Gods dear Son? Will it lead to transformation and to the
glorification of as much as one life rescued from the power of hell, and raised up to sit
together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus? The
answer is abundantly clear. Gods purpose
for His chosen ones is to become a part of THE STONE THAT IS CHRIST, which is cut out of
the mountain without hands. It is a Kingdom
not of this world, out of the heights and depths of God.
BECOME WHAT CHRIST IS that is the goal which He has set before us. In becoming what He is, we become a part of that
MIGHTY STONE which shall smite the kingdoms of man and become A GREAT MOUNTAIN to fill the
whole earth. Nothing less than that can
satisfy the call of God upon our lives. There
is nothing else we can do to correct the worlds ills.
It will not be healed through religious efforts or through political
schemes. The only remaining hope for the world
is for the Lords elect to become ONE WITH HIM WHO IS THE MIGHTY STONE which shall
destroy all these kingdoms and become a great mountain that fills the whole earth. And when we have sought the Lord and have given
ourselves unreservedly to Him, He will speak to us as He did to Isaiah: Arise,
shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,
and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be
seen upon thee. And the Gentiles (nations)
shall come to thy light, and kings (rulers, governments) to the brightness of thy rising
(Isa. 60:1-3).
THE
NEW MAN OF THE KINGDOM
Our
world today needs the new men that Christ makes. New
men are the key to everything else that must be renewed.
Therefore the making of new men is the first priority of the
At
every point we are driven to the need for new men a NEW CREATION. Through two world wars men dreamed and talked of
the coming of a better world when the nations would lay down their arms and begin to build
that better world. A half of a century has
gone by since the last World War and it is not only the same old world, it is a much worse
world. We cannot build a new world out of men
with old dispositions, old attitudes, old hearts and old natures. The new world for which all creation groans and
travails can only be fulfilled by new men with renewed minds, new hearts, and a new
spirit.
The
outward law of God is given to reveal to us the nature of God Himself. I will use one illustration from the Ten
Commandments to make the point. When God says,
Thou shalt not commit adultery, He is not simply trying to prevent us from
enjoying the lusts of our flesh. He is telling
us something about Himself how He is. The
only eternal, unchangeable, immutable, invariable, unalterable, firm, fixed, sound, solid,
balanced, dependable, reliable, steady, steadfast, ethical, moral and totally trustworthy
thing in the whole universe is GOD! Thou
shalt not commit adultery it means that GOD HIMSELF is committed, reliable,
true, dependable, faithful and trustworthy. He
keeps His commitments. He keeps His covenant. He honors His word.
He is faithful in all His involvements.
He will not cheat on you, lie to you, deceive you, betray you, forsake you
or fail you. He loves you and will take care
of you, cherish you, nurture you, protect you, and cleave to you. He does not chase skirts, He will not abandon you for greener grass on the
other side of the fence. He is not adulterous,
with a roving eye and a lying, cheating heart. He
is love, He is good, He is faithful, He is persevering, and His nature is constant,
abiding and unchanging. THAT IS HOW HE IS! When you understand the nature of one who is not
adulterous in thought, desire or action, you understand something about the character of
God. And that is how He wants us, His sons, to
be! His law reveals His nature. Study deeply the laws of God under the Old Covenant
and you will learn the heart of God. And when
His law is written in our heart, His nature how He is is inscribed upon the
tablets (genetic code) of our Inner Son.
This
great faithfulness and unchanging nature of God is revealed with divine clarity in the
words of the Lord through the prophet Hosea to backsliding
What
is called nature in man is called instinct in animals. For years debate has been underway amongst the
modern-day scholars over whether instinct is real or not, or whether what appears as
instinct in animals is really taught or acquired characteristics. For a long time no conclusion was ever really made. Then, not too many years ago, a scholar by the name
of Dr. Maurice, decided that he wanted to conclude, once and for all, the lasting debate
of instinct. He went to
Dr.
Maurice thought that he could test the reality of instinct by taking two eggs from a
weaverbirds nest in South Africa, bring them to America, and then hatch those eggs
and raise the birds isolated from the others of their kind, never being exposed to this
strange behavior. And that was what he did. He hatched those eggs, raised the birds, hatched
the eggs from those birds and raised them, and did this until he had raised five
generations of weaverbirds here in the
There
would never be a broken home, a heartbroken wife or husband, or deserted and destitute
children if the nature of God was written in all mens hearts. There would be no bigotry, no hatred, no crime, no
war, no evil or trouble anywhere on earth if the nature of God was written on all mens
hearts giving them a heart in the likeness of His own and a mind as the mind of Christ. From the redeemed and transformed heart the law
(nature) of God flows forth as a river of life. We
still have those among us who thunder the letter of the law from Sinais mount
but all such will change their tune if ever they stand with the Lamb of God at Calvarys
hill, for there they find God removing His law from the external tables of stone to write
them upon the fleshy tablets of the hearts of new born men, who no longer keep the law
because they cringe in fear, but because the spirit of that law has become their nature,
the law of life within them.
Can
you imagine the United States Government passing one massive law that says, WE
FORBID ANYMORE CRIME OF ANY KIND. and it worked! Impossible. Laws
are on the outside; you read them; you think about them; and if you have any morality at
all, you even try to obey them, at least when the patrol car is driving in your lane of
traffic, or when anyone is looking who might report, expose, or punish you if you do not. Edicts of men are issued, but they cannot be
imparted. You talk them, but few walk them. So laws cannot change the inner man; nor can the
best of men follow the totality of any laws laid down in his behalf. That is why there is such torment and slavery under
the law, for we have become aware now of what God defines as sin, yet we struggle with it
nonetheless. But when the law is written in
the heart no longer do men try to love God contrary to nature, but now, possessing the
nature of God, love, joy, peace and righteousness flow like a river from the heart. This is the power and glory of the
Herein
lies the important significance of the great truth Jesus proclaimed when He explained
where the Kingdom is and how it does not come. The
It
is my deep conviction that social issues, economic issues, moral issues and political
issues can be dealt with adequately only at the level of individual conversion. When the firstborn Son of God came into the world
to reveal the salvation and
As
the sons of God destined to bring deliverance to the whole creation, dare we follow in the
footsteps of HIS holy wisdom? The heart of any social, economic or political
problem lies in the heart of individual men and women.
New social structures and systems, new laws, new judicial systems, new
political systems, new economic systems, can never solve the problem so long as the heart
of man remains selfish and corrupt. Only when
men pass over by conversion from self-centeredness to God-centeredness can the
On
far-away Patmos John the Revelator penned the record of his vision: And I saw in the
right hand of Him that sat upon the throne a book written within and on the backside,
sealed with seven seals (Rev. 5:1). John
saw the book that is written within. He saw
that new covenant that God would make with the house of
Men
make godliness a law rather than a life. God
said! they thunder from their pulpits high upon the craggy pinnacle of Sinai, and
then lay an outward rule and observance upon the people Dont wear
make-up, dont wear shorts, dont
wear jewelry, dont cut your hair, dont go to movies, dont dance, dont
smoke, dont drink, dont remarry if divorced, be in church every time the doors
open, submit, pay tithes... and on and on the list goes...dont, dont,
dont, and do, do, do! And if you fail to
keep their laws, rules, regulations, and requirements you will burst hell wide open, they
threaten. They kill people with the letter of
the Word, missing entirely the spirit, the compassion of God, the love of God, the heart
of God, and the ability of God to grow men up into the stature of Christ and establish His
will in each and every life. People have been
forced to go to the world to find some mercy, some encouragement, some understanding, some
answers and solutions, some help because they couldnt find it in the church, the
preachers had no grace, no mercy, and no wisdom from the Lord. Christian ministers of the grace of God LEGISLATING
THE LAW! What an enigma! What a travesty!
But the Bible says! you contend.
You hypocrites! You dont
even know what the Bible says! You know the
letter that kills! You have never perused the
pages of the blessed book which GOD IS, the revelation of God in Christ Jesus the
spirit that gives life! The New Testament is
not that black, leather-bound book we call the Bible.
The New Testament, the true Bible, the Living Epistle of Christ is the law
of His life written upon the fleshy tables of the heart.
Ray
Prinzing shared the following story which clearly illustrates the truth I now write. A certain woman who had been raised under the
bondage of the law of thou shalt and thou shalt not of a certain group,
rebelled against it all and went her own way, and eventually became a slave to drink. In due time her past church acquaintances
came to her with more of their thou shalt not to see if they could turn her
away from her alcoholism. She already knew the
futility of trying to quit in herself, and said to them, When God writes on my
heart, Thou shalt not drink, then I will not drink.
Not long thereafter, GRACE sovereignly came to her, HE WROTE IT UPON HER
HEART, and she was immediately delivered from
alcohol. Christendom would impose their
standard from without, HE WRITES IT WITHIN, AND IMPARTS THE ABILITY TO LIVE IT OUT! That is GRACE!
Mankind
does not need a new social order, a new political system, or a new set of laws. All mankind needs is CHRIST. Furthermore, the whole world needs a revelation of
Christ of unprecedented proportions and unparalleled intensity, power and glory. Creation needs the manifestation of the sons of
God. Creation groans with unutterable longing
for the full manifestation of God in His sons. Sonship
is the hope of the world and all creation! It
is my deepest conviction that it is through the ministry of the sons of God that all
nations will clearly and powerfully hear the Voice from the throne of God proclaiming with
divine, heavenly authority, Behold, I make all things new!
The
The
new order of the fullness of the
Now,
God is getting to the heart of the matter. The
judgments of this present time will not be outward, literal judgments such as war and
other calamities, as most think. The judgments
of the Lord upon mankind will be moral and spiritual.
What good can it possibly do to focus on the results of evil when God is
dealing with the root cause of all iniquity? Must
we kill the popes to eliminate all iniquity? Nonsense! Or should we wipe out all the suspected
anti-christs? More nonsense! We must witness an all-out attack against the root
cause of all iniquity, which is the carnal nature in all of us. And the Spirit of God is beginning now to deal with
this carnal nature by removing him first from His elect.
We are approaching the time of the harvest of the firstfruits. God is dwelling within us as a consuming fire (Heb.
12:29) to purge us of the carnal nature. This
is the day when all enemies shall be made His footstool. When He has cleansed us of the carnal nature, He
will then send His consuming, fiery presence to cleanse others, each man in his own time
and order. This is our Fathers purpose
in redemption and restoration now coming to fulfillment.
And He is beginning this work with us.
Evil
rulers and despots rise up to become strong in military might and power. They think they have the power to take over the
world, but they are mistaken. God has a plan
already in effect by which He shall destroy the power of the carnal, Adamic nature that
drives them, put them under His feet, and make them all subject to the dominion of His
kingdom. And Fathers great plan and
purpose is now beginning to take effect as He reveals the seat of all iniquity within us,
and commences to destroy this evil, Adamic man. The
evil rulers and despots, the new agers and other political, governmental rulers may think
they will usher in a new era of peace and prosperity, but they are wrong. Gods plan is already in effect, and it does
not include their carnal ambitions. He is
beginning the new age of the dominion of His kingdom of peace and righteousness, and He is
beginning it with you and me. It is within you
and within me that His kingdom must begin. Therefore,
He must remove this carnal nature from those of us who are the firstfruits, or the
infrastructure, of this most glorious and righteous
Rejoice,
saints of God, you have been chosen to begin the new world order of the
The
Furthermore,
every aspect of the
Chapter
17
HOW
THE KINGDOM COMES
(continued)
In
our last Study I wrote of the great truth that the
Let
it be thoroughly known and understood that the law God has ordained to govern those
outside of Christ is not Gods law, but mans law.
Every nation, every state and province, every city, town and community is
regulated by the law of man. Under the Old
Covenant the law of God was given to only one nation out of all the nations of the world,
the nation of
To
these words of Jesus the apostle Paul adds his testimony: Wherefore, my brethren, ye
also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to
another, even to Him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto
God. But now we are delivered from the law,
that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not
in the oldness of the letter. For sin shall
not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. For as many as are of the works of the law are
under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things
which are written in the book of the law to do them. But
that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just
shall live by faith. And the law is not of
faith: but, the man that doeth them shall live in them.
Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we
might be justified by faith. But after that
faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster (Rom. 7:4,6; 6:14; Gal.
3:10-12,24,25).
THE
LAW RESTRAINS EVIL
A
man who keeps his bulldog tied to a fence has no right to brag that the dog has never
bitten the mailman. How could the dog bite the
mailman? If the owner wants to brag about his
dog, let him set the dog free; then everyone (including the mailman) will know the dogs
true nature. There you have the difference
between the law and the
A
brother once wrote: While I was pastor in a certain city, a man who had been a
Christian for twenty years approached me after one of our services. I enjoyed your message, he said with a
smile, but I really need more hellfire-and-damnation sermons to keep me in line. The man had been a believer for years, and yet he
had not matured enough to take responsibility for himself.
He wanted to be told what to do and when to do it. Is God pleased by such an attitude? Would the father of a twenty-year-old man be
pleased to hear his son say, Dad, I need to be kept in line?
As
a teenager, I participated in a ministry to the inmates of the Louisiana State
Penitentiary. During my visits to the prison,
I became friends with an inmate who claimed to be a Christian. But each time the man was paroled he would
immediately commit a crime and return to prison. One
day I asked him why he couldnt stay on the outside.
His answer astonished me. He
said, I cant handle life on the outside, man.
It scares me, all those decisions. No,
back here they tell me when to get up, when to eat, and when to go to bed. He had to have the restraint of law and order over
his life end quote.
Learn
this, O man, and you will understand a great truth. There
are people in this world that must be ruled by
law, and God has ordained it so. When God
instituted His first law He said, If you do not live by it, you shall die. You have to understand that the law of God began in
that long ago beginning in the garden of Eden, for that is where the first rule was laid
down and the first penalty for breaking that rule was experienced. God has still ordained that the world be ruled by
law. The vast majority of men, at this time,
must be ruled by law. The Lord has established
in the world two orders of government, one order is for the lawless, the other is for the
righteous. The order for the lawless is law,
and the order for the righteous is the spirit. Knowing
this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient,
for the ungodly and for sinners (I Tim. 1:9). There
is therefore now no condemnation no adjudging guilty of wrong for those who
are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus
has made me free from the law of sin and death...for as many as are led by the Spirit of
God, they are the sons of God (Rom. 8:1-2,14, KJV & Amplified).
Evil
can be dealt with only in one of two ways it must be restrained, or it must be
remedied. Human government is ordained by God
for the restraint of evil. Let every
person be subject to the governing (civil) authorities.
For there is no authority except from God; and those that exist do so by Gods
appointment. Therefore he who resists the
authorities resists what God has appointed and arranged in divine order. And those who resist will bring down judgment upon
themselves receiving the penalty due them. For
civil authorities are not a terror to people of good conduct, but to those of bad
behavior. For he is Gods servant for
your good. But if you do wrong you should
dread him and be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is Gods servant to execute His wrath (His
punishment) on the wrongdoer (
There
are a great many people who must be governed by a strong hand without their consent. When it comes to the restraint and punishment of
evil the governed lose their right to be governed with their consent. They remind me of a very clever cartoon of a little
boy who disputed that point with his mother. He
had been studying in school about the right of the governed under our Constitution to
consent to all government above them, and it had gotten into his mind. He had stolen apples, and his mother had warned
him, but it had no effect. So she was spanking
him. The little man turned around and said,
Mama, I object. Our glorious Declaration
of Independence says that all just government must rest upon the consent of the governed,
and I do not consent! There are a great
many children who will not consent, and they have to be governed whether they consent or
not. There are a great many people who will
never, short of Gods salvation, consent to do right.
You have to govern them with a strong hand.
We all need God to rule us one way or the other.
Government
speaks of ORDER. Without government there
would be only chaos. Do you know the
difference between a mob and an army? The
difference is discipline. Order is the
difference. An army is orderly. An army moves in governmental order, under
submission to chains of command. An army is
controlled by an inward state of being. A mob
is not controlled by anything. A mob gets out
of hand, burning buildings, looting, lynching. There
is no order, no inward law of responsibility. There
is only one way to bring a mob under control by the law, by force. They must be subdued by tear gas and bullets and
carried away in paddy wagons. They must be
restrained. If there is a remedy it must come
later, through different means.
It
is for this very reason that wicked men are
shut up in hell, reserved under chains of darkness, awaiting a day of deliverance and
release. God restrains wicked men until
according to His purpose He can save them. With
the release of the mystery of iniquity into the Adamic race, the wickedness of man soon
became great in the earth, and by Noahs day we find that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually (Gen. 6:5). God allowed mans sin and violence to go a
certain course for a certain length of time, knowing full well just how far He could allow
man to express these evil inclinations, and just where to draw the line. At the appropriate moment the spirits of these
wicked men were put in prison, as society today puts a criminal in prison; the flood swept
them away into hell and hell restrained the Antediluvians from committing more wrath upon
the earth.
But
God only restrains until He can save! That is
precisely why Jesus, after His death and resurrection, went to PREACH to these spirits in
prison, the spirits of the men who had been disobedient in the days of Noah. To them He carried the word of reconciliation,
showing not only that Christ had died for their sins, but that He was risen for their
justification. If perchance our minds are
numbed with the wonder of such a thought, let us consider the record of this great event
from
Despite
the crafty and deceptive efforts of some to twist and explain away the plain meaning of
this passage, it reveals that Jesus, after His death and resurrection, went and preached,
not to men in the flesh, but to SPIRITS in prison; not to angels, not to Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob or any of the other Old Testament saints, but to those men who had been
DISOBEDIENT to the preaching of Noah in the days preceding the flood! And what did He preach to these long-departed
spirits? Well, I Peter 4:6 certainly answers
this question! The passage is only a few
verses further on from the one under consideration, and as Peter continues speaking of the
same subject we are informed, For this cause was the Gospel preached also to them
that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according
to God in the spirit... The message is
clear though these were dead so far as their flesh bodies were concerned, and lived
on only in the spirit, but not in the flesh, THE GOSPEL WAS PREACHED UNTO THEM that they
might be judged, or dealt with, the same as men who were alive in the flesh. Please notice, precious friend of mine, it was not
doom or gloom or judgment or eternal damnation that was preached to these, but THE GOSPEL,
the GOOD NEWS WHICH IS THE POWER OF GOD UNTO SALVATION, was PREACHED even to these spirits
in prison, the disobedient ones!
It
is written in the plainest of plain language. But
there are some people who will not understand plain speech.
They do not believe that Christ went down into hell to preach the gospel to
dis-embodied spirits of wicked and rebellious men; they think He went somewhere down in
the heart of the earth to rescue Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the Old Testament
righteous people out of a place called
The
law is done away in Christ. For the man in
Christ the only law is the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus which makes us free
from the law of sin and death. I said earlier
that there are only two ways in the universe, in the wisdom of the Almighty, to deal with
evil it must be either restrained or it must be remedied. In Christ is found the eternal remedy. In Christ men are forgiven, cleansed, changed,
transformed, and made whole by the power of His Life.
But for every man outside of Christ the law remains. I say for those who do wrong, if they do not
embrace Gods government of grace, then the next thing to do is give them the law. This club is not administered by the sons of God,
for the sons of God are not Gods policemen, neither Gods bailiffs nor His
prison guards. Sons are not called to that
ministry. I would have a real problem being a
sheriff or a policeman. Jesus never
administered the law, He never enforced any of its demands, nor inflicted any of its
penalties. His whole administration was one of
mercy, forgiveness, love and restoration. The
sons of God are on the side of the remedy, not the side of restraint or punishment. I have no condemnation of those who serve in law
enforcement. It is ordained by God! But sons have a different calling, a higher
calling. Sons are always on the mercy and
deliverance side, for that is the order of the Priesthood of Melchizedek which is the
order of the Son of God. God has committed
unto us the word of reconciliation and the ministry of reconciliation. But to human government God has committed the
ministry of restraint. The law administration
must in Gods due time pass away before the all-conquering Light of Life. There will never be enough law enforcement officers
to stem the present overflowing tide of evil in the world!
This darkness can only be dispelled by the blazing light of Gods
Christ. And His light is now arising in His
elect at this junction of ages to dispel the darkness.
We may expect tremendous things from His bountiful hand during this new Day!
THE
PRIESTHOOD OF LIFE
As
we follow on to know the Lord in this new and living way, it is with confidence that the
Spirit of the Most High will direct our steps and open our understanding. We are at the point in history, at the breaking of
the dawn of a new age, when only God can lead us step by step into the NEW ORDER He has
prepared for us. No man but Jesus has trodden
this way before. Only HE can teach us the path
of sonship, and direct our steps on the highway to
I
desire to speak with perfect frankness, for I do not wish to be misunderstood. I do not believe that Gods elect today is
bound either by the example of Jesus Christ in the flesh, or of the first twelve apostles,
or of the New Testament Church. While Christ
certainly left us an example, that we should follow in His steps where the great
principles of sonship are concerned, if you attempt to bind me to the exact modes of Jesus
Christ and to follow in His example in all things, I will not do it. Jesus the Christ was born in a stable and laid in a
manger, was He not? Am I to go away and have
my next baby my wife will never have any more babies, but if she had any more
babies am I to go away and hunt for a stable in which our baby is to be born? Am I myself disqualified from manifested sonship
because I was born in a bedroom in a brick house in
Because
God by His boundless grace through many years enabled me to travel and speak in homes,
halls, conference rooms and church buildings,
am I going to say, The firstborn Son spoke only on the mountain sides, and by the
lakes; if the people are to hear me, they have to all come to the mountain. That is not it at all. We are to follow Christ in the same Faith, in the
same Hope, in the same Love, in the same Nature, in the same Wisdom, in the same Patience,
in the same Obedience, in the same Vision, in the same Relationship with the Father, in
the same Power, in the same spirit of Forbearance and Mercy and Compassion for humanity,
and with the same Courage in fighting sin and sorrow and death.
If
you tell me that I am to follow the example of the apostles, I say No, I will not do any
such thing. The apostle Paul, for instance,
went away and shaved his head at Cenchrea for
a vow. How undesirable it would be for me to
go away and shave off the little hair that is left on my head just because I want to
follow the example of Paul! The apostle Paul
did a number of things I would not care to do. He
rather boasted that he did not have a wife. There
is no doubt that he was a widower, because he would not have been a member of the
Rabbinical Council, and would never have been an official witness at the death of Stephen,
consenting to that death, unless he had been a Rabbi of rank. A member of that Council must needs be a married
man. I agree with some of the Bible scholars,
that the apostle Paul was probably a widower at the time he wrote the epistle in which he
writes about the virtues of not having a wife. But
I am a married man and have no leading of God and no desire to be otherwise. Am I to follow Paul, or the Spirit?
I
am not going to follow in the footsteps of Peter, because I think we may learn a few
things, and keep away from doing some things that Peter did.
I hold, and I teach, and I will teach, that the example of even Christ
Himself is not to be wholly followed. It is
not as many as are led by what Jesus did two thousand years ago, who are the sons of God;
but as many as are led by the Spirit, they are the sons of God. We are not to have enforced poverty because Jesus
made Himself poor. We are not to gather around
us twelve disciples because He had twelve disciples. We
are not to work at getting ourselves assassinated because He was hung on a cross by a mob. If we are LED BY THE SPIRIT to offer ourselves in a
martyrs death, gladly will we do so; but we shall not seek it as a means of
following in Jesus footsteps. We are not
to expect to have a ministry that lasts only three and one half years, nor to ascend into
heaven before our disciples just because He did. We
may never spit in the dirt and make clay to anoint a blind mans eyes. We may never go to a Convention and with whips
chase out those who sell books and tapes (although I have been tempted!), as Jesus did
those who sold doves and pigeons in the temple in
In
the religious systems the order, the method, the technique, the organization, the creed,
the liturgy is all-important. And in the
so-called New Testament Churches it is no different they just have a
little different system, one from two thousand years ago, they are trying to reproduce. But in the Melchizedekian Order THE
So
what is the best way, the right way, the sonship way to heal a blind man? No one can tell you not even Jesus! What is the best way to preach the Gospel? No one can tell you, although the seminaries think
they can! What is the best way to hold a
meeting? Again no one can tell you. Jesus never had a song leader or worship director,
never by singing, clapping, or worshipping created an environment for the
Father to manifest Himself in their midst. Yet,
if you were to ask me what the right way is, I would have to say that I do not know. I really do not know what is the right way to do
anything. I do not know the right way to meet
humanitys needs, or solve the saints problems, or bring people into the
present truth. In the Bible you cannot find
THE RIGHT WAY to minister or to do the work of the Kingdom.
This is because the
One
of the most intriguing descriptions of the unique character of the High Priesthood of
Jesus is found in Hebrews 7:17 wherein it is stated, Thou art a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. The order of
Melchizedek is an order of King-Priests. For
this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God...first being by
interpretation King of Righteousness, and after that...King of Peace (Heb. 7:1-2). There were the Levitical priests of
May
the Lord have mercy upon all who cherish the hope of sonship that we may be delivered from
anything other than the life of this priesthood. Christ
Jesus is a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, which is after the power of an
indissoluble life. He is the High Priest of
this order, and there can be no High Priest apart from a priesthood. The writer to the Hebrews tells us that the order
of Melchizedek is the order of the Son of God. Just
as the firstborn Son is the High Priest of the Melchizedekian Priesthood, so are the other
sons of God the body of this glorious Priesthood of Life.
They are kings who reign by life and priests who minister life. Of these it is written, Thou hast made us
unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth (Rev. 5:10). It is this dual order of King-Priest that
identifies these overcoming ones as pertaining to the order of Melchizedek. We must learn this one lesson, that the Melchizedek
Priesthood is known only by the OUTFLOW OF HIS LIFE. Then
we will enter into the Holiest of all to abide there in His presence until we come out
from His presence with the heavenly and eternal bread and wine to minister to creations
needs. The order of Melchizedek is not in any
way related to so-called
LAW
VS. LIFE
A
dear sister in Christ, Michelle Sperber, has graciously given me permission to share one
of her beautiful parables which speaks so eloquently of this Kingdom order and ministry of
Life. She writes: There was once a
Kingdom down by the sea by the name of Peace. It
wasnt a big Kingdom, but it was a happy one; and all the people rested in the
Knowledge of Good. The King whose name was
Teachable Spirit was married to Queen Tender Heart, and they had two beautiful girls,
Harmony and Grace, and two boys, Trusting and Loyal.
Every
day Harmony and Grace would sing songs to the
little ducks that would gather by the pool on the right side of the castle while Trusting
and Loyal taught dancing lessons to the chickadees. Now
when the chickadees heard the lovely songs, they were filled with so much joy that they
would flap their wings so hard that they would exhaust themselves. New Vigor, Trustings faithful companion,
would transform them when they fell to the ground, and they would be enabled to learn the
dance which they yearned to do since Trusting and Loyal began teaching. The dance was called Together. The dance received such wide acclaim that all the
animals of the Kingdom desired to learn it, so before long, every animal, big and small,
came to Trusting and Loyal to be taught Together. Even the fishes of the sea were compelled to leave
their habitation to learn the new dance and everyone was empowered to overcome all natural
limitations.
But
in the neighboring Kingdom, the mother of Teachable Spirit, whose name was Bondage Law,
ruled. There was no singing or dancing in her
Kingdom only arguments and quarrels, sadness and misery. Her Kingdom was called Tyranny. No one who heard of it would dare pass through, for
armed guards with iron teeth, that could bite a man in ten pieces, prevented any from
entering. Now, Bondage Law was very unhappy
with her daughter-in-law, Tender Heart, and her grandchildren, Harmony and Grace, were a
real disappointment to her. She plotted day
and night how to change her family and most fervently, how she could kill Tender Heart.
One
day after consulting with Fear and Torment, Bondage Law visited her innocent family. She planned on overcoming Tender Heart having Fear
and Torment as able task masters. When Bondage
Law arrived at the castle, her son Teachable Spirit was out riding his horse, Easy Going. Fear and Torment took Easy Going by such surprise
that he reared up and threw his rider to the ground. Teachable
Spirits neck was snapped and he died instantly.
When Tender Heart, who was looking over the balcony, saw all that had
happened to her husband, grief overcame her; and in that moment her heart left her. It was taken away by Sorrow and was brought into
the darkest room of the dungeon. A black veil
was draped over the now stone heart which once was a vibrating, living one, while an
invisible flashing sword prevented anyone from coming near it.
A
proclamation went out over the land that King Teachable Spirit was dead and that Queen
Tender Hearts name had been changed to No Heart.
No Heart, with the insistence of her mother-in-law, Bondage Law, who was at
her side continuously, changed the name of the Kingdom to War. For you see, now that Tender Heart had lost her
heart and name, Bondage Law ruled both Kingdoms of Tyranny and War.
Now
on the day of the Kings death, a dove whose name was Hope was sent from the realm of
the most high with the message that the Kingdom of Peace could be restored if the black
veil was lifted. There was only one
possibility that this could happen, for only the entrance of a king could cause the sword
to cease flashing. The invisible sword would
cut asunder anyone who was not a king. So the
dove flew into the
Hope
saw that there was none on earth who fit the qualification but she remembered one in
heaven whose name was Goodwill. Upon thinking
of him and then calling his name, he immediately appeared.
Dressed in the armor of charity, loving kindness, and meekness, he was ready
to follow Hope into the neighboring
They
all marched under the Banner of Love, and because they had such power not a weapon was
lifted against them all enemies fled at their sight.
The Hands of Glory came from the invisible realm to assist Goodwill as he
boldly entered the dungeon. Goodwill rejoiced
at seeing the Hands of Glory, for it was written in the Book of Books that only the Hands
of Glory could remove the veil. In the
twinkling of an eye, the black veil was lifted. The
stone heart that had stopped its beating became a vibrating, pulsating giver of life
again, immediately returning to its home in Tender Heart.
A shout of victory came forth in one voice from all the inhabitants of the
Kingdom. All were made whole again by this one
act.
Goodwill
had compassion even on Bondage Law and because the Hands of Glory were with him, he had
the power to change her name. Bondage,
you shall no longer be Bondage Law, but you shall be called Law of Life, he
announced with Forgiveness, his best friend. All
those who need to be set free from the law of sin and death will be sent to you, Law of
Life, and your Kingdom will be called Righteousness.
And
it came to pass that one year later, King Goodwill and Love Fulfilled bore a son. It was Law of Life who inspired his name, Joy, and
gave him a Kingdom. It was in the
GLORY
TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST
AND ON EARTH, PEACE AND GOODWILL TOWARD MEN!
WELCOME TO ETERNAL LIFE!
end quote.
Let
it be thoroughly known and understood by every man and woman who names the name of Christ
that the only purpose of the law is to give the knowledge of sin. Now we know that what things soever the law
saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all
the world may become guilty before God. Therefore
by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight: for by the law is
the knowledge of sin (Rom. 3:19-20). The
law imparts the knowledge of sin by contrasting the weakness of the flesh, what we are and
do by human nature, with the pure and holy and righteous nature of God. The law is weak through the flesh, Paul said. Man is chained and locked in to the law of sin and
death. Mankind doesnt have to learn how
to sin, thats all he knows how to do. Mankind
doesnt have to learn how to die, thats all he can do youre born
and you sin, you sin and you die. No one
taught you how to steal, no one taught you how to fly off the handle and say ungodly
things, no one taught you how to lie, no one instructed you how to be filled with lust and
passion, no one gave you lessons on how to be greedy and self-centered, no one told you at
two years of age how to claim your turf and kick and scream if anyone stepped on it. Youre born with it. Its part of the make-up of the natural man.
The
law has never, ever, saved any man anywhere from being a sinner. If by nature you are righteous, you need no law. Law is irrelevant to the righteous man. New creatures do not need old laws. On the other hand, if you by nature are
unrighteous, the law can in no way help you. All
it can do is proclaim your guilt and punish you. It
has no power to make you obey.
Christians
are always interested in what is going on in the world.
They are always trying to legislate a righteousness of God upon those who
dont even know God. But I have news for
you. Legislation that is, law
does nothing more than make sin exceedingly sinful (Rom. 7:13). God is not the one who is laying law on the world
in this hour. God never did lay the law on the
world. He only gave the law to His people
The
problem the church world has today is that they are out trying to change the behavior of
unregenerated men by laying the law upon them! Most
Christians glory in death. They find death and
condemnation glorious. For, you see, the law,
even the ten commandments that people would like to see posted in every classroom, court
of law, and government building, is, according to Paul, the ministration of death
and condemnation, written and engraven in stones (II Cor. 3:6-9). But God has no law for the world in this hour. Oh, yes, there is still the restraining law of
human government, but GOD by the ministration of His Spirit
has no law for mankind. For if
that which is done away (the law) was glorious, much more that which remaineth (the
Spirit) is glorious (II Cor. 3:11). God
is working with His people, His elect, His chosen, His seed that He has destined before
the foundation of the world to become His
sons. He has delegated all responsibility for
law and order to the kingdoms of this world. The
only law in His Kingdom is the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus! That is the power and glory of the
The
church world today is following some really strange paths, trying to lay upon the world
the law that God gave
Yet,
there are brethren who insist that the
My
friend, however, is unconvinced and implacable. He
has never been in a desert, nor has he ever in his life seen freezing temperatures. His entire life has been spent in
Thirty-five
centuries ago at mount Sinai, amidst flaming fire and quaking earth, God gave
Dearly
beloved brethren, only the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has the power to make
mankind free from the law of sin and death. Only
as men are raised from the dead by the power of the everlasting Father who raised up
Christ from the dead, can any man fulfill the righteousness of the law by walking in
newness of life. Let us not be so stupid as to
believe that the manifested sons of God will be dispensers and enforcers of law. The terrible truth is that the law is the Tree of
the Knowledge of Good and Evil, that mysterious tree in the very precincts of
The
wonderful Tree of Life in
This
was the glory of the Tree of Life in
Hebrews
7:11-15 tells us that we cannot be perfected by the Levitical priesthood. In the order of Aaron there was a continual
succession of priests, one dying and another taking his place. One by one they grew old and died: the eye, often
filmed with tears, was closed; the heart stood still; the hands crossed meekly on the
breast. Aaron died on Hor, and all his
successors in mystic procession followed him. The
office remained, but the occupants passed. That
characterized the whole system; it bore the mark of change and weakness and death. It could not effect anything that was really
abiding and permanent, much less anything that was eternal.
And it was all because of sin. Every
High Priest of the order of Aaron had to offer sacrifice first for his own sins, and then
for the peoples. The whole inner life of the worshipper was what the
system was, subject to sin and failure and decay.
Therefore
another Order of priesthood must arise. Jesus
is the High Priest of this new Order. The
glorious statement is made that another priest arises after the similitude of Melchizedek
who is made after the power of an endless life.
This brings us to what is implied by the word endless. This is the Greek word AKATALUTOS which means
INDISSOLUBLE. It was in the power of an
indissoluble life that Jesus was constituted a priest after the Order of Melchizedek. As the writer to the Hebrews has pointed out, on
earth Jesus was not a priest. He would have
needed to be of the tribe of Levi in order to be a priest during the days of His flesh on
earth, because that priesthood at that time was still in force. Nor could He at that time have been a priest after
the order of Melchizedek! On earth His life
was dissoluble, or He could not have died for us. Now
His life has become indissoluble; and now He cannot die. The mystery of the Melchizedekian Priesthood is the
mystery of ETERNAL LIFE.
Christ
Jesus Himself is the Eternal One, who abideth Priest forever. His priesthood is unchangeable, for His priesthood
is an everlasting one, ever living, ever active. What
a contrast to all the Levitical priests, on whose graves this epitaph may ever be
inscribed: Not suffered to continue by reason of death. How different is our High Priest, after the
Order of Melchizedek! Death tried to master
Him; but He could not be holden of it. He
continueth ever. He ever liveth. He is a priest forever. WHEREFORE HE IS ABLE TO SAVE COMPLETELY THEM THAT
DRAW NEAR UNTO GOD BY HIM. Save us completely! What a thought!
Full salvation spirit, soul, and body!
Nothing left untouched, untransformed. It
is by virtue of His QUALITY OF LIFE that He is able to start the work of redemption and
also bring it to its completeness. Because He
is of an endless indissoluble, incorruptible life, He can bring all that He
ministers unto into this same endless and incorruptible life.
Praise
God, the Melchizedek Priesthood BRINGS PERFECTION. Jesus
lives in the Spirit as High Priest in the power of an endless life. And Christ dwells within us in the power of an
endless life. Each work He does within us He
is able to do in the power of an endless life. Nothing
can stand before that transforming life. What
hope this evokes within us! He breathes His
own life into us. He works within us AS A
LIFE, as our own life, so that it is our very nature to radiate the glory and power of
God. His life as our life within us is the
power that must triumph over all the powers of sin and death.
What
a glorious path is marked out for us! THE SONS
OF GOD ARE A ROYAL PRIESTHOOD. THEIR
PRIESTHOOD IS AFTER THE ORDER OF MELCHISEDEK. The
High Priest of this Order has run on before and entered the veil into the Holiest of all. And we are running also and are entering that veil. Something marvelous, amazing and stupendous is
about to happen, beloved, as we press on into God. God
shall surely and truly usher us into the fullness of the
Order of Melchizedek. Through
His flesh we too shall enter fully the unseen and eternal realm of God and learn of its
mystery. Having entered this realm, we shall
deliver creation from the bondage of corruption. Therefore
I say that the great Melchizedekian Priesthood Ministry will be functioning to the full
when the priests of this Order have fully put on immortality and incorruption (I Cor.
15:53). This will be the great manifestation
of the sons of God that all creation groaneth and travaileth in pain for (Rom.
8:18-25).
The
Lord is in the process of bringing His overcoming remnant into THE POWER OF AN ENDLESS
LIFE. It is greater than the forgiveness of
sins, greater than the new birth, greater than Pentecostal power. It is greater than power to speak in tongues,
prophesy, heal the sick, cast out devils, and do signs and wonders. It is greater than witnessing power, apostolic
power, and even greater than power to raise the dead.
Soon, very soon, those powers will no longer be needed because the
manifested sons of God shall arise in the power of the Melchizedekian Priesthood which is
the power of an incorruptible life, to deliver creation from the bondage of corruption. A world is coming where there is no limited measure
of the Spirit, no in part works and manifestations of power in the gift realm. There will be no need to heal the sick, cast out
devils, multiply bread and fish, or raise the dead it is an eternal realm where
everlasting life will flow fully and freely to all creation.
Death is not the grave or the coffin DEATH IS THIS WHOLE REALM IN
WHICH WE HAVE EXISTED EVER SINCE THE TRANSGRESSION IN
We
can only speculate what it will be like to be in the full power and glory of incorruptible
life. God is moving to bring His holy remnant
into the fullness where Christ Jesus now dwells. No
Christian alive has ever come to this. There
will be a full and complete severing from the earth realm, from the carnal mind, from
fleshly passions, from lack and immaturity, from the death realm with all its claims. God wants a free, heavenly, celestial people right
here on earth, a body of sons totally detached from all that is earthly, limited, and
temporal. It is possible to move into a
resurrection realm that places us beyond time, beyond the thinking and power of the world,
beyond human nature, beyond the bondage of health, security, and death itself. Is that not the greatest power God can give to
mankind to make him an eternal, spiritual being in the very glory of God? And Gods order to accomplish this is very
simple Jesus Christ; then His body, the manifested sons of God; and finally all
creation. Jesus ministers this power to us; we
minister it to creation. THIS IS THE POWER AND
GLORY OF THE
Chapter
18
HOW
THE KINGDOM COMES
(continued)
And
the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of
this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for
ever and ever (Rev. 15:11).
