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"Teaching the things concerning the kingdom of God..."
Echoes
From
Book Two
Table of Contents
Chapter
Title
Page
17
Dominion In The Garden
3
18
Conscience In The Garden
27
19
Obedience of Sons
40
20
A Sabboth in
21
A Sabboth in
22
A Sabboth in
23
A Sabboth in
24
The Garments of
25
The Garments of
26
The Garments of Eden (cont.)
130
27
The Garments of Eden (cont.)
144
28
The Garments of Eden (cont.)
156
29
The Garments of Eden (cont.) Male and Female 167
30
Male and Female
(cont.)
205
Chapter 17
DOMINION IN THE GARDEN
"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our
likeness: and let them HAVE DOMINION over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the
air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that
creepeth upon the earth. and God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful and
multiply, and replenish the earth, and SUBDUE IT: AND HAVE DOMINION. and the Lord God
planted a garden eastward in
More and more we are becoming aware of the wonderful fact
that the book of Genesis deals largely in typical representations, that is, figures of
spiritual realities, brought forth in the language and form of the physical world, the old
creation, but pointing to that which is higher and grander, the NEW CREATION IN CHRIST
JESUS. One cannot read Paul's epistles under the illuminating light of the Spirit without
perceiving that he saw far more in Genesis than the mere letter. The creation with him is
the figure of another work, which God accomplishes in every man who experiences the
redeeming, transforming power of Christ. Says Paul, "For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, HATH SHINED IN OUR HEARTS, to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (II Cor. 4:6). And again,
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a NEW CREATION: old things are passed away;
behold, all things are become new" (II Cor.
It should be clear to all who have the eyes of their
understanding enlightened that the apostle is showing how, just as God began to work upon
this earth, when all was dark and without form and void, and worked upon it, step by step,
bringing order out of chaos, light, warmth, life – vegetation and animal forms –
until finally the image of God, the man created
in righteousness, was seen to rule it all; so it is in the life of man, darkened,
unconverted, unregenerate, without form and void, lacking understanding and order, living
out his life in emptiness and spiritual destitution, without God and without hope in the
world. What form or shape can be given to such purposelessness as a life lived without the
Lord? Darkness hangs like a shroud over the soul that is dead in trespasses and sins, and
man stumbles blindly through life knowing neither from whence he came nor where he is
going. But then! comes the life-giving wind of the Spirit of God, breathing upon the void,
and the Word of God pierces the darkness with this command: "Let there be
light!" and there IS light. It is when God says, "Let there be light," that
the Spirit illumines our minds with the light and the glory of Himself, and it is only
when the blessed Holy Spirit moves upon our lifeless souls that we are suddenly awakened
from our long sleep of death in sin and life springs forth within. Then, step by step,
from one stage of development to another, the creative processes of God continue in the
apprehended ones until as a new creation in Christ the new man within us is brought to maturity and rules every
faculty within and every power without.
Though many have a vague notion that Genesis contains types,
few have any idea of the immense extent or depth of this hidden wisdom. The student of
history reads Genesis in the understanding of the natural mind and finds it interesting
and informative, historically; the faithful Christian finds in it that which blesses and
strengthens his faith and righteousness; but the overcomer in Christ finds it to be the
greatest of all books as the portrait of his own spiritual unfoldment into the fullness of
God. But it must be read in the Spirit if the reader is to get the lesson it teaches. It
is the will of God that the eyes of our understanding should be enlightened, that we might
know what hope God had when He formed us. And in this book of Genesis, diligence and
prayer and God's Spirit will bring to light worlds of truth infinitely beyond the
conception of the carnal mind; and humble faith will discover realms of wisdom and
knowledge and glory as complete and wondrous in the Word, as science with all her
researches has found in the material universe.
THE DOMINION OF MAN
Genesis, like all the other books of the Bible, has its own
unique purpose in the revealing of God's plan. Its first and foremost object is to show us
GOD'S ORIGINAL THOUGHT AND PURPOSE in creation. In the
letter we are shown a physical
man given dominion over the physical earth. In the spirit we see a spiritual man given dominion over the
spiritual world. The burning desire within the heart of God is that we might know what
purpose He had when He called us. He desires that we know the rich inheritance He has in
His saints, and that we may grasp the greatness of the power He manifested toward us when
He raised up Jesus Christ from the dead to set Him at His own right hand, PUTTING ALL
THINGS UNDER HIS FEET. It is God's will that we should know that He has quickened us and
made us alive in Him that we might share His glory and sit with Him in heavenly places,
far above every principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is
named, both in this age and in the ages to come. It is God's will that we should know that
this magnificent display of grace has been manifested toward us so that we who have now
been made partakers of it may in the ages to come show forth the exceeding riches of His
grace to all those who as yet have not partaken of it. For this, I avert, is the meaning
of the words of the apostle in Eph. 2:6-7: God "hath raised us up together, and made
us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might SHOW (reveal, exhibit, put on display) the
exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Jesus Christ." God's
GRACE PUT ON DISPLAY in countless ages yet to come! People foolishly talk about the ending of the grace of God, or the ending of age of grace. You might as well speak of the
DEATH OF GOD as to speak of the ending of His grace! WE have been saved entirely BY HIS
GRACE; why, then, should we confine His power, or for one moment think that it cannot
bless the inhabitants of the ages yet to come? Truly, as the scripture affirms, HIS MERCY
IS FOREVER.
In order to understand God's ultimate purpose for man we
must return to His original order. "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after
our likeness: so God created man IN HIS OWN IMAGE." (Gen. 1:26-27). In this text the
fall is shown not to be man's normal state. Man today, like Adam, may be far off