The
seventh trump is the last trump the conclusion of Gods great
Kingdom process. The day shall surely come
when the kingdoms of this world, the rulerships of this world, the government of the
United States of America, the governments of Europe, the governments of Mexico and Central
and South America, the governments of Asia, the governments of Africa the kingdoms
of this world, the kingdoms of all the nations in your World Atlas ARE BECOME THE
KINGDOMS OF OUR LORD, AND OF HIS CHRIST. They
are all His now by ownership, as creations of His hand and under His sovereignty, but they
are not His in a Kingdom relationship. There
is a time in Gods great Kingdom program when that truth is proclaimed out of the
heavens: The kingdoms of this world ARE BECOME the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His
Christ. That means that whatever is true
of any man who has entered the Kingdom will be true of all the nations of this
world, including both their inhabitants and their governments.
Who
is the Lord? Jesus is our Lord, for truly
God hath made this same Jesus...both LORD AND CHRIST (Acts 2:36). Not only do the Kingdoms of this world become the
kingdoms of our Lord, they also become the kingdoms of His Christ. There are two items listed here as being involved
in the rulership of the whole world. The whole
world is to become converted to the dominion of OUR
LORD and to the dominion of HIS CHRIST His anointed ones, His body. Christ means the anointed. But the anointing which ye have received of
Him abideth in you... (I Jn. 2:27). HE
(Jesus) shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost. Those
who have received the anointing of the Spirit that rested upon our glorious Head and Lord,
those who grow up unto maturity in Christ Jesus as the sons of God, form the corporate
body of His Christ. Let it be thoroughly known and understood that our
Christ is the Lord Jesus, whereas His Christ is His anointed body which in union with Him
walks in His spirit, hears His voice, puts on His mind, is transformed into His image,
stands in His nature, power and glory, and does His will upon the earth. They are the sons of God. All nations, all the kingdoms of this world,
shall be brought under the Kingdom dominion of the Lord Jesus and His Christ. That is the immutable word of our infallible God!
Do
you suppose that one fair morning some sons of God will show up in
NOT
BY POLITICS
In
our recent Studies on the subject of HOW THE KINGDOM COMES we have seen clearly that the
More
than a century ago James Lewis penned these penetrating words: The establishment of
the
Men
talk of this kingdom as mystical, unreal. Let
them try it for a month! Jesus Christ aspires
to a sway such as no Caesar, Emperor, or Dictator, has ever been able to command. A rule of marching armies and clanging swords can
do much. That grand Roman power was mighty. It could tax men and make them pay. It could stretch its scepter over distant
provinces, and awe men into submission. It
could say to one man, Go, and he went, to another Come, and he
came. It could command the bodies, the time,
the thoughts of men. It could send men to
death, and even in his mortal pangs the poor gladiator must cry, O Caesar, dying, I
salute thee! One thing it could not do,
even though it bound captives to its chariot wheels. There
is a part of mans nature which coercion cannot reach; a path which the lions
whelps have not trod. To that region man
can retire, and say to all invading powers, Thus far shall you come and no further. That is the region in which the
You
will have noticed that His promises of help reach the deep, eternal cravings of the human
heart. He has come, not to satisfy a craze, or
gratify a whim, or minister to a passing fancy, but that men might have life. The power of the
If
you entertain the crude notion that reigning with Christ means sitting behind a desk over
in Jerusalem with telephone at hand and television cameras running, you know nothing as
you ought to know of that blessed Kingdom of God which
is not of this world and which comes not with outward show, but is
righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. And I do not hesitate to tell you that when Christ
comes in mighty power to bring the triumph of His Kingdom into new and vaster dimensions
on this earth through the ministry of that body of sons so painstakingly and meticulously
formed under His hand of dealing throughout this present age, vast multitudes of
Christians will MISS HIS COMING because it will not conform to the manner, purpose or
result that they imagine it should be. Like
the Jews two thousand years ago, these Christians will continue on with their religious
games, singing, clapping, preaching, organizing, crusading, and waiting for a second
coming and a kingdom that will meet their demands and fulfill their misguided
expectations. Ah, we blame the Jews for their
blindness and unbelief, and of making the Word of God of none effect through their
tradition, but are there not vast multitudes of the Lords people in our own day who
are doing this very thing? The Jewish nation
was not ignorant of the teaching of scripture concerning His coming and Kingdom in
fact, they were good fundamentalists, anxiously expecting His arrival
but they had drifted so far from the Holy Spirit of God, that when the day arrived they
did not know it because it took the Holy Spirit to reveal it. And as the Jews of old failed to recognize the
coming of the Lord and His Kingdom in their day, even so a sleeping church today fails to
recognize the signs and events that herald a
new and glorious and fuller manifestation of that same blessed Person!
Arthur
Eedle from
In
this brief writing we shall take a look at a few very important facts, in order to present
an alternative picture of what the beginning of the
The
soul is the seat of self-consciousness, where SELF sits on the throne. That is why God will not share the throne. The spirit is the seat of God-consciousness, and
only here will He sit. After king Davids
lapse from right living, he cried out to God, saying, Create in me a clean heart, O
God, and renew a RIGHT SPIRIT within me (Ps. 51:10).
He never asked for his soul to be cleaned, mended, or renewed, because he
knew that his sins had flowed from SELF-ENTHRONEMENT in his soul. Here is the crux of the matter. There will be no street ceremonies, no flag waving,
no heralds running here and there, saying, Its here! Come and see! Why? Because
the Kingdom is INSIDE man, not for external observation (Lk. 17:20-21). God is looking for a re-instatement of His position
in mans spirit. He says to us in effect,
You cannot live without me. If you try
to run your own life, and satisfy your own desires, it will all end in death. The only way in which you can enjoy life with me is
to give me back the reins of government. My
government is not oppressive, but gently and firmly persuasive, because I made you, and I
alone know what is best for you.
All
of us are born with Adams legacy to self-rule. The
throne has remained in the human soul ever since Adam sinned, and God does not live there. But each and every person who is enlightened to
this fact, and who desires with a whole heart to be under Gods government, can enter
a new relationship with God. A right spirit is
granted, and God begins to dwell there once again. This
is not the end of the process, however, and it is important to see why. The majority in the evangelical world speak about
two parties, the Christians and the Non-Christians. But
this is an artificial distinction. To accept
Christ into ones life is just a beginning, and there is a distinct possibility of
God being subsequently dethroned. We have seen
young people accept Christ and be baptized, only to reinstate their own
kingdom firmly in their souls within a short time. God
is not mocked. Whatever a man sows, that shall
he also reap. He who sows to the flesh, will
of the flesh reap corruption. He who sows to
the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting (Gal. 6:7-8). Paul said to the Galations, Are you so
foolish? having begun in the spirit, are you now made perfect in the flesh? (Gal.
3:3).
God
is looking for an initial commitment to Him, a conversion experience. But He wants far more than that! He wants there to be a steadily growing
Gods
sons are those who have, through many trials and testings, allowed God to take His
rightful place in their spirits. They began
with but a small reliance on God, but grew to allow Him something approaching total
control. These are the ones whom God will ask
to rule the coming world with Him, and under Him. Antichrist
is said to rule in the
YOU
CANNOT BUILD THE KINGDOM!
The
Kingdom is coming. Thy kingdom come. Only if we truly believe the Kingdom is coming can
we pray that prayer. But primarily and
fundamentally the Kingdom IS. Thine is
the kingdom, and the power, and the glory. The
Kingdom that is, is coming. Men speak of
building the
Nowhere
in the scriptures are we instructed that we are to build the Kingdom. We are told that we can see the
Kingdom, enter the Kingdom, receive the Kingdom, inherit
the Kingdom, and proclaim the Kingdom, but never build it. What is the difference? It is basic and profound. For if we are to build the Kingdom, then it is
something that we bring into life, something that we produce. It is a structure that requires our effort to raise up. It
is an institution that demands our ingenuity and work to establish. But the Kingdom IS.
It is already in existence; it is a present reality, for it was prepared for
us before the foundation of the world (Mat. 25:34). Men
who go out and try to build the Kingdom always fail for they are trying to do something
that cannot be done. Ah, yes, there is an
increase of the Kingdom! But it is not
the increase of effort, but of life. You can
build a house, but you cannot build a tree or a fruit.
Things that are built are constructed by an external power; they contain no
life. But things that grow are produced by an
inherent internal life and you cannot build them. The
increase and manifestation of the Kingdom is not one of mans doing, but something of
life. That is why the
Many
who have seen something of the promises and glory of the
As
one has written: So far as the great body of professed Christians was concerned,
this entire picture of persecution and ostracism on the part of worldly kingdoms was
suddenly changed by Constantine, who himself professed conversion to Christianity. In the year 313 A.D., this emperor put his
signature to a decree reading, in part, Henceforth in perfect and absolute freedom,
each and every person who chooses to belong to the practice of the Christian religion,
shall be at liberty to do so without let or hindrance in any shape or form. How the Christians must have read the lines with
astonishment when they realized the implication of this change of attitude on the part of
earthly governments! Just emerging from ten
years of the bitterest persecution by Diocletian, they were now free to meet and sing and
pray and read their scriptures in the open sunlight, anytime, anywhere.
And
this was but the first of other favors that were shortly to come to them. The historian records that Constantine
ordered the state funds to be used to rebuild their churches, ruined in the previous
persecution; he donated land by the acre, built new churches wherever needed in the east
or the west magnificent, costly structures. Christian
ministers were exempted from taxation and became officials representing the government. Even laymen were shown marked favor in political
appointments. Gift was piled upon gift, and
privilege upon privilege. Decrees were issued
exhorting the public to abandon their ancient superstitions and accept the
truth. Complete and expensive
copies of the scriptures were furnished to Christians by the state, replacing those
destroyed by former persecutors. Could or
should they decline these marvelous favors bestowed upon them? Should they decline to avail themselves of the
wonderful opportunity thus afforded to proclaim the gospel of the Son of God to the large
audiences now forthcoming because of governmental favor toward the church? Should they refuse to rejoice because now
multitudes suddenly saw the light?
The
church had endured persecution bitter, death-dealing persecution. Now the reverse was true and they were enjoying the
favors of the state. Could they endure
prosperity? What was to be their attitude
toward this new development in the Christian experience?
How were they to view the future? The
great and sudden relief experienced by the lifting of the hand of persecution evidently
had the effect that Satan desired it should, because the historical record shows that the
great body of professed Christians at the time concluded that the days of waiting for the
Kingdom had ended! One historical writer, in
telling about this, says, When they were relieved of their persecution, and came
into honor after having been so long reckoned the filth of the world, the cry was
straitway raised up that the Kingdom of God had come.
The Millennium had begun. The
emperor was the visible favorite of God, the predestined overthrower of the powers of evil
(by the sword, of course!).
Following
the last session of the Council of Nicea in the year 325, Constantine made a splendid
banquet, about which the historian Eusebius, a bishop and one of the guests, has left us
the following account: The proceedings were sublime beyond description. The soldiers of the emperors bodyguard were
drawn up before the door of the palace with bared swords.
The men of God, over three hundred bishops, some of them bearing in their
bodies the marks of the last persecution, passed by them proudly into the interior of the
palace. Some sat at the same table with the
emperor. One might easily believe he beheld an
image of the very
Following
this, and amidst violent, stormy internal disputes, the nominal church multiplied, for the
state was still friendly and the sons of
But
the carnal mind was still the god of this world.
While the professed church as a whole entered into these revelries in
connection with the establishment of a counterfeit kingdom of the Lord, there still
remained a few true followers of the Master who did not share in this viewpoint and
therefore did not enter into these unchristian activities.
Concerning these the historian says, Some indeed during this century,
were disgusted with the pride and arrogance of the clergy and aimed at spiritual
simplicity and opposed the general trend; but the only fruit of their labor was that they
were branded with infamy. Evidently this
little flock of the body of Christ were branded as being anti-kingdom, even as it still is
true of some today. When the devil offered the
kingdoms of the world to our Lord, He declined the gift, choosing the way of the cross and
the life of the Spirit, while carrying out the Fathers plans which must precede the
day when all the kingdoms of this world should become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His
Christ. But what the Son of man refused, the
nominal church, centuries later, accepted, and installed a Roman bishop at the head, who,
in the name of God, received the headship of the kingdoms of this world. The great religious harlot was fully born, riding
upon the beast. From thenceforth it was woe
unto those who dared to be anti-kingdom.
These
abortive Kingdom efforts, however, were not limited to the large body of professed
Christians who finally became amalgamated into the Roman Catholic church-state system. When the Protestant movement got under way, Satan
still was active both with the small and large groups of Protestantism and almost without
exception these have fallen prey to this master-stroke of delusion. The Protestants, in separating from
Many
other groups have made their own efforts at building the Kingdom. Look for example at the Munzerites of the sixteenth
century, who undertook to establish at Munster a theocracy or political kingdom of the
saints; or the Fifth Monarchy men of the seventeenth century, who believed it was their
duty to establish the Kingdom of God by force, and actually went through a form of
electing at London Jesus Christ as Universal Monarch; or John Alexander Dowie who in the
dawn of this century founded both the Christian Catholic Apostolic Church and the city of
Zion, Illinois as a theocracy headed by himself as Elijah the Restorer. Dowie ruled the theocratic community strictly and
organized the Theocratic party, a political party to compete with the Republican and
Democratic parties for control of the nation. This
party ran in the elections in both
Dr.
Dowie was but another in a long list of kingdom builders who imagined that
they could build the
For
what purpose is God bringing us into sonship? Many
will point to the scriptures and say we are being perfected and brought into the fullness
of God so that we can rule and reign with Christ when He establishes His Kingdom on earth. I will not say that I disagree with this teaching
except to point out that Christ has already established His Kingdom in the earth. The man who planted the grain of
mustard seed which is the Kingdom in its inception was none other than our Lord
Jesus Christ. But we need to be very clear as
to what we have in mind when we speak of ruling and reigning with Jesus. The idea that the Kingdom will one day be
established in the earth, after the pattern of the kingdoms of men, and that Gods
elect will assume outward positions of political and governmental power within its
hierarchy is the same carnal-minded error that the people of
The
first principle that must be very clear to us is that the power of the
What
I have said before bears repeating there is no greater truth than the truth that
our Kingdom is a spiritual Kingdom, our King is a spiritual King, its citizens are a
spiritual people, its ministry is a spiritual ministry, its authority is a spiritual
authority, its dominion is a spiritual dominion, its laws are spiritual laws, its weapons
are spiritual weapons, its priesthood is a spiritual priesthood, its sovereignty is a
spiritual sovereignty, its power is spiritual power, and its rulers rule only by the
Spirit, praise His wonderful name! You do not
build this Kingdom, nor do you exercise any kind of political
power to further its cause. IT MUST BE
DEMONSTRATED IN THE AUTHORITY AND MINISTERED BY THE POWER OF THE HOLY GHOST. That, my friend, is the power and glory of the
GOD
RAISES UP MEN
In
any kingdom there is order. It is very
important for us to know that every kingdom has order.
It has a king who is the ruler and it has the government which administers
all the will of the king unto its subjects. When
we have been born of the Spirit into the Kingdom Realm of God, we have been born into a
divine, celestial order. Someone asks, Well,
how about organization? Are we born into
organization? Doesnt the Kingdom have
some type of organization? No. We are born only into an organism, a living body,
whereby we receive our identity, our life, our destiny from our heavenly Father. The
The
Many
other men have also been involved in Gods purposes throughout the ages. When the time had come for God to have a nation as
His witness in the earth, He called forth Abraham out of his homeland to go into a strange
land. There he was to bear a son, and that son
would bear sons and someday Gods nation would be born because God had His man
Abraham. When
So
it has always been in the annals of divine history time would fail me to tell of
Gideon, who routed the enemy; of Samuel and the prophets who as Gods instruments
subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made
strong, waxed valiant in battle, and put to flight the armies of the aliens. God
has never judged a nation, met a crisis, delivered a people, manifested His power,
accomplished His purpose, or ushered in a new age by organization. He has always matched the hour and need with MEN. When God moved to end that first wicked age of
human experience He did not organize the Ante-diluvian Flood Control Association to
accomplish His purpose. It was by faith that
one man Noah being warned of God of things not yet seen, prepared an
ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world (Heb. 11:7).
No
age in world history matches in crisis and potential tragedy the age in which we live. On any moral chart, on any graph of spiritual
decline, on any meter of danger and peril, this age is the age horrendous. The age is catastrophic with dark predictions of
terrorism, of nuclear war, atomic blasts, thermonuclear annihilation, deadly fall-out, or
destruction of the earth by the sheer weight of over-population and pollution. Will God leave this age Voiceless? Will heaven fail to produce a Deliverer? He has never done so.
He has always had His man. As
Basil Miller once wrote, When God has selected His man, He has ground that man and
polished him through the cauldron of human need and suffering. And when the divine process was completed, the
schooling finished, His lapidary stones for hewing character burnished His man to a bright
hue. God freed His man from obsolescent dogma
and creed, and armed him with multifold weapons of spiritual warfare. Then He lifted him forth to captain the forces of
right, a thundering voice of prophetic power. In
the darkest hours of human night there has always been a lighted torch in the hand of Gods
man.
So
it is today. God has a Voice. God is preparing to blow a trumpet and rally the
armies of the Lord. But this time it is not a
solitary man. It is a many-membered man. It is a vast company of the sons of God. The manifestation of the sons of God is the hope of
this dying age. Jesus was the seed planted at
the dawn of this age as a preview of the Kingdom when Christ with His entire body of sons
will appear in power and glory; and His many brethren are the harvest of that original
seed to bring forth in the earth the completeness of Gods Christ and the triumph of
His Kingdom in all realms. The certain hope of
a new age of progression into the unfoldment of Gods Kingdom lies directly before
us. The whole creation, that has groaned in
travail and pain throughout the dark night of every dispensation from Adam, is soon to
hear the joyous shout of the birth of Gods new man-child for this hour. This man shall arise in the midst of the nations
and will publish to all the world the glad news, thy God reigneth! And the knowledge of the glory of the Lord
shall fill all the earth as the waters cover the sea.
I
do not hesitate to tell you that I have never been able to work under committees,
organizations, systems, creeds, rules and regulations.
Creeds are not broad enough, dogmas are too binding; organization, systems
and rules are stifling and restrictive man-made instruments of carnality and death. Those called to the Kingdom in this hour are given
an assignment, a commission from the God of heaven Himself.
They are His ambassadors, representing His government. Their orders do not come from headquarters in some
distant city, nor from committees, counsels, boards, or bishops. To heed the voice of men and change one iota of the
assignment would be to betray the
The
men who have been the molders of the world for God have all been men full of faith and the
Holy Ghost. It requires no faith nor any Holy
Ghost to carry on the ordinary program of the average church, for running a church these
days is not unlike running a business or corporation.
It is all method, system, charisma, public relations, professional skills
and program. But faith and revelation cause
men to venture into the unknown and develop a
reliance upon the unseen powers of God. When
there are no roadsigns of mens traditions marking the limits of achievement, when
there are no precedents, when there is nothing to go by, as far as sight is concerned, and
one steps forward with nothing but the word of the Lord birthed within, depending upon Gods
tremendous power, this externalizes the vision and demonstrates before all men the power
and glory of the Kingdom of God.
All
the great movements of God in the earth have been accomplished through men God has
sovereignly raised up with a vision, a message, and an anointing of authority and power. He has never used an existing organization. The proof that the anointing is upon the man and
not the movement, is that in every case as soon as the man passes from the scene the
movement raised up by that man dies too. It
does not in every case disappear from the earth, but generally it stagnates, becomes more
organized, and in most cases declines either spiritually or numerically, and eventually
disintegrates or becomes something altogether different from what it was formed to be. The
leaders who follow just do not have what it takes they are not the man
God raised up and anointed with His Spirit!
The
religious systems are always exerting themselves to devise new methods, new plans, new
programs, new organizations to advance the work of the church and secure enlargement and
security for Gods work. This method
sinks the man in plan and organization he becomes a cog in the mechanical wheel. Gods plan has nothing to do with
organizational structures Gods emphasis is on men. Men are Gods method! There was a man sent from God... The church world is looking for better programs;
God is looking for better men.
You
never heard of a prophet, priest, or king being voted for!
Prophets are very uncomfortable fellows.
They have a strange way that makes them, even when very young, extremely
obnoxious to slow and unprogressive persons who love to be quiet and at ease, maintaining
the status quo. Prophets care for nothing but
for God and His word, His ways, and His will. That
is how the
There
was a man sent from God whose name was John. The
dispensation that heralded and prepared the way for the Christ of God was bound up in that man John. Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is
given. The Word was made
not made a book, not made a doctrine, not a program, not a method, not a committee,
not an organization but 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). God came in the form of a man,
a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by
Him in the midst of you (Acts 2:22). Jesus
called twelve men as His apostles and gave them not a plan, not a blueprint, not a
system, not an organization He gave them POWER.
But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you:
and ye shall be witnesses unto me... (Acts 1:8).
This vital, urgent truth is one that this age of organization and machinery
knows nothing about. What the world needs
today is not more machinery, not new organizations or more novel methods, but the PERFECT
MAN. Till we all come unto a perfect
man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. The Holy Ghost does not flow through methods, the
Holy Ghost flows through men; and I hesitate not to tell you that the Holy Ghost will flow
most fully and perfectly through Gods PERFECT MAN, Gods NEW MAN, Gods
complete CHRIST, Gods Government of Kings and Priests after the order of
Melchizedek, the manifested sons of God. The
Holy Spirit does not come on machinery, but on men. He
does not anoint plans, but men. He does not reveal His will and His heart to boards
and committees, but to men who walk intimately with God, men who qualify for the fullness
of God. This is the power and glory of the
It
is a great mystery, but it is a grand fact of truth nevertheless that Christ first reigns
IN us that He may consequently reign THROUGH us. Then shall the King say unto them on His
right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, INHERIT THE KINGDOM prepared for you from the
foundation of the world (Mat. 25:34). Know
ye not that the unrighteous shall not INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor
idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor
thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall INHERIT THE
KINGDOM OF GOD (I Cor. 6:9-10). Now
this I say brethren, that flesh and blood cannot INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD... (I
Cor. 15:50).
The
word kingdom indicates the richness of the heritage of the saints. It is no petty estate, no banana republic, no happy
corner in obscurity. I heard a good man say
that he should be content with a cabin in the corner of Gloryland or a spot just inside
the gate. I shall not be! The Lord says we shall inherit a KINGDOM. We cannot be satisfied to inherit less, because
less than that would not suit our character. He
hath made us kings and priests unto God (Rev. 5:10) and we must reign forever and
ever, or be as wretched as deposed monarchs. A
king without a kingdom is an unhappy and unfulfilled man.
If I were a poor servant, a servants quarters would be a boon, for it
would correspond with my condition and degree; but if I am made a son of God, an heir of
God, a joint-heir with Jesus; if I am made a priest and a king, I must have a kingdom, or
I shall not have attained to a position equal to my nature.
He who makes us kings gives us a Kingdom to fit the nature which He has
bestowed upon us.
Beloved,
I beseech you to strive more and more after that which the Spirit of God will give you
a KINGLY HEART; do not be among those
who are satisfied with the miserable nature of ordinary humanity or the childish hopes of
the babes in Christ who throng to the churches which are merely nurseries for the
birthing, care and educating of babes and which then stifle and threaten to suffocate the
life out of these little ones with their own static creeds, lifeless traditions, and
infantile programs. They eagerly look for
mansions and harps and golden streets and wings and white nightgowns in that glory world
above, unable to comprehend that such glittering diadems are only nursery toys to Gods
true kings; true riches are ETERNAL SPIRITUAL REALITIES; the true treasury wealth looks
down upon the stars. Do not sell yourself
short, ye sons of the Most High! Get a kingly
heart ask the King of kings to give it to you, and beseech of Him a royal spirit. Act royally on earth towards your Lord, and for His
sake towards all men. Go about the world not
as mean men in spirit and action, nor yet in
false humility as paupers and beggars, but as kings and priests of a race superior to the
dirt-scrappers who are on their knees, crawling in the mud after fleeting earthly riches
and transitory worldly fame. What incredible
loss shall be suffered by those who imagine that financial prosperity in this life is the
sign of great faith, blessing and spirituality!
What
the church world in general cannot comprehend is that the Christ does not rule alone but
through a many-membered body. Man in Gods
image, man in Christ at the right hand of God, is Gods government in the
As
one has written, God is exceedingly rich. He
is like a successful business man who has an enormous amount of capital. God has a business in this universe, and His vast
wealth is His capital. We do not realize how
many billions, countless billions, He has. All
of this capital is simply HIMSELF, and with it He intends to manufacture
HIMSELF in mass production. God HIMSELF is the
Business Man, the Capital, and the Product. His
intention is to dispense Himself to many people in mass production. Therefore, God requires such a divine arrangement,
a divine management, a divine dispensation in order to bring Himself into humanity. Praise His name!
As His kings and priests upon His throne the elect sons of God are the
governmental arrangement by which and through which God dispenses Himself into His
creation. For that reason the whole creation
continues to groan and travail for the manifestation of the sons of God. What an opportunity to change things! What an occasion to bless and heal and lift and
transform the world! It would be a crime
against humanity, my beloved brethren, to
carelessly neglect and thus despise, as Esau despised his birthright, the position of
responsibility and opportunity to bless and restore creation proffered to us by the
illustrious King of kings and Lord of lords! It
would be a mean and despicable crime against humanity as well as God Himself to settle for
a cabin in the corner of Gloryland!
When
you understand that God is dealing and working out His plan through ages, you have
understood Gods purpose aright. Is this
age and the next the only ages that remain for this purpose to be fulfilled? By no means! Gods
purpose through His body is that in the ages to come He might show (put on display)
the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus
(Eph. 2:7). The message of this wonderful
passage is just this: At this present time, in this age, God is showing (putting on
display) the exceeding riches of His grace toward us through Jesus Christ. Jesus is Gods revelation of His grace and
kindness to the Church gathered out of the nations. That
is Gods purpose in this age. But in the
ages to come WE ARE THE DISPLAY, THE REVELATION OF GODS GRACE AND KINDNESS UNTO
CREATION. That which He has revealed to us in
Jesus, and wrought in us through Jesus, will be displayed through us in ages yet to come
that all creation by us may then experience His exceeding grace and kindness as we are now
experiencing it in Jesus. Hallelu-yah! What a Saviour!
There
are three very definite stages that transpire in God's great plan of the ages. In this age the Church is being gathered out of the
nations. In the next age all the living
nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain (kingdom) of the
Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will
walk in His paths: for the law (authority) shall go forth of Zion (the sons of God), and
the word of the Lord from Jerusalem (the bride of Christ).
And He shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off;
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks:
nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more
(Micah 4:2-3). All this shall take place when
the mountain (kingdom, government) of the house of the Lord shall be established in
the top of the mountains (strong kingdoms), and it shall be exalted above the hills
(smaller kingdoms); and people shall flow unto it (Micah 4:1). In the age and ages beyond that all creation shall
be dealt with and brought into harmony and relationship with God until all things everywhere have been subdued unto Him and
God becomes in glorious reality ALL IN ALL. This
in a nutshell is Gods wonderful plan of the ages.
Ask
of me, and I shall give thee the heathen (nations) for THINE INHERITANCE, and the
uttermost parts of the earth for THY POSSESSION, says the Messianic Psalm. Christ conquered, and He is conquering, and He is
to conquer. I claim this earth for God, for He
made it. I claim this earth for God, for the
earth is the Lords. The sea is His, and
He made it. His hands formed the dry land. His power pushed up every mountain, and His fingers
scooped out every valley. By His wisdom all
things were established. I claim everything
that comes out of the bowels of the earth for God, for the earth is the Lords
and the fullness thereof and all the gold and the silver is His. I claim every man in El Paso, and in Miami, and in
New York, and in Los Angeles, and in Hong Kong, and in Beijing, and in Moscow, and in
Baghdad and in the whole wide world, and every man in their graves for God, for the
earth is the Lords, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein
and it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves and He hath made
all things for His pleasure. I am not
willing to wickedly cede even one thing or one person to the devil, as do some, for the
Christ came to reconcile all things and He is the Saviour of all men.
I
proclaim to you, as the minister of God, that the body of Christ is here in this world for
the establishment of the
Chapter
19
HOW
THE KINGDOM COMES
(continued)
God
rules with a great, infinite and eternal love. He
gives all His ability to His sons in love. Love
is the foundation of His Kingdom throughout the universe.
Love is the very essence and atmosphere of the
THE
The
King of Love girds His people with gladness. He
sows the whole earth with gladness and joy. The
news which is sent from His courts lifts the heads of all men. At the mention of His name our hearts leap for joy,
and the coming of His presence among us fills us with exceeding wonder. The air is filled with music. He makes the morning break over the everlasting
hills with rejoicing, and causes the evening to glow with the fire of His glory. He is the King of Love within our hearts!
Our
poor, lisping, faltering tongues cannot proclaim the Gospel as we would like; but we have
Gods word that is true for the present time, and for all the times of all the ages:
God IS LOVE! IS
unchangeably! IS eternally! God is love in heaven, in earth, in hell! Wherever He is He can be no less than He is. If I make my bed in hell, Thou art there,
proclaims the Psalmist. God IS LOVE
everywhere! And the great practical
consequence is for you and me to respond to that God and to that love, to become filled
with that love, one with that love, the embodiment and manifestation of that love to all
men in all realms. That is the supreme purpose
of sonship. Everyone that loveth is born
of God, and knoweth God (I Jn. 4:7). And
those who are born of God are the sons of God THE SONS OF LOVE!
The
best and most wonderful word in the universe is Love.
For God is Love. And the best
and most wonderful word in the inner chamber of our heart must be Love. For the God who meets us there is Love. What is Love? The
deep desire to give itself for the beloved. Unto
Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings
and priests unto God and His Father (Rev. 1:5-6).
Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we
should be called the sons of God (I Jn. 3:1). For
God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son (Jn. 3:16). Love finds its joy in imparting all that it has, to
make the loved one happy and fulfilled. And
the heavenly Father, who offers to meet us in the inner chamber let there be no
doubt about this in our minds has no other object than to flood our hearts, and the
hearts of all men, with His love.
But
the spirit of love is not in you till it is the spirit of your life, till you live freely,
willingly, universally according to it. It
knows no difference of time, place, or person; but whether it gives or forgives, bears or
forbears, it is equally doing its own delightful work.
The spirit of love does not want to be rewarded or honored; its only desire
is to become the blessing and happiness of everything that needs it. The wrath of an
enemy, the treachery of a friend, only gives the spirit of love an opportunity to be more
triumphant. The rebellion of Adam but opened
up avenues for mankind to experience and know the incredible depths of the love of God! God IS LOVE. And His SONS are of His own nature. The Sons of Love what a blessed thought! And what a call what purpose and
responsibility! Little wonder, then, that the
whole vast creation, sold under slavery and bondage to sin, sorrow, pain and death, groans
in travail for the manifestation of the SONS OF LOVE!
Those
who put on the mind of Christ see all men with the eyes of love which are the eyes of God. How we see men and think and act towards them is a
measure of the Kingdom in our lives. Perhaps
you have heard the story of a stranger who settled in a town and asked his neighbor,
What are the people around here like? The
neighbor, a Quaker, replied quietly with a question, What were the people like where
thee came from? The newcomer answered,
I have come from Anytown. The people
there were very mean, dishonest, and unfriendly.
The Quaker answered, Im afraid thee will find them all here. A third person who had overheard the conversation,
joined in by remarking, This surprises me, because I have come from the same town
and I found the people there to be very kind, honest, and friendly. And the old Quaker, turning to him, said, Thee
will find them all here, too.
Kingdom
love flows from us like the powerful waters of
Larry
Hodges, in one of his SHOFAR LETTERS, has wisely asked, Shall there be a people who
will rule and reign with Christ who are not under the absolute dominion of Love? Shall there be a people who shall open and no man
shut, and shut and no man open, who are not in perfect accord with Love? Shall there be a people claiming to be Loves
true representatives who have not this Love in all its perfections? Shall the rod of iron be given into the hand of any
other than Loves own children, the children of the resurrection? What people shall do and speak only what they see
and hear their Father doing and speaking but that people that is under the absolute
dominion of Loves rule? We may speak
well and write much on Sonship, Kingdom, and whatever else we may
wish to call this kingdom, but unless we love Love, carefully guarding its beginning
flame, we are become as tinkling brass or a sounding cymbal.
The
omnipotent power of God is not best demonstrated in violence, throwing thunderbolts and
spreading devastation, but in self-sacrificing love and goodness. It is love (not tyranny) that never faileth, and
with God (love) all things are possible. God
is almighty, omnipotent. That is fundamental. But it is vital that all Gods elect realize
that His power is not something separate from His wisdom and His love. Jesus has made it abundantly clear that the power
of God is not that of force, violence, or compulsion, but the power of love which never
faileth. I, if I be lifted up (on
the cross) from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
Love is all-powerful and irresistible divine power is simply love in
action. The failure to distinguish between the
omnipotence of force and violence and the omnipotence of love leads to the false ideas
about God and His Kingdom that are so prevalent in the church systems today. It is the infallible answer to those who impudently
ask, If God is omnipotent, why does He not stop war, sin, suffering, and all forms
of evil? The omnipotence of love is
something far grander and more noble than the omnipotence of force could ever be, though
it is slower in operation. But the end of loves
omnipotence is sure and abiding. Love never
faileth! God so loved the world, and when loves
power has been played out through the progression of the ages, love will win, will conquer
all. Then all men will love God, not fear Him. What a plan! What
incomprehensible wisdom!
Almost
a hundred years ago Joseph Fort Newton, preaching in London, said, Not until we see
God as the Father of all souls not simply like a Father, as a Psalmist
said, as if it were only a symbol, an analogy, an allegory, but the actual Father of men,
as revealed in the life of Jesus do we behold the highest truth. There is made known what love really is in its
utmost sweetness of sacrifice and redemption. Love
is social; it cannot live alone. Heaven was
never a Hermitage. In that long-ago beginning
God did not say, Let me make, but Let us make. Humanity could not worship and adore an Infinite
Egoist. Such is the deep and beautiful truth
of which the Godhead is the symbol the truth of the eternal society. Older than our religion, older than the human home
and the human family, it is a vision of God through the home as a family in Himself
Elohim. Love is creation. It cannot be inactive. It must devise order, goodness, beauty, joy. God does not love the world because He made it; He
made it because He is love. Here lies the
secret of the strange and haunting beauty of the world, and the eternal motive behind it. Love
is also providence. It cannot be content with
the joy of creation, but must follow and watch over what it has made with absorbing
solicitude and care. Men of old seemed to
think that God made the world, set it going, and sat on the edge of it watching it. But love is never idle, much less aloof, and it
must stoop to share the lot of those whom it serves.
Alas!
many in our day, to whom it is not difficult to believe in God, the Creator, find it hard
to believe in His loving care. Storms desolate
the earth. Pestilence and famine fill myriad
graves. Youth is blighted in its bud. Forever the cup of death is pressed to the lips of
love. War, pillage, cruelty, and brutality
might make human life a hell. There are
heartless tyrannies that endure. How can one
talk of the loving care of God in face of these facts? Why
did not God make a thornless world and fill it with noble men, true women, and a race
just, gentle, and generous? Because He could
not do it. Character cannot be created; it
must be achieved. It is not a gift, but an
attainment something wrought out amid trials and tears, as Polasek has shown us in
his figure of a man finding himself and freeing himself by laboriously chipping away the
stone in which he is imprisoned.
Suppose
a man were to have a family created for him in an instant a wife, a boy, a girl
sitting about a table in a lovely home which he never saw before. Would it be his family? Would these children be the offspring of the love
and sacrifice and pain of his wife and himself? No. He might learn to know and love them deeply, but
they would not be his family because not created by his love, not nourished from his
heart, and not sanctified by his thought, consideration and purpose. His wife, not having experienced the babe in the
womb or the pain of childbirth, would be unable to value the children of the family as
highly as she might. Omnipotence does not mean
arbitrariness. What love cannot do God cannot
do.
There
are methods love cannot use, acts it cannot perform, weapons it cannot employ. Divine love looks like weakness until we know what
it really is, how it works, and the path it follows. The
love of God is more than a mere indulgent good nature, more than an indiscriminate, mushy
sentiment. It is wise, and therefore takes the
long look; relentless, and therefore seemingly austere; ruling, not arbitrarily, not
impatiently, but with inflexible purpose and educative discipline permitting the
prodigal to wander if he will, knowing, as he does not know, that riotous living leads to
husks, and these to the coming to himself, and that to the painful and penitent return to
Fathers house and to the discovery of a love that would not let him be happy in
exile! Oh, the wisdom of love!
Of
love is born the hope of immortality, and the love of God is its only sure basis and token
of promise. What sunshine there is in that
truth! The more deeply we love wife and child
and friend, the more longingly we wish for immortality.
Only men who know not love, who are lonely, disappointed, broken-hearted,
devastated, bitter and hopeless desire the solitude and silence of death over life. Only miserable men cherish no hope of immortality! Again I say, of love is born the hope of
immortality. The more deeply we love the more
surely we may know that there is One who loves our loved ones and ourselves more than we
do. Men and women, lay to heart the awful and
wonderful truth that God loves each of us as if there were no other in the world, and all
of us as though we were one child at His knee. And
it is not only His obedient children that He so loves, but the vilest sinner and the most
rebellious blasphemer. God commendeth His love toward us, in that,
while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8). Yea, He loves me, even me, distinctly, separately,
passionately, unconditionally, eternally how can it be! And He loves you, each of you, with a love
peculiar, particular, unutterably precious loves you unto the uttermost, and cannot
be happy without your love in return! Let us
not ask ourselves whether we love God or not. Let
us trust His love of us, trust it in our sorrows, our needs, our failures, our weakness,
our sins, knowing that love never faileth for God is love.
What
is this Reality which men call Christ? Perhaps
we can best make it clear by asking our hearts one question: What is it that we worship? Is it mere Power?
No! Power may awe us, crush us,
command us, but never yet has it won the worship of the heart. Is it Knowledge?
No! An infinite Intellect may
invite admiration, but we do not worship Wisdom. Is
it Vastness? Not so! Consider for a moment and you will see how a
cold, bare infinitude, so far from winning the love of man, strikes him dumb with terror. What, then, do we worship? Reverently let us say that, though God speak with
the tongues of lightning, though He have all power so that He could remove mountains or
hurl suns into space, yea, though He have all knowledge and understand all mysteries, and
have not Love, we cannot worship Him. Only
love can win love, and if God be not Infinite Love we cannot love Him, albeit we may cower
before Him, trembling and afraid.
Think
it all through, up one side and down the other, and you will find that our ideal, our
dream, our hope, that to which we pray, is no other than the Spirit that lived in Jesus,
shone in His face, wrought in His works, spoke in His words, and hung upon a cross. The Spirit of Jesus in its strength, its
gentleness, its august and wonderful humility, its incredible patience, its fathomless
pity, its relentless love, its all-forgiving mercy, its victorious valor, its purity, its
gladness that is what is meant by God. Beyond
that love it is not possible for any man to imagine anything more divine. The Spirit of Jesus is the ultimate Divine Reality
so far as we can know it. Where the Spirit of
Love is, there God is. Because that Love lived in Jesus in its fullness, richness, its unclouded
beauty, He is the supreme revelation of what God is
end quote. And, may
I add to these beautiful words this thought all the sons of God, who are the sons
of Love, are the extension, completion and fullness of that supreme revelation of God unto
creation. Hallelu-yah!
I
once read the moving account of a woman seen constantly on the streets of
Is
it not true that vast multitudes of Christians today serve the Lord either out of fear of
hell or hope of heaven. It is the absolute
truth. Anyone who dares to proclaim the
beautiful truth of the restoration of all men to God and pins people right down to the
word of God is immediately accused by the unthinking masses of teaching heresy, and is
accused of teaching doctrines which give the sinner nothing to flee from, no reason for
accepting salvation. Such thoughtlessness! These poor simple folks are merely admitting in
this that they themselves have never yet had a revelation of the abounding love of God. Nor do they know and worship God FOR HIMSELF, apart
from all other considerations of either torment or bliss. Should the preachers one day
call a news conference and announce to the world, Ladies and gentlemen, we have just
discovered that there is no hell, I do not doubt for one moment that a great number
of so-called believers would immediately tell God to go to hell and commence
to live like the devil in the pleasures of sin. Those
who use hell as the incentive to bring men to God are but admitting their shame in
upholding a false gospel which would attempt to scare men into the
Is
there a hell? Yes. But hell is not what salvation is about. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift
of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 6:23). It is not written that the wages of sin is
hell. If the wages of sin is eternal
torment in hell, then we must re-write the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. We must make the Bible say that, if that is what
God meant. We must go back to the very
beginning and make the Bible say, And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of
every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt
surely SUFFER ETERNAL TORMENT IN HELL (Gen. 2:16-17).
We must correct the word of God so that it says, The soul that
sinneth, it shall be eternally tormented in hell (Eze. 18:4). John 3:16 must be made to correctly read, For
God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in
Him should not be eternally tormented in hell, but spend eternity in heaven. If the wages of sin is the torments of the damned
in hell, then Romans 5:12 must be made to say, Wherefore, as by one man sin entered
into the world, and torment in hell by sin; and so the torments of hell passed upon all
men, for that all have sinned... You
will have to tear the Bible all to pieces and re-write literally hundreds and thousands of
passages if you say that the wages of sin is eternal torment in hell!
The
wages of sin is death. It is not written
that the wages shall be death, but the passage we have before us, penned by divine
inspiration, states plainly that the wages of sin IS death. She that liveth in pleasure, the
scriptures again says, is dead while she liveth.
Dead in trespasses and in sins is the way the apostle Paul
expressed it. Death takes in this whole
dreadful realm of sin, weakness, fear, sorrow, pain, heartache, rebellion, strife, war,
sickness, torment, sadness, and trouble in which men walk without the peace and joy and
transforming power of God in their lives. It
is a sad and most horrible fact that there are millions and thousands of millions of
people going about this earth who are the walking dead.
Dead to God! Dead to virtue! Dead to truth!
Dead to reality! Dead to
righteousness! Dead to peace! Dead to joy! Dead
to promise! Dead to hope! DEAD!
Death
is the wages of sin. But the gift of God is
the life of the ages. Every man is on one side
or the other; either he is now reaping his wages, or renouncing sin to receive Gods
gift. The gift is not heaven. The gift of God is not streets of gold, gates of
pearl, or walls of jasper. The gift of God is
not a cabin in the corner, or a mansion over the hill top.
You will have to re-write your Bible again if you say that heaven is the
reward of the righteous. Is there a heaven?
Yes. But heaven is not the issue
in salvation. The issue is life. It was this very truth that Jesus was making clear
to us when He said, He that hath the Son hath life, but he that hath not the Son of
God hath not life. The issue in
Instead
of preaching a false gospel to sinners, instead of holding up before them fancied horrors
which they may escape, or a celestial Disney World which they may obtain, the true gospel
tells them of LIFE MORE ABUNDANT, of the unsearchable riches of Christ, of the glory of
the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. Who wants to remain a faltering mortal, when one
may be quickened and made alive in God to become the very same manner of being as the One
who created the worlds? Oh, that all men might
learn Gods one and only everlasting Gospel, the Gospel of Life and Light and Love
and then preach it! And BE it! Love alone can draw all men to
What
consolation and understanding is inspired by the blessed knowledge that in spite of all
the bluster and might exhibited by the kingdom of darkness, the Lord God omnipotent
reigneth! God is the King, and His power He
rules over all. But, dear one, if you will
examine the basis of that Kingship, the Kingship of the Lord from the beginning of the
world, you will find that it rests on Gods Creatorship. He is Lord of the world and men and rules and
overrules in all their doings because He is their Creator with divine plan and purpose for
their destiny. But God wants to be King in and
by Jesus Christ that is to say, He wants to be King
by virtue not of His power, but of His love.
He wants men to reverence and obey Him not because they are afraid of Him,
not because they are out-witted and out-maneuvered by Him, not because they cannot help
themselves, and even because He promises them a Glory World above, but because they love
Him. It is reconciliation, fellowship, union,
participation, oneness with man that the heart of God is after.
Let
us meditate deeply upon these words: Our Father...Thy Kingdom come. Whose Kingdom is it?
Ah, it is our Fathers Kingdom. Not the Kingdom of the Lord God of the Old
Testament, not the
The
message which beams from the cross of Christ like the blazing rays of the noon-day sun is
one of SACRIFICIAL LOVE REDEEMING LOVE. The
truth of love in Jesus Christ was that He loved without retaliation for evil, a love that
suffered long, even to the agonies of the cross, and then was kind enough to pray, Father,
forgive them, for they know not what they do. And
I declare to you that regardless of what other sins those wicked men may come into
judgment for, they will never stand in the judgment condemned for killing the Son of God,
for HE AND HIS FATHER FORGAVE THEM! This truth
of the love of God in Jesus Christ must also be true in us, the younger sons of God. Jesus did not love people because He loved Himself,
as it was under the law. It was the Fathers
unconditional and all-surpassing love flowing through Him, surging as a mighty river our
to humanity, overflowing redemptively, so that He could say, Let your love for
others not be based on love for yourself, but on what is true in Me: If the Father could
love Judas through Me, and love Peter through Me, and the people that crucified Me, then
let the Fathers love so find expression through you.
In
years past we have sung a chorus that goes like this: His love has no limits, His
grace has no measure, His power has no boundaries known unto man; for out of His infinite
riches in Jesus, He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again. This is a lovely chorus and I love to sing it and I
say it is true. In Jesus Christ, there is NO
LIMIT to His love, NO MEASURE TO HIS GRACE, and NO BOUNDARIES to His power, for He is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and His mercy
endureth throughout all generations and ages. If
I say that there is one sin, one condition, one creature, one place, one age or group of
ages unto which His love and His grace shall not reach then I LIE and know not the truth. Jesus loved His friends, He loved His enemies, the
man who betrayed Him, the man who denied Him, the mob that cried, Crucify Him!
and the men who nailed Him to the cross. There
just was no limit to His love! You could never
find a place where you could say, So far would He love, but no farther. Is that love true in us? Or do we say, Well, I will only stand so
much, I will only forgive so long, I will only trust so far, and that is the end of it. It is Gods purpose that His love should find
no limit in us, His grace no measure in us, and His power no boundary in us. This is the first mark of sonship.
God
is preparing a people who, when they stand up and say, God is love, are not
talking about Gods love in heaven, or Gods love in Jesus; no, they will be
expressing the love of God in their own person. For
God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son. Everyone likes a verse like that. But how many would like a verse like this: God
still loves the world so much that He would like to give His sons, right now. We do not like that.
We like to be sons if God will keep us, if He will bless us, if He will take
us to His bosom and not let us go. But
what does God do with His sons? Why, He GIVES
THEM! He thrusts them out into all the
sorrows, tragedies, troubles, sicknesses, pains, strife, hatred, rebellion and death of
this world. Jesus said, As the Father
hath sent me, even so send I you. What
did Jesus also say? This is my flesh, my
B-O-D-Y, which I GIVE for the life of the world.
If we are His body, then will He not give us for the life of the world? Oh, someone says, I do not like
the kind of religion where I do not get something, sacrifice is asking too much. Well, my brother, my sister, that is how it starts,
by receiving, but it must not end there. We
must come to the place where God can give us, where we can lie down and become a channel,
a river the
This
truth might well be illustrated by the childrens story of the sun and the wind. In the little make-believe story, the sun and the
wind discussed which of them was the strongest. The
wind said that he could prove that he was the strongest by blowing the coat off of a man
who walked on the road below. So the sun
slipped behind a cloud and Mr. Wind started blowing until the man thought a tornado had
come up. But the harder the wind blew, the
tighter hold the man took on his coat. Finally
the wind saw that he could not blow the mans coat off, so he gave up in defeat. Then it was the suns turn to try. The sun came out from behind the clouds and smiled
kindly on the old man. Presently the warm
loving rays of the sun caused the man to pull off his coat.
The sun had proved that the power of love and kindness is stronger than fury
and force!
Love
never fails. Sons dont say, Ive
had enough! Perhaps youve said it
too. Maybe youre a parent and youve
told your kids that youve had enough.
Perhaps youre a teacher, and today was one of those days when you sent
a student out of the classroom because youd had enough. Or perhaps your spouse has betrayed you once too
often; youve had enough and this cant go on. Or perhaps one of your workers showed up late once
too often, and you had to let him go. Or
perhaps your neighbor had another wild party late into the night, playing his loud music,
disturbing your sleep, so you called the police or gave him a piece of your mind. Youd had enough and couldnt
take it anymore. Love, however, divine love,
can never say, Ive had enough! If
God had had enough, the
No
man hath seen God at any time. If we love one
another, God dwelleth in us, and His love is perfected in us (I Jn. 4:12). Where is God? The
question is as old as humanity. And peoples
answers range all the way from God is everywhere and in everything to God
is nowhere and in nothing. In fact, the
question can be shortened and made even more significant: Is God? The beloved apostle John gives us an object
lesson to demonstrate the reality and the presence and power of God, saying, No
one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made
complete in us. John is saying, Do
you want to know where God is? Do you want to
see God? Do you want the whole wide world to
see God so that they can know that He exists? Then,
with divine love, love each other and all men and the whole world will see and discover
God in it. If we love with that
wonderful, God-initiated, self-giving, unconditional love, people will say, So thats
where God is! So thats how we know that
God is! Its an object lesson that
makes God impossible to miss! Creation will
respond as the Roman soldier at the foot of the cross responded to the love of Jesus,
Truly these are the sons of God!
Divine
love does not only love the lovely, divine love does not only love the brethren, but every
man. Divine love suffers long not only with
our loved ones, our wife or sweetheart, our parents and our children, but also with our
offensive neighbors, our difficult associates, the stupid, hateful, slothful, disobedient,
wayward, rebellious, unlovely, and our persecutors. Love
suffers long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy;
is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily. Love is not conceited, arrogant, or inflated with
pride; it is not rude, and does not act unbecomingly.
Love does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not
self-seeking; it is not touchy or complaining or resentful; it takes no account of the
evil done to it pays no attention to a suffered wrong. It does not rejoice at injustice and
unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail.
Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to
believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances and it
sweetly endures everything. Love never fails
never fades out, becomes obsolete, never is destroyed by anything, and never comes
to an end. THIS IS THE POWER AND THE GLORY OF
THE
DO
VIOLENCE TO NO MAN
And
the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man...
(Lk. 3:14). Love will affect every attitude
and action toward men on both the personal and corporate level. I have no hesitation in telling you that I have
been a conscientious objector to war all my life because from a small child I
could never believe that the spirit of warfare with its hatred, killing, and violence is
compatible with the love of God or the spirit of sonship.
Oh,
yes, we have our excuses and a thousand reasons are given to go forth and kill and maim
and destroy by warfare. The government
requires me to do it, we say. Thats
reminiscent of that other time-honored cop-out, The devil made me do it! I must defend my country and our liberties,
we explain, we have an obligation to our families, our communities, and our nation
to defend ourselves. So we wield the
sword, fire machine guns, and bomb villages and cities into oblivion, blasting thousands,
yea, millions of innocent men, women and children out of this world, and call on God to
bless! What strange beings we Christians are
who profess to follow in the footsteps of Him who said, For the Son of man is not
come to destroy mens lives, but to save them (Lk. 9:56). I tell you today that no son of God is sent into
this world to destroy mens lives, but every son of God is sent into the world of
save them. No son of God, no brother of Jesus,
is sent into this world to destroy even one life, but to become a saviour for all men.
War
is not a matter of one soldier against one soldier. It
is now a war of guns and bombs and germs and chemicals and land-mines against soldiers and
mothers and children and babes. Any way to
intimidate the foe! Scare and blast loved ones
out of the fox holes into hell or heaven that is the way to win. We little realize the awful depths into which the
spirit of warfare carries us. As one wrote of
a certain war: I had to aim carefully at the straw roof and only succeeded at the
third shot. The wretches who were inside,
seeing their roof burning, jumped out and ran off like mad...surrounded by a circle of
fire about five thousand people came to a sticky end.
It was like hell, the smoke rose to incredible heights, and the flames
reddened the setting sun.
War
is still ruling our world and it is not spiritual; it is carnal, political, and devilish. As ambassadors of the
Well
has Philip Mauro written, War is an instrument of the god of this world. War stems from greed and political intrigue. Preparing the soldier for war is a godless
procedure. Hate is drilled into him. He is taught every trick there is to kill. This must be so for war is a dirty business. War differs from ordinary murders only in that it
is on an enormous scale. Every invention and
contrivance that men can devise, every deception and stratagem to which they can resort,
every cruelty and atrocity which they can perpetuate, are elements of warfare. Hence it
is not merely a questionable proceeding not merely a thing which it is perhaps
better to avoid war is the thing of all things that is farthest removed from the
spirit and work of Christ. It is the work of
the devil to destroy. War is the great
all-inclusive, sum total of everything that is devilish.
When General Sherman tersely said, War is hell, he uttered a
truth. Heaven is peace. Hell is war. Let
us look the ugly fact squarely in the face,
that the man who enlists (or is drafted) commits himself in advance to the perpetration of
every unnamable atrocity that war is held to justify.
He repudiates his individual responsibility to God and man, and pledges
himself blindly, by an oath and under penalty of death, to obey the commands of his
officers, whatever they may be and to whatever work they may send him. If we then are to go forth and kill our fellowmen,
whose lives shall we take? Shall we slay the
unsaved, to whom we owe the gospel of Christ? If
not those, then are we to slay our fellow saints to whom we owe our love and service? War and the gospel are as far apart as the east is
from the west, as far as hell is from heaven...
end quote.
If
fighting and killing on carnal battlefields is right for the sons of God, then the
Priesthood after the Order of Melchizedek, the priesthood of grace, mercy, love and
salvation is wrong; if the gospel of love, even for our enemies, is right, then war is
wrong. Jesus showed us clearly that the life
of sonship is completely independent of every earthly tradition, custom, and requirement. The life of sonship belongs to the realm of the
The
principles of the
Except
for those religious Pharisees, Jesus never spoke one cross word to the unconverted masses,
Israelite, Roman, or otherwise. He was very
tender and kind in all His dealings with men. His
approach to them was very gentle, delicate, and considerate.
Surely, then, we are safer in His hands than anywhere else! The things He has in store for every one of us are
far greater than we could plan for ourselves. He
will do us only good, and never evil. Does God
expect His other sons to be different than His Firstborn?
Jesus has taught us, But love your enemies, and do good...and your
reward shall be great, and ye shall be THE SONS OF THE HIGHEST; for HE IS KIND UNTO THE
UNTHANKFUL AND TO THE EVIL, BE YE THEREFORE MERCIFUL, AS YOUR FATHER also is merciful. In this instance Jesus plainly says that if we
desire to be the SONS OF THE HIGHEST, we must be merciful as He is merciful. THE HIGHEST IS MERCIFUL TO ALL.
The
question follows: Why should the Highest be merciful to the evil and the unthankful? The answer is clear that the evil one and
the unthankful one may come to know the mercy and goodness of God! They would never know that mercy in any other way. If Jesus teaches us we are to be kind to those who
mis-use us, reproach us, attack us, curse us, and make themselves our enemies, then what
kind of a God and Father would He be, whose words Jesus taught us, who would HATE HIS
ENEMIES and cast them into merciless eternal hell to burn forever? If such a thing were to be, then God would require
us to be better than Himself! Jesus teaches us
that we are to be merciful and kind, to bless and do good to all who are enemies. Do we then have a Father whose nature is entirely
opposite to ours? Impossible! The sons of God are sent, as was the Son, to reveal
the nature of our Father to all.
If
we see a God that loves only those that love Him, or who defends Himself, and attacks His
enemies, banishing them to eternal damnation, torturing endlessly those that curse Him,
meting out eternal vengeance upon those that hate Him, and shutting up all mercy from
those who persecute Him, then we have a God who establishes His Kingdom in the same
spirit, and along the same lines, and by the same methods as the kingdoms of this world. But we are commanded to love our enemies, bless
them that curse us, do good to those that hate us, and pray for them that despitefully use
us, and persecute us THAT WE MAY BE THE SONS OF OUR FATHER WHICH IS IN HEAVEN: for
He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on
the unjust...BE YE THEREFORE PERFECT AS YOUR FATHER WHICH IS IN HEAVEN IS PERFECT (Mat.
5:38-48).
Sons
of God are instructed to love their enemies and not to resist evil (Mat. 5:39). In so doing they proclaim the nature and principles
of the
God
is raising up in the earth a
In
that blessed day when the mountain of the house of the Lord is established in the tops of the mountains it shall come to pass
that many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the
Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk
in His paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from
Jerusalem. And He shall judge among the
nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither
shall they learn war any more (Isa. 2:1-4). The
spirit of that blessed day must first be perfected in those who are destined to rule with
the Lamb from
When
men come to
I
am reminded of the story of a missionary who was trying to explain Christian living to the
chief of a primitive and warlike tribe. The
chief was very old, and he listened patiently. I
do not understand, the old man said at last. You
tell me that I must not take my neighbors wife or his ivory or his oxen. Thats right, said the missionary. And I must not dance the war dance and then
ambush my enemy on the trail and kill him. Absolutely
right, replied the missionary. But
I cannot do any of these things anymore, the old chief said regretfully. I am too old.
To be old and to be Christian they are the same thing! We may be amused at the old chiefs logic, but
the solution is plain. He did not do those
things because he could not we do not do them because we will not!
It
is time to evaluate our Kingdom walk. The
ascended Christ stands at the doorway and bids us set our eyes toward the world above and
listen for His voice. We came from that higher
world, we are sent as ambassadors of that higher world; let us seek first the
I
first learned this beautiful truth from a good and holy man, my natural father. It was his earnest conviction that Jesus taught
that a child of God and citizen of the
Under
the law we have a right to harm someone who has harmed us.
It is fair and just to retaliate when someone attacks us. The walking out of these Old Covenant principles
range from sibling pinches to international war. If
someone takes advantage of me, I have the right to take advantage of them. If someone files a lawsuit against me, I have the
right to file a counter suit. If someone
swindles me in an agreement, I have the right to swindle him back. In every case it is an eye for an eye, a tooth for
a tooth. If a nation launches missiles against
us, we have a right to send missles back. You
have heard that all of this has been said, Jesus declared, BUT I SAY UNTO YOU! Ah, now we are on Kingdom territory! And what is the higher law of the Kingdom that
Jesus brought? Resist not evil...dont
retaliate...dont sue anyone...if they take your car let them have your truck
also...if they force you into a bad situation, fulfill what they require and more!
My
father lived by these principles. On more than
one occasion he was attacked by men who had sworn to kill him because of the gospel. They came at him with bricks and two-by-fours and
brute physical strength, and my father was a small man.
He fearlessly stood his ground and spoke only the words, I love you! Their arms stopped in mid air and they dropped
their weapons. On one occasion the scene was
less dramatic, but the Holy Ghost was on my mother. As
she spoke in tongues and turned the car around, my father was able to jump in and make his
escape. He would never resist evil, never
retaliate, never manifest any fear, antagonism, anger or animosity. And he was never injured! God was powerfully with him at all times.
In
the 1940s my father joined himself to one of the Pentecostal denominations. When he was being examined for ordination to the
ministry in this denomination he told the brethren, There is something I must let
you know. I am a conscientious objector. I do not believe a Christian has any right in the
spirit of Jesus to resist any evil or go to war to fight against any enemy of our country. He explained in detail his views on this matter. The brethren said to him, But, brother Eby,
what if a thief or rapist entered your house at night with the intent to rob you, or to molest your wife and children, or even to
kill you what would you what would you do? He answered, I would call on God and God
would congeal him in the doorway and he would
be unable to do us any harm. The weapons of
our warfare are not carnal, they are mighty through God. But, the brethren pressed, what
if everyone believed as you do? What if no one
would join the armed forces to defend our country? What
if our enemies attacked us what would we do?
My father responded, My dear brethren, if everyone in this country
believed as I do, there would be so much of the power of God in this nation that our
enemies would not be able to attack us! Well,
brother Eby, the brethren said, we dont agree, but we do admire your
faith. They ordained him. My father was a small man, only five feet, one and
a half inches tall, but he was a man of courage, fearlessness, conviction, and a man of
faith and power with God. He lived, breathed,
and walked out what he perceived as true in God.
And it worked! God was
with him. He was an example of the power of the grace and love of God to overcome all evil
with good. That, precious friend of mine, is
the power and glory of the
Chapter
20
ENTERING
THE KINGDOM
In
an earlier article of this series I wrote concerning the difference between seeing and entering the
The
Here
we find Jesus laying down the preliminary requirement for an understanding of the Kingdom,
as well as entrance into the Kingdom. When men come into the world, they are born
outside of the
Except
a man be born again, he cannot see the
Seek
to walk in the light of HIS countenance. Seeing the INVISIBLE will make it easy to
forsake this world and do the will of God! The heavens are shut up from the natural man.
He
cannot see eternal things. He hears only the lower sounds of earth. But you see
beyond all this into the very heart of God, into the depths of His great plans and
purposes, and the whys and wherefores of all things since the
creation of the world and unto the consummation of all ages. You see the
To
enter into the Kingdom is, as we should readily understand, more than to
see it. Moses
stood on the heights of
The
At
this point the
Jesus
plainly taught His disciples and the scribes and Pharisees that He had brought the
In
my years of ministry I have had occasion to reflect upon this saying of our Lord. Some
people come to the hard work of pressing into the Kingdom only under painful duress. Once the
price of entrance becomes clear to them, they drop the plow and turn back to the beggarly
elements of religion, joining themselves again to the programs and activities of a church
system in a lesser realm. They are not yet ready for the Kingdom. They
refuse to enter into the Kingdom. In contrast are those who find themselves unable to
leave the Kingdom walk. They
are drawn irresistibly to the transforming and creative process going on within them, and
thoroughly understand that there is nothing in the church systems of man for them anymore.
Nothing
could entice them not blessings,
nor programs, nor fellowship, nor activities, nor personalities, nor needs, nor preachers to turn from their quest of the Kingdom. THEY HAVE
REACHED THE POINT OF NO RETURN. No looking back! The hook
is in their jaw. They
can do nothing else, so help them God.
If
we are the elect of God in this hour, there is a call within us, and deep calleth unto
deep. I
tell you, my beloved, there is something within me, an inner compulsion, and I know that I
have set my face as a flint and cannot turn to the right hand or the left from my journey
into Gods fullness. I cant go back to the world the world has
nothing to offer me; it is all vanity and vexation of spirit. I cant
go back to religion religion holds
nothing for me anymore; it is an abomination. I cant even go back to Pentecost, back
to the
Sometimes,
when the pressures and processings come, when the dealings of God
are deep and heavy upon us, when the going is especially painful or difficult and saints
complain of its demanding nature, I ask, Could you stop this inward work if you
wanted to? Could
you find an exit and escape the demands of His purposes in your life? The
answer comes back, No I have no choice
but to fellow on to know the Lord. For these precious souls the glory and honor
of the
One
more and more comes to know what it means to walk in the Kingdom as he follows on into
deeper and deeper measures of Gods dealings and further separations unto His
purposes. As
we become ONE WITH GOD the world does not understand what has happened; but they know that
a separation has taken place between us and them that is more than bodily separation. Although
we are living and moving among them, and they see us at our earthly tasks and daily
living, they realize that we have mounted up beyond them and their understanding. In this
connection a brother in Christ some time ago sent us these meaningful words: Yes,
this is an holy calling and it involves
much separation, often from our friends, religious realms, and everything and everybody
that would hinder the upward climb into the hill of the Lord, that we might stand in His
holy place. The
flesh will cringe at the aloneness of the walk. The mind will question as to why it must be
so. But
the spirit within will continue to draw us onward without the camp, bearing His reproach,
while we are loosed from so many hindrances and infirmities. IT IS A
DAY OF REVELATION and little did we
know what things were hindering our spiritual progress until suddenly we found that God
was stripping something from us, and though we wept at the time, and would have retained
it if we could, nevertheless being yielded to the will of God, we relinquished our grasp,
and found to our amazement that we received a new measure of freedom. And how
many things we hold so dear, but they are actually a weight upon us, rather than a help.
Many
times it is most grievous and perplexing to those who do not know the Lord, as well as to
those Christians bound in the religious systems, who cannot understand the workings and
separating processes of the Spirit of God, to have one who is near and dear to them in the
flesh, separated from them in the Spirit. Though the body with its personality is still
in the home, office, or business, it is as though the loved one were not there. In such
cases, how often do they who are watching the lives of those who are entering hard into
the Kingdom realm of God, entreat them that they will return; that they will again be unto
them as they once were. When
an apprehended one has entered into this experience, he has counted all things but loss,
and suffered the loss of all things, that he might WIN CHRIST AND HIS KINGDOM. Truly,
HIS DRAWING leaves us no choice but to FOLLOW ON that we might KNOW HIM in all His
glorious and eternal reality! He that loveth father or mother more
than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy
of me. And
he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me (Mat.
10:37-38)
As
we follow on to enter into the righteousness, power and glory of the
I
mentioned earlier that the purpose of the new birth is to give us the life of God which is
the life of the
It
has been my experience that God not only prunes away the sins of the flesh and the
emotions and tendencies of the soul, but a great deal of religiousness religious
activities and those involved in them as well. There was a time years ago when we made the
circuit, speaking for the Full Gospel Business Mens Fellowship and various
organizations and movements within the Pentecostal and Charismatic realms. Our desire was
pure to share the
present truth of sonship and the Kingdom of God to inspire and
bless and challenge any and all possible to the deeper life of the Christ within. Here and
there we found an elect few who had ears to hear, but for the most part it became evident
that we were spinning our wheels. Then, one day it dawned on me! Our word
was not producing fruit in those places. Oh, they were delighted to have brother Eby
come by and share his testimony, even minister a revelatory word, and prophesy over some
people, with the laying on of hands, momentarily satiating the intense craving in a few
hearts for a richer diet of spiritual fare. But after I left, nothing changed! There was
no fruit. There
was no heightened vision, no going on in God, no raising up of the
Those
called to this high calling, who shall rule and reign with Christ in His Kingdom in this
great Day of the Lord, are being separated from all that binds them to a lower order, that
they may enter into the fullness of His life. Many people find it a lot easier to be one with
the babylonish religious systems, where the crowds are, than to become separated to go out beyond, leading the way for others to follow.
How
I rejoice that God is now calling a people sons of the
Kingdom separated ones to a realm beyond the norm or religious activity, beyond the
programs and promotions, beyond the sensationalism and hand-clapping, beyond the revivals
and conventions and seminars, into the new and seemingly strange paths of HIS
LEADING. The
prunings are not easy, friends and loved ones and brethren do not readily understand,
especially the preachers and organizations set upon holding you within their pews and
coffers. I
do not doubt for one moment that many of these programs are being used of God on some
level, in spite of the worldly methods and fleshly techniques, to touch many lives with
salvation, healings, and blessings. We are thankful to our heavenly Father for His
blessing on every plane where He chooses to work, but when the call comes to leave behind
the outer court of salvation and the holy place of the baptism in the Spirit in order to
ENTER INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD, those called to be kings and priests unto God come aside to
prepare for the glory soon to be revealed, to make ready for the next great move of God in
the earth!
The
message is clear there are
things that others can do, but which you cannot do, when you begin to enter into
the Kingdom. Religion
today has become big business. It is one of the biggest and most lucrative
businesses in the whole world. More than one preacher, supposing that gain is godliness, has become a millionaire over the
past few decades, not because he was anointed by God, but because he was a TERRIFIC
PROMOTER. Through
clever speech and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive they have
beguiled innocent people, pretending that they were the great power of God. By
craftiness they obtain the names of tens of thousands of the Lords precious people
to whom they monthly send their high-pressure pleas for financial help to further
grandiose programs which are not the plan of God at all, but merely the product of an
imaginative, scheming, grasping and greedy mind. Untold millions of dollars have been
extracted from innocent, humble saints to build huge cathedrals, church buildings, office
complexes, radio and television networks, outreaches, and missionary programs that are
more of a curse than a blessing. Some time ago David Wilkerson was asked,
What do you think about American religious broadcasting, especially Christian
television? His
reply: They should shut it down. Turn off all the cameras. Release
all these men from all the pressures we have put them under. They
should be stripped from their heroic robes, all of their glamour, and be taken outside
from all the lights. Then
they should go back to the mountain and be broken before God. Let God
bring them back, as He chooses, in a purified form. Its all become flesh, absolute
flesh... And
though some will be offended by my words, I do believe that those who truly hunger and
thirst to enter the Kingdom will hear, believe, and obey when I say that those
who feed upon those polluted tables are no better than the
preachers that spread the tables! If you want to hear the voice of the King of
kings in this hour, turn off the so-called
Christian television, and fall upon your knees in holy brokenness before God until you
receive a word directly out of the heavens.
We
have passed through a time of great darkness. But thank God, the first rays of light of a
new day are painting the eastern sky! Thank God, a few of His chosen ones have
arisen to behold the glories of the dawn and to drink in the intoxicating freshness of the
morn. But
the popular churches are still lost in dreams. They have not awakened. They know
not of the dawn. And
the Word describes them and their shepherds in very uncomplimentary terms. The heads
of the churches are called the drunkards of Ephraim (Isa. 28:1-4). Then in
Isaiah 29:9-11 we are told, they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but
not with strong drink. For
the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the
prophets and your heads...hath He covered. And all vision hath become unto you as the
words of a book that is sealed. And when these drunken shepherds spread
tables for their flocks, instead of those tables being loaded with good wholesome
spiritual food, the prophet says, ALL tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so
that there is NO PLACE CLEAN (Isa. 28:8).
But
we who are of the Day, who are not lovers of the drunkenness of religious teachings and
promotions, nor sleepers of the night, have a higher heritage. We
are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep as do others (I
Thes. 5:5-6). We
who have received the love of the truth are heirs to a higher calling. We have
privileges, and we have duties to perform. We must be about our Fathers business. It is
time to forsake the shame and error, and time to look up, time to arise and shine. The day
is at hand. The
night is far spent. We
must go forth and lead the way for all who will follow. Awake,
awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy
city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean
(Isa. 52:1). Because
the church today has not received of Gods enlightenment, we find Christians in the
pathetic state of darkness. Because Christians today, whether baptized in
Gods Spirit, or not, have stopped far short of Gods fullness, and are still
spiritual babes, they, with few exceptions, do not discern the things that pertain to the
Do
you know that one reason Gods children do not hunger and thirst after righteousness
and follow on to apprehend the
There
is a passage in Daniel 7:18 that says, But the saints of the Most High shall take
the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever. Here it
says that we shall take the Kingdom, and sometimes we think this means that
we are to take the Kingdom by exercising the authority; but before we can do that, the
Kingdom must first be given to us, we must be able to enter into it, strong enough to
possess it, and worthy to inherit it. If we try to take it before the authority is
given to us, we are usurpers, not inheritors, and are guilty of spiritual treason. If I tell
you that I intend to give you my car, but you come and take it before I give it to you,
you are a thief. If
you worked for a large business concern and the president of the company mentioned that he
had intentions of making you vice-president; if you took over the vice-presidency before
he actually gave it to you, you would be a usurper and probably
would be fired! Although
God has promised us the Kingdom, and is leading us into it step by step, we still do not
have all the authority, power, or glory of the Kingdom. Sometimes
we try to exercise authority that we dont have and it doesnt work. Some may
be offended at me for saying this, but if you are honest, you will have to admit that it
is so. When
we really have the authority, when it has been given to us, and we have laid hold upon it,
it will work, not just sometimes, but all the time. Either we have it or we dont, and if we
have it it will never fail. May God in His great mercy forgive us if we
are trying to usurp something we havent yet possessed. I dont
want to be a usurper I want to be an
inheritor! My
deepest desire is to be counted worthy of the
OBSTACLES
TO ENTERING THE KINGDOM
A
new movement can always benefit from having a few rich and famous converts. So it
must have been exciting when the rich young ruler approached Jesus to talk about his
possible involvement in the Kingdom. No doubt Judas already had his pledge
envelopes out, and I can just hear Simon Peter exclaiming, Wow, this guy is future
board-member material! At the beginning of His ministry Jesus had
said, Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth
corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in
heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through
and steal (Mat. 6:19-20). On another occasion He said, How hardly
shall they that have riches enter into the
Dont
misunderstand Jesus was not
opposed to money. His
mind of omniscient wisdom understood the eternal truth that a person could hold on to
wealth all the days of his life, but the only true and eternal treasures, which are in the
Kingdom of Heaven, could only be obtained by doing the will of the Father in heaven. The will
of the Father is Kingdom business, and it yields Kingdom dividends in the realm of the
spirit. So
be careful, Jesus warned. Dont get involved in the wrong treasure
hunt. He
knew that people get obsessed with earthly
things. After
a while little else matters to them, or, as Jesus put it, Where your treasure is,
there will your heart be also. It is true that Jesus says merely that it is hard for
those who have riches to enter the Kingdom hard, but not impossible! Wealth
tends to make a man self-sufficient and independent of God and arrogant and presumptuous
towards others in that he learns that money will purchase him any special privilege he
wants. He
becomes trapped in a mesh of values where everything has a cash-value attached to it. No
man can serve two masters, Jesus said, you cannot serve God and mammon
(money).
It
is so very difficult for a rich man to enter the Kingdom because the
Just
recently I came across this article. Hear what it says. In 1928, a group of
the worlds most successful financiers met at the Edgewater Beach Hotel in
Our
Lords only concern for the rich young ruler was that this ruler seek for those
things that were truly valuable, the priceless
treasures of the mind of Christ, the eternal wealth of the will of the Father, and the imperishable riches of the nature and power of God. Still
this disciple-candidate was unable to act on what he heard. The Bible
says he was sorrowful. Think
about that! The
dictionary defines sorrowful as, full of sorrow, disappointment, regret,
grief. Why
was the young man sorrowful? Ah, the record states, For he had great
possessions. By
the spirit of wisdom and understanding from God we can see how undiscerning and unwise he
was!
Yet,
among the Lords people I have heard it said that if we really focus our energies on
the Kingdom, we will become rich. Or
another way of saying it is that prosperity is a sign of Gods blessing. The more
affluent a brother or sister in Christ is, the more they must be seeking the Kingdom or
applying the principles of the Kingdom. The reasoning goes like this: God has
promised that He will bless His children if they are faithful to Him and have faith. Since
kings live in extravagant palaces, sons of God have the right to live luxuriously to
demonstrate that they are indeed the Kings Kids members of Gods
My
beloved brethren, does this not contradict the words of our Elder Brother and Forerunner that a
rich man can hardly enter into the
Oh,
would to God that all who name the name of Christ would learn what it means when Jesus
says, Seek ye first the
Within
that inward man is the power of all things. The law of the Kingdom is that he who makes
the
All
our choices in the outer world should serve to extend, express and demonstrate the reality
of what we are in the inner world. When we choose a job or any activity, we dont
choose on the basis of its value in the outer world, we choose that which will serve as an
expression of the inner man. Thats where peace is. Thats
where joy is. Thats
where righteousness is. Thats
where the power of God resides. Thats where the only fulfillment is. Because
that is where the Kingdom is, thats where life is, thats where reality is,
thats where the true riches are, thats where heaven is! So many
people work on their jobs just to make money, to pay bills and put food on the table. They dont
really like the job, and are miserable. That is
what the outer world calls making a living. But
making a living is more than making money, for all the men in that outer
world are dying, and what they are
actually doing is MAKING A DEATH! Their
emphasis is on laying up store for old age, making out the will, and seeing that the
funeral is paid for. That is not life! The Lord
of the Kingdom has taught us the truth of the Kingdom in this sublime word of wisdom:
A mans life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth
(Lk. 12:15). To
make a living means, first and foremost, to LIVE! Its making what you are live! It denotes quality of life, and the only life
of quality is the inward man Christ. You will
know true joy, peace and power when your inward man lives through your outward man, your
inner world is expressed and revealed through your outer world. Matters
not what you do outwardly, where you live, what your vocation is, what your
responsibilities are when your inward
life is dominant all outer things are affected, transformed, swallowed up. As sons
of God we are not victims of either money, things, or circumstances. These are
not able to take away our peace. They are unable to rob us of our joy. They
cannot take our life. The
Christ within is our reality, our stability, our substance, our all. And that
is what we are seeking. We
are seeking incorruptible and immortal realities and powers. We are
seeking the
While
I have written of the perilous danger to those who pursue the wealth of this world, there is an abomination more
dreadful than this right within the ministry of that which professes to be the Church.
There is no shortage of men and women seeking gold and glory in the name of the Lord. The land
is overflowing with them, those seeking their own gain and each staking his own claim. Within
the past decade or so, two of the most famous international television pulpiteers have
been exposed and their vast financial holdings have been publicized. They had
millions of dollars invested in their personal homes and property while they begged and
pled for money from the widows and the poor. They lived sumptuously while multitudes of
those who supported their grandiose programs were living as paupers. And
things have not changed one whit. Where are those who are true ministers of God
and blessers of creation rather than those who gather money? Where are
those who are building Gods Kingdom rather than their own? Where are
those who truly feed the sheep? Where are those who are not lifted up with
pride? Where
are those who are not puffed up with their own importance? Where are
those who do not exalt themselves? Where is the preacher who doesnt seek
to ingratiate himself to the one with the expensive clothes and the luxury automobile?
Where
is the weeping before the altar? Where are those who refrain from using the
worlds methods to conduct Gods business? Where are those who do not charge for the
gospel, even if it is only a price on their tapes or books? Where are
those who do not have a ministry for sale? Where are those who have not taken unto
themselves the gold and the glory? Where are those who are not displaying flesh in
their man-made schemes and promotions? Where are those of a broken and contrite
spirit? Where
are those with the meekness and purity of the Lamb? Where are those who have not brought the
spirit of the world into their midst? Where are those who do not put their picture
on every page of their magazine and their name on everything they do? Where is
the beauty and glory of the message of the
No
one can deny that religion today is BIG BUSINESS. Some of the best known born again
The
only person who can enter the Kingdom realm of God is the one who elects to come on Gods
terms and in Gods way. The word of God reveals hindrances to
entrance into the Kingdom. Another obstacle to entering into the Kingdom
is the noxious weed of fleshly religion. When Jesus spoke to the self-righteous
Pharisees and the blind, mis-guided chief priests and elders of the Jews, He delivered to
them this stinging rebuke. Verily I say unto you, that the
publicans and the harlots go into the
The
damning sin of the Pharisees was that they made godliness a law rather
than a life. Moses
said! they thundered from their station high upon the craggy pinnacle of Sinai, and
proceeded to lay upon the people the heavy burden of 613 commandments that must be
meticulously kept according to the elaborate and extrapolated interpretations of the
rabbis. I
must point out that self-righteous religion is as old as the garden of Eden. In the
mists of that heaven blest paradise, when the first woman and man stretched forth their
inquisitive hands and furtively took of the forbidden fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, the eyes of them both were
mysteriously opened to discover their own nakedness.
To
be naked means to have ones flesh exposed.
Only
the knowledge of good and evil could have caused them to realize that their flesh was
exposed, and that knowledge never came to them as long as they walked in life. It was, in fact, a forbidden knowledge. There
were only two trees the tree of life and
the tree of law theknowledge of good and evil. Gods
purpose for man is that he live in life, not after law. The law
came by Moses, but grace and truth (life) came by Jesus Christ.
By
means of the law the eyes of them both were opened, but, alas! to what a
sight! When
they departed from walking in life it was only to discover their own nakedness. They
opened their eyes upon their own condition, which was wretched and miserable and
poor and blind and naked (Rev. 3:17). By the law is the knowledge of sin, the scripture teaches us. Suddenly
they knew that they were naked they knew that
their flesh, their fleshly nature, was now revealed, bare and exposed sad fruit of the tree of knowledge. No sooner
does a man discover his nakedness than this knowledge gives rise to the impulse to make an
effort to COVER the nakedness. Thus, in the case of Adam and Eve, the
discovery of their nakedness was immediately followed by an effort of their own to cover
it they sewed
fig-leaves together and made themselves aprons (Gen. 3:7).
This
is the first record we have of mans attempt to remedy, by his own device, his
condition, but this was not the single act of Adam in the Garden, it is truly the act of
each of us, yes, OUR VERY OWN! The Spirit must make it very real to your heart, dear
reader, that Adams effort to cover his nakedness was not a mere physical act, not
even a moral act, it was a RELIGIOUS ACT. Our spiritual understanding of what
transpired in that
And
this, let every man know, is just the difference between the walk in the Spirit of God and
human religiousness. When
you put on the Lord Jesus Christ and walk in the Spirit you are
wonderfully clothed thereby as you eat of the tree of His Life. There was
no sense of nakedness so long as they lived by the tree of life. And
though it is a great and deep mystery, what happened to Adam happens to us. What he was we
have been. His
experience is our experience. Ah, child of God, may the spirit of wisdom
and revelation from God give enlightenment to your mind that you may comprehend of a truth
that what happened to Adam in the Garden IS EVEN NOW HAPPENING TO EACH OF US. Every man
from Adam to this day has been naked his fleshly
nature has been exposed and, at some time, in some manner, has been busily
engaged in weaving together his very own fig-leaf apron to try and cover his nakedness. No one
wants to appear as what he is, even though he is a thief, an adulterer, a murderer, a
liar, or a religious hypocrite. In an effort to appear other than he is he
sews together very wide leaves of the fig tree, to gloss over his true condition; that is,
he tries every device he can, including multiplied religious works, rules, regulations,
dress codes, good deeds, and a thousand others, to gloss over his true condition. Much
fleshliness is still exposed, but the more gross manifestations are partially and
temporarily concealed by his apron of fig-leaf works. But all the garments a man may devise to hide
his nakedness become mere spiders webs when the blazing light of Gods
presence and glory shines upon them. Fig-leaf righteousness is so shallow, limited to
outward observances, religious exercises, ceremonies, rituals, appearances, works,
regulations, do this, dont do that, go here, dont go there, eat this, dont
eat that, drink this, dont drink that, which make a show of righteousness in the
flesh but leave the nature unchanged, the mind untransformed, and the
will of the Father undone.
The
miracle of what God has done through Jesus Christ ravishes my heart. I am
enthralled beyond measure that by faith He has clothed me with the robe of Christs
righteousness. The
first thing God does is to strip away all the artificial, man-made coverings, and presents
His own glorious covering, the slain Lamb. For Adam also and for his wife the Lord
God made long coats (tunics) of skins, and clothed them (Gen. 3:21, Amplified). We would
be hard pressed to understand the deep mystery of these skins with which the
Lord clothed the sorrowing pair were it not that the scripture informs us that at that precise point in history GOD SLEW A LAMB FOR OUR COVERING. Christ,
the Lamb of God, was foreordained before the foundation (disruption) of the world (I
Pet. 1:20), and He is the Lamb slain from the foundation (disruption) of the world (Rev.
13:8). And
that Lamb is the atonement (Hebrew: covering) of God for us, typified by all the Old
Testament atonement sacrifices, and He is our only robe of righteousness. Interesting
that the Lamb was slain not merely for the sinning man and woman, and not only for the naked man
and woman, but for the man and woman CLOTHED IN FIG LEAVES! The
skins of covering from the Lamb were given to replace the fig leaves of mans
self-effort, and not only was the man himself brought to the cross, but all his self-made
religion of works as well! Ah, yes, the cross shall deal not only with
sin and nakedness, it shall deal as well with our fig-leaves!
How
vain have been our strivings about externals and our insistence upon carnal technicalities
that we in ignorance deemed so very important! How often the spirit within me has been
grieved as I have listened to brethren wasting their time contending over baptisms,
communion, foot washing, meats and drinks, holy days, dress codes, long hair, short hair,
women preachers, prayer veils, and petty doctrines of every kind, and when they were
through with their pietistic wrangling, they had accomplished nothing but to prove that
they knew everything about the dead letter of the Word and absolutely nothing about the mind of Christ or the life-giving
Spirit! Men
do not need any external ordinances, ceremonies, rituals or regulations. They need
CHRIST AS LIFE! It
was not the gospel, but the Old Covenant which stood in meats and drinks, and divers
washings (baptisms), and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the
time of reformation (change). But Christ being come an
high priest of good things to come, by a
greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands (not anything you can produce
externally)... (Heb. 9:10-11).
Fig
leaves! Fig
leaves! Fig
leaves! Cursed
covering of mans own devising! And any man with eyes to see can see the
flesh shining brazenly through it in spite of all the intricate design and superficial
appearance of life. Oh!
how men try to conceal the corrupt flesh underneath, and indeed they may partially hide it
from men, but the fig-leaf apron can never screen a man from the eye of God. But,
blessed be the name of the Lord, God has reserved to Himself a people who is completely
different, a people who is wholly HIS, a people who dwells in the light which Christ
Himself is, elect according to the foreknowledge of God, sanctified by His Spirit,
obedient to their heavenly Father, and clothed in the GARMENTS OF LIFE, even the
righteousness of Gods Lamb by the Spirit of resurrection from the dead. There is
no doubt in my mind that this is the people that shall be granted an ABUNDANT ENTRANCE
into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ!
Chapter
21
POSSESSING
THE KINGDOM
Multitudes
of Christians are settled upon their lees they are
satisfied with knowing the joy of sins forgiven and hope to make heaven their home at
last. There
is no desire in their hearts to attain to anything of value in the
Paul
shows us how Gods people under the Old Covenant, ransomed by grace, and set upon a
course of divine privilege and opportunity, were called to win the prize of their calling,
and missed it. They
were delivered out of the hand of their enemies by the blood of the Lamb. They were
visibly under Gods protecting wing, and led out of
When
God told the children of
When
The
covenant of the old
O
that the wonderful spirit of revelation would enlighten us to the grandeur of these
promises of God! The
wisdom and understanding of the Spirit is being given to us. We are
growing up to know the hope of our calling, and to see the glories that are reserved for
us in the realm of Spirit.
Only
as we are enlightened by the spirit of revelation can we possibly comprehend the marvelous
truth of our inheritance in Christ. When we
fully understand that Christ is our inheritance, the things of earth will indeed grow dim.
The
world and all things of it will lose its attraction, and we will run with patience the
race that is set before us. Our glorious, risen Christ has already set
down the footprints, the steps, into the glory that is reserved for us. He has
pre-destined our walk unto His fullness. He has set aside an inheritance for us that
makes the things of this world look like the paltry dust and ashes that it is. Compared
to the splendor of the incorruptible and immortal Christ of glory, all else is corruption.
He
has reserved Himself for us! He has set aside the Holiest of all, the
place of His greater presence, for the holy remnant who are now growing up into Him. What an
inheritance! The
steps to that glory are there. Walk in the Spirit and the way will be made
clear end quote.
Consider,
precious saint of God, how vast and rich the land is! The land is unsearchably great, unlimitedly
rich. The
dimensions of the land are the length, the breadth, the height, and the depth of the
Why
have we not, then, fully possessed our land? The thing that kept
Ah,
how often that wily devil of unbelief speaks the very same things within us! He says,
Dont talk about overcoming every enemy. Dont talk about walking in the nature of God. Dont
talk about coming to perfection nobody can be
perfect in this world. Dont
talk about conquering death everybody dies until the rapture. Dont
talk about being manifested sons of God it is enough to
join a good church, pay our tithes and be faithful Christians. Dont
talk about becoming exactly like Christ nobody can measure up to Him. Dont
talk about putting on the mind of Christ.
Dont
talk about ruling and reigning with Christ it might go to
your head. Dont
talk about being kings and priests after the Order of Melchizedek that is too high for you. All of these things are good and wonderful. But it is
absolutely impossible for you to possess them.
I
do not doubt that even while some have been reading this message that devil of unbelief has
whispered such things in your ear! You cannot possess the land, you cannot
attain to the high calling of sonship, you will never stand among the manifested sons of
God because you are weak, you are now old and feeble; you cant preach or teach the
Word; you are beset by physical ailments and disease, silly of you to think of overcoming
sin and death; you have already failed so many times to please your heavenly Father; God
never answers your prayers, anyhow; you have no church or fellowship, no one to encourage
and strengthen you; you have too many problems and hang-ups; you are young and
inexperienced, others have walked in this truth for years; your own home is out of order,
you are bedeviled by a carnal, opposing spouse and unruly, rebellious children; dont
ever think you can enter the good land of the Kingdom it is far beyond
your ability. You
can never make it! The little devil of unbelief lurking within
the carnal mind in each of us is just waiting for the opportunity to inject his deadly
venom and deliver to us the evil report
You are not able to go up and possess your
inheritance! Never
believe him!
The
inhabitants are giants, he will tell you. and the cities have walls that
chariots run upon. You
will be defeated and you know it. You will go by way of the grave at last. You will
miss the unveiling of the Kingdom glory in the earth, you will not be a member of Gods
overcoming, conquering army. All this is an evil heart of unbelief.
It
is a heart occupied by the evil one; so it is called an evil heart. The heart
is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, saith the Lord! We must
ask the Lord to deliver us from the evil heart. We must take our stand with Joshua and Caleb
and proclaim by the faith of the Son of God within us that WE ARE ABLE TO GO UP AND TAKE
THE LAND! We
must have faith in the power of His resurrection within ourselves. The
mighty power of God within us is able to do exceeding, abundantly above all that we ask or
think, above all that we dream or imagine. God will do the work as we follow on in
patience, faith
and obedience, even as He did for
The
generation in the wilderness consented to the spying out of the land no doubt they
really enjoyed the grapes and the figs and the pomegranates the spies brought back but they refused to enter in and possess the
land. It
is all right, this same unbelieving generation tells us today, to be baptized in the
Spirit, speak in tongues, heal the sick, prophesy, be slain in the Spirit and do some
miracles these things are
all right. They
relish the firstfruits of the Spirit that the spies bring back, the little
sample of the richness of the land, but they do not want to hear about Christ appearing in
glory in the saints, or the manifestation of the sons of God. And as
for people conquering death and by-passing the grave that is
definitely not for Gods people today. True, God has it for us, it is part of our
inheritance, but we dare not try to lay hold upon it today.
That
will take place, automatically, at the
rapture, or in the first resurrection at the last day not now. We cannot
possess the land the walls are too
high, the giants too tall, and the people too strong. The armies of the enemies have iron chariots.
How
utterly ridiculous to suppose that we can overcome such obstacles!
Oh yes, you can be filled with the Spirit, teach a
Sunday School class, move in the gifts, get into prosperity but you cannot be
conformed to the image of the Son, defeat Satan, conquer sin and death, and
ascend the throne of God to rule and reign with Christ over the nations and all things. You can
sneak in and seize a cluster or two of grapes from the
It
should be obvious to any thinking person that this is the mind-set of just about all
Christians today and the teaching of all the preachers and churches. Of
course, many churches dont even want their people to taste the firstfruits! The whole
issue revolves around this question: Are we going to settle for the earnest of
our inheritance, the down payment of the Spirit, or, are we going to arise
from the dust and rocks of this great and terrible wilderness and follow our Joshua across
the Jordan to lay hold upon, and enter into, and possess fully, ALL THE GLORIOUS
INHERITANCE OF THE LAND GOD HAS GIVEN US?
Together
we can praise God that there is arising a new generation that has heard the trumpet call. Moses the
servant of God is dead, the old-order ministry is passing away, and a people is gathering
in preparation to follow their heavenly Joshua into the fullness of the glory and power of
the
THE
VIOLENT TAKE IT BY FORCE
When
our blessed Lord came teaching the
And
from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and
the violent take it by force (Mat.
11:12). Some
say that this is a negative statement, that Jesus is not talking about the necessity of
taking the Kingdom by violent effort, but that in the hour when the Kingdom was announced
many carnal people sought by the violence of carnal effort to seize the Kingdom for their
own ends. These
words of Jesus in Matthew are, however, a sequel to the words written by Luke. Matthew
says that since the days of John the Baptist, the
These
words suffers,
violence, violent and force are all related
words with much the same meaning. They picture vital energy and activity used
in forcing or crowding oneself into something. To interpret these words of Jesus one needs
to know the location of the
Never
forget, beloved, that it is possible to enter and possess the
Another
possible rendering of the Greek in this passage would denote not so much to force an
entrance as into a besieged city, but to seize hold of and carry off as
plunder. It
suggests the picture of a prize just coming within reach, which the bolder spirits
immediately capture, without waiting for a signal. This would make the passage read: The
law and the prophets were until John; since then, the
Jesus
believed that the Kingdom could be apprehended by any who had the vision and the faith. To that
end the work which He laid on His disciples was not that of passive waiting, but that of
activelyseeking the Kingdom. By
hungering and thirsting after it, by lifting their hearts to it with earnest desire and
invincible faith, they were to hasten the day of its coming forth. The
blessed firstborn Son of God Himself became the example and prototype of an all-conquering
faith, revealing by His nature and His mighty works, by His authority and dominion over
all things, by His death and triumphant resurrection, the accessibility of the
Kingdom to every son of God. He taught men to cry out to God, THY
KINGDOM COME! THY
WILL BE DONE IN EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN! And this is the message for those who have received the call to sonship in
this significant hour at the end of the age. We are now in the days when decisions are
being made and portentous events are in the offering. Some people are making conscious
decisions by proclaiming, I will follow the Kingdom and I will pursue it like a dog
pursues a fox. When
a hound chases a fox, he never gives up. He may lose sight of the fox, but he still
has its scent. Even though we may not have the Kingdom in sight, we will not give up
either because we know by faith that the Kingdom will come to pass in a people that
presses violently into it but, blessed be
God, we have the scent and we will follow on!
The
marginal reading of one Old Version is even stronger the
By
the army of God the claims of the
The
kind of faith God is looking for in His sons is tenacious
faith the faith that
embraces the promise and will not let it go. That is how Jacob became
In
order to gain this Kingdom we must aim high.
There
is an interesting passage of scripture in Judges 3:31. And after him was Shamgar the son of
Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad: and he also
delivered
It
is probable that many who read these lines have never heard of Shamgar. Except
for the one verse quoted above, there is no other mention of him in the whole Bible, but
that one single verse speaks volumes! Shamgar was a most remarkable man, and a type
of all those who refuse to be hindered from possessing the Kingdom. Shamgar
must be understood in the light of his time. In those days the Philistines had conquered
Enter
a man named Shamgar. Shamgar
was not a king, nor a general, nor a sergeant. He was not even a private. There is
no record of him ever having been in the army or having any military training or
experience. Shamgar
was a farmer, a very good farmer, no doubt, but only a farmer. He broke
a yoke of oxen and used these oxen to plow his fields. At that time this required great boldness and
tenacity because when crops were planted, and after much investment and toil, the harvest
finally arrived then the
Philistines would sweep down and carry away the crops. The whole land lay in desolation, the roads
were overgrown with grass and weeds, the villages were ghost towns, because the people
were hiding in the walled cities where they had at least a modicum of safety. The land
was helpless before the Philistines.
Shamgar
was not satisfied to accept this state of affairs and so he went out, plowed his fields
with his oxen, and planted his crops. When harvest time arrived six hundred
Philistines armed with flashing swords swept down upon this one farmer.
The
only weapon at Shamgars disposal was an ox goad. An ox goad was usually made from the limb of
an oak tree. It
would be from eight to ten feet long with the bark stripped off and a sharp iron point
affixed to the tip. It
was used to jab the ox when he tried to get out of the furrow. On the
other end of the goad was a flattened piece of metal that was sharpened for the purpose of
scraping the dirt off the plow as it collected. Not a very sophisticated weapon of war! But it
was all Shamgar had in addition to his fierce determination, his seething resolve, and his
violent passion. This
situation would not stand! One thing Shamgar was efficient in the use of an
ox goad. In
the hands of a man who had handled one from his youth, it could become quite lethal. So when
these six hundred Philistines swept down upon Shamgar, he decided that he had had enough;
and that he was going to do something about it.
Excuses
would have come easy. There
was only one farmer with an ox goad and there were six hundred soldiers with gleaming
swords. What
could any man do without a sword? There was no way to resist such a formidable
foe. The
best thing to do would be to hide and just let them have the crops. But that
kind of reasoning was not to be found in Shamgars heart. Shamgar
had a deep and profound faith in God. He also had a compassionate concern for his
people, and for his own dignity as an Israelite and a child of God. Armed
with this resolve, he determined to take a stand at whatever the cost. He stood
in his field and as the Philistines came upon him, he grabbed that ox goad and began to
swing it! There
must have been some astonished Philistines. And the battle that ensued became the battle
of all battles in the annals of military history. There were sculls cracking all over the
place. That
mighty oak limb with its iron tip on one end and its flat iron on the other was whirling
like the propellers of a helicopter. They must have thought that they had come
upon a hornets nest because they were getting it from all sides. No one
could even get close enough to Shamgar to thrust him with a sword! They were
jabbed and cut and pounded on. When the dust settled there were six hundred
dead Philistines scattered through the fields. Then there is that remarkable little
phrase that says it all: He also delivered
From
this farmer in ancient
One
of the tragedies of life is that many people live their whole lives without ever finding
out what they were here for. If they had only known what they were
supposed to do they might have done it. But like the faithless Israelites of old,
they just wander in the wilderness for forty years. They wander through thirty, sixty, eighty
years of life never really knowing where they came from or where they are going. They
never see what the purpose of God is in their lives. They have no sense of divine destiny. Like the
animals, they eke out a meager existence in their little insignificant and meaningless
world of earthly things and carnal
pursuits. They
never breathe the rarefied air of the heavenlies, or catch a glimpse of the heights of
Shamgar
had a goal. Shamgar
had a vision. Shamgar
had a hope. Shamgar
had a purpose. Shamgar
was stirred to radical action, to violent movement. Shamgars goal was to get free from
bondage and to free his people from bondage. It was a high and noble and lofty goal. It was
not just an idea in his mind. It was not just an intellectual belief or a
theological position. I
suppose that every Israelite in
These
words of brother Paul Mueller are so very pertinent here. The
great issue now before the sons of God has to do with our entrance into the
This striving, this pressing, this violence, means that the myths that spiritual
warfare is gentlemanly, that you enter and possess and inherit the land essentially
unscathed, that it costs relatively little, that all you have to do is believe and confess, that violent men no longer need to
take the Kingdom by force these myths
must forever end. The
hour is late, the day of unveiling is at hand. Only an unreserved commitment, only an
indestructible faith, only a radical thrust will birth this manchild of the ages and
herald the dawn of that blessed age when the glory of the Lord shall fill the earth as the
waters cover the sea, and all peoples and all nations shall come and walk in the light of
the Lord, and there shall be no more curse anywhere forever. Sons of
God let us arise with
courage and boldness and give ourselves to the task!
Chapter
22
INHERITING
THE KINGDOM
In
whom we also have obtained AN INHERITANCE, being predestinated according to the purpose of
Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will (Eph. 1:11).
Having
read these words from our beloved brother Paul, three questions only concern us. What is
this inheritance? To
whom does it belong? How
do we obtain it? In
order to answer the first of these questions, we are naturally concerned whether the
inheritance is worth possessing. If we should be promised an inheritance of a
million dollars, I am sure there are few of us who would not become considerably excited. Our
interest would be stirred. Our hope would be aroused. If there
were conditions laid down which must be fulfilled before we could inherit, we would look
carefully at those conditions. We would not risk the loss of our inheritance
through indifference or willful disobedience.
Stop
to think what a million dollars could do for you if you had it! It could
do much, but there is just as much, and more, that it could not do. The power
of money to do good and to give happiness is strictly limited. To
mention just a few things that it cannot do: It cannot give you an untroubled conscience
or peace of mind. If
you are sick it can buy you the best medical care, but it cannot guarantee to make or keep
you well. Does
it give security? After
a fashion, yes; yet, those who have it anxiously wonder how long they can keep it, or they
may blow it all in just a few months. A thousand hands are outstretched to grab it,
by fair means or foul. The
ways in which it may be lost or destroyed are too numerous to mention. Nor can
it stave off death or prolong life. Its enjoyment is limited strictly to this
present world, which is passing away, and it is the matter of only a few years. Such is
every human inheritance. We do not despise it for its limited present
value. We
would simply look at it dispassionately in its true light, in order that we might
appreciate the more the words of the hymn writer,
We
Christians should ever consider
What Christ hath so gloriously taught;
For He who hath made us His children
Would have us retain in our though
How little things earthly do merit,
Lest we who the Kingdom inherit,
The heavenly prize leave unsought.
Giving
thanks to the Father, who has qualified and made us fit to share the portion which is the inheritance of the saints in the Light. The
Father has delivered us and drawn us to Himself out of the control and the dominion of
darkness and has transferred us into the
kingdom of the Son of His love (Col.
1:12-13, Amplified). This
beautiful passage sets forth the great truth that as saints God is preparing us to receive
that which the Spirit identifies as the INHERITANCE of the saints. What is
the inheritance which is ours as children of God? Do you really know? Of course most Christians have always heard that
the grand purpose of our salvation is that we might escape hell and make heaven our home
when we die. And
most believers have simply accepted this concept without
question. But
have you ever stopped to prove it for yourself? Did you ever look into the promises of God to
see whether it really does say that heaven is the inheritance of
the saints?
We
have surely read these inspired words of instruction: Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again
unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not
away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through
faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time (I Pet. 1:3-5). Let me
draw your earnest attention to seven wonderful truths revealed in these words of the
apostle. (1)
We have been, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, begotten again unto a living hope. (2) This
living hope is the hope of an inheritance.
(3)
This inheritance is incorruptible. (4) This
incorruptible inheritance is reserved in
heaven the invisible
realm of the Spirit for us. (5) Until
we fully receive our inheritance we are kept by the power of God unto the inheritance preserved so that we can appropriate it. (6) The
inheritance is salvation full and
complete. (7)
This full salvation is ready for us already prepared
for us and appointed to us and shall be
revealed in the last time.
Blind
to the true nature of our inheritance and the plan by which God is bringing His elect into
it, many of the Lords people make ignorant and unscriptural statements regarding it.
For
instance, speaking of a departed saint who has passed from this life, they say, He
has gone to his reward. Where does the Bible say such a thing? Nothing
could be father from the truth! It is not
death that qualifies one to
receive his inheritance, but rather, the raising up of ones entire being INTO THE
RESURRECTION LIFE OF CHRIST. The hope is a living, quickening hope. It is secured for us by the resurrection life
of Jesus Christ. This living hope has been given to us by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead. And
heaven is NOT the inheritance. The inheritance is merely reserved
in heaven for us. That
is, it is reserved, laid up, retained, earmarked, allocated and proportioned in the realm
of the Spirit for us. It
is available and accessible in the Spirit.
It
is there for us. Let us
say that you have $50,000.00 and all of it is in a checking account at First National
Bank. The
money is all yours but it is kept,
held, reserved, retained, earmarked, allocated and proportioned for you in the bank until you write a check on it. The check
is a claim on the account and by that claim you gain what is reserved in the bank
for you. You
dont have to live in the bank or even go to the bank in order to spend the money. And you
dont have to go to some far-off heaven somewhere in order to receive or live out of your
inheritance in the
Furthermore,
the inheritance is
reserved for us, ready to be revealed,
that is, paid, in the last time.
Make
no mistake about it the last
time is not a date on the calendar! That is where so many end-time
teachers go wrong. They
think the last time is a date, so they are always trying to figure out the date, setting
dates for the coming of the Lord, the beginning of the great tribulation, the dawn of the
millennium, or the manifestation of the sons of God. I do not doubt for one moment that our
present age is rapidly drawing to a close, perhaps the new age has already dawned, but
that is not the issue here. The
HEIRS
OF GOD
An
heirship always implies an inheritance. If we are made heirs of God, we become
partakers in the inheritance left us at the death of the Testator. It comes
with the divine sonship, and is ours because our Lord died. In the
epistle to the Hebrews, we read of the method whereby the inheritance of the Lord was
secured for us. How
much more (than animal sacrifices) shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal
Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve
the living God? And
for this cause He (Jesus) is the mediator of the new testament (covenant, will), that by
means of (His) death...they which are called might receive the promise of eternal
INHERITANCE (Heb. 9:14-15).
Notice
how the writer tells us that through His death, Christ became the mediator of the New Covenant. And those
who are called into this new covenant relationship as sons of God, are given the promise
of eternal inheritance. The
writer goes on to say, For where a testament (will) is, there must of necessity be
the death of the testator (the one who made the will) (Heb. 9:16). Nothing
is more certain than this! A will is worth nothing until the person who made the
will has died. This
is how our eternal inheritance has come to us. The Lord Jesus loved us and He died! Now our
inheritance has been made sure. Thank God, that there might be no question
about our inheritance, that none could rob us of it, that we might be assured of
receiving it, Christ arose from the dead to become the
executor of His own estate! I have
read accounts where an executor squandered an estate and the heirs were cheated out of
their rightful inheritance. This cannot possibly happen to the sons of
God for Jesus Christ ever liveth to make sure the inheritance goes to the RIGHTFUL HEIRS.
But
there is a truth deeper and more wonderful than this. As the ocean includes the seas, the bays, the
straits, which, though known by separate names, are parts of its majestic and
all-embracing fullness, so is there a dimension of HIS INHERITANCE that encompasses all
that is ours in Christ. In
the law of the Old Testament priesthood, the Lord spake unto Aaron, Thou shalt have
no inheritance in their land, neither shalt thou have any part among them. I AM THY
PART, and THINE INHERITANCE, among the children of
Ah, our inheritance is God Himself! That is
the inheritance of the kings and priests of the
Beloved, you and I have been given an inheritance in
the Lord Jesus Christ. He
has left us a title deed to His very own wisdom, righteousness, nature, glory and power. Of
course, Jesus lived in absolute poverty while on this earth; He owned no land, no vast
estate, no great herds of cattle, no store of gold or precious stones, no account in the
bank. But
He willed to us riches greater than the diamond mines of
INHERITING
THE KINGDOM
We
are learning what it means to be a son of God, realizing Gods great plan and
purposes involved. One
of the most important rights of sonship is that of inheritance. Heirship
depends entirely upon our relationship with God. When we were born again, born of God, we
became children of God and consequently heirs of the Almighty Father. This is
an aspect of the great and wonderful purpose of God in redemption. Inheritance
is also concerned with law and nationality one inherits in
the country of his parentage and according to the laws of that land. Jesus
explained to Nicodemus that in order to enter the
Having
been separated and set apart for the Fathers work in His Kingdom, we are then given
our inheritance, which is the
How
little does the wailing infant, over whose cradle hangs the photograph of his fathers
vast estate, understand of the inheritance to which he has been born! The old
homestead, the far-spread lands, the immense business enterprises, the enormous
investments, the accumulated wealth, the prestige of fame and prosperity and power all these
things are his; but years must pass ere they can be truly realized or appreciated. And how
little do most earnest and zealous and saintly children of God conceive of that
inheritance which is ours so soon as we become the children of God by faith in Jesus
Christ. As
a matter of right all Gods nature and power and glory and wisdom and dominion is
ours the moment we are born into His family; as a vast tract of land, filled with woods
and rivers and oil wells, belongs to the heir at the moment of birth. But, as a
matter of fact, we shall never occupy all until we have grown up into the maturity of
Christ. His gifts are
for His children, but His inheritance is reserved for His full-grown sons. We are
urged, therefore, by the apostle Paul, to press forward from the gift-realm into the
inheritance-realm! Therefore
it is said...He bestowed gifts on men. His intention was the perfecting and full
equipping of the saints, that they should do the work of ministering toward building up
Christs body, that it might develop until we all attain...at really mature manhood the completeness of personality which is nothing less than
the standard height of Christs own perfection the measure of
the stature of the fullness of the Christ, and the completeness found in Him (Eph.
4:8,12-13). Together
we can praise God that He has brought us tothat day!
Here
is a scene with which we are all familiar. The car is humming along the road. Suddenly
theres a sputter, a fruitless pumping of the gas pedal and then a full halt. Youre
out of gas! Hundreds
of thousands of motorists have that experience each year, and I must confess that it has
happened to me a few times, too. The problem is not technological. The basic
problem is usually human error either a failure
to plan ahead or heedless attention to an obviously depleted gas level. That
failure to plan ahead is common. Although the motorist is aware of the
distance to be traveled and of the gas performance of his car, he sets out without
adequate fuel. Closed
gas stations or long distances of remote highway on which there are no service stations spell
trouble. Simple
preparation would have averted the dilemma, but after some inconvenience the destination
will likely be reached. The
There
are four classes of people in relation to the
Those
who inherit the Kingdom are the ones who sit with Jesus upon His throne and rule with Him;
those who only enter the Kingdom enjoy its blessings and benefits and they serve Him, not
reign with Him. They
are citizens and subjects of the Kingdom, not kings and priests. Those who
enter the Kingdom will be a great multitude, as John the Revelator saw them... After
this (the sealing of the 144,000) I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude which no man could
number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes,
and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which
sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple: and He that sitteth
upon the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any
more; for the Lamb which is in the midst of
the throne shall feed them, and shall lead
them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes
(Rev. 7:9-10,15-17).
It
should not be difficult to understand that those who sit with Christ in His throne occupy an altogether different position than those
who merely enter the Kingdom and serve Him before
the throne. To
him that overcometh shall I grant to sit with me in
my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in His throne (Rev. 3:21). Thou
hast made us unto our God kings and priests:
and we shall reign on the earth (Rev. 5:10). Those who
inherit the Kingdom and reign with Christ upon His throne are a select and chosen people,
especially prepared for this position, a small number in comparison with the great
multitude serving Him before His throne. The requirements for those who inherit the
Kingdom are much higher than for the ones merely entering the Kingdom and partaking of its
wondrous blessings and bounteous benefits.
Some who read these lines are familiar with the
visions of Annie of Argentina. In one of her visions she recounts, While
I was with Him in the wonder and glory of His invisible world, He showed me His own
entering into the possession which He gives them. He explained that there were two distinct
times of tremendous importance in which there could be an entering into ones
possession. Now,
before the storm or later, after the storm. Those who entered their possession before the
storm became His elect ones, with a far superior place and development. In them
the perfect will of God was brought forth. Occupying a place very near to Him, they
became the instruments of God in His workings. Those who entered their possession after the
storm were perfected upon a definitely inferior plane. I believe
the storm represents Gods dealings in
judgment. Those
who now gladly submit to all of Fathers dealings and chastisements upon His sons
become qualified to occupy a place of intimacy with Him and share His glorious throne. Those
who, though His children, must be dealt with in judgment in order to bring His will into
their lives, occupy a lesser place in His Kingdom, a place of serving rather than
reigning.
The
Paul
Mueller has written, Obviously, there is a difference between entering the
new land and inheriting it. As soon as
That
the hope of honor and glory may be fastened firmly in our spiritual minds let us examine
more closely this principle of inheritance.
When
a titled person dies, the heirs inherit all that is his: the family crest, the property,
the land, the fortune, or possibly even a great mass of debts. What I am
saying is that sons and heirs inherit everything pertaining to the title of their father. Even in
life all children inherit genetically something from their father, such as his nature,
life, love, care, and daily provision. But how much of his wealth they
will each receive, a wise father will determine by their individual capacities for
profiting by possessions. He will not bequeath a mansion to a son who
loves only nature and prefers to live in a shack on the creek bank, nor will he leave a
million dollars to one who has no appreciation of the value of money and would squander it
all in a short time. And
he most certainly will not give the family business into the hands of an irresponsible,
reckless, and lazy son who has never prepared himself for assuming such responsibilities.
This
practical principle also operates with the Lord in the realm of the
He
who had received one talent also came forward, saying, Master, I knew you to be a harsh
and hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you had not winnowed the
grain; so I was fearful, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you
have what is your own. But
his master answered him, You wicked and lazy and idle servant! Did you
indeed know that I reap where I have not sowed, and gather grain where I have not
winnowed? Then
you should have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I could have received
what was my own with interest. So take the talent away from him, and give it
to the one who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has shall more be given,
and he will be furnished richly so that he will have abundance. And throw
the good-for-nothing servant into the outer darkness (a realm of loss outside the
Kingdom); there shall be weeping and grinding of teeth (in sorrow at being denied the
power and glory of the Kingdom) (Mat. 25:14-30).
Christians
as a whole have very faulty ideas concerning ruling and reigning with Christ, and the
structure and administration of the Kingdom in general. They
imagine that by sheer grace they will be caught up into heavenly realms of power
and glory. But
the Spirit of God teaches us clearly that He that overcometh shall inherit
all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son (Rev. 21:7). The whole
passage (Rev. 21) mentions three classes in relation to the Kingdom first, the
unconverted, who have their part in the lake of fire the purging,
purifying fires of purposeful, redemptive judgment; second, saved peoples with God
dwelling among them, children of God who have an entrance into the Kingdom to
receive of its blessings and benefits; third, heirs and sons
inheriting all things.
George Wylie once gave the following illustration
which beautifully makes the point. He said, In entering the Kingdom you
are just being there, you have a place in the Kingdom, you are a subject of the Kingdom:
but to inherit it is something else. This might help you to understand it better. I live in
When
one enters the
That
this great honor and glory to which Christ is now bringing us through many trials,
testings, and sufferings, is predicated upon our overcoming in them, cannot be disputed in the light of what He
further states in chapters two and three of the book of the Revelation. Oh, let
us give earnest heed to these tremendous statements! And he that overcometh, and keepeth my
works unto the end, to him will I give power
over the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a
potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father (Rev.
2:26-27). To
him that overcometh will I grant to sit with
me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in His throne
(Rev. 3:21). He
that overcometh shall inherit all things;
and I will be his God, and he shall be my son
(Rev. 21:7). It
is the son who is the heir of the heavenly glories not simply any child of
God you may meet on the street or in a church meeting. Let not carnal, self-willed, immature
Christians imagine for one moment that it will be given to them to reign with Christ
without first having shed their carnal minds and put on the righteousness, knowledge,
wisdom, obedience, and maturity of the Son of God.
God
only commits Kingdom authority and power to those sons who have reached the spiritual
stature of maturity. The
scriptures refer to this as the adoption. Paul speaks of this adoption when he says,
Having predestinated us unto the ADOPTION OF SONS by Jesus Christ to Himself,
according to the good pleasure of His will (Eph. 1:5). To
understand the various New Testament references to adoption, we must first have some
background to show how the Oriental customs in this regard differ from our own Western
concepts. Here
in the West, adoption is the taking of a child from one family and making it the member of
another family. The
Greek word for adoption is HUIOTHESIA. The first half is HUIOS, the common noun for
an adult son. The
latter half is THESIA, meaning a placement
or an installation. In Israel, as in many Eastern countries, after a male child
had come to full age and had been instructed and trained and had proven through obedience
that he was able to assume the responsibility of the family name, wealth, and power, then
the father held a public ceremony where some of the families and neighbors in Israel
gathered together and the father publicly placed his boy as a son.
Jesus, in His relationship to His heavenly Father,
passed through these two stages, as the prophet points out: For unto us a child is
born, unto us a son is given... (Isa. 9:6). Consider these two statements: (1) a CHILD is
BORN (2)
a SON is GIVEN. Jesus
fulfilled the first when He came into the world as a babe. The
child was born in
The
proclamation of adoption gave the son certain privileges not enjoyed by him before this
time. These
privileges are important to all who have received the call to sonship and will teach us
much about our own adoption as Gods sons if we think upon them. First,
the son at the adoption ceremony was given the right to
use his fathers name. He had the power of attorney and could buy or
sell and do business in his fathers name. Secondly, at this time the son was given his inheritance, all the wealth that the father
would entrust to him. It
was at this time that the prodigal son came to his father to request of him all the
portion of goods that belonged to him. Thirdly, and of tremendous importance for our
consideration, the son was promoted to equality
with his father! None of this was his by right of birth,
but only as an attainment received following years of growth, development, discipline,
schooling, testing, and experience. Ah, at this present time we know in part and
prophesy in part and our spiritual life and ministry is limited to that measure
given to us as the children of God. But the Spirit witnesses around the world, by
incontrovertible witness and testimony, in dreams and visions, through the mouths of holy
prophets and apostles, and by the spirit of wisdom and revelation to many thousands of
saints, that the hour is wonderfully close at hand for the adoption, the placing, the manifestation of the sons of God, the full,
complete, qualified, prepared, body of that firstborn Son. What a
day this is for us, and for the whole creation that groans and travails for deliverance!
The
implication of such a marvelous event as the manifestation of the sons of God is
staggering to the imagination, and it is small wonder that the immature and careless
Christians know nothing at all of it even as the day of manifestation draws nigh. But the
implication it holds not only for those who have received the call, but for the entire
creation in the age and the ages to come, is beyond expression or even imagination. Jesus
Christ, the lonely carpenter of Nazareth, the first manifested Son, who challenged death,
healed the
sick, cleansed the lepers, raised the dead, cast out devils, wrought mighty signs and
wonders and miracles, and had power over the laws of nature and all things, was but one man placed
as the Son of the Almighty Father in heaven; but what glory it will be when the entire
family of sons is placed by adoption and stands up in the earth to do the works Jesus did
and even greater works than those!
Earlier
I mentioned that an adopted son shares equality with his father. Suppose
you are driving down the street and pass a store with a sign out front that reads, BROWN
AND SON HARDWARE what does this
suggest to you? Naturally,
it suggests that Mr. Brown is the owner of the store and that Mr. Brown has a son who is
partner with him in the business. But it further suggests that this son is grown, that he has reached the age of
maturity, experience, and responsibility where he can be taken into his fathers
business as a partner as a mature business
man! You
certainly would not expect, upon entering the store and asking for the son, to be
presented to a ten year old boy or an infant in a playpen! Nor have
we ever seen a sign across the front of a store that read: BROWN AND CHILD HARDWARE! This,
then, is exactly the difference between
a child of God and a son of God. A child is
born, but a son is developed.
Since
we have been born of God we have Gods nature,
the divine nature. But
we must grow up into Gods character and ability! That is what it really means to be a
manifested son of God!
So
many Christians today are satisfied with merely an entrance into the Kingdom realm of God where as children they
can enjoy the many blessings and the wonderful benefits of Gods mercy, goodness and
kindness. Their
eyes are blind to the higher purposes of God, and any efforts to lead them on to higher
ground are rebuffed and resisted by a human reasoning that asks why one should waste time
on deep things when they are already saved and on their way to heaven.
But
the new birth, while it is the most astounding miracle of the ages, is, nevertheless, but
the birth of a mere spiritual infant. There are
many further steps that must follow this birth if one is to come into all the glories and
the full heritage which is prepared for those who follow on to know the Lord. The life
of God is a free gift of unmerited mercy and favor. But heavenly attainments of spiritual
wealth and power and glory and usefulness are given to those who grow up unto
the measure of the stature of the fullness
of Christ (Eph. 4:13). There is great glory, wisdom, power, and
responsibility awaiting those who grow up to be Gods sons. Let us
press forward unto SONSHIP!
QUALIFICATIONS AND DISQUALIFICATIONS
Gods
Kingdom is a body politic. And there are two parties: Gods
righteous government, and the opposition. The opposition has been trying for six
thousand years, by any and every means, to gain control of the government. But it
has been a disheartening battle. The Word says, The government shall be
upon HIS (Christ, Head and body) shoulders...of the increase of His government and peace
there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to
establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever (Isa.
9:6-7). Because
this rule can never diminish or cease, every apparent victory of the enemy, in the end,
has turned out to be a defeat. Of course, God planned it that way from the
beginning for our learning and development in the Kingdom.
Out
of Gods own mouth proceeds the assertion, I have created the waster to
destroy (Isa. 54:16). We gather from this passage that God has
created the negative realm for a specific purpose, to serve as a backdrop for the positive
realm. That
purpose is stated in the opening words of the above quoted verse: I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an INSTRUMENT for His work. The
smith that bloweth upon the fire is also the one who heats the
furnace seven times hotter! Beloved, think it not strange
concerning the fiery trial which is to try
you, as though some strange thing had happened unto you (I Pet. 4:12). Our
trials and testings are associated in the Word of God with the ministry of Satan. You never
thought of Satan having a MINISTRY? Meditate deeply upon the following passages
and I do not doubt that you will see how it is that God Himself sends the adversary into
our lives to accomplish that work which can only be done by adversity, trouble,
temptation, processing, trials and testings. Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit
into the wilderness to be TEMPTED (tested, tried) OF THE DEVIL. And when
the Tempter came to Him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be
made bread (Mat. 4:1-3). Fear none of those things which thou
shalt suffer: behold, the Devil shall cast some of you into prison, THAT YE MAY BE
TRIED...be thou faithful...and I will give thee a crown of life (Rev. 2:10). And
the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, THAT HE MAY SIFT YOU
AS WHEAT: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art
converted, strengthen thy brethren (Lk. 22:31-32).
A
friend has written, God is constructing a temple, made of living stones, through
which to manifest Himself throughout the ages to come. Satan was created as a chisel and hammer to
be used in the construction of this building. The living stones that are even now being
placed in this temple have been chosen, says the Lord, in the furnace of affliction
(Isa. 48:10). God,
however, is mercy; God is love; God is compassion. He is a healer, not a destroyer. It was,
nonetheless, necessary that an oven be heated in which to purify the gold a furnace in
which the wood, hay, and stubble were to be burned but God, in His
nature of love and goodness, could not perform the necessary affliction. It was
for this reason that He created AN INSTRUMENT that was capable of performing this
essential action in the lives of men, for in Satan God literally created a chastening rod. If we can
realize that behind the acts of Satan is the mighty hand of God working to bring forth
gold from these earthen vessels, we can rejoice, as David, in our afflictions and trials
and exclaim with him, It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might
learn Thy statutes (Ps. 119:7). Praise God! When we
begin to see the good that comes from the assaults of Satan in our lives,
we are able to appreciate all the more the greatness of our God and the depth of the
wisdom of His great mind. He is truly a God of power and might, and all things
are in His hand and by His design even this
adversary whom we call the Devil.
The
human race fell to the deception of the opposition at the very beginning. But
instead of that being a victory for the adversary, it turned out to be a blessing for the
human race. For
now, not only will all men be restored to what was lost by the fall, but those who are
called and chosen are translated to the heavenly realm, to a position as far removed from
a perfect Edenic state as the east is from the west. The opposition even went as far as to crucify
the King, the Lord of glory. But that seeming defeat for Christs
cause was a signal victory, for on the third day the crucified One arose from the tomb,
thus breaking the sway of death and delivering all who were in bondage from its clutches. Because
He arose, so shall every son of Adam arise. The hour is coming, in the which A-L-L
that are in the graves shall hear His voice and come forth... (Jn. 5:28-29). The
Kingdom of the righteous One has not yet been brought forth in all its fullness and
perfection over the earth. We are passing through a period of
preparation in which those who have proven themselves faithful to the rightful King and
His cause, are being sealed, and now joyfully await the day when, upon the full
manifestation of the Kingdom, they will be raised to great honor and power and majesty, to
reign as heavenly kings over the earth, to bring life and light and love to all mankind
and to all worlds and all creatures throughout the endless vastnesses of infinity.
Faithful
adherence to the principles of the government is the one and only condition laid down by
which men attain to these positions of honor. But through the ages the opposition has been
trying to overthrow the dominion of the
The
Lord has, in mercy, allowed the least faithless of the popular church systems to declare
enough of the gospel to lead a few to the Saviour. Some of these receive and teach a genuine
baptism in the Holy Spirit, with gifts, and healings, and blessings and miracles. But from
here on, practically everything that is taught is nothing but defilement and shame:
nothing but the traditions of the elders, and the lies and deceptions of the adversary. Oh, that
we all might now leave our delusions and press on toward perfection. My God,
lead us onward and upward to be no more children, tossed to and fro, carried about
by every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie
in wait to deceive; but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things,
which is the head, even Christ (Eph. 4:14-15). Adult spiritual perfection alone will win the
prize incomparable at the end of the race. And that perfection can be attained only by
leaving the popular crowd: by seeking the Lord who is our life, and by trusting Him to
take us all the way in to His crucifixion, and then into all His glorious fullness of
resurrection life and light and glory. Let us die to all that defiles. Let us
awaken to righteousness and truth and reality.
From
out of the masses of the redeemed our Father in heaven is even now calling and preparing a
people to inherit the Kingdom of God, a people that has learned
through the processings of this Day to let
the mind of Christ dwell in them. They live
and act out of that perfect, holy, wise, glorious mind. From the
hosts of the redeemed He is raising up a company of kings and priests to share His
glorious throne and dominion. Even now they are reigning over a few things,
and soon they shall be given dominion over many things. By the
spirit of revelation these have been quickened to the knowledge that they are integral
parts of Himself all the sons of
God elect according to the purpose of Him from the very foundation of the world. Oh, with
what incredible faithfulness and omnipotent power our heavenly Father has with His
chastening rod and His tender mercies molded the vessels of glory appointed to His
Kingdom! Ah,
my brother, my sister! Strip
for the race! Let
nothing impede your progress now. Cast off every
weight and the sin which
so easily besets us, looking unto Jesus,
who is both the author and the finisher of our faith.
Just
as there are certain things which are essential prerequisites to inheriting the
By
the wisdom given to him by the Lord, Paul writes, Now therefore there is utterly a
fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye
not rather take wrong? Why
do ye not suffer yourselves to be defrauded? Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your
brethren. Know
ye not that the unrighteous (believers) shall
not inherit the
The above list is not pleasant, but it needs to be
published. These
things remind us that the principles of the Kingdom must be laid in our everyday lives. It is
easy to relish the deep teaching of the Kingdom, and revel in the hope of the glory that
is coming, but the nature of holiness and love and perfection must become expressed in
every word and deed of those who call themselves the sons of God. We may
not be subject to the grosser sins of the flesh, but there is also selfishness, anger,
jealousy, idle words, faultfinding, condemning, dissension and a hundred other personality
traits that defile the Kingdom. There is a
A
passage in Galatians says essentially the same thing: Now the works of the flesh are
manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry,
witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings,
murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have
told you in time past, that they which do
such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God (Gal. 5:19-21. Do you
know any Christians who do such things? Do you practice these things yourself? If you
do, then you can be assured that you will not inherit the
In
Gods Kingdom today there are great spiritual rewards. There is
joy unspeakable and full of glory, and righteousness and peace in the Holy Ghost. But there
is a Kingdom of life, of incorruption, of immortality, of universal rule and dominion, of
almighty power and glory that lies just before us. But we will never know it or taste it unless
we lay aside what is keeping us from entering in. The exhortation of the first perfect Son of
God reaches us even today, Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say
unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able (Lk. 13:24). This is
referring to how a pack animal, in order to go through a narrow opening in the gate of a
city, first had to have its baggage all unloaded. It was only after being thus disencumbered
that a beast of burden could squeeze through. The sad reason that some who have heard the
call to sonship do not enter into the Kingdom is that they are unwilling to rid themselves
of all the baggage that is keeping them from the will of God. They are
hanging on to many things, fleshly or religious, being afraid to let go of them and trust
God to be all to them. Many
believers have barely gotten the aroma of the rich enjoyment of Christ that is available
to them today. They
stand in the Outer Court, or in the Holy Place, and never enter into the Most Holy Place,
into the very presence of God, into the fullness of incorruptible life, glory and power,
because they are attached to an outward, organizational, ceremonial, ritualistic, creedal,
emotional, sentimental and works-oriented religious realm. Let us
lay aside the weights and the sin which so easily besets us and run the race. If there
is something that is keeping you from inheriting the Kingdom, cast it aside. Do not be
encumbered, my beloved, so that you cannot fully enter in to inherit your promised land. The
Chapter
23
INHERITING
THE KINGDOM
(continued)
We
are learning what it means to be a son of God, realizing Gods great plan and
purposes involved. One
of the most important rights of sonship is that of inheritance.
Heirship
depends entirely upon our relationship with God. When we were born again, born of God, we
became children of God and consequently potential inheritors of all that pertains to our Almighty Father. One
inherits in the country of his parentage and according to the laws of that land. Jesus
explained to Nicodemus that in order to enter into the
Sometimes
when a person inherits money or an estate, conditions are laid down which must be
fulfilled before that person can receive his inheritance. That
principle is also true in the
There
are four classes of people in relation to the
THE
POOR IN SPIRIT
Blessed
are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Mat. 5:3). It seems
strange to say that the poor in spirit inherit the
It
is in that glorious sermon called The Sermon on the Mount that Jesus reveals
this great truth. The
Sermon on the Mount announces the laws or principles of the
Ah,
we cannot come to be taught of God feeling within ourselves that we are
understanding, we are wisdom, we are power, we are creators, we are kings and rulers, or that we have
anything that commends itself to God. We must be
poor in spirit, poor in
attitude unclothed of
self. The
word spirit is used many times to describe an attitude of heart or a state of
mind. If
we say of someone, He has a good spirit, we dont mean that he has an
holy angel or a well-mannered ghost living inside of him. We mean
that he has a good attitude, disposition, temperament, personality, demeanor, and
expression. The beatitudes
are just that attitudes of
being. They
are the BE-ATTITUDES, the very attitudes the sons of God must become. Jesus said in effect, The attitude of a
poor person is the same attitude that will help you to inherit the
Poor
in spirit means renounced in spirit. Yielding up everything of self selfishness,
self-assertiveness, self-interest that we may gain
Christ. One
Greek scholar has said that poor in spirit comes closer in the Greek to mean teachable
in spirit. Ah,
that hits the nail on the head! Blessed are the teachable in spirit,
for theirs is the
The
saintly George MacDonald has beautifully expressed the truth in these inspiring words:
The poor, the beggars in spirit, the humble men of heart, the unambitious, the
unselfish; those who never despise men, and never seek their praises; the lowly, who see
nothing to admire in themselves, therefore cannot seek to be admired of others; the men
who give themselves away these are the
freemen of the Kingdom, these are the citizens of the New Jerusalem. The men
who are aware of their own essential poverty; not the men who are poor in friends, poor in influence,
poor in acquirements, poor in money, but those who are poor in spirit, who feel themselves poor creatures; who know
nothing to be pleased with themselves for, and desire nothing to make them think well of
themselves; who know that they need much to make their life worth living; these humble
ones are the poor whom the Lord calls blessed. The gate of the Kingdom begins to open to
such a man.
Whatever
such a man has attained to, he straightway forgets; it is part of him and behind him. His
business is with what he has not, with the things that lie above and before him. The man
who is proud of anything he thinks he has reached, has not reached it. He is but
proud of himself, and imagining a cause for his pride. If he had reached, he would already have
begun to forget. He
who delights in contemplating whereunto he has attained, is not merely sliding back; he is
already in the dirt of self-satisfaction. The gate of the Kingdom is closed, and he
outside. The
man who does not house self has room to be his real self Gods
eternal idea of him. He
lives eternally; in virtue of the creative power present in him with momently unimpeded
creation, he is. How
should there be in him one thought of ruling or commanding or surpassing! He can
imagine no bliss, no good in being greater than some one else. He would
lift every man to the embrace of the Father. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for they are
of the same spirit as God, and of nature the
CORRUPTION DOES NOT INHERIT...
The
apostle Paul by the wisdom of the Spirit given to him, said, Now this I say,
brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the
If
there is one lesson we are learning from all the sex scandals, unethical conduct, fraud
and financial
shenanigans coming out of the government in
The
perfect example we have been given of one who has been changed into the full glory of the
The
Holy Spirit, speaking through the apostle Peter, has given us these blessed words of
divine understanding. According
as His divine power has given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through
the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us
exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine
nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust (II Pet.
1:3-4). The
Amplified Bible renders verse four, By means of these He has bestowed on us His
precious and exceedingly great promises, so that through them you may escape from the moral decay, rottenness and corruption that is in the world because of covetousness (lust
and greed) and become sharers of the divine nature. And J. B.
Phillips has beautifully translated, It is through this generosity that Gods
greatest and most precious promises have become available to us men, making it possible
for you to escape the inevitable
disintegration that lust produces in the
world and to share in Gods essential nature. Corruption
is thus far more than the aging process in our mortal bodies which eventually leads to
physical death and dissolution.
The
word corruption is from the Greek PHTHORA meaning to destroy by bringing into a
worse state or inferior condition. According to Romans 8:20-21, the whole
creation, animate and inanimate, is subject to the bondage of corruption. Corruption
is so universal and absolute that it was formalized about one hundred years ago into a
fundamental law now called The Second Law of
Thermodynamics. This
law states that all systems, if left to themselves, tend to become degraded
and disordered, and deteriorate. Physical systems, whether watches or suns,
eventually wear out. Organisms
grow old and die. Instead
of life and growth there is decay and death. There is no permanency in anything physical. This
universal law of the cosmos is diametrically opposed to the theory of evolution which
supposes a progressive improvement and refinement of living organisms.
From
the very heart of events from the dawn of creation this law of corruption has been
manifested in the things that are made. The fall of Adam into sin, separation,
sorrow, pain and death, is the very first sad example of the law of corruption. Man has
ever been the object of Gods solicitude and care. Man came
from the hand of God created in His image and likeness, crowned with glory and honor, and
given dominion over all the works of Gods hands. Gradually, however, subjected as he was to
this gross material realm, formed of the dust of the ground, the cycle of his career
turned downward from his high plane upon which God had placed him, until he reached the
depths of disaster. The
race of Cain was a filthy, perverted race; they were hateful and violent and they were
murderers. They
were boastful and vile in the extreme, and would have nothing to do with the God that made
them. They
were the offspring of a murderer who slew his brother. They filled the earth with their lust,
violence, and evil, until even the righteous line of Seth was corrupted and they were so
bad that the scripture says that their thoughts and all the intents of
their hearts were only evil continually. They were
so bad that God could not wait for them to die, and another generation to arise, but in
order to re-establish some order in the earth He had to sweep all of them off the earth
into hell.
Noah
alone, out of all the families of the earth, was perfect in his generation and found grace
in the eyes of the Lord. His uncles and aunts were not righteous. His
brothers and sisters were not righteous. His cousins and nephews and nieces were not
righteous. They
were all corrupt. How
do we know this? They
were all swept away in the judgment of the flood! Only eight souls out of an entire
civilization were spared. Righteousness started afresh in the earth
with Noah and his seed. But
this did not help, for mans one obsession and inborn trait all through the centuries
has been rebellion and backsliding and faithlessness. And so again God made a new
provision. So
far, His saints had freely mixed with the world. But now He purposed to segregate them from
the world. He
purposed to remove them from the idolatrous influence of the ungodly. And so,
beginning with Abraham, He began this segregation. He called Abraham out from the world and
promised him a land, an inheritance. When once in this land, his seed were to
destroy completely, even to the last man, the heathen who dwelt there. Thou
shalt save alive nothing that breatheth: but thou shalt utterly destroy them.
Here
was a truly remarkable and wholly new provision. For in Egypt God took His church and made a
nation of them. And
then He led them out of
Read
the account of their sojourn in the wilderness. Read the accounts of their idolatry after
they entered their own land. Yes, the first thing they did upon coming
into their promised land was the exact opposite of what God commanded them. Instead
of destroying their enemies completely, they began making covenants with them. No wonder
God says concerning them, But the house of
Let
us go on. God
intended that His saints, as long as they obeyed Him and walked with Him, should be
masters of the earth. They
were: that is, until God, because of their sins and backslidings, had to cut them off. He was
very lenient with them. He
made more than one new provision following their rebellions from Him. He gave
them every consideration and every opportunity to reign over the earth. For did
not He tell them that if they would hearken unto Him, thou shalt be blessed above
all people? (Deut. 7:14). And the Lord hath avouched thee this
day to be His peculiar people, as He hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all
His commandments; and to make thee high above all nations which He hath made, in praise,
and in name, and in honour (Deut. 26:18-19). If thou shalt hearken diligently unto
the voice of the Lord thy God...the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations
of the earth (Deut. 28:1). Ah, here was great provision made which would
enable Gods people to dominate the whole world! And they did enjoy that heritage of
power and honor for a time. Consider the Patriarchs, and Job. Consider
Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, of whom God witnessed that they were very great. And then
consider king David, and consider king Solomon in all his glory, a glory so resplendent
that even the Queen of Sheba witnessed, Howbeit I believed not the words, until I
came, and mine eyes had seen it, and, behold, the half was not told me: the wisdom and
prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard (I Kings 10:7).
But
then there came a change. A new order was introduced. For, in
spite of all of Gods provisions and blessings, His people went from bad to worse. And here
is the result, foretold by Moses in the wilderness. He told them that if they would not keep Gods
commandments then, instead of being masters of the earth, the Lord shall cause thee
to be smitten before thine enemies...thou...SHALT BE REMOVED INTO ALL THE KINGDOMS OF THE
EARTH (Deut. 28:15-25). Of all the physical proofs of the inspiration
and infallible accuracy of the prophecies of the Bible, there is no proof that can compare
to that great sign of signs which is the NATION OF ISRAEL. In 721
B.C. the northern house of
The
house of
Oh
what a stormy sea the world has sailed from Adams transgression until now! What
indescribable travail the earth has seen under the curse of bondage to corruption! And not
just man, not alone the earth, but the whole
creation was made subject to this vanity
and it is the whole creation that now groans with a sort of universal travail, waiting for
the sons of God to reach the glory and honor of adoption, waiting for the transfigured
family of sons at last to speak the wonderful words of life and deliverance. In the
throes of corruption all things are propelled by the swirling momentum of the downward spiral to destruction, utterly helpless and powerless to
invent any method of preventing the ultimate catastrophe.
The
dark foreboding and terror of every creature and all things is not unlike that of the
victim of punishment by the Hohenstaufen house in
When
he realized that this comfortably and beautifully furnished room was to be
his death cell and the place of his doom, invariably cold perspiration poured out of his
temples and he cried out frantically for help. But no response came. The metal
walls simply gave back a hollow echo and continued to draw closer. When the
furniture had been demolished by the pressure and the walls had come so close he could not
do anything but stand upright, he placed his back to the wall, and bracing himself with
his hands and feet, he tried with one superhuman effort to withstand his doom. But the
walls were not to be gainsaid; they were not to be denied of their prey. Finally
the walls crushed him to death. Is this not the sense of every man who
beholds the ravishing power of corruption in his body? As old age appears, with its multiplied
physical weaknesses, degeneration, ailments and limitations, they feel themselves crowded
to the wall and think they are daily approaching their fatal and final end. Unable to
make any further resistance, they passively submit themselves to the inevitable and slip
away quietly from this world. Behold in this, my friend, the awesome power
of the BONDAGE OF CORRUPTION!
The
crumbling ruins of ancient civilizations buried beneath the swirling sands of ages bear
silent testimony to the unrelenting power of
corruption. Proud
empires which like the towering mount Everest dominated the lives and fortunes of
multitudes of men and vast stretches of global real estate, have disappeared from even the
memory of those now dwelling upon the earth. In the afterglow of a thousand battlefields,
in the shattered dreams of kings and world conquerors, in the light of treachery, moral
decay, and spiritual bankruptcy, the word of God standeth invincibly true. Mighty
empires and nations that with the vaunted pride of wealth, commerce, education,
refinement, and disciplined armies controlled the souls of men have all eventually fallen
and crumbled to dust beneath their own weight, becoming like the dust of a summer
threshing floor and the wind blew them away.
The
universe itself is no less subject to the bondage of corruption. As a
recent article in Discover magazine reported, six or seven billion years from
now the sun will begin to die, but it will not die alone. When the sun runs out of
hydrogen fuel at its core and begins burning the hydrogen, helium, and heavier elements in
its outer layers, it will swell tremendously, expanding out to earth's orbit. In its
death throes it will swell into a red giant star, engulfing and incinerating Mercury,
Venus, and Earth. Life
on earth if indeed any still exists will surely end. A like
fate awaits every star and planet in every solar system in all the two hundred billion
known galaxies that make up the universe. Everything is winding down and burning out. In the
light of this solemn knowledge let us reflect again upon the Holy Spirits sacred
message of hope and deliverance, For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
For
the creation was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who hath
subjected the same in hope. Because the creation itself shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we
know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not
only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves
groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body (Rom.
8:19-23). Lift
up your heads and rejoice! O creation the sun will not burn
itself out, the earth will not be incinerated, the universe will not collapse,
the myriad worlds scattered through space will not pass away, because the creation itself shall also be
delivered from the bondage of corruption into
the glorious liberty of the sons of God! What a word! What a
hope! Universal
deliverance from the bondage of corruption! The reversal of the Second Law of
Thermodynamics! No
wonder the earnest expectation of all creation WAITS FOR THE MANIFESTATION OF THE SONS OF
GOD! Hallelujah!
Flesh
and blood cannot inherit the
No
one can deny it we must be changed, spirit, soul, and body! Only by a
mighty quickening of divine life can soul and body inherit the Kingdom. The
apostle does not say that the body cannot inherit the Kingdom, merely that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom. The word
of God has made it very clear that our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, shall change our vile body, that it may be
fashioned like unto His glorious body,
according to the working whereby He is able to subdue all
things unto Himself (Phil. 3:21). The vile
body of flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom, but the changed body does indeed
inherit the Kingdom. Oh,
the mystery of it!
Very
few of the Lords people understand the great truth that there are two bodies, but the truth is that there is a
NATURAL BODY, and there is a SPIRITUAL BODY (I Cor. 15:44). Many seem
to think that the spiritual body will be the natural body changed or transformed. But that
is not what the apostle tells us. It is not said that there IS a natural body,
and some glad day after while there SHALL BE a spiritual body. No! There
IS a natural body, and there IS a spiritual body. There IS! Both bodies are a present tense reality. The
natural body is the body of the outward man, whereas the spiritual body is the body of the
inward man. That
is why Paul in another place assures us, Though our outward man perish, yet the
inward man is renewed day by day (II Cor. 4:16). The outward-man has a body and that body is
perishing we all know that! But few understand that the inward-man also
has a body that is renewed, being raised up
within us, day by day. The outer-man body is the flesh and blood
body inherited from Adam. The inner-man body is the glorious resurrection body of Jesus
Christ inherited from Him. Just as the outer-man body is not given to us
ready-made, but following conception in our mothers womb is graduallyformed over a number of months, and continues to be formed
for years until we reach adulthood; so the inner-man body is not given to us ready
made, but subsequent to our begettal as children of God the spiritual resurrection
body of Jesus is formed in us by the life of Christ raised up in us, progressively
fashioned as we put on the Lord Jesus Christ. And just
as the outer-man body is from earth, so the inner-man body is from the Lord from heaven. The first
is a natural and earthly body; the second is a spiritual and heavenly body.
The
inner-man body is the spiritual body. The inner man body is our house from heaven. So the
apostle continues by showing how it is that the inner-man body exists even if the
outer-man body is dissolved or passes away. But Gods highest purpose is that the
outer-man body be caught up into, and swallowed
up by, the inner-man body. Hear what
the Holy Spirit would teach us in these words of wisdom and understanding: For we
know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle (the outer-man body) were dissolved
(dies, decays), we (still) have a building of God (the inner-man body) eternal in
the heavens. For
in this (the outer-man body) we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our
house which is from heaven (the inner-man body, the Christ body): if so be that being
clothed (having the inner-man body) we shall not be found naked (a dis-embodied spirit). For we
that are in this tabernacle (the outer-man body) do groan, being burdened: not for that we
would be unclothed (not have any body), but clothed upon (with the inner-man body), that
mortality (the outer-man body) might be swallowed
up of life (the inner-man body). Now He
that hath wrought us for this selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the
firstfruits of the Spirit (II Cor. 5:1-5). The only way for corruption to put on incorruption,
and for mortality to put on immortality is for the outer-man natural body to be
swallowed up into the inner-man spiritual body so that the two BECOME
ONE the mortal made immortal by the resurrection body of Jesus Christ formed within
the inward man. That
is precisely why Paul says that we are not burdened to be unclothed, that is, to die and
put off the outer-man body, but we are burdened to be clothed
upon, that is, to put on the inner-man body over
top of the outer-man body, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Oh, the
wonder of it!
Our
bodily change and full salvation is promised by our Lord. We
ourselves, along with all creation, groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, that is, THE REDEMPTION OF OUR
BODY. This
honor of adoption, which means the redemption of our outer-man body, the universal Adamic
body, belongs to all the sons of God. It is the
work of the Holy Spirit within us, as Paul also explained, If the Spirit of Him that
raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall
also QUICKEN (MAKE ALIVE) YOUR MORTAL BODIES BY HIS SPIRIT THAT DWELLETH IN YOU(Rom. 8:11). And now,
already, praise be to God, we have received the spirit
of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our
spirit, that we are the children of God, and if children, then heirs; heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ;
if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may also be GLORIFIED TOGETHER (Rom.
8:15-17). This,
then, in some small part is the honor and glory for which the sons of God seek the glory of incorruption and the honor
of adoption. How
glorious is the race now set before us! How marvelous and wonderful is it all! Blessed
be the Lord who hath called us unto His
Kingdom and glory!
The
Let
me make very plain that all who are now entering and possessing the Kingdom have indeed
already escaped corruption! That will
sound incredible and unbelievable to many who read these lines. But I
must point out that corruption is not the same as mortality, although these terms are
often used interchangeably by religious people. They do not bear the same meaning at all. Corruption
and mortality are not two ways of saying the same thing.
On the one hand, mortality
is the state of being liable to death. On the
other hand, corruption is the process by which death works. We are
mortal because we are corruptible, but we are not corruptible because we
are mortal. In
physical terms we can illustrate it by saying that the
aging process is corruption,
whereas mortality is the condition that underlies the aging process, and the final
result of the aging process.
The
Word of God does not tell us that any man has fully escaped mortality, and indeed none has except our
Lord Jesus Christ. Keep
this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ:
who only hath immortality, dwelling in
the light which no man can approach unto... (I Tim. 6:14,16). The
apostle Peter does tell us, however, that the saints of God have been made partakers of
the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust (II Pet.
1:4). Having escaped! Having escaped corruption! Having
escaped the very corruption that was brought into the world by lust, by the lust or desire of
mother Eve when she saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to
the eyes, and a tree to be desired (lusted
after) to make one wise... (Gen.
3:6).
What
does this wonderful word mean to us? Where and when and how have we escaped the
corruption that is in the world? Ah, my beloved, corruption is the process of dissolution that leads to death, thedownward spiral by which all things in the universe are being
reduced to a worse state or inferior condition. All organisms age and grow old. All food
spoils. All
mountains erode. All
mechanical things wear out. All societies break down in moral decay. Every
kingdom and empire weakens and finally collapses. Every spiritual movement, historical and
current, eventually stagnates and goes into apostasy. Evil men and seducers wax worse and worse. Suns and
stars burn out and self-destruct. There is a universal law of corruption, the
bondage that enslaves every visible and invisible thing of the cosmos. The
movement is always down, down, down.
And
thats how it was in my life until that blessed day when Christ appeared and I was
born again by the incorruptible seed of the word of God that liveth and abideth forever. A divine
and incorruptible life was injected into my reality and in that wonderful moment old
things passed away and all things became new. By that heavenly and divine intervention my
course was changed, my direction reversed, my movement turned up-side-down. Instead
of continuing the downward journey, I commenced an upward climb. And now I
can truthfully and joyfully testify I am no longer getting worse I AM
GETTINGBETTER! Oh,
yes! I
AM GETTING BETTER! I
am now learning of Christ. I am growing up into Him in all things. I am
putting on the mind of Christ. I am receiving His chastisements
and experiencing His dealings. I am tasting the powers of the world to come.
I
am apprehending His righteousness, peace, and joy. I am eating His word and drinking His life. I am
overcoming sins, weaknesses, unbelief, problems, fears, and obstacles of every kind. I am
putting off the old man, and putting on the new man. Daily, continually, progressively,
unceasingly, from glory to glory I AM BEING CHANGED! No longer am I being reduced to a worse state
and an inferior condition I am now being transformed by the renewing of my mind
into a better state, into a superior condition! I have
escaped the irresistible downward plunge I have escaped CORRUPTION! Oh,
hallelu-yah! I
am now incorruptible on my way up instead of down!
This
truth of incorruption is far too important to be passed over without earnest
consideration. The
wonderful truth is that incorruption leads
to immortality. This
corruptible must put on incorruption before this
mortal can be empowered to put on immortality. That is the precise and significant order in
the Word of God. Gods
purpose in mans redemption is not to just deliver us from the penalty of our sins,
but to re-create us, to make a new creature of us, a new kind of man in the image of Him
who created us. Having
been molded and fashioned after the image of the first man, we have now begun to put off
that likeness and to put on the image and likeness of the second man, the Lord from
heaven. We
must put off the image of the earthy, and put on the image of the heavenly; we must be
changed from the natural, earthly, living creatures we first were to be re-fashioned as
spiritual, heavenly ones. This is not an option, it is a must; it is not
discretional, it is mandatory if we are to inherit the Kingdom. So the
scriptures declare, And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear
the image of the heavenly. My! what a purpose this is. It
staggers the imagination to contemplate such a change; but change we must if we are to
inherit the promises.
Incorruption
is the process of mans fall being REVERSED! If one is
watching a program on his VCR and decides to stop and rewind it to see a scene again, he
is simply reversing what he has previously seen with his eyes. It is
comical sometimes to watch the people running backwards, and bodies rising from the ground
to the roof of a building. You can see a vase that was smashed into a
thousand pieces put together again, or a car that wrecked, back up and become as it was
before. Whatever
you saw was restored to its beginning by passing through the motion in reverse. And this
is exactly what incorruption is: THE FALL OF MAN IN REVERSE! It means
a progressive rising up again into that oneness in God that man knew in his bright
beginning. The
order of
Adam first being alive, then sinning, then becoming more and more vile, and finally dying,
is put in reverse. From
that death we stand up again in the spiritual life of Christ within. Then we
proceed to obedience, overcoming, and transformation into the image of God
and the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death!
When
we were first begotten of God our bodies were not changed or made
immortal at that time, but when that birthing of Gods Spirit took place
the life of Christ began to be raised up in us. In that
blessed moment the ego of old Adam laid down in us and died, while the new creation man
was conceived within the womb of our flesh. Corruption
put on incorruption! Truly the resurrection had dawned within our
bosom. But
our outer-man bodies saw no change. The spirit within, which first died in that
long ago Eden, centuries before Adams body died, has been quickened by the Spirit of
life from God and caused to stand up from the realm of separation and death. We have
experienced the resurrection of our spirit, and now there must follow the resurrection of
our soul. We
have experienced the standing up again of our spirit, and now the awakening and rising up
of our minds, emotions, wills and desires into the mind, emotion, will and desire of
Christ is taking place. Through
the process of incorruption all the spiritual faculties that were lost in the fall of Adam
are being restored to the elect by the operation of God. All that
was lost shall be regained. It is more than merely coming to life again,
it is the orderly restoration of the totality of our original state of being including all
the mighty spiritual faculties, capacities, abilities, and all wisdom and knowledge. Such
awesome powers do not belong in a mortal body, nor would we want an immortal body apart
from those powers! That
is why God has arranged that the final, ultimate, crowning event of this restoration will
shed itself in the REDEMPTION OF OUR BODY. At that blessed moment we shall have fully inherited the
The
spiritual world of the Kingdom of Heaven is a world with which we become familiar as we
walk in the Spirit of God and experience more and more our union with the Father; a world
so wonderfully real that all who once have had their eyes opened to it beg to remain
within its celestial precincts, never more to return to the lowly estate and level of the
natural man. It
follows of necessity that mans being, because it is unsuited to the spiritual world,
must be changed by the power of God. A bird would need a mighty change to be able
to live under the water, or a fish to live in the air; but the Lord promises a much more
striking change to those who are predestinated to be manifested as the sons of God with
power.
With
what anticipation do we wait for this glorious manifestation! Meantime
we are taught to believe: We look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall
change our vile body... This is not meant merely for revelation, to
be left for the future; for the full development of our life in sonship we must seek to
enter into it and appropriate it. We do this as we learn to triumph over death
on every level. We
do it as we learn to look to Christ as the Lord of our body, claiming its entire
consecration, securing even here and now victory over the terrible dominion sin has had in
the body. Sin,
when it is finished, bringeth forth death (James 1:15). We do it
as we allow the powers of the coming age to possess us, and to lift us up into a life in
the heavenly places, to enlarge our hearts and our hopes, and to anticipate here and now,
the things that have never entered into the heart of man to conceive.
Sons
of God! Seek
after incorruption and immortality.
Let
this be the crown of your life in sonship. Do not seek immortality in your physical body
first, or only, apart from incorruption in your thoughts, emotions, desires, ambitions,
will, purposes, hopes, dreams, attitudes, and actions. Seek to live an incorruptible life, to walk an incorruptible walk, as that which will lead
you to glory and immortality. Nothing will prepare you for immortality more
than faithfulness in every step of putting on the MIND OF CHRIST. The
experience of His power to make you holy, spirit, soul, and body, will quicken you to a
power that shall not cease its work until the sin that causes death has been abolished in
your being. As
you seek to experience within yourself to the full, the power of HIS TRANSFORMING LIFE,
your heart will be enlarged to see the position the sons of God have been destined to
occupy in the universe, as having all things made subject to them, and you shall for your
part be fitted to live worthy of that high and holy calling! Can you
not see how it is that incorruption leads to immortality?
Immortality
is the ultimate end of the process of incorruption, just as human maturity is the end of
the process of physical and emotional development.
This
glorious realm of immortality that lies beyond the power of temptation, sin, limitation,
sickness, sorrow and death belongs to the sons of God, but, blessed be God! it is likewise
the hope of ALL CREATION. The creation itself shall be delivered from
the bondage of corruption to begin its journey into the spiritual dimension of
immortality in the
Jesus
is the first of the firstfruits of this glorious victory. The sons
of God are the firstfruits, redeemed from among men (Rev. 14:5). All
creation is the harvest that follows. It was necessary that after having lived in
the flesh and overcome all things, Jesus should be resurrected Himself by the power and
glory of the Father, that He might be able then to minister even that resurrection life to
a firstfruit company; that they, in turn, apprehending all that pertains to that life,
might be able then to minister it to the rest of creation. For this
creation waits expectantly!
Chapter
24
EXCEPT
YOU BECOME
AS
A LITTLE CHILD
The
eighteenth chapter of Matthew begins with these words, At the same time came the
disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the
greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a little child unto Him, and set him in the midst of them, and
said, Verily I say unto you, except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye
shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as
this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso
shall receive one such little child in my name, receiveth me. But whoso
shall offend one of these little ones...it were better for him that a millstone were
hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe unto
the world because of offenses! for it must needs be that offenses come; but woe to that man by
whom the offense cometh! Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend
thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt
or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into eonian fire. And if
thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter
into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire. Take heed
that ye despise not one of these little ones;
for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father
which is in heaven. For
the Son of man is come to save that which was lost. How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep,
and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the
mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? And if so be that he find it, verily I say
unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not
astray. Even
so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish (Mat. 18:1-14).
The
subject of this wonderful passage of scripture is WHO IS THE GREATEST IN THE KINGDOM OF
HEAVEN? There
are two characters in the divine drama. You find these two all the way through this
teaching of Jesus. The
two characters are directly involved in the answer to the question, Who is the
greatest in the
There is no need to inquire who would aspire to
being the greatest in the Kingdom. The very thought brings to mind the mother of
the disciples, James
and John. It
was she who came to Jesus with her sons, and kneeling, worshipped Him and asked a favor of
Him. Jesus
asked her, What do you wish? She answered Him, Give orders that
these two sons of mine may sit, one at your right hand and one at your left hand, in your
Kingdom. Ah what an
audacious, ambitious and enterprising mother she was! Out of her fearless mothers heart of
love she was moved to seek the very highest positions in Christs Kingdom for her two
beloved sons. Jesus
did not flatly deny her the request. He did not tell her that her sons could never
be the greatest in His Kingdom. Jesus simply replied, You do not
realize what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about
to drink and to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized? You will
drink my cup, but seats at my right hand and my left are not mine to give, but they are
for those for whom they have been ordained
and prepared by my Father (Mat.
20:22-23).
Perhaps
you think as I have thought, that there was a bit of selfishness, perhaps even a liberal
dose of ego, a spirit of power grabbing, and the desire for recognition and
advantage on the part of this mother. But is the desire to be greatest in the
Kingdom a wrong desire? Is
it unethical or unspiritual? Is it a selfish, vain, conceited, power-mad,
un-Christlike, reprehensible desire to be the greatest in the Kingdom? Not by
any means! If
your desire to be great in Gods Kingdom is a grasping after greatness for greatness sake to make a name,
to acquire a following, to dominate mens lives, to control events, to issue orders
and call the shots then you can
forget it. You
will never be great in the Kingdom. Recently a sister shared with us about a man
in a certain church who used to get up and say hed be so glad when the sons were
manifested, because then that neighbor of his would find out he was dead wrong about the
boundary line between their two properties! If such childish carnality lies at the root
of ones desire for greatness in the Kingdom, matters not how persistently that one
pursues it, it will escape him. It will be denied. God will
never commit His almighty power into the hands of petty, self-serving bullies.
On
the other hand, the blessed Holy Spirit gives us the qualifications for greatness in the
Kingdom. He
tells us what the spirit of greatness is. He reveals the nature and character of
greatness. He
delineates the marks of greatness within a man. He also assures us that there exists such a
position of greatness in the Kingdom, and it is available to any who will pay the price. The Lord
Jesus refers on a number of occasions to those who are
least in the Kingdom. Whosoever
therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be
called the least in the kingdom of heaven (Mat. 5:19). He also
speaks of those who are greatest in the Kingdom. Whosoever therefore shall humble
himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven (Mat. 18:4). There is
that potential within each of us of winding up down the road somewhere in either of these
two categories the least in
the Kingdom, or the greatest in the Kingdom.
Not
a few saints are like the man who told my father one time, I just want to make it to
heaven. If
I can just make it inside the gate, I shall be satisfied. My
father, a Pentecostal minister, responded, I hate to disappoint you, my brother; but
that space just inside the gate was taken up a long time ago! Some
people look forward to a cabin in the corner of glory-land while others will
be satisfied with nothing less than a mansion over the hill-top. But there
is a hope far greater than these, cherished within the hearts of a people who know the
Lord in deeper measures. There is a place in the Kingdom, in the
government of God, in the authority and dominion of the Christ, where the sons of God
shall be empowered to be a blessing to every people and nation, yea, to all the vast
creation of God forevermore.
Abraham
Lincoln tells a marvelous story about a blacksmith who took a long, round bar and stuck it in
the coals until it was red hot. Then he put it on the anvil where he hammered
it flat to make a sword. When he was finished, he was most unhappy
with it. So
he put it back in the red hot coals and decided to broaden the flat part out a bit and
make a garden tool. He
tried that, but it didnt please his fancy either. He put
the bar back into the coals. He rounded it a bit again and then shaped it
into a horse-shoe. This
effort also failed miserably. As a last resort, he put the bar into the
coals one last time. As
he removed it from the hot fire, he wondered if there was anything else he could make from
it. Deciding
that there was nothing, he merely stuck it into a barrel of water. As it
sizzled, he said, Well, at least I made a fizzle out of it. God doesnt
want to make a fizzle out of you, my beloved! His purpose is just this: But you are a
chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a special people, that you should
set forth and display the virtues and excellencies of the wisdom and power of Him who has
called you out of darkness into His marvelous light (I Pet. 2:9). These
words are meant for you. You are
Gods special people! You are a chosen generation! You are
kings and priests, a royal priesthood! You hold in your life the power to shape the
world and human history, to bring in a new order that shall alter the course of all
creation! Do not settle for the fizzle pursue the
vision God has birthed within your spirit!
God
is raising up a kingdom of priests, a kingly priesthood, to bless all the families and
nations of the earth. This
is one of the promises given in the long ago to that mighty man of faith, Abraham. How great
were the promises made to Abraham! There were seven great and exceedingly
wonderful promises given to him, enumerated in chapter twelve of Genesis. The first
was, I will make of thee a great nation. The second was, I will bless
thee. The
third, I will make thy name great. The word name carries with it the idea of
honor, authority, and the character of the individual. God was saying to Abraham that He would make
his honor to be great; his authority was to be great and even his character great. I will
make thy name to be great. The fourth promise was, Thou shalt be a
blessing. The
fifth, And I will bless them that bless thee. The
sixth, I will curse him that curseth thee. Then the seventh was, In thee shall ALL
THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH BE BLESSED. Not the families of
God
promised Abraham that He would bless him. And when Melchizedek came out of the
celestial realm that day, HE BLESSED ABRAHAM. Then the Lord said, Thou shalt BE a
blessing...in thee shall ALL families of the earth BE BLESSED. Hear it! Abraham
was blessed...to BE A BLESSING! With
reverence and godly respect I now tell you that you, dear reader of these lines, are
included in these wonderful promises. Now to Abraham and his seed were the
promises made. He
saith not, And to seeds as to many; but as
of one, and to thy seed, WHICH IS CHRIST
(Gal. 3:16). God
made this promise, even this covenant, with two people only with Abraham, and
with the seed of Abraham, who was also Gods Son, Jesus the Christ. With
Abraham and his singular seed WHICH IS CHRIST. God not
only made this covenant with a man, Abraham, but He made it with HIS OWN SON. God had a
witness in earth and a witness in heaven that He had made a covenant that through Abraham
and His Son every family and nation would be blessed, and it was confirmed with an oath so
that it could never fail. Oh, the wonder of it!
And
if ye be Christs, THEN ARE YE ABRAHAMS SEED AND HEIRS ACCORDING TO THE PROMISE
(Gal. 3:29). Never
have words more pregnant with promise been uttered. Today, now, we are heirs according to that
marvelous promise God gave to Abraham and the Christ. We are heirs of every one of those seven
covenants that God made with Abraham. We can take them all individually and apply
them to ourselves and to the whole body of the Christ. They are both individual and corporate. To
Abraham God promised a seed which would come to bless the whole earth, a seed through whom
each and every person ever to see the light of day would be delivered and blessed. We see
that seed begin to form in the preparation of a nation chosen and separated unto Himself. Long
centuries afterward we behold Jesus of Nazareth, anointed with the Holy Ghost and with
power, walking the length and breadth of that favored nation showing forth among its
people the wondrous glory of His Father. Gods infallible word declares Him to be
the direct seed of Abraham according to the flesh, but the Son of God with power. Truly He
was the promised seed, the seed of Abraham and the anointed Son of God, thy seed
which is Christ.
To
the apostle Paul it was given to reveal how we, the elect redeemed of this age, are
MEMBERS IN PARTICULAR OF CHRIST, so that we are the Christ
body as Jesus is the Christ Head. The Head
and body together form one Christ, the temple of God and the habitation of the Most High, for
As the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body,
being many, are one body: SO ALSO IS CHRIST
(I Cor. 12:12). It
is through this many-membered Christ that the promises to Abraham and his seed shall be
gloriously fulfilled in their totality. All families and all nations of the whole
earthshall be blessed!
Even
as Abraham believed God...know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the
children of Abraham. And
the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the nations through faith, PREACHED
BEFORE THE GOSPEL UNTO ABRAHAM, saying, IN THEE SHALL ALL NATIONS BE BLESSED (Gal.
3:6-8). In
this passage we see that God one day did some preaching. The
almighty God with infinite care and wisdom laid the plans for the magnificent work He
would do through Abraham and his seed. Then He told Abraham to attend a preaching
service He was going to hold. Abraham was the congregation. It makes
no difference where the service was to be held. God was the preacher and it would have been very
wonderful to have been in the service. As God began to preach, He brought forth the
Gospel or the GOOD NEWS and it was this: ALL NATIONS were to be blessed in Abraham!
It
is the infallible proclamation of the omnipotent God all the families
and all the nations of the earth are to be blessed. Certainly they have all been kissed by Gods
wonderful sunshine and have drunk in the refreshing rain from heaven, but that is not what
God is speaking of. He
is pointing to a great manifestation and outpouring of Gods grace and glory that
still has not occurred a time when God
will speak to all, reveal Himself to all, redeem all, transform all and bless all. Not
individuals, not the Church, but the NATIONS! A great and mighty move of God shall yet come
in the earth that few men have even dreamed of, when the younger sons of God, the Christ body, having fully grown up into the
measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ, shall be manifested in all the
fullness of the nature, wisdom, power and glory of God. In that
day the whole creation shall be lifted from the bondage and night of corruption into the
glorious freedom of the children of God (Rom. 8:18-23). What an
exceeding great potential and responsibility is laid upon us in the promises to Abraham
which we share!
A millennium after God blessed Abraham to make him a
blessing, the word of the Lord came to the remnant of Abrahams seed, proclaiming,
And it shall come to pass, that as ye were a curse among the heathen...so will I
save you, and YE SHALL BE A BLESSING: fear not, but let your hands be strong (Zech.
8:13). Hear
the heart of God in this statement: Ye shall be a blessing. How
important punctuation is! Should someone put a question mark behind this statement it
would read, Ye shall be a blessing? And looking at ourselves, none of us are very
important people in this world, were just common, ordinary, mostly uneducated
people; laborers, plumbers, farmers, electricians, mill workers, office workers, store
keepers, barbers, housewives, mechanics, etc.
The great ones of this
world would look askance at us and incredulously query, YE shall be a blessing?
But
we know from the Lord God Almighty who made us, called us, revealed Himself to us, and has
been actively training and preparing us through great and terrible dealings, that weshall
be a blessing, indeed. So we put
an exclamation mark at the end of the sentence, not a question mark. YE SHALL BE A BLESSING! I am sure
that all of the Lords elect, who follow on to know the Lord, cherish the precious
promise that we are apprehended of God to be a part of that promised seed that shall bless
all the families and nations of the earth. As we daily view the desperate needs about
us, of family and friends, of the sinful, sorrowful, needy, sick and dying, oh! how we
WANT to be a blessing! To
be a blessing what a promise
that is! What
hope is contained therein! But you dont just walk up to someone on
the street and announce, Im your Blesser. First, we
must BECOME. You
shall BE... To
be bespeaks a state of being. God is teaching us, preparing us, training us
to truly BE blessers. We
can only bless when we have BECOME THE BLESSING.
The
Order of Melchizedek is an ORDER OF BLESSERS. In this divine Order there are no curses, no
negation to be uttered, no vindictiveness, no judgment, but there is a ministry of
blessing. This
is far more than a doctrine to be received, a formula of words to be repeated, or a claim
to be made; this is an expression of unconditional love and unrestrained compassion that
flows from our spirit toward others until all the families and nations of the earth have
been touched and healed and quickened by His all-conquering love.
I
must mention the principle of the Melchizedekian Priesthood and the seed of Abraham in
respect to blessing. We
know that Melchizedek blessed Abraham. God had
said to Abraham, I will bless thee...and thou shalt be a blessing...in thee shall
all the families of the earth be blessed. First Abraham was blessed, and then he could
become a blessing. Blessed
to BE A BLESSING! Oh,
may the Spirit of God somehow burn this truth indelibly into our hearts. But there
is also the realm where men bless in order to be blessed, giving in order to receive,
giving and receiving again according to how they have given. Give,
and it shall be given unto you. Blessed
are the merciful, for they shall obtain
mercy. Not
rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that
ye are thereunto called, that ye should INHERIT A BLESSING. This is
all true, and most faith and word people dwell there. But when the
Holy Spirit begins to reveal that higher Order of Melchizedek within your spirit, a vast
transforming change begins to take place in your understanding. Gone
forever is the desire to give in order to receive, to be merciful so that in some future
time you might receive mercy, or to bless with a view to being blessed. Henceforth we begin to see things as God sees them,
and from this high and holy vista our purified desire becomes only to BE BLESSED that we
may BE A BLESSING. It
is not giving to receive, but receiving to give.
In
the Order of Melchizedek ALL THINGS ARE REVERSED. Truly
there is a changing, a reversing of all principles and laws in the new order
which is being birthed in the sons of God. Our old ideas, teachings, conceptions, and
desires are being upset and overthrown, and our old theology and methodology acquired in
the religious systems of Mystery Babylon are fast flying out the window. The
Spirit of the Lord quickens the yielded minds of those who wait before Him in this hour,
the elect is being led in new and strange paths of the divine order of the Most High. So fear
not, beloved child of God, to let go of the teachings and practices of yesteryear, for
those were but the swaddling clothes of your BECOMING in God. Gods
apprehended ones are now moving into a dimension where there is higher understanding,
higher laws, and higher reality. It must ever be kept in mind that every
dimension functions by laws of its own, and so it is with the Melchizedekian Order. The first
order of this sacred realm is BLESSING.
A
divine work of transformation is now taking place within our minds. God is
not dealing in this hour with outward manifestation, but He is probing deep into our
being, to change the attitudes, thoughts, and desires of mind and heart. Thank God
He is stripping away the masquerades and facades, purging and purifying, that we might be
conformed to His image, changed into His mind, a partaker of His nature. We are
challenged with our own development unto spiritual maturity, and therefore we have
received a commandment to bless not that we might
receive anything in return for we cannot
truly bless another until it proceeds unselfishly and unmixed out of a pure heart a genuine desire that they be blessed. Oh, for
that purity of spirit, that complete deliverance from the seed faith mentality
being peddled by the money-hungry preachers of this evil day that continually urges the
people to give in order to get and to bless with the motive of being blessed a hundred fold in return. May the
blazing heat of Gods holy fire so transform our minds and hearts until every action
can be thoroughly WITHOUT GUILE, no ulterior motive for whatever this might return to us
for our own gain.
I
do not hesitate to tell you that giving to receive again, planting with a vision to
reaping a harvest, is a true principle in God, and it will work for you on that level, but
it is not the law of the Order of Melchizedek. It is the
law of a lower plane. Increase
is the law of the realm of limitation, of want, of need, the in-part reaching forth to
acquire more. But
the priesthood of Melchizedek pertains to the realm of the unlimited, of His fullness,
after the power of an endless or unbounded life. The priests of this order minister not from a
sense of THEIR NEED, but out of the realization of HIS FULLNESS. This
transformation of mind and attitude must take place in every son of God. These
sons shall not do the will of their heavenly Father in the childish hope that He will reward them
for it; but such lift up their voices in one accord with that blessed firstborn Son,
saying, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I DELIGHT TO
DO THY WILL, O my God: yea, Thy law is written in my heart (Ps. 40:7-8).
Ah,
my brother, my sister, is it your hearts desire to be a
blessing? God
is creating within us the insatiable desire to be a blessing, not only to our precious
brethren, our children, our family, our friends, our neighbors, our city, state and
country but to be a
blessing to the whole earth and to all creation. I want that. Oh, how I
desire it! Now
here is Gods promise: Now, therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and
keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: FOR ALL
THE EARTH IS MINE: and ye shall be unto me A KINGDOM OF PRIESTS, and an holy nation (Ex.
19:5-6). I
have often characterized this verse of scripture as the GREAT DIVINE SANDWICH. A
sandwich is two slices of bread between which is placed meat, fish, cheese, or the like. Three
items are necessary to make a sandwich, the two outer items two identical pieces of bread in between another, and different, item. Such is
the structure of the scripture passage just quoted. There are two statements of like nature
surrounding and enclosing another and different kind of statement. Notice
the two outer statements: (1) ye
shall be a PECULIAR TREASURE unto me above
all people (2) ye shall be unto me a
In
the light of this scripture I would like to reaffirm something which the world at large,
and many Christians, seem to have forgotten: THIS IS GODS WORLD! Every
beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know
all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were
hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof (Ps.
50:10-12). Moses said, Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the Lords
thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is (Deut. 10:14). God said
to Job, Whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine (Job 41:11). And David
said, The earth is the Lords, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they
that dwell therein (Ps. 24:1). I will be the first to admit, howeve, that
this world doesnt look much like something that is owned by the great and good God! I look
out over the world today and see demons stalking through the lands, with literally
billions of people held in the prison houses of the dense darkness of false religions,
worshipping idols, and devils, and the gods of superstition, tradition and fear. I look
out over the world today and I see the spirit of strife and hatred and war, thousands
dying daily at the hands of terrorists, and in bloody revolutions on earths
battlefields. I
look out over the world today and I see nearly two billion people still enslaved under the
iron heel of godless, atheistic communism. It doesnt look much like Gods
world, but IT IS!
I
look out over the third-world nations today and I see poverty and squalor and ignorance on
an incomprehensible scale, millions of people starving to death, pitiful little children
with protruding eyes and stomachs bloated from malnutrition, without hope in the world. I look
out over the industrialized nations of the West today and I see untold millions of people
bowing before the gods of humanism, secularism, and worshipping before the shrines of the
gods of pleasure, sex, perversion, and debauchery. Fornication, adultery, and homosexuality are
all a big joke, just something to laugh about on the sit coms, and glorified by
I
look out upon our land today and I see millions of our children spaced out on drugs, angry
at the world, hostile to parents and all authority, and out-of-joint with society. I see
that evil teachings, incredible in their filth and degradation, have crept into our public
schools on every hand, while God, prayer, and the Bible have been thrown out and openly
ridiculed. I
see a giant crime wave sweeping across our cities, rape is out of control, murder is
commonplace, and no one is safe on our streets anymore. It doesnt
look much like a world that is the property of God, does it? But IT
IS!
This
present evil world is hideously marred by SIN. Let us make this thing more personal. Go with
me to yonder hospital, and listen for just a moment to the cries and moans of the sick and
suffering. See
the red eyes wet with tears, and think of the bleeding hearts behind those tears as they
carry that loved one away. Go with me to yonder prison, and see the
young lives blighted and shriveled with sin, caged up like wild animals. Follow me
now to yonder asylum, and listen to the unintelligible jargon of those poor, pitiable
souls with their distorted reason and deranged minds, and the very walls seem to whisper
the word Hell! I cant really imagine how much a
million is. A
dollar a day since the birth of Christ would total only three-fourths of a million
dollars. I
cant imagine the suffering of a million people, let alone a billion or six and a
half billion. Yet,
thats the reality of todays world. Famine, storms, illness,
fear, oppression, exploitation, poverty, hopelessness, sin and death, all that is the
daily lot of billions of people. Doesnt look like a world that is owned
by God, does it? But
IT IS!
I
believe that God passionately loves the world. It is my deep conviction, born of communion
with my heavenly Father, that God now loves all lost men. There are
lost men in jails and prisons and insane asylums. They are in saloons and brothels and in death
and in judgment and in hell, and God loves them all. He still remembers them and remembers His Son
on the tree, suffering and dying on their behalf. And in the redeemed body of this resurrected
and glorified Son He now prepares with infinite wisdom and care a Royal Priesthood after
the Order of Melchizedek, a SON COMPANY, a KING COMPANY, a PRIEST COMPANY, to restore
mankind into the image of God again. Because all the earth is mine,
ye shall be unto me a
In
Romans 8:20 Paul, moved by inspiration, states that the whole creation groans for this
priesthood. I
took the liberty of putting priesthood in there, but thats exactly what
hes talking about. The whole creation groans for the manifestation of the sons of God for the creation itself also shall
be delivered from the bondage of corruption, into the glorious liberty of the children of
God (Rom. 8:21). I
see it. I
see something stirring in the atmosphere. I see a people being taught of God, purged,
purified, processed, perfected, overcoming, taking on the mind of Christ, transformed
again into the image of God, taking their rightful places sons and kings
and priests unto their God! This people has received a vision of what
they are destined to be in God, of what they are being prepared to do for
creation. The
message of the hope of sonship and the kingdom is going forth in power in this hour and
circling the globe as multiplied thousands of the Lords elect people are heeding the
call. God
is removing from the hearts of these the foolish desire to fly away to some
far-off heaven somewhere, as He unfolds within their ransomed spirits the beautiful
PURPOSE He has in His firstfruit company. The reality of a full and complete redemption
in spirit, soul, and body, to be revealed in the sons of God, is so very near that we can
see, hear, smell, taste and touch its powers.
Because
all the earth is His, God is raising up a Royal Priesthood to reign in mighty spirit power
and authority over the earth, not to be little human dictators, but with an outflow of
life and light and love, touching God with one hand, and humanity with the other, bringing
the two together, that God may indwell men by His Spirit and live and rule in them in
power and glory. The
kingly nature in us is not to dominate other mens lives, but to deal with them in
judgment and mercy to break the power of selfhood, rebellion, sin and the devil, that men
may be reconciled to God. Kings have power and authority over every
enemy, priests reconcile in mercy and love. But once the reconciliation has been
effected, and the Christ is enthroned, we shall deliver men up to God, even the Father,
that GOD MAY BE ALL IN ALL. That is the law of the Kingdom. We rule
only to subdue men unto God then GOD RULES
IN THEM. That
is the power and glory of the
If
you desire to be a blessing in the ultimate of what that means, then you desire
to be GREAT IN GODS KINGDOM! It is really very simple and powerful. The
greater you are in the Kingdom, the greater your potential to be a blessing. You see,
the President of the
Now
let us return to the two characters in our story. One of them is a child, who is the greatest
in the
The
issue is just this: WHO
IS THE GREATEST IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN? Thats a loaded question, but when you
ask Jesus you are going to get the right answer. And Jesus called a little child unto
Him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily I say unto you, except ye be
converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever
therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom
of heaven. The
word converted
means changed. Unless we
are changed, Jesus says, and become like little children; unless we step out of the ego of
the soulish man, and step into the humility of the Christ who humbled Himself and was made
of no reputation, taking upon Him the form of a servant, and becoming obedient even unto
death, we will have no place in the government of God. If we want to have a part in Gods
ruling government to bless the nations, we must humble ourselves and become like this
little child. And
if we do, not only will we be a member in Gods government, but we can be the very
GREATEST in that government. What a proposition that is!
That
is just the opposite of mans ways. How many people today would vote for a child
to be President of the
Now,
what does it mean to be childish? Children
can be self-centered, selfish, and ungrateful; sometimes they throw temper tantrums,
demanding their way; they may even bite and scratch when theyre angry; they dont
always think before they act; their bellies often control their behavior. Further,
their eyes are often bigger than their stomachs; sometimes they take more than their share,
and other times they take what doesnt belong to them. They can
be disobedient, and with a face that could win an Academy Award, they can deny doing all
of the above! Such
behavior is childish. And
how remarkably each of these characteristics reflects the behavior of nearly all of the governments of this world! In II
Timothy, Paul describes childish people: selfish, irrational, immoral, manipulative,
impulsive, crude, and cruel. Worst of all, they are without faith in God. Obviously
Jesus would never say we should become childish. Such people have depraved minds and will be
promptly rejected by God for any position of rulership in His Kingdom, for they cannot be
His sons. Some
terms that equate with childishness are immaturity, lack of experience, knowledge and
understanding. Foolishness
is bound in the heart of a child, the wise man said.
On
the other hand, what are the characteristics of child-likeness?
Doubtless
many of Jesus listeners wondered how a person that was grown could become like a
little child again, how one could throw away his knowledge, his experience, his habits,
his ideals, his established
accomplishments and become like a little child, and start out afresh to acquire a new
store of ideals, principles and values. Many doubtless felt it was well nigh
impossible, and many did not wish to try, for they did not wish to give up their pet
desires and ways and their proud positions. To become like a little child was to become
humble, as one who knew nothing and possessed nothing. Pride and self-seeking and every soulish
attribute were to be put away. To become like a little child meant a
revolution in the life and thought of the individual. Yet it was an absolute essential for
rulership in the
Child-likeness
speaks of innocence, lowliness of mind, humility, unconditional love, trust and
dependence; a child freely forgives, is unbigoted, teachable, inquisitive, impressionable,
and pliable. Children
are active wide-eyed explorers of ever-expanding horizons. They express simple,
uncluttered feelings, thoughts, opinions, ideas and truths. The
attitude of the little one who is greatest in the Kingdom is an attitude that sees all men
through the eyes of God which are the eyes of love. The little one sees Christ in every man, is
ever ready to believe the best about every person, and rejoices not at an evil report, but
discerns the purpose of the Father in every thing.
This
reminds me of the testimony I read once of a preacher in
What,
then, are the qualities of the child-like spirit? First of all, there is the humility of the child. It was
really that which was uppermost in Jesus thought when He told the disciples that
they must become as little children. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child... These
disciples looked on Jesus Kingdom as a kingdom of this world and they were always
concerned about who was going to have the biggest jobs and the highest places in it. A little
child is not interested in position and prestige and rank. He is not
interested in
getting the seat of honor at a feast or the first place at some important political
function. He
would not be in the least worried if he did not get a seat on the platform at a public
meeting. He
just does not think of such things at all because he does not think of himself. It is only people who have a high idea of
their own importance who speak and act like that, vying for place and position. A little
child, even a child celebrity, does not think himself important. Humility
is always the sign of a really great man.
A
second trait of childhood is guilelessness.
The
little child has not learned the slippery arts of a deceptive life. He has
not become an expert in the craft of contriving schemes of ambition and advantage, and
then throwing over them the aura of innocent simplicity. A child
does not try to lead a double life, or appear as that which he isnt. It is not
to children, but to adults, that the apostle writes: Putting off all wickedness, and
all guile, and hypocrisies, and envying and all evil speakings, as newborn babes desire
the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby (I Pet. 2:1-2). A third
trait of childhood isteachableness. How readily and implicitly a little child
believes everything its parents or its teachers say! It waits not to doubt or debate, but
unhesitatingly accepts every statement as truth. It will try anything it is told with all the
fervor and diligence it can muster.
A
fourth quality of the child-like spirit is unconditional
love. The
little child makes no bigoted calculations about the profit of living on terms of
friendship with anyone. It
does not reason itself into a state of friendship, and say, I ought to love:
therefore I will love. Race, color, creed or station matter not to a
child in choosing friends. Children often love and adore even abusive
parents. They
love the unlovely. The
child loves naturally, spontaneously, because it cannot help loving. Love is
the characteristic impulse, trait and condition of childhood. And
therefore childhood is the very best symbol as well as the absolute term of that heavenly
Kingdom whose very scepter is Love. Happy the son of the Kingdom who loves the
Lord his God with all his heart, and all men and all creation with an uninhibited,
unqualified love: for this is the nature and the law of the
A
fifth trait of childhood is trust. Luke, in
relating this incident of Jesus with the little child (Lk. 18:15-17), goes a little deeper
by including infants! To that
we should give some serious thought. Have you ever heard of babies biting their
nails, worrying whether it will have a crib to sleep in? Have you
ever heard one child say to another, I wonder where our next meal is going to come
from? What
about a little boy afraid that there wont be any firemans jobs left? Or a
little girl fretting that she wont qualify for a student loan in fifteen years? Small
children do not worry about the future. They live for today, for today is always their day. They live
by faith faith in their
parents. Mom
and Dad will provide what is needed for today. They dont wonder whether their parents
will make enough money to keep up with the Joneses. Clothes, food, cleanliness, safety, and
shelter are important, but no child lives for these things. Sons of
God live for their Father not for things. Trusting
little children are pliable. Sons of
God come only to do the will of their Father. Whoever has a DETERMINED MIND OF HIS OWN
cannot partake in the government of God. This suggests that we need to have our minds
renewed, so that it does not function out of the knowledge systems of this world. It also
implies that living in the Kingdom does not allow us any personal rights, but just as a
little child is totally subject to its parents, so we are totally subject to our
heavenly Father.
Suppose
we were caught in a fire and could not get downstairs; suppose we were standing at a
window; suppose it was quite dark and we could not see the ground. If a
voice said to us, Come on! Jump! and we recognized that voice as our fathers
voice, would we hesitate because we could not see? Ah, we would know our father would not let us
down. That
is not the way the son with a child-like spirit ought to feel about his heavenly Father that is how the
son with a child-like spirit does feel about his Father! The son
of the Kingdom with a child-like spirit is in every situation and circumstance
certain that God will guide him and direct him and order life for him according to His
great plan and purpose. I
do not doubt for one moment that trust is the first and greatest of all the conditions of
entry into, and participation in, the government of God!
When
these child-like qualities are inworked into our lives we become sons of God who with
child-like innocence are lowly of mind, easy to be entreated; humble before God and man;
unconditionally merciful, loving, and caring to all men; trusting explicitly the heavenly
Father for all things and in all things; totally dependent upon the Father, knowing that
of ourselves we can do nothing; forgiving one another and all men their trespasses, no
matter how grievous, not imputing their trespasses unto them; unbigoted, unprejudiced,
tolerant, and respectful toward every man of every race, color and background; spiritually
inquisitive, not blinded or bound by static creeds, doctrines of men, or traditions of the
elders; teachable, impressionable, obedient, and pliable in the dealing hands of God. My! My! My!
A
farmer watched a bird building her nest in a heap of branches pruned from the apple tree
beside the farmhouse. All
day long the bird toiled; in the evening the farmer destroyed the work she had done scattering the tiny twigs about and trampling them beneath
his feet. The
next day the bird, undaunted, began her building once again. Again at
evening time her work was destroyed. Judged by the feeble standards of the bird,
ignorant of all beyond the cycle of her instincts, the man was cruel and not to be called
good. The
third day she began her nest once more, but this time in the rose bush beside the kitchen
door. In
the evening the farmer smiled upon the bird and her work remained. Day after
day she continued her cyclic round; the nest was completed; the eggs were laid and warmed
beneath her bosom. But
long before the time for hatching, the pile of branches from which she had been driven had
been removed and burned. Had the farseeing farmer allowed the bird to
have her way, all her nest, her little ones, and her hopes for the season would have been
destroyed. She
did not see beyond one summer; the farmer saw the end from the beginning. So our
omniscient Father knows the end from the beginning, and the son who has submitted himself
to the Father has received a new set of senses by which he learns to trust God in all
things, even those which he cannot understand. Jesus said to His disciples, What I do
thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter (Jn. 13:7). The son
with the child-like spirit has learned this lesson well and goes on in confident trust in
Him who worketh all things after the council of His own will without question, concern or
disquiet.
The
Lord Jesus teaches us that if want to be great in the Kingdom, if our heart's desire is to
be able to bless multitudes of people in significant ways and deliver groaning creation,
these child-like qualities must be in us and abound. They must be the law of our life. When we
are humble, growing, inquisitive, yielded, pliable, trusting, searching, and learning as
we walk with God we become that little child who is greatest in the
As
these powers are released into our life, we in turn become a channel for them to flow out
to humanity. Such
high and mighty purpose is certainly beyond the comprehension of the natural man and the
carnal mind. The
truth and wonder of it all solemnly teaches us how it is that in the glorious and
wonderful wisdom of the heavenly scheme it is not in becoming childish, but by becoming child-like, that a person is able to attain unto greatness in
the
In
closing this thought I am moved to share these poignant words from brother Paul Mueller:
What a practical lesson for us! When we entered the kingdom by being begotten
of the Spirit, we came as a little child. We came into the kingdom knowing little, with
no background of experiences in the Spirit. As transgressors, we came into the kingdom
just as we were, bringing nothing with us that might have hindered our entrance into His
kingdom. Now
the
When
the
May
the Lord help us all understand the vital importance and significance of our present walk
with God. As
we walk this kingdom pathway, being led of the Spirit to make the transition from the old
age to the new, we are thereby marking out a clear path to the
Chapter
25
EXCEPT
YOU BECOME
AS
A LITTLE CHILD
(continued)
Before
beginning this Study it would be beneficial to each reader to refer to the previous Study,
or your Bible, and rehearse our background scripture, Matthew chapter eighteen, verses one
through fourteen.
The
subject of this wonderful passage of scripture is: WHO IS THE GREATEST IN THE KINGDOM OF
HEAVEN? There
are two characters in the divine drama. You find these two all the way through this
teaching of Jesus. The
two characters are directly involved in the answer to the question, Who is the
greatest in the
Both
of these characters reside in you and in
me. The
man who is so
offensive and despicable that he ought to be drowned you look at that
man every morning in the mirror. He is the
natural man, the soulish man,
the outward man, and the carnal-minded man. This man
is hostile to the spirit and offensive to the little child of the Kingdom. This man
is self-centered. The
characteristics of his nature are self-indulgence, self-appreciation, self-love,
self-motivation, self-defense, and self-preservation. The soul is self, and self is the soul. The soul
is mans personality apart from the spirit. Soul and body in union constitute the flesh. Therefore,
this man is the earthy, fleshly man. You can look this man in the eye across the
table or in the mirror. You
need not look in the mirror, however, to meet the little child who is the greatest in the
Kingdom. This
child cannot be seen with the natural eye. You must look deeper, into the deepest part
of your being; past the body, and inward past the soul, into the very spirit itself there you will find the child of the Kingdom, the inner son,
Christ in
you. The
little child is the spiritual man having the mind
of Christ and bearing the image of God.
In
this Study we take up at verse five. And whoso shall receive one such little
child in my name, receiveth me (Mat. 18:5). What a tremendous statement that is! If you
receive even one person who has that child-like relationship with the Father, you receive
the Lord Christ Himself. And we know that when we
receive Christ we also receive the Father. Lukes Gospel says it this way: Whosoever
shall receivethis child in my name
receiveth me: and whosoever shall
receive me receiveth Him that sent me
(Lk. 9:48). It
should be obvious to any who meditate upon these words that when one receives Christ he
receives the Father, for the Father is in the Son. In like manner, when one receives the little child he receives both Christ and the Father.
Someone
says, Well, I dont know that I know a little child like that whom I can
receive in that way, so that I receive both the Father and the Son simply by receiving
him. Let
me put in a way where you can grasp the eternal truth of it. When you become that
little child, the Father and the Son dwell in you. And when you make yourself available in this
world as the temple of God, as a vessel through whom the anointing and the wisdom and the
life and the power and the glory of God flow when you make
yourself available on that level as a king-priest let me assure
you, precious friend of mine, there are vast multitudes of people that will hasten with
expectation to drink from that fountain which you are. They will receive you and drink from you when
you come as that little child that is greatest in the Kingdom with a flow of Life, Light
and Love; and receiving you and drinking of you they partake of both the Father and the
Son who are in you. The
little child is the ultimate conduit for the life of God to flow out into creation. The
one through whom God flows unreservedly and unconditionally is the person who is the greatest in the Kingdom!
In
Matthew chapter twenty-five there is that wonderful teaching of Jesus about the nations being
divided as sheep and goats at His right hand and His left. Of the
sheep it is said that the Lord was hungry, and they gave Him meat; He was thirsty, and
they gave Him drink; He was a stranger, and they took Him in; He was naked, and they
clothed Him; He was sick, and they visited Him, and in prison, and they came unto Him. The
goats, of course, failed to do any of these things. The sheep asked, When did we see you
and do any of these things unto you? Then the Lord answers them, saying, Inasmuch
as ye have done it unto one of the least of
these, my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Through
many years I have heard a great many sermons on this passage of scripture especially missionary
and fund-raising sermons! We have been told of the starving children in
The
remarkable words of Jesus are, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of one of
these, my brethren, ye have done it unto
me. The
subject is not the starving in
But
whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him
that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the
sea. Woe
unto the world because of offenses! for it must needs be that offenses come; but woe to that man by
whom the offense cometh! (Mat. 18:6-7). I would
draw your attention to the words, Woe unto that
man. Earlier
I pointed out that there are only two characters in this teaching of Jesus, the little
child and that man. Everything is summed up in these two
personalities. Now
the Lord explains that whoever shall offend one of these little ones, it would be better for that man
to be drowned in the sea. Woe unto the world because
of offenses...woe unto that man by whom the offense cometh! Can we
not see by this that the world isthat man! That man
is the man of this present world, the natural man, the soulish man, the fleshly man. He is the
man of human reasoning, soulish logic, carnal understanding and worldly wisdom. And this
is the man who offends the little one!
What
does it mean to offend? Have you, dear brother, precious sister, ever
been offended? To
the modern mind offend means to speak a word or commit an act that creates resentment,
anger, hurt feelings, or bitterness. If I offend someone, usually I can discern
that they are offended by their demeanor, response or actions. They may
have a hurt look on their countenance, eyes flashing with anger, bitterness in
their words, or coldness in their actions. Offense is a matter of the feelings, the
emotions. You
stepped on my feelings, you said something I didnt like, you did something I dont
appreciate, you didnt do something I expected, and that hurts me Im
offended. So
I pout, thrust out my bottom lip, put a scowl on my face, and if I see you coming down the
street I will cross over to the other side and pretend that Im window shopping so
that you wont know that I know that youre passing by. You see,
Im OFFENDED! My
feelings are hurt, so I throw a pity-party. But I have news for you, my friend. When we
throw a pity-party, God doesnt show up. Nor do the sons of God show up! The sons
of God are not offended after the manner of the natural man. But that
kind of offense is not what Jesus is talking about. Hes not saying, But
whosoever shall hurt the feelings of one of these little ones, it were better for him that
he were drowned in the depths of the sea. The ways of God are not petty or trivial. If youre
the greatest in the Kingdom your feelings are going to be quite stable, in fact. God is
not fickle and those who walk in His nature and bear His image are not fickle, either.
The
word offend is from the Greek SKANDALIZO meaning to trip, to snare, to
cause to stumble, or cause to fall. If a man comes to the little one, that child
of humility and yieldedness to the Lord, who is guileless, pliable, obedient, and trusting if a man comes
and does something so deceitful, so crafty, so drastic, and so detrimental that it trips
that little one, snares him, causing him to stumble and fall, turning him aside from his
journey into the fullness of God woe unto THAT
MAN! That
is the man who is so offensive that he should be drowned in the sea! And let
me say to every one reading these lines that man is not your boss; he is neither your husband nor
your ex-husband, your wife nor your ex-wife; he is not your mother-in-law; he is not your
neighbor; he is not your meanest enemy. No that man is thenatural
man, the soulish man. May I say
it another way he is your natural
man, your
fleshly man, your very own carnal mind! We have found the culprit and he is us! That man lies within each one of us. Our own
natural reasoning, our own human logic, our own carnal desires, our own will, emotions,
ways, plans, hopes, ambitions, and designs point the finger at us, crying, Thou art the man! That is
the man who is always seeking to trip, snare, and cause this little one to stumble and
fall. Out
of the heart of that man springs the whole world system of things. Everything
in this natural realm is set against the life of the spirit. The world system moves along
lines and upon principles that are contrary and opposed to the mind of Christ and the ways
of the Father. Woe
unto THAT MAN!
Go
with me now into that long ago when Jesus walked the dusty trails with His disciples. He had
asked the twelve who they thought He was. Peter promptly answered, Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God! Then Jesus said to him, Peter, flesh
and blood did not reveal this unto you, but my Father which is in heaven. In other
words, This understanding didnt come from your fleshly mind. You didnt
figure this out by yourself, Peter. You didnt reach this conclusion by
human logic. This
came to you from my Father. So remarkable was this revelation to Peter
that the Lord said to him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona!
Only
minutes later Jesus began to introduce to these disciples the subject of His coming
suffering and death on the cross. This was an unsettling and disturbing
possibility for these men, for they had all their hopes fastened upon Jesus and all their
fortunes invested in Him. They had forsaken all to follow Him because
they were convinced in their heart of hearts that He was indeed the Messiah, the King of
Israel. Was
He not the Son of God? Did
not He come to liberate their nation from the yoke of Roman tyranny and establish a great
and glorious Kingdom? Were
not they, the disciples, to reign with Him in that Kingdom? And now their King announces
that He is going down to
Hearing
Peters entreaty to the Lord, which of us would not have said that this was the
language of genuine affection, tender solicitude, and loving concern? No doubt
we would have chimed in and said, How kind! How true! How good! Amen! Our
carnal mind is no better than Peters. But Jesus replies, Get thee behind me SATAN! And our
Lord was not merely on a name calling spree, nor was He retaliating out of hurt feelings
or fleshly anger. He
never uttered words in vain, without a definite meaning. Jesus did
not speak merely to Satan in Peter, nor did He say to Peter that His words sounded like
the words of Satan. He
didnt say, Get thee behind me Satan, because youre full of devils.
He
didnt say, Get thee behind me Satan, because you talk to the dead, or,
you're and ax-murderer. There was no gross sin just this explanation: Get thee behind me Satan, for
thou art an OFFENSE unto me: for (because) thou savorest not the things that be of God,
but those that be of men! The
problem was that Peter spoke out of his natural man, his soulish man. He SPOKE
AS A MAN! Get
thee behind me Satan you who think and
speak like a man! Was this
not also what James was saying when he described the wisdom of man in these words, If
ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the
truth. THIS
WISDOM descendeth not from above, but is EARTHLY, SENSUAL and D-E-V-I-L-I-S-H!
(James 3:14-15).
On
the surface there doesnt seem to be anything wrong with what Peter said. It was a
good thought, a kindly thought. He didnt want to see his Master suffer
and die, and he said so. What was wrong with that? Wasnt
that a good sentiment for him to have? What was wrong with it was that it was the
product of Self, it emanated from human sympathy and not from the heart of God. Anything
that proceeds from Self, by the very nature of things, is bound to be opposed to the mind
and will of God, for if His thoughts, and His ways, are as far from being like ours as the
heavens are above the earth, there can be no compatibility between them at all. Self and
Satan despise and hate the cross. They will scamper wildly in any direction to
avoid it. They
will turn their backs upon it, try to go around it, or climb over it, but they will never
embrace it. The
cross is the death knell of Self, and Self is the arch enemy of the cross. The
friendly sympathy and good logic of Self is the cunning mind of the Serpent. And Self
is THAT MAN!
Have
you ever considered that Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, could be offended? Do you think that means that Jesus
feelings were hurt, or that He was greatly disappointed in Peter? Do you
suppose that Jesus went out and threw a pity-party? Do you think maybe Jesus snubbed
Peter for a few days? Isnt
that how people act when they are offended? But thats not what it means! Armed
with the understanding that offend in the scriptural sense means to trip,
snare, stumble, cause to fall or turn aside, how clear it is that Peter was trying to turn
Jesus aside from the path Father had marked out for Him. Peters logic would have
caused Jesus to stumble and fall from His child-like walk wherein He was completely
yielded, one hundred percent pliable, and totally obedient to the Fathers plan and
purpose, though it included deep suffering and the agony of the cross. Peters
suggestion was of an alternative pathway to the throne, just as the devil had
propositioned Jesus in the wilderness. Peter was Satan, an adversary, whose kind and
well-meaning counsel would have aborted the whole redemptive work of the Christ. Peter was
an OFFENSE!
Each
of us faces this same test, and we meet it every day. The test is just this: Will we do things Gods
way, or, do we do them, in the words of the song, My way. Gods will can only be done by the little child. Our will
is done by that man. That man
who does things his way deserves to be drowned in the depths of the sea, for
he is an offense to the little child who treads the path of the Kingdom. This is
why discernment is so important in the life of a son, and all things, even prophecy, must
be judged the spirit of
man can even enter into and pollute a prophetic word. For example, several years ago the Lord spoke
to me clearly and powerfully that I should stay home and give myself to writing. Every
year we receive numerous invitations from all parts of the country to speak to various
groups, churches, seminars, conventions, etc. For many years we traveled extensively
throughout the
My
point is just this. No
sooner had the Spirit of God settled the issue in my heart, when every traveling ministry
that passed through
In
twenty-seven years of publishing Kingdom Bible Studies, having mailed out, free of charge,
well in excess of a million papers and books, we have never solicited funds in any meeting
or by mail. The
Lord dealt with us many years ago never to ask for money or even mention any needs, great
or small. And,
of course, we have nothing to sell! We are forbidden by the Holy Spirit to put a
price on any word of God, or even to suggest the amount of a free will
offering to cover the costs. We neither judge nor condemn our brethren who
do those things, for every man stands or falls to his own Master, but this has been the
dealing of the Lord in our lives. We have been called upon to trust God
completely and explicitly without any manipulation. The closet principle has been
tried, tested, and proven in our walk and we have found that it works! Through
these years, though the expenses have been great, we can testify that every bill has been
paid each month, and sometimes God blesses with an overflow! At other
times we have had to tighten our belts, but I bear witness that we have never gone hungry
or defaulted on a payment. Great is HIS faithfulness!
Then
the Lord gave us a further word. He instructed us never to use our mailing
list to promote any kind of business proposition. We could never become involved in any
financial venture or multi-level marketing program, and use our brethren who love us and
support this ministry, to draw them, because of their confidence in us, into some
financial scheme whereby we would profit monetarily. The word of the Lord was emphatic we could never do
such a thing. Its
not that we could not participate in any business program, its just that the Lord
has prohibited us from using our brethren or our mailing
list to promote it.
How
many times do you suppose weve been tested on that? Ive
lost count! Friends
have tried to enroll us. Brethren have pressured us. And, of
course, offers come almost daily in the mail. Just recently a dear sister sent information
about a unique money-making program, and as I scanned it I could immediately perceive the
vast potential that it held. At once the thought presented itself in my
mind, Wow, if I would just send this out to everybody on the mailing list, probably
within a year or two I could retire! And not only would we have been blessed, undoubtedly
it would have blessed a number of people on our mailing list! So what could be
wrong with that? As
soon as the thought came I had to turn, just as Jesus did to Peter, and rebuke that wily
devil Get thee
behind me, Satan: youre an offense unto me! You see, God told us how to finance this
ministry by prayer and
faith and such ideas
and schemes savor not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. Time and again I have heard the voice of that man! The thought that I could bless both my
brethren and myself was a kindly thought. It was a good sentiment. It might
even appear to be spiritual. What was
wrong with it was that it was a product of Self, it emanated from human sympathy and
greed, not from the heart of God. Worst of all, it was opposed to the mind of
God and contradicted the revealed will of God. It was an
offense! It
was a snare to trip me intodisobedience which,
simple as it is, could, as with Moses, KEEP ME OUT OF THE PROMISED LAND. That
man was an offense to the Spirit-led little child in me. Both of these personalities were right there
within me! And
they are both in you today, my friend. The Spirit of God is even now causing some
who read these lines to make the application of this feeble illustration in your own life.
You
know where the area is that that man is an offense to the little child of the Kingdom. And you
will deal with that man when you clearly understand that he deserves to have a millstone
hung about his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea! The issue
is crucial, for that man is an offense to the little child destined to be greatest in the
Wherefore
if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off and cast them from thee: it is
better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two
feet to be cast into hell fire. And if thine eye offend thee,
pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one
eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire (Mat. 18:8-9). For many
years I read this passage of scripture and it was a complete enigma to me. I heard a
number of explanations, but none of them spoke to my spirit. I read
what the Commentaries have to say, but that didnt satisfy.
The
deepest desire of my heart is to bring the power of the everlasting word of God to bear
upon all our lives that we may be able to see with all saints what is the height and
depth, and the length and breadth, of the wisdom of God. Let the
word of God not be a dead letter but a quickening spirit that we may be, one and all,
conformed to the image of Christ. The scriptures certainly do not teach or
condone self-mutilation. Can we
not see by the spiritual eye that the hands, feet and eyes that offend us are most often
the hands, feet and eyes of that man,
the natural man, the soulish man within us.
That
man with all his self-motivated actions must be severed from us, member by member, if
necessary. I
think David Wilkerson hit the nail on the head when he wrote: It is a rebuke against
self-effort. Its
all about our helplessness! The Lord is saying, If your hand tries to work out
your problem that is, if youre
taking matters into your own hands then stop
immediately! If
your feet run around desperately trying to solve your trouble,then stop running! If your
eye looks to something or someone else for help a man or woman
who you think may be the answer to your prayer then by all
means, stop looking and pluck out that type of thinking immediately!
I
used to do these very things in Teen Challenge. A man once donated a house to our ministry,
and we sold it to help buy a building in
This
truth applies as well on another level. We are all members of the body of Christ. Just as
the body is a unity and yet has many parts, and all the parts, though many, form only one
body, so also is Christ. By one
Spirit have we all been baptized into one body. The body does not consist of one limb or
organ but of many. If
the foot should say, Because I am not the hand, I do not belong to the body,
would it be therefore not a part of the body? If the eye should say, Because I am not
the ear, I do not belong to the body, would that make it not a part of the body? God has
placed and arranged each of the members in the body as it has pleased Him and with the
best adaptation. Collectively
we are Christs body and individually we are members of it, each part distinct, each
with his own place and function. Not only are we all the members of Christ, we
are also members of one another! As an
individual member of the body, you may serve as my ear or my hand
or my foot or something else.
What
I am about to say may sound drastic to some, but let us hear the voice of the Spirit and
consider the words of Jesus in the light of the body of Christ. Wherefore
if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee. And if
thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter
into life halt or maimed, or with one eye, than having two to be cast into hell fire.
Please
read these words with all diligence and prayer, that the Holy Spirit may apply its truth
as a cleansing purifying soap to cleanse us all as we press our way into the
The
hand that holds the pen with which I am now writing is not my true hand. The feet
that walk the streets of
Hear
my heart. Im
not talking about if your brother hurts your feelings, gossips about you, falsely accuses
you, cheats you, mistreats you, or does something you dont condone. Thats
not the issue at all. The issue is offense.
If
one would trip you, lay a snare for you, cause you to stumble and fall, or turn you aside so that you miss the Kingdom even if that one
is your brother CUT THAT ONE OFF!
It
is better for you to lay hold upon the power and glory of the incorruptible life of Christ
without that ones contribution into your life, than to fall short because of his
influence and be cast into the fiery, purging, purifying judgment of God. Nothing not even your brother in Christ must prevent you from growing up into your sonship or keep
you from possessing your inheritance. The stakes are too high. The issue
is too critical. If
anyone by carnal wisdom, fleshly zeal, false doctrines, powerless traditions, worldly
methods, man-made programs and promotions, or religious guile would turn you aside from
following the Lamb to
The
Lord is not talking about condemning your brethren, assuming a holier-than-thou attitude,
exhibiting an ugly spirit toward them, hating them, mistreating them, or damning them. He is
talking about raising up a barrier between your forward walk in God and their walk so that
you are not turned aside from Gods purpose in you. You see,
my beloved, you cannot cut any man or woman off from Christ and it is utterly impossible
for anyone to cut you off from Christ. No bishop, board, organizational hierarchy,
church or saint can excommunicate anyone from the body of Christ. Ah they can
certainly excommunicate you from an organization or denomination, from a man-made
religious system, even from their love and fellowship, but not from Christ.
We
must love every man, especially those who are of the household of faith. I do love
them. I
love them every one. I
pray for them all. I
care for them all. I
yearn after them more deeply and fervently than they could ever imagine. I ask Gods
blessing upon them all without partiality. I want only Gods best for every
believer in Jesus Christ, irrespective of their level of spiritual development, or what
doctrines or religious systems they are involved with. But I cannot walk with many of them. I cannot
join myself to them in their childish traditions and carnal institutions. I cannot
partake with them at their table of static creeds and man-made doctrines. I cannot
participate with them in their empty rituals and ceremonies. I cannot
be involved in their grandiose schemes and soulish promotions by which they imagine to
save the world. Their
insipid vision of joining the church and waiting to die and fly away to that bright
glory-world above has nothing in common with the beautiful hope of sonship and the
revelation of the Kingdom birthed within my ransomed spirit by the quickening breath of my
Father in heaven. Their
expositions, sermonizings and homilies, their activities, meetings, and projects, their
hopes, aspirations and goals hold nothing for me in the light of the glory to be revealed
in us. Such
high and glorious purpose is certainly beyond the comprehension of the natural man or the
carnal mind. That
man knows nothing of Gods eternal purpose and is an offense to it and to all
who would lay hold upon it. The truth and sacredness of the high calling
of God in Christ only begins to dawn within the consciousness of a saint of God when the
spirit of wisdom and revelation bursts upon our quickened spirits giving us a glance
behind the scenes into the glorious and wonderful fullness of our Fathers great and
heavenly plan. That
man within our brethren is altogether as offensive to the little child of
the Kingdom as is that man within
us. Anything within me
that would detrimentally affect my progress in the Kingdom must be cut off. Anything that proceeds from that man
in any person or movement must be put away from us. It must be cast from us as a menstrous cloth
is cast from a woman. Anything
that would hinder our growth and development into Christ must be severed. Anything
that would prevent us from becoming the king-priests that shall bless the nations and
deliver creation must be separated from us.
I
must say today to every Christian who walks as that man, just as our Lord said
to Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offense unto me: for thou savorest
not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. When it
comes to my quest after the
Take
heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my
Father which is in heaven (Mat.
18:10). For
centuries there has been a world of carnal-minded preaching from this text. First, it
has been said that every person has a guardian angel. I do not deny it. I believe
there are guardian angels. Is it not written, The angel of the
Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them (Ps. 34:7). I am not
of the opinion, however, that Jesus is talking about guardian angels when He says, their
angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven. Most
people conceive of every sweet little child having a guardian angel who as a spirit being
is able to see the face of the Father in heaven.
Another
interpretation is that the angel is the very spirit of the little child, and
that when a child dies, his spirit goes to heaven, where it abides in the presence of the
heavenly Father. That
is a beautiful and sentimental thought, and probably true, but it has nothing to do with
the child-like one who is the greatest in the
Let
your heart consider what I now say. Take heed that ye despise not one of
these little ones; for I say unto you,
that in heaven... In
heaven! Where
is heaven? Is
it a place? Is
it a planet? Is
it a galaxy? Is
it beyond the stars? The
easiest way to understand heaven is to realize that it is where God lives. And God
lives everywhere at the same time! I point you today, dear child of God, to
another world, spiritual in content, which lies beyond the immediate grasp of the physical
senses. Heaven
is not a place, not a geographical or
astral location it is a sphere or
realm of reality. It is the invisible realm of the Spirit that
transcends this gross material realm. It is only
up in reference to its essence
and quality, it is a higher realm than this universe of matter, though it is all around us
and within us. It
is the realm of spirit reality, of being where
God is all that He is. Heaven
is the unseen realm of the Spirit, and when we are in the Spirit we are in that realm. Here and
now we are raised up together and made to sit together
in the heavens in Christ Jesus. So you see, beloved, were not going to
heaven, were in heaven!
In
the realm of the Spirit the angel of the little
child who is the greatest in the
Not
only do the little ones see the Fathers face by entering into His glory, but they
behold it also in all things. As the
Holy Spirit takes the things of Christ and reveals them unto us, we begin to understand
that back of all things standeth GOD, omniscient and omnipotent, arranging and ordaining
with infinite wisdom and purpose all the events that touch our lives. It is my
conviction, learned both in moments of glory and in the crucible of suffering, that
everything God does to us and in us is to further our growth and development in Him. But as we
come to realize that behind every happening in our life, behind both the good and the
evil, is the mighty hand of God working to bring forth gold from these earthen vessels, we
are caused to exclaim with the patriarch Job, He knoweth the way that I take: when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as
gold (Job 23:10).
Job
was no baby saint, for no one less than God Himself had given testimony that Job was a
perfect and upright man, one that feared God and eschewed evil. God had
blessed this man with great wealth and a large family. He had seven sons and three daughters. He owned
seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred
she-asses. His
household was very great with many hired servants so that this man was the greatest of all
the men of the east. In
one tragic day all Jobs earthly wealth and glory had vanished in a mist before the
rising sun. But
did Job curse God for all of this calamity? Did he even blame the devil? Was he a
fair weather saint without spiritual understanding? No, indeed! He rent
His mantle, shaved his head, and falling upon the ground, HE WORSHIPPED GOD with the
unmistakable words of reverence, Naked came I out of my mothers womb, and
naked shall I return thither: THE LORD GAVE, AND THE LORD HATH TAKEN AWAY; BLESSED BE THE
NAME OF THE LORD! (Job 1:22). Ah, Job KNEW God! Therefore,
in spite of how terrible and hopeless things appeared, He did not condemn himself,
wallowing in self-pity, nor did he see the hand of Satan in any of this HE BEHELD ONLY THE FACE OF HIS FATHER! Yes,
precious friend of mine, that is the experience of every little one who is the greatest in
the Kingdom of Heaven in everything
he sees only the face of His Father in heaven!
Marvelous
are the promises of God to these little ones who are the greatest in the Kingdom. For
the Son of man is come to save that which was lost (Mat. 18:11). It is
positively true and abundantly evident that these meaningful words are directly connected
to the passage above them. This is clear due to the connecting word
for at the beginning of verse eleven. For is a preposition used here as a
conjunction bearing the meaning of because. Using the
word because it reads, In heaven their angels (the message they are and
bear) do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven because the
Son of man is come to save that which was lost. It is plain to see that the two statements
belong together, the former depending upon the latter.
The
question follows: What was it that was lost?
The
religious world supposes that lost means eternally
damned. Youre lost! the preacher shouts, and he means
you are headed straight for hell to burn, writhing mercilessly in pain and indescribable
horrors, forever. Eternal,
unending doom! Do
you know what it means to be lost? Have you ever been lost? Incredibly,
I was lost right here in
When
one is lost there are three things he doesnt know: (1) he
doesnt know where he is (2) he doesnt know how he got to where
he is from where he was (3)
he doesnt know how to get back to where he was from where he is. In other
words, when you are lost, you just dont
know where you are, you dont know how
you got there, and you dont know your
way back! For
many years it has been clear to me that this is exactly what Paul had in mind spiritually
when he wrote of the unbelieving people in the world, But if our gospel be hid, it
is hid to them that are lost: in whom
the god of this world hath blinded the mindsof
them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ...should shine
unto them (II Cor. 4:3-4). The truth of Christ is hidden from those who dont know where they are. The
teeming multitudes of earth know not the place of their
origin. They
have no idea why they were born. They have never discovered for what purpose they
are here on earth. The
wonderful plan and purpose of God is veiled from their understanding. They are
like men walking in a fog. They perceive not that they came out of God
and have not the knowledge of how to get back to God. Untold millions dont even know that
they aresupposed to get back to God. THEYRE
JUST L-O-S-T!
How
think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not
leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone
astray? And
if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of
the ninety and nine which went not astray (Mat. 18:12-13). Within my
spirit is the blessed knowledge that the sublime words of Jesus now under consideration
are something beyond Gods plan of salvation for the world. It is
sadly true that all mankind is lost, but it is equally true that our blessed Jesus is the
Saviour of all men. He
is not merely a Saviour for all men, but He is the Saviour of all
men meaning that He will save all.
The
subject in Matthew 18:12-13, however, is not the masses of mankind that are lost and must
be found. The
subject has not changed one iota from verse one all the way through verse thirteen. The
subject is still the little
child who is the greatest in the
Many
of us have thought that the one lost sheep was the heathen in Africa, the starving in
In
our parable only one little sheep is lost out of one hundred. One of them goes astray. One is turned aside. One
is enticed away by something or someone, and becomes lost. What
happened to cause this little one to be turned aside? Ah, he
was offended! You see,
my beloved, that is still what Jesus is talking about. But whoso shall offend (turn
aside) one of these little ones, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about
his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea (Mat. 18:6). Some
person or some thing offended, tripped, snared, and turned aside this little one. GUESS WHO
THAT COULD BE! Woe
unto that man by whom the offense cometh (Mat. 18:7). According
to Jesus it is a serious offense to offend one of His younger brethren sons in
preparation. You
had better believe it! Woe unto that man. There is something within each of us that
seeks to turn aside that inner son, that little one, the Christ-life within, from
fulfilling the will of the Father, from growing up into the measure of the stature of the
fullness of Christ, from inheriting his inheritance in, and position in, the
Deep
within the depths of my spirit is an inconsolable longing to see things as God sees them. I want to
see with the eyes of God and I want to feel and understand with the heart of God. What is
the Fathers attitude and what is the Fathers action toward the little one who
goes astray? He
goes after him! Write
it between your eyes and never forget it. The Good Shepherd who came from heaven, that
Great and Good Shepherd of the sheep who laid down His life for the sheep, will seek, and
seek, and seek until that little sheep is found and brought back to the fold. This is
the work of the Good Shepherd. Let it be perfectly clear, the Good Shepherd
will seek him until He finds him. If He didnt, He wouldnt be the
Good Shepherd! He
will seek him in his solitude at home; He will seek him in the frenzied activities of the
religious systems; He will seek him in the pleasure spots of the night; He will seek him
in the cults; He will seek him in the heights and in the depths; He will seek him in the
deserts and in the swamps; He will seek the little one lost from his little flock through
all the earth and through all the hells and through all the heavens until He has found him
and set him again among the congregation of those who are marching to Zion.
Friends,
make no mistake about this not everyone
who starts out on this path into the Kingdom is a sheep.
Some
people start out on the path of sonship and turn aside because the spirit of sonship was
never in them. No
one trips, snares, or turns them aside. They were never called to begin with. They were
not chosen. Therefore
they were not faithful. They
were goats in sheeps wool. They had not the depth in their soil for the
Word of the Kingdom to put down firm roots, grow and produce fruit. Their
ground was so full of briars, thorns and thistles that they had neither the will nor the
courage to eliminate. The seed fell by the wayside of their carnal minds, received only
momentarily as an exciting proposition, as a beautiful possibility, as an intellectual
concept, as another religious fad in their shallow spiritual world. These are not lost
sheep. These
are not offended little ones. The Good Shepherd does not go after these
dogs who have returned to their vomit or these sows who return to their wallowing in the
mire. Yes,
He will go after them in due time to save them, but He does not go after them to make them
the greatest in the Kingdom.
But
if you are of that blessed company that has truly received the call to sonship; if you
treasure deep within your being the beautiful hope of the Kingdom of God; if you desire
above all else that the Fathers purpose be fulfilled in your life; then, my beloved
friend, you will never get away from Jesus. Even though you be momentarily turned aside
by some work of the flesh, by some allurement of the world, by misunderstanding, by error
or deception, by spiritual pride or vanity, by sin or Self, Jesus will follow you
everywhere, He will tenderly pick you up, He will carry you back in His loving arms and
restore you to the hope of your high calling. You cant get away. You may
think you can, that man may lead you to believe you can, but if you are
ordained to this Day, you are HIS. HE will not let you go! We have
His own word for it. What
consolation, hope and faith this evokes in our hearts!
How
can we know for certain that the one lost sheep is one of these little ones destined to be
the greatest in the Kingdom? In closing let us hear from the gracious lips
of the Master Himself the true and powerful explanation of His parable. If
a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth He not leave the ninety
and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? And if so
be that He find it, verily I say unto you, He rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the
ninety and nine which
went not astray. Even
so it is not the will of your Father which
is in heaven, thatone of these little ones should
perish (Mat. 18:12-14). There you have it! Who is
the little one whom the Good Shepherd seeks? And
Jesus called a little child unto Him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily I
say unto you...whosoever shall humble himself as this little child, THE SAME IS THE
GREATEST IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN (Mat. 18:2-4).
The
little ones are the greatest in the Kingdom. While the world in its vaunted pride passes
on unheeding and unknowing, the Lord of the universe has been preparing individual lives
among mankind in His own image and likeness. They have brought forth fruit unto eternal
life, sending their enlightening rays to illumine the earth and their heavenly perfume to
call men home to the love of God. The whole creation, that has groaned in
travail and pain throughout the night of every dispensation, is soon to hear the glad
refrain of sons coming up on mount Zion to rule and reign in righteousness, filling the
earth with wisdom, power, and understanding, for the knowledge of the Lord will fill the
earth as the waters cover the seas. The little ones are the sons of God.
Chapter
26
REPENT!
FOR THE
Look
both ways before crossing the street. Dont feed the bears. Stay
on the path. All
of us have heard these familiar statements. Each one is really a one-sentence sermon that
says something important: if we dont look out, we could get hurt; if we feed the
bears, we may be inviting danger; if we dont stay on the path marked out, we might
get lost. Its
to our advantage to take these one-sentence sermons to heart. Jesus
also preached a one-sentence sermon: Repent! for the kingdom of heaven is at hand
(Mat. 4:17). It
was in accord with Jesus conception of the
There
are occasions when if one speaks a word about repentance to saints who have
received the call to sonship and are pressing into deeper truths and higher realms in God,
most of them have closed their ear to such a word, and have no desire to hear anything
else that is spoken, thinking that the message isnt for them, only for the unsaved. Having
once repented of their sins, receiving Jesus as their own personal Saviour, being washed
in the blood and regenerated in spirit, that message which deals with repentance has to be
for people in a lower realm, so they think. When we look carefully into the scriptures,
however, setting aside our own religious conceptions, we see that the words of God paint
quite a different picture from ours.
Christ
taught that every man on earth is in need of a Saviour. He taught
them how they could be saved. For God so loved the world, that He
gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eonian life
(Jn. 3:16). If
thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in
thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved (
The
gospel of the Kingdom begins with this: Repent! for the
The
subject of repentance is one that has scarcely been touched because of our ignorance of
the matter and the total lack of understanding of the meaning of the word. The
English words repent and repentance have placed the idea on such a
low level that we have entirely lost the true and biblical meaning of the term. Websters
dictionary defines repent as to feel sorrow, remorse, or regret for ones past
errors, sin, omission, action or conduct; to experience such contrition as to amend ones
way of life; to remember with compunction or self-reproach; to feel remorse on account of.
I
am certain that most of those who read these lines are aware that the Bible was not written
in English. The
English meanings of words are not always the meaning in the original language. And even
in English, after correctly translating, words often change their meanings over the
decades and centuries. Translators
are fallible and often unspiritual men who sometimes, despite their best intentions and
accomplished scholarship, flavor their translations with the beliefs, doctrines and
teachings acquired from their religious backgrounds. This is just as true of the King James
Version of the Bible as it is of any of the modern revisions and translations.
The
older the English the more unintelligible it becomes. The spelling changes, word meanings change,
sentence structure changes, until finally one is helplessly lost in a morass of
indecipherable hieroglyphics. Even in the four centuries since the
translation of the King James Bible, what changes have taken place! Thee
and thou have been replaced by the more familiar you and are now
used only in classical literature and religion. Let meant to restrain or
prevent in King James day; now the word means exactly the opposite! So with
Greek. Ancient
Greek is a dead language, while modern Greek is a living language, with about as much
similarity as there is between Spanish and Italian. And dont think for one moment, dear
friend, that religion doesnt influence language! The English word hell once meant
a dark hidden place, but church dogma has through the years caused it to take
on an altogether different connotation. There is so much fire in the modern hell that
there could be absolutely no darkness there!
Word
meanings do change! And religious dogma has effected many such
changes.
It
is furthermore interesting to note how our English word, repentance, came to us. It was
originally brought to us from the French and Latin languages. My book
on word origins shows that it stems from the word pain and is connected with
the word penalty. With the re prefix attached to
it, it signifies pain-again. Therefore we might say that repentance, in
English, is twice born pain; a second penalty. And that
is exactly what sinners feel during a scathing hell and brimstone sermon when they run to
the altar weeping and wailing because of their sins.
As
one has written, Repentance is a word of classical Latin origin and of Latin
theological and ecclesiastical descent. The core of it is not mind, but
pain. The
note of it is not emancipation, but of condemnation. The scope of it is not spiritual, but
judicial. The
working of it is not joyful, but sorrowful. Its face is turned in horror toward sin, not
in rapture toward righteousness. It is a way to righteousness, but by way of
retreat. It
flees the evil in fear of penalty of the vengeful
punitive action of God or of its own conscience. In its effective operation it can take hold
of the mind, change the mental attitude, but it can never renew the spiritual constitution
of the mind. It
is retrospective, and it leads to introspection, often to intense spiritual
self-consciousness.
Before
I try to tell you what repentance is, let me tell you what it is not. It is not a
certain amount of felt and experienced broken-heartedness caused by deep conviction evoked
in the heart over the great failings or wickedness of ones past life. There are
those who suppose that the goodness of God toward them depends upon the depth of their
sorrow, even as those of yesteryear, who had a mourners bench where
people would come and mourn their sins. If they were penitent long enough, wept
loudly enough, shook violently enough, and were sorry deeply enough for their sins,
perhaps there was some chance that they might, in some way, induce a stern and angry God
to have mercy upon them. But nowhere in all the New Testament did the
Lord Jesus or Peter or James or Paul or anyone else call people to an altar and tell them
to weep and cry their way through to either salvation or the Kingdom. Such a
concept is unscriptural, totally foreign to the Word of God, and is in fact an extra-biblical
concept.
In
the days of the great revivals that swept the world in the past few centuries, there were
altar calls in evangelistic meetings, and sinners came down and wept before God with godly
sorrow and holy brokenness, dreadfully sorry for the things they had done and the life
they had lived. In
the well-known Welsh Revival at the turn of the century, people were so sorry for their
sins that they were at the altar weeping and wailing many hours into the night. The
people were so sorry for their sins, that the entire society underwent a transformation. But I do
not hesitate to tell you that none of that sorrow WAS REPENTANCE. Ah, it
indeed did lead them to repentance in relation to their sins, but
the sorrow and pain and weeping and begging God for mercy was not of itself scriptural
repentance.
With
divine inspiration and deep spiritual insight the apostle Paul wrote, For godly
sorrow worketh repentance (II Cor. 7:10). Can we
not see by these words that godly sorrow IS NOT REPENTANCE. Godly sorrow works repentance,
it leads one to repentance, but godly sorrow is not repentance. The
notion that sorrow for sin is repentance is another of the foolish fables of
The
Greek word METANOIA and our English word REPENTANCE do not bear the same meaning at all. Repentance
has cast an almost exclusively emotional character around the preaching of the gospel that
brings men to Christ. Those
who hear the preaching of repentance in Fundamentalist and Pentecostal circles
particularly, hear it like a cry, a note of danger, a somber warning, a dire alert, full
of alarm and terror, amid which the hearts of the people stand still, instead of what it
really was when Jesus preached it the invocation of
a mind, heart and life which should be prepared and adapted to receive such a glorious
reality as the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. If the call had really been Repent ye!
as we understand the term in English, it would have been only an appeal to the feelings,
and we would find a record in the Gospels of men kneeling and weeping and trembling and
wailing in the streets of Jerusalem, in the desert sands of Judea, and along the seashore
of Galilee. It
would have moved men to look back to what they had done amiss, and for which
punishment hung over their heads, instead of forward to the glory of the coming
of the
TAKING
A NEW MIND
Then what is repentance? May the
blessed Spirit of Truth help me, while I try to tell you. METANOIA,
the Greek word translated in the King James Version of the Bible as repentance,
in its plainest and most literal meaning signifies A CHANGE OF MIND. Yet that
in itself can miss the mark. A better rendering would be TO TAKE ANOTHER
MIND. A
man may change in the conceptions of his mind, thus bringing himself to another viewpoint,
but with the possibility of being just as mistaken in his new opinion as he was in his
former. But
to TAKE ANOTHER MIND brings into being A NEW CREATURE, one who cannot revert back to the
old viewpoint or adopt another faulty reasoning out of the limited powers of the old mind.
So
let us see that repentance has to do with the TAKING OF ANOTHER MIND, never before
possessed. There
is to be no mixing of the old leaven with the new bread. This is
extremely important if we are to have any understanding at all of Gods workings in
this, our day.
Thus
repentance means to change the mind and with a new kind of mind. Let us
notice the difference between some terms. Repentance involves a radical change or
exchange of mind, whereas regeneration
involves a radical change of nature, and
conversion involves a radical change of life-style.
Each
is involved in the formation of a NEW CREATURE. The command of our Lord, Repent! for
the kingdom of heaven is at hand would have been more literally translated, Take
a new mind! for the
Repentance
is, above everything else, a turning away from your wrong idea about God. It is
changing your mind (by the Spirit of Truth) about everything you thought about God. Do you
think anyone had the right conception of God before Jesus came? There
were those who were circumcised, who constantly poured through the scriptures, who prided
themselves that they kept every jot and every title of Gods law, and pretended to
know God. Yet
these were the very people who hated and crucified Jesus! Obviously
they did not see God in Jesus. That is an indictment on all mankind. You know,
we can crucify Jesus today. When preachers kill the image of God in Jesus by
preaching a false idea of God, they crucify Jesus afresh. We need
our minds, our whole impression of who God is and of what God is doing in the earth today,
to be changed. It
indicates the receiving in our hearts of a whole new concept, instead of a mere mental
change of viewpoint in regard to God. It is not the changing of our carnal mind
about something, not an intellectual shift in our thinking. An
EXCHANGE has to take place. We are a NEW CREATION in the image and
likeness of God. So
we are to put away everything that comes from the natural mind. The mind
of Christ is not obtained through acquired knowledge or formal training. It comes
by the transforming work of the Spirit.
Repentance
is what has been referred to by some as a paradigm
shift. A
professor was asking his class if they knew what a paradigm shift was. The
students scratched their heads thinking. After a
few minutes, one student spoke up, A paradigm shift is when you give me twenty cents
because thats a pair of dimes. The professor answered, Well, not
quite. A
paradigm shift is when you gain all kinds of opinions and knowledge and experience about a
thing, and suddenly you receive new information, new facts, fresh truth, or further
experience, which causes you to have a change of mind, a change of feeling, a change of
understanding, a change of belief, a change of heart. You suddenly have a different perspective on
life which gives you a totally new set of priorities and sense of being. That is
what is called a paradigm shift. This is what Jesus brought into the
world. Jesus
came as the revelation of truth and the power of life, the expression of God as He really
is. Encountering
Christ and the realm of sonship He opens to us by the power of the Holy Spirit, is
mind-changing and life transforming. To touch His reality produces within us a
paradigm shift that is repentance! It is the
taking of a new mind about God, ourselves, and the true nature of all things.
The
two kingdoms of which Jesus spoke the kingdoms of
this world and the
It
means changing our mind and making decisions out of the mind of Christ, to repudiate one
kingdom and embrace another. As Ray Prinzing has said, Marvelous
indeed is HIS SUSTAINING GRACE even while He processes us so, for it is essential, yea, it
is imperative that we be brought to the absolute end of ourselves, that we might be
totally filled WITH
HIM. Repentance
is not a one time event at the beginning of our conversion, it is an ON-GOING PROCESS as
we are changed from glory to glory being fully
renewed into the mind of Christ. Thus He probes even deeper into areas it would not have been possible for us to endure
in the beginnings of our walk with Him. Patiently He has endured with great
long-suffering our carnality and self-centeredness, our ambitions and desires, while He
steadily drew us closer to Himself, filling us with a desire for more of HIM in His
righteousness, peace, and joy. And now He also reveals new depths to being
made conformable to His death, that we might come forth in the power of His resurrection
life. A
life that is a WITNESS UNTO HIM!
Right
now today we need to repent for the
In
the Old Testament the words repent, repented and repentance are seldom used in relation to
the sinner (check your Strongs Concordance!). There it is God who is usually spoken of as
repenting or changing His mind. God repents. And the
way it is brought out in the context is that in His dealings with mankind GOD TURNS in His
feelings, in His actions, towards His creation. That is, He purposes within Himself to
initiate a new method, a new way of dealing with humanity. It was not that
God didnt do things right the first time, that He made a mistake, or that His
program was failing so He had to remedy the situation by admitting His error and starting
over; it was, rather, that He had brought man as far as man could be brought in that way,
so it was necessary for God to shift gears so to speak, to change the order,
to turn and institute new provisions for mans instruction. It was a
CHANGE OF PURPOSE conceived in the mind of
the Lord. The
prophets wrote of that change of dealing and direction, that shift in attitude and intent
on the part of God, as God repented. It means He turned, adopting a new posture toward man.
Repentance
is the power by which we put aside our own will to embrace the will of God therefore it
involves us in a radical change of mind. This is a more exacting process than many
people realize, for it does not mean that we occasionally act on what we presume or believe to
be divine guidance in preference to some impulse or instinct of our own. That
indeed we must always be prepared to do. But waiting
upon God to receive His orders for us is an
essential function of the life of sonship. The son does only what he sees his
Father doing. Something
more than blind faith is required of the man who will truly walk as a son in the
Every
son of God must repent! Repent
of what? Ah,
not just repent of certain fleshly wrongs, not just repent of certain sins. It is not
merely repenting of anger, cursing, smoking, drinking, gossiping, lying and lusting; but
repent radically repent of
insubjection to the authority of Heaven; repent of nonconformity to the word, will and
ways of the King; repent of not submitting to the rule of God. It pains
me to say it, but the sad truth is that most saved people know nothing of the
mind of God, are not in line with the purposes of God, nor are they possessed of the
nature of God. They
may not curse, smoke, drink or carouse, but they continue to walk carnally after the
desires of self, after the rudiments of the world, after the blindness of religion,
obeying the traditions of the elders, keeping the commandments of men, employing in their
service of God the methods and techniques of the flesh, observing sacraments, rituals,
programs, holy days, and a whole world of religious activities that have neither been
inspired nor commanded by the Lord. Are they, then, under the authority of God? No! Are they
led by the Spirit of God? No! Do they know the ways of God? No! Do they
have the mind of Christ? No! Is the gospel they preach the gospel of the
Here
is the grand and glorious reason why men were called to repentance by John the Baptist and
by the Lord Jesus Christ. It is because the Kingdom is approaching. The reign
of the righteous and loving King is about to begin. The revelation of the rule of God in the
hearts of men by the Holy Spirit is ready to explode with power in the midst of mankind. The King
who is all powerful to push His conquests, omnipotent to maintain His authority, is
disposed out of His nature of love to grant a full and complete amnesty to all His
enemies, and pour out His redeeming grace and transforming power in unrestrained profusion
upon the right hand and upon the left. The King of glory is coming to men in mercy,
grace, redemption and power! Therefore men must experience a drastic change of mind about God, about themselves, and about everything. May I
point out the important fact that the Lord commands all men everywhere to repent because
the Kingdom is coming, and not in order
that it would come.
The
King is approaching with His power, His glory, His profuse love and grace; therefore, you,
my relatives, and you, my friends, and you, my acquaintances, and you strangers, and you
steeped in sin, and you entrenched in wickedness, and you overwhelmed with hopelessness
and despair, and you bowed down with grief, and you who sit in darkness, and you shackled
by the chains of religion, and you who are burdened with the impossible demands of the law
and the commandments of men, and you who are weary of feast days, ceremonies, rituals,
rules and regulations, ordinances, purifications, sacrifices, offerings, pilgrimages and
self-righteousness of men all ye people
of the earth, make way for such a King as this! Come unto me, all ye that labor and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my
yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am
meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls (Mat. 11:28-29). It is the
most potent reason that can convince your mind, and impress your conscience, and inflame
your heart, and arouse your will. Come at once and make way for the King!
Jesus
was saying that there must be a change in our thinking in regard to the
Jesus
was telling the people of
Take
a new mind, Jesus told the people of
Two
thousand years later people are still looking and waiting for the
When
Jesus came proclaiming the Kingdom He didnt say, Repent because you have been
sinning. Sin
is not the issue in the Kingdom. The issue is allegiance. Repentance
means to repudiate something you have believed in and clung to in order to believe in and
cling to something else. Repentance is the call to change our minds
about the rule of our lives. Repentance is the call
for us to change kingdoms. The
There
is an interesting and illustrative incident in the ministry of Jesus that speaks
powerfully to us of the new mind of the Kingdom. After these things the Lord appointed
other seventy also, and sent them two and two before His face into every city and place,
whither He Himself would come. Therefore He said unto them, Into whatsoever
city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you: and heal the
sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. But into
whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of
the same, and say, Even the very dust of
your city, which cleaveth on us, we do WIPE OFF against you: notwithstanding be ye sure of this, that the kingdom
of God is come nigh unto you (Lk. 10:1-2,8-11). Jesus sent the disciples out to heal the
sick. The
healings were a sign and a sign is a message.
The
message was that the
Matthew
records Jesus instructions to the seventy in these words, And whosoever shall
not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. One
thing is certain the disciples
were not just shaking dust off their clothes and shoes. They were
saying something. By
that action they were sending a message. The message was just this. When the
people rejected the ministry of the disciples they were rejecting the
This
brings us back to the curse laid upon the serpent in the beginning. The
ancient serpent, having beguiled Eve, became the recipient of the first curse in history. And the Lord God said unto the serpent,
Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of
the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust
shalt thou eat all the days of thy life
(Gen. 3:14). This
is a symbol and the Deceiver, Satan, that old Serpent, the Devil, has to eat dust! The
metaphor can be more clearly understand when we hear the judgment handed out to the man. God said,
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for
out of it wast thou taken: for DUST THOU ART, and UNTO DUST shalt thou return (Gen.
3:19). So
that first Adam, the fleshly man, that cursed man, is declared by the counsel of the Lord
God to be dust. Said the
wise man, He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust (Ps. 103:14). That
we are DUST! Not
very flattering, not very complimentary, is it? This great gob of mud called man, strutting his superior know-it-all
attitude even in the face of the Almighty! Dust! Our FRAME! Adams
name could just as well have been called Dusty. The mind
of Adam is the earthly mind, and it
always minds earthly things. It is a
dust-mind.
The
message is clear Adam and those
belonging to him are of the earth, earthy. The Holy Spirit bears witness, And so
it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a
quickening spirit. The
first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the
earthy, such are they also that are earthy:
and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are
heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image
of the heavenly (I Cor. 15:45-49). The Amplified Bible reads, The first
man was from out of the earth, made of dust earth minded;
the second man is the Lord out of heaven. Now those who are made of the dust are like
him who was first made of the dust earth minded.
And
just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, so shall we andso let us bear also the image of the Man of heaven.
Its
not news to any of us that we are in the midst of a war between two kingdoms. Neither
is it news to us that WE are the battleground! More particularly, the major focal point of
the battle is our mind. There the
battle rages at its greatest intensity, because the war is a struggle for our hearts and
loyalties the very souls
and lives and beings of men. Adam is dust, the natural, sensual,
sense-oriented realm. When God gave dust to be the serpents meat the earthy man
became the rightful food for the serpent. This means that the serpent now finds its
base of operation and fulfillment of its nature, desires, and purposes in and through mankind. By the very nature of things, when the
serpent eats, he seeks to satisfy his appetite and gratify his desires. The
curse of eating dust means that the serpent nature is only gratified in and
through carnal-minded men. Today the sphere of Satans activity is
earth, and the object of his devouring is the man of dust. Be
sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about
seeking whom he may devour (I Pet.
5:8). He
devours you by overwhelming you with sensual lusts and carnal-minded pursuits in which
your whole being becomes consumed with things that are not of the Spirit nor of Life.
You
will find men and women who claim to hate the devil and all he stands for, but no man ever
yet hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it. In so
doing he gives place to the devil. It is the
fleshthat wars against the Spirit! The flesh unceasingly wars against the King and His Kingdom
that is within you. Just
as the religious leaders of the Jews cried, We will not have this Man to rule over
us, so the flesh, your flesh, and my flesh, desperately striving to perpetuate the
corrupt nature of Adam within, would push Christ from the throne of the heart and reign in
His stead. The
energy force and motivating power of the flesh IS
the ancient serpent of
Adam
is dust. If
you want to keep the
As
a man thinketh in his heart, so is he (Prov. 23:7). What we
think in our hearts consciously and unconsciously consists of beliefs, ideas, concepts,
habits and practices gathered from our earliest childhood, modified by education, reading,
experience and contact with all kinds of people and movements including friends,
mingled with the prevailing opinions of our times as drum-beat into us by the media, and
the accepted standards of the society in which we live. Furthermore,
most of those who read these lines have also been deeply influenced and powerfully shaped
by the teaching and example of our religious leaders and spiritual mentors. Every one
of us has had false ideas about God, false ideas about church, false ideas about the
scriptures, false ideas about ministry, false ideas about sin, false ideas about law,
false ideas about grace, false ideas about righteousness, false ideas about heaven, false
ideas about hell, false ideas about the coming of the Lord, and false ideas about the
Kingdom of God and the present and future program of God on earth.
Enough
has been said to show how we have needed a MIGHTY CHANGE IN OUR THINKING! Our
thoughts and understanding make us what we are and determine the way we live. So if
there is to be any significant change in our lives it must be a change of mind. That is
why the Spirit of God so often calls for a change of mentality. Be
not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind (Rom. 12:2). Be
renewed in
the spirit of your mind (Eph. 4:23). The gospel of the Kingdom begins with the
record of John the Baptists first proclamation at the
John
told the people there was ONE in their midst whom they knew not. This One
was to be the head of the new order, the forerunner and firstborn of many brethren. He was to
be despised and rejected of men, but given the highest honor and authority in God, and
that honor and authority were to be passed on to those of His
brethren when they were prepared for it. Yet He was totally and completely unknown to
the people. John
the Baptist told the people they were to take a new mind. The mind
they possessed at the time of the coming of Jesus could never, under any circumstances,
conceive of the work God would do at the coming of Jesus.
Their minds were full of
the law Moses had given them, of sacrifices, temples, and a whole system of earthly,
worldly, external things. They would of necessity need another mind to
be able to comprehend the coming of Jesus. All who were faithful in the present
truth of that day, as revealed in the law and the prophets, were included in the call to
repentance. Why?
Because
a new day had come! The order was changing! God would do a new thing
in their midst and in the earth! And only with a new mind could they grasp it
and enter into it. A
new mind means a new creature, for we are exactly what we are in our minds! A new
mind is a new reality, a new sense of being. Repentance produces the NEW MAN FOR THE NEW
AGE! Repentance
was the very first word of John the Baptist. It was the first word of Jesus the Christ. And the
first message of the apostle Peter on the day of Pentecost began with repentance, the
taking of a new mind that they might comprehend the magnitude of the thing God was doing
in that day. God would now call His elect people out of every tribe, every tongue, every
people and every nation and would reconcile the whole world unto Himself through Jesus
Christ. The
Jewish mind was too narrow to believe that, so a new mind was needed.
All
who are called to sonship and to Gods new purposes in this hour at the dawn of a new
age have experienced, and are experiencing, a mighty work of repentance. This
change of mind may be, and in some degree must always be, a sudden transformation of life,
but for most of us repentance is a process that goes on for years, from experience to
experience, from realm to realm, from glory to glory, by which we put away our erroneous
beliefs and old order practices and take on the mind of Christ. All of us
are in the process of changing, and God is the author of that process. If you
think repentance is something you have only experienced in the past, I suggest you think
again. God
has thoughts for you to think that are so powerful and creative. They will
challenge all of your human limitations, doctrinal limitations, and spiritual limitations.
He
will continue to change the way we think until both our minds and bodies are in alignment
with His plan for us in the Spirit. In this way He is forming us into His image
and likeness, bringing us to our full stature and maturity in Christ, and accomplishing
the work that shall make us the manifested sons of God. Oh, the
wonder of it!
Repentance
is the work of God. As
we look back on our lives, it is evident that we have made no major choices of our own. The Lord
made them all for us. He
placed obstacles, blessings, brethren, books, ministries, dealings, teachings, movings of
His Spirit, manifestations of His power, and experiences in our pathway to give us an
understanding of His will and His ways and His great plan and purposes in the earth, in
His people, and in the universe. He Himself injected all these things into our
pathway. Every
step we took was in response to His intervention and in obedience to His leadings. Never in
a million years could I have found the way to the
Have
this mind in you, says the apostle, which also was in Christ Jesus
(Phil. 2:5). To
be a son of the Kingdom is to do just that, to have the spirit of Christ and to learn to
think and act out of the reality of sonship to God. We are no longer to see ourselves after the
childish mentality that calls us sinners saved by grace. No more
are we to be called after the much maligned, generic term, Christian. Beloved,
now are we the sons of God. We are now laying aside our own mentality,
conditioned as it is by the spirit of this world and the foolishness of religion, and
accept the instruction of the Christ within. As we expose our minds to the spirit of
wisdom and revelation from God, our thoughts, understandings and beliefs undergo a
marvelous change. Our
fallacies, misconceptions, errors, ignorance and illusions lose their power over us and we
begin to know the truth that makes us free. We cannot have power in the
Much
that has seemed to us in the past as just plain common
sense is now seen for what it is the perverted
reasoning of Adam. Our
natural and religious and church way of thinking is being transformed by the glory of
Christ who is now being raised up within us in power as our very life. We are
repenting of everything that has been a carry-over from our fleshly mind, we are repenting
of all the baggage we have tried to bring along with us into the Kingdom from the church
systems and tradition, we are repenting of all our ignorance and all our self-hood. We are
repenting because our true and full inheritance in the
Him
hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance
to
Now
this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the
My
prayer is that all who read these lines will understand what the renewing of the mind
means. It
is not exchanging negative words for positive ones. It is not the power of positive thinking. It is not
being a possibility thinker. It is not
mental imaging. Some
people have the idea that the only thing a believer must do to renew his mind is confess
only good things as opposed to bad things. I dont feel too good today Oh, dont
say that, thats a negative confession, as if not saying it makes you feel any
better. In
the early days of my ministry I instructed people in that way because that is how I was
taught. But
often they got sick and died making their positive confessions. It was a
kind of denial. If
I have cancer and I confess, Im not sick...by His stripes I am healed, I
am still sick until I AM HEALED. It has been my experience that the most
positive thinking people in the world are in many cases the most carnal and materialistic
people. They
mind earthly things.
Mind
renewal is not positive thinking. It is a spiritual process of a changed
identity. It
is learning to use the mind of a completely different person than Adam. It is not
making the carnal mind repeat spiritual phrases. It is not a matter of positive thoughts over
negative thoughts, because both the positive and the negative thoughts may originate out
of the carnal mind. Only
if the Lord Himself has spoken it within yourself is it from the mind of Christ. It is a
matter of experiencing Christ over and over again until the mind of that Spiritual Man is
imputed and stamped and imparted into our thinking processes. The
144,000 sons of God in the book of Revelation have the Fathers name or nature stamped
upon their foreheads. Their
thought processes have become spiritualized by the raising up of Christ within them. This
change doesnt come by trying to think different thoughts, but by experiencing Spirit the mind of
Christ. The
anointing within teaches your spirit man all things concerning the new creation. And that,
precious friend of mine, is the renewing of the mind.
Now
the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we
all, with open face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are changed into the
same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord (II Cor. 3:17-18).
This
change is coming out of the spirit within us. We are renewed from within, not from without,
by the anointing that abides within us, to raise Christ up through us. Christ is
coming to be glorified IN His saints. He is coming from the inside out. Hes
not coming from the sky, Hes coming from among His people the way He came the first
time. He
came from heaven into man and out from man. The Life was planted in the womb of a peasant
girl and was birthed in humanity into the world. Now He has come again in mighty Spirit power
and been conceived within us, He dwells in our hearts by faith, He is being formed in us,
He is growing up in us, and shall come out from us AS US the new creation
man, the image of God, the very Christ of God.
In
the beginning God created the heavens and the earth
(Gen. 1:1). By
this scripture we learn the truth that creation is just two things: Heaven and Earth. Everything
God created is contained within the heavens and the earth there is
nothing of creation outside of these. And now If any man
be in Christ he is a NEW CREATION (II Cor. 5:17). A new
creation! The
new creation is the new heavens and the new
earth wherein dwelleth righteousness
(II Pet. 3:13; Rev. 21:1), for that is what creation is, heavens and earth. The new
heavens and the new earth of the new creation are the mind of Christ made substance within
us. Christ
doesnt come from some far-off heaven and descend down to earth; He comes out of the
new heavens and the new earth which we are to bring forth the revelation of Himself. Only
those who have truly repented, who have taken a new mind, can understand the reality and
power and glory of these things. Repent! Take a new mind! For the
rule of God out of the mind of Christ within the sons of God is at hand!
Chapter
27
REPENT!
FOR THE
(continued)
The
Greek word translated in the King James Version of the Bible as repentance, in
its plainest and most literal meaning signifies A CHANGE OF MIND. Yet that
in itself can miss the mark. A better rendering would be TO TAKE ANOTHER
MIND. Thus
repentance means to change the mind and with a new kind of mind. The
command of our Lord, Repent! for the kingdom of heaven is at hand would have
been more literally translated, Take a new mind! for the
I
ask you now to be prepared for some deep spiritual thinking. It is
certain that the natural mind cannot understand the things of the Spirit of God. How,
then, will we ever come to the knowledge of all truth except we learn to think in the Spirit. May the
Holy Spirit of truth quicken each of our spiritual minds as we consider this thought of
the repentance of Jesus.
When
Jesus came to redeem us, He came to redeem us not only from sin, but to redeem us from the law which
gave us the knowledge of sin and which is itself the very strength and power of sin (Rom.
3:20; 7:7; I Cor. 15:56; Gal. 4:4-5). Paul tells us that when Jesus came into the
world He came subject to the law. But when the fullness of time was come,
God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under
the law, to redeem them that were under
the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons (Gal. 4:4-5). We have
to realize that for thirty years Jesus lived on this earth without ever manifesting His
sonship to God. He
was sent into the world as the Son of God, but He did not manifest His sonship until after
He was baptized by John the Baptist in the
The
Father sent the Son in the likeness of sinful flesh by giving Him a human body. The Word
was made flesh and dwelt among us. In this likeness of sinful flesh He looked
like everybody else. He
didnt look like a superman six feet tall
with a rugged, handsome face, piercing blue eyes, flaxen hair, bronze complexion, bulging
muscles, and a Mr. American physique. He looked so much like any other Jew that He
never stood out in a crowd. No one in
Notice
further that when Jesus came He was made under the law and therefore was
in subjection under the law. God sent forth His Son from His throne on
high, from the estate of His heavenly glory, to be made under the law with all its
restrictions, requirements, and demands. He was not merely born under
the law as a Jew, but made by His Fathers appointment, and His own will,
subject to the law to keep it all, ceremonial and moral; to perfectly fulfill it for all
who were under it. Although
He was the Lord of the law and its divine Author, He took His place under the law, that He
might accomplish an important purpose for those who were under it. He made
Himself subject to it that He might become one of them, and secure their release. And,
praise God, He established a perfect record in that He kept the law fully. We know
very little of His life while He was under the law. Only one incident when He was twelve years
old is recorded. When
Jesus walked under the law He was circumcised; He sacrificed; He observed the Sabbath; He
kept the feast days; He attended synagogue; and in all His dealings He kept every tenet
and precept of the law.
This
enlightening passage which I have been unfolding (Gal. 4:4-5) contains yet a further
truth. The
definite article is not present in the Greek. It does not say, the law, as we have it in the King James Version,
but simply
law. In
the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son...made under
law...to redeem them that were under law,
is how the Greek text reads. Thus, Paul is not speaking exclusively of the
Mosaic law given to
Jesus
was sent into the bondage of legalism and required to wear that legalistic yoke in order that He might shatter it to pieces with His
full and free redemption! I am absolutely certain that includes all the
religious folk today who are held captive under the legalistic demands of church systems
with their myriad man-made commandments of dos and donts laid upon
people in order to make them pleasing to God. Matters not whether it is an Old Testament
law about not muzzling the ox that treadeth out the corn, sowing mixed seed in ones
field, stoning an adulteress, washing hands before eating, kosher food laws, holy
day laws, or more modern-day prohibitions against women wearing make-up and jewelry, dress
codes, meats and drinks, amusements, coverings, or a thousand other laws, old and new,
that the religious Pharisees impose upon the Lords people. They are,
one and all, LAW and blessed be
His name, Jesus was made under law to redeem
them that are under law, that we might
receive the adoption of sons to be delivered out from under all law, and be brought under
the rule of the Spirit; for as many as are led
by the Spirit of God, THEY ARE THE SONS OF GOD (Rom. 8:14). The Greek
word for redeem is an especially beautiful term. The
concept is of one going into the slave market and purchasing the slave and then taking him
out of the market, setting him free. Redeemed from the law! Redeemed
to be no longer a slave, serving under rules, regulations and commandments that govern the
flesh, to receive placement as sons who fulfill the nature of the Father by the law of the
Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. Glory to God!
JESUS
REPENTED!
At
a definite time appointed by God, a man of strange habits and appearance began to preach
in a remote desert part of Judea, near the river
Later,
Jesus made a startling declaration about this prophet, John the Baptist. Among
them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist,
notwithstanding, he that is least in the
Then
Jesus said something even more astonishing. He said that even the least of us who are in
this heavenly Kingdom is greater than John the Baptist! What an
exalted position He has reserved for the members of His body, the citizens of His Kingdom!
This
means that even the least of the called out, the apprehended, the elect, the enChristed whether a
child, a day laborer, a janitor, educated or uneducated, rich or poor, when born from
above, birthed into the spiritual world of God, transformed in nature, renewed in mind,
regenerated in heart, and invested with the power of the Spirit of the Son we occupy a superior position among Gods people than
John the Baptist and all the great heroes of faith and power that went before.
Marks
Gospel says, The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Even as
it is written in Isaiah the prophet, Behold, I send my messenger before Thy face, who
shall prepare Thy way; the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make ye ready the way of
the Lord...John came and preached... Therefore, the scriptures themselves declare
that the beginning of the gospel was not the preaching of Jesus Christ, but
was the preaching of John the Baptist. There is no question about that. That is
the beginning of the good news of the Kingdom. The gospel began when John came announcing
the approach of both the King and the Kingdom. When John announced that the
What
a day of days it must have been for John the Baptist when He saw Jesus coming into the
multitude gathered by the
The
question is just this. If
Jesus, because He was the Son of God come in human flesh, was able to walk perfectly
without sin, and did so, why then did He publicly submit to Johns baptism unto repentance? If He was
holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and obedient in all things to His
heavenly Father, what did Jesus need to
repent of? Why
would the Son of God, heavens Lamb without blemish, and the King of the new Kingdom,
subject Himself to be baptized by a mere prophet under the passing order of the law? Why would
He make an open demonstration of repenting?
The
shallow and tradition-bound answer most commonly given is that Jesus was baptized AS AN
EXAMPLE TO US THAT WE ALSO SHOULD BE BAPTIZED IN WATER!
The
true answer is found in His response to John the Baptist. Permit
it to be so now, for thus it is becoming us to fulfill
all righteousness. That has nothing whatsoever to do with
serving as an example to believers today that we should be baptized in water. That is
not what Jesus said at all. To say that is to create a fable, a myth, and
religious folklore. The
key word is fulfill. Jesus used this word again in Matthew 5:17. Think
not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. Many
people think that fulfill means to keep, that Jesus was saying
that He came not to destroy the law, or the prophets, but to keep the
law and to give us the power to keep the law. But that is not what it means at all! That is a
flagrant misrepresentation of the words of the Lord.
The
Greek word for fulfill is PLEROO meaning to make replete by
accomplishing, consummating, and bringing a thing to its ultimate purpose and intent. By fulfillment
truth rises from one glory to a greater glory, each glory ascending above the one
preceding it. Let
me illustrate. When
Jesus fulfilled the law of the sin-offering, did He keep the law
or did He end it by raising it up to a higher level of reality? In order
to fulfill the law of the sacrificial lamb Jesus didnt go out and select the most
blameless lamb available and bring it to the priest to be slain. Nor did
He do so as an example to us that we should bring a lamb to the priest to be offered up. No a thousand times
no! He
didnt fulfill the law of the lamb by keeping the law in the ordinary way; He fulfilled
the law by HIMSELF BECOMING THE LAMB OF GOD that takes away the sin of the world. He became
within Himself the very substance and reality to which the old shadow only faintly
pointed. He
became the lamb on a higher level, abolished the old observance, and forever delivered us
from the necessity of doing the thing by the letter. That is
what it means to fulfill. Jesus didnt come to destroy the law, He
didnt come to say that the sin-offering was a mistake. He came
to reveal the eternal spiritual reality to which the symbol pointed, to bring it to its ultimate
purpose and true intent. He raised every jot and every tittle of the
law up to a new and heavenly glory, the glory of an inward
life merely symbolized by the outward type
and shadow. Oh,
how we marvel at the ever progressing purpose and ever increasing manifestation of the
ways of the Lord!
With
the above truth gaining access and radiating in our hearts, let us investigate further the
divine significance of our Lords words when He explained to John concerning His
baptism unto repentance, Thus it is becoming us to fulfill all righteousness. There are
two kinds of righteousness revealed in the scriptures, both of which were ordained by God.
Paul
by the wisdom given him has set forth the truth in these words, Therefore by the
deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight: for by the law is the
knowledge of sin. But
now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed (foreshadowed) by the
law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto
all and upon all them that believe...therefore we conclude that man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. What
shall we say then? That
the nations, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even
the righteousness which is of faith. But
Let
us discard the silly doctrines of men and the ignorant traditions inherited from the dark
ages. There
are only two kinds of righteousness that God has declared unto men the
righteousness of the law, attained by an
outward keeping of the law, and the righteousness of Christ,
which is by faith. The
righteousness of the law pointed forward to Christ who brought us true righteousness by
the Spirit. Christ
is thus the end of the law to all who believe. To have the mentality of keeping law is to
deny Christ. His
righteousness is the true righteousness,
and to keep the outward letter of the old law is treason against the
Having
beheld these wonders in the spirit, can we not now understand the words of Jesus to John
the Baptist. Thus
it becomes us to fulfill all righteousness.
It
had nothing to do with water baptism or Jesus being an
example to New Testament saints
that they should be baptized in water. Let us come out from the childish and foolish
pratings of the teachers of
Jesus
did not come to earth in the form of a baby already fully aware of who He was. He didnt
wave at the shepherds from His manger-cradle and coo, Hi, fellows, I was expecting
you! Jesus
had to discover His identity, and I may be mistaken, but it is my opinion that He received
the understanding of who He was progressively. In seeking the Father, loving the Father,
being taught of the Father, and obeying the Father Jesus became conscious of the Father
within as being His very own and only parent. When He became fully Father-conscious, He
became fully aware of His sonship. He discovered who He was! Because
Jesus came to do the Fathers will, His ear was opened to hear the Fathers
voice within. God
awakened Him morning by morning (from one dawning of understanding to a greater dawning of
understanding), until He was fully awakened from His identity as an exceptional Jew under
the law, to find Himself to be the creature of another realm. As He
beheld the face of His Father He did not try to hold on to His natural identity, but was
willing to give it up for the realization of His true identity His sonship to
God. Jesus
awoke fully to the knowledge of who He was. He no longer knew Himself as Jesus of
Nazareth, as the son of Joseph and Mary, but as the Word of God made flesh. Jesus
came to know Himself as He was known by the Father. Jesus no longer looked in the mirror of the
law that gave only a dim and blurred reflection of reality, but He saw face to face. Jesus
knew that nobody else really knew who He was. He set Himself to be
about His Fathers business. And it was this understanding, fully
developed and matured in Jesus, that brought Him to the Jordan that blessed day two
thousand years ago!
There
was only one sane and sensible reason in the world for Jesus to come to John that day and
submit Himself to the baptism of repentance He was repenting! If He was
not Himself repenting, He had no business standing there before the multitudes of
Lets
look at the spiritual significance of this experience. A change was taking place. Jesus
baptism by John marked the point of crossing over from a life lived under the law to a
life that revealed the glory of the Father. Jesus as the perfect man had kept all the
law, but by the law He had no power to be the Son of God. Under the
law system of the Old Testament the idea of sonship to God was veiled. It is not
altogether strange that men could not know God as their Father until the Son of God
appeared. The
words of our Lord are true in their strictest sense, No man cometh unto the Father,
but by me. He
revealed the Father, led Him forth to view where He could be seen. He could
say in all truth, He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father.
Only
the Son could bring men into relationship with the Father. Only the
firstborn Son could pioneer the path of sonship. Though Jesus was made of a woman, and made
under the law, He could never redeem us from the bondage of the law to the liberty and
glory of sonship until He Himself once and forever and for all REPUDIATED THE LAW and
stepped forth to live only and wholly by the Father. He had to abandon the righteousness of the law in
order to reveal the righteousness of God by the Spirit. Jesus
repented of the law. Other men came to Johns baptism
repenting of sin. But Jesus
had done no sin, therefore He could not repent of sin. But He was baptized unto repentance. Jesus
repented! The
only thing He could repent of was the Old Covenant Father had subjected Him to. It was a
hindrance to His sonship, for it was an inferior order that was ready to pass away. Jesus was
baptized unto that repentance and came out of the water in the power of the Spirit of His
Father. He
buried the law and was invested upon by the glory of the Father. He came
forth in public recognition by His Father. He was recognized as THE SON OF GOD for the
first time when His heavenly Father recognized a Son who no longer was under the tutelage
of the schoolmaster of the law. He had turned from being ruled by the law to
being ruled by the Spirit of Life! He turned from the natural to the spiritual! He turned
from the human to the divine! He turned from the earthly to the heavenly! He
received the Holy Spirit and from that time on He was led by the Spirit. His life
changed dramatically! He
did all these things to show us the way to
the Father and the Kingdom as the Pattern
Son for us.
From
that blessed moment forward Jesus began to preach and testify to spiritual and heavenly
things. Luke
tells us, God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and power: who went
about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him
(Acts 10:38). Jesus
received the witness of His sonship from the Father, and the power of the Holy Spirit, and
from that moment His ministry of manifested
sonship began. He was no
longer a law-keeping Jew He was the Son
of God with power! No
more was He a subject of the
I
think that it is wonderfully significant that the first miracle Jesus performed, which
launched His sonship ministry, was that of turning water into wine. It was
indeed, the beginning of miracles. Consider carefully the fact that the water was
turned into wine. What else
could have taken place because of His presence at the wedding, once the power of the
Kingdom was released within Him after coming out from under the shackles of the law? The
firstborn Son of God was now changed raised from the
old covenant into the new, from the letter into the spirit, from the form into the
essence, from the type into the reality, from the shadow into the substance, from
limitation into omnipotence, from the temporal into the eternal, from the natural into the
spiritual, from the outward into the inward, from the human into the divine. All
things would now be quickened when He drew near. The law disappeared and the power and glory
of the Kingdom were found instead, filling the vessels of human purification to the brim. The good
wine of the Kingdom had been kept until now!
Thats
when His troubles began. No longer did Jesus observe the law, but only
the word of His Father. No
longer did His conduct conform to the customs of
REPENT
YE!
Now
we understand that when Jesus went to the
Just
as Jesus repented of a thing so divine and marvelous as the law of Moses, so must we
repent of our bondage to religious systems, baptisms, doctrines, church laws, and much,
much more. If
any of these are our master, we must remember that no man can serve two masters. Will we
believe Christ or will we believe human institutions and traditions? All these
things have served a purpose for a season, just as the law did for Jesus, but now we have
received another teacher, the Spirit of Christ within. The Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of wisdom
and knowledge and understanding and the strength and power to do all the will of the
Father. From
the Fathers only begotten Son there comes forth a vast family of sons. Today our
God is not the Father of an only begotten Son, but the Father of many brethren, all of whom are born into His
family by the Holy Spirit and all of whom shall be manifested in the full glory of
sonship. When
you realize that you have been placed into the family of Gods very own sons, it will
move you to repent of any other allegiance or attachment other than the mind of Christ,
the will of the Father, and the ways of the Kingdom. I do not hesitate to tell you that in order
to become the manifested sons of God we will have to repent of the old-order church
systems we have lived in and functioned by. The former things are passing away and a new
day is dawning for all who have received the call to sonship. The call
to sonship is not the call to eternal life and heaven, it is the call to THE THRONE OF THE
UNIVERSE.
Repentance
is the key that unlocks the riches of Christ and the treasures of the
We
are progressing in God and in His Kingdom. The Christ within is growing and expanding in
ever-increasing glory. His
light is arising within our hearts to dispel all the darkness in us. We are
beholding new things in the Spirit and by the Spirit. The Lord is bringing us to repentance from
realm to realm, to a changed mind, which allows us to embrace these new realities in the
Spirit. The
Lord is changing our thinking and understanding, renewing us in the spirit of our mind,
and transforming our mind that we may enter all the way into the life and glory and power
of His Kingdom.
REPENT,
FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS AT HAND is the message now being heard from
We
have progressed from the age when God has been meticulously forming His body of sons by
establishing His rule in their minds and hearts, to the age when that body shall begin to
fulfill the great and grand purpose for which God has prepared them. We have
come to the time when the Kingdom shall accelerate into a further and greater
manifestation of the rule and dominion of the Kingdom over all nations and all mankind,
answering the cry of the groaning creation to be delivered from the bondage of corruption.
This
transition requires repentance, first on our
part, and afterwards on the part of all the rulers and inhabitants of the nations. The
maturing sons of God may now boldly declare, as Jesus did in His generation, The
time is fulfilled, and the
The
gospel message proclaimed in the days of the firstborn Son of God, the twelve apostles,
and Paul, was the good news of the first
stage of the Kingdom development in the
earth the formation
of the church, the body of Christ, which is the Kingdom
in our hearts phase. Now the
next phase is wonderfully nigh at hand, which is the greater phase or period of the
outpouring of the Kingdom life, deliverance and rule through the younger brothers of
Jesus, the manifested sons of God. It is important for everyone who reads these
lines to see that the time is fulfilled.
The
fullness of time, relative to the past age and the new age, has come! The hour has dawned for the revelation and
manifestation of the next stage of Gods ever-increasing and ever-expanding
triumph and dominion of the
By
repenting we let go of the old order of the church-systems of the past age, and become
pliable in the hands of the Father, so that we will be able to make the transition into
the greater glory of the new order of manifested sonship. That is
why the Lord is calling us to repentance. We may not be guilty of sin, but
we must become fluid in the hands of the Father in order for His new and glorious purposes
to be fulfilled in and through us. We must change all our thinking and our religious practices,
believe the present truth word of God, and walk in the light being revealed. We may
not be harboring any secret or hidden sins, but we need to repent of yesterdays
obsolete order, yesterdays ways of doing things, yesterdays in part
knowledge and glory, of carnal church works, of our own self-will, of the former ways and
ideas and promotions of man, to embrace the dealings of this new day as the Spirit reveals
them.
The
Lord is inaugurating a new age, and is setting forth a new order with new understanding,
new methods, new power and new requirements for this new day of greater light and glory. As
wonderful as the workings of the Spirit were in the past, they are not good enough for the
new order of manifested sonship. Even though we have made some progress, we
must have something more from God to be able to rule the nations and deliver creation from
the bondage of corruption. And we can only receive this change by
repentance.
How
shall we know that the old order is passed away? What sign shall be given that the old order
is ended and a new has dawned? The truth is, no sign shall be given except
the word of God within ourselves. In the days of John the Baptist and Jesus no
outward sign was given to show a change in ages. There was no blinding light, no burning
mountain cast into the sea, no comet streaking across the heavens, no mighty earthquake,
no shaking of kingdoms or collapse of empires, no world war, no world-wide economic
collapse, no pouring out of apocalyptic judgments upon the earth. When
Jesus departed from Galilee and came into the wilderness of
Thus
Jesus said, For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John (Mat. 11:13). God spoke
to an age through the law and the prophets who gave the word of God to
When
Father changes the order in this day, replacing the church order of apostles, prophets,
evangelists, pastors and teachers with kings and priests after the Order of Melchizedek,
will He then eliminate and obliterate off the face of the earth the Baptist order, the
Methodist order, the Lutheran order, the Episcopalian order, the Presbyterian order, the
Mennonite order, the Pentecostal order, the Charismatic order, the Catholic order, and all
the other religious, organizational, denominational, and ministerial orders of the church
systems of today? Not
by any means! He
will simply remove what is left of His anointing from that order. But many
will not discern that the anointing has lifted from that old realm. It will
be just as John the Revelator prophesied of Mystery Babylon, And the voice of
harpers and musicians (spiritual praise and worship), and of pipers (prophets), and
trumpeters (announcers of new things in God), shall
be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman (spiritual ministry), of whatsoever
craft he be, shall be found any more in thee;
and the sound of a millstone (grinding flour for bread
the word of God) shall be heard no more at all in thee; and the
light of a candle (the little light left in Babylon) shall
shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the Bridegroom (Christ the Head) and of
the Bride (of Christ) shall be heard no more
at all in thee... (Rev. 18:22-23). They will continue on with their fellowships,
activities, programs, ceremonies, rituals, crusades, and religious works, for they will be
as yet unawakened to the new phase of the Kingdom this day brings. AND THEY
WILL BE THE GREATEST OPPOSERS OF THE SONS OF GOD! For a season, until the time appointed of the
Father, all will continue to function without Fathers authority or the precious
anointing of His Spirit, until at last the glory of God penetrates through the walls of
ignorance and unbelief to bring deliverance to the captives of
Thank
God! There
is a remnant, a chosen company, a firstfruit, a people with a purpose, called to be the sons of God, who have now been awakened to
this new day and enter into its holy purposes by the Spirit of God. These
have already received the call of the Spirit to repent, because a new and greater
manifestation of the
If
we are receiving the mind of Christ, we are then able to see the mysteries of the
There
shall be no end to the increase of the Kingdom as it grows and
develops first in the earth that we are,
secondly in its dominion over all the peoples and nations of the earth as
the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ, and finally
unto the farthest extremities of all the unbounded heavens (Isa. 9:7; Heb. 2:8). This age
is not the last age by any means, nor shall the next age bring the final consummation; for it is
in the ages to come that God shall clearly demonstrate and fully put on
display through us the immeasurable, unlimited and surpassing riches of
His grace and goodness of heart toward all His creation (Eph. 2:7). Neither
is the coming age the kingdom age as so many say. Every age
since Jesus is, and shall be, the Kingdom age! There is no singular kingdom age.
The
Kingdom began with Jesus. He proclaimed the Kingdom and brought the
Kingdom. The
Kingdom is now revealed in the lives of those who are walking in the Spirit and are filled
with the righteousness, peace and joy which are the Kingdom. ALL ages
are now Kingdom Ages. The
age now dawning is the age of the beginning of the manifestation of the sons of God merely the next step
in Gods great ages-lasting Kingdom program.
Here
is Gods program. In
the age now ending God has been meticulously forming His body of sons, the manchild
birthed out of the woman church. In the furnace of affliction and by the power
of His indwelling life the nature and ways of the Father have been inworked in a vast
family of sons. In
the new age now upon us God shall, through these sons, deal with and subdue unto Himself
all the living nations of earth. That is the next step in His Kingdom agenda. There are
vast numbers of ages of Kingdom increase beyond that. God must yet deal with the billions of men
who have lived and died upon earth throughout all past generations and ages. Earth,
however, is only the launching-pad of Gods Kingdom plans and purposes. His
program extends unto and through all the billions of galaxies with their billions of
trillions of stars and suns and planets and moons all the works
of His hands. All
these things were made by Him, and for Him, and for His pleasure and purpose, to reveal
His glory and to be gathered into His Christ. In that blessed dispensation of the fullness
of times all things in the heavens, and all things in the earth, are to be gathered
together into one in Gods Christ. And Gods MAN shall subdue and rule it
all! What
is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visiteth him? Thou
madest him for a little while lower than the angels; thou crownest him with glory and
honour, and didst set him over the works of
thy hands. Thou
hast put ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET. For in that He put ALL in subjection under
Him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under
him (Heb. 2:6-8). This
passage is a quotation from the eighth Psalm where the Psalmist identifies the heavens, the stars, the
sun, and the moon as the all things that are to be put
under Gods man.
Each
new stage of the Kingdom will require repentance on the part of those who are called to
participate in its glory, power and purpose. Without repentance we will never know the
mysterious ways of the
There
is no sin so damning as the sin of hearing the word of the Kingdom, being close to what
God is doing, and then fail to repent and thus reject it. Jesus
knew the hearts of the chief priests, scribes, and elders of
What
an astonishing word for Jesus to deliver to those lettered doctors of the law and chief
priests who had studied the scriptures and were esteemed leaders of the religion of the
past! Just
as those religious leaders could not discern the day of their visitation and refused to
relinquish the old in order to apprehend the new, so are there multitudes today who will
fail to make the transition by repentance, and will reject the new thing God is about to
do in the earth. Only
by repentance do we receive the mind of Christ. The one distinguishing mark of a son of God
who is chosen as a ruler in the Kingdom in this day when the sons shall be given power
over the nations, is repentance. All others will be set in their ways, too
calloused in their hearts, too attached to their cherished traditions, and too indifferent
to the voice of the Spirit to lay hold upon the greater glory.
If
the events surrounding the manifestation of the first Son of God are repeated in this hour
of the unveiling of the younger sons of God, then undoubtedly the word of the Lord to the
religious leaders in the church systems in our day is just this: Verily I say unto
you, that the loan sharks and the hookers go into the kingdom of God before you. I do know
firsthand that there is a vast company of so-called religious mis-fits, church order
rejects and castaways, spiritual nobodies, and precious people who have been beaten,
wounded and broken by mans carnal interpretation of the word of God and his harsh
application of the law of God, who have repented and do repent and are following on to
know the Lord. These
have suffered with Him, and they shall reign with Him.
To be continued...
J. PRESTON EBY
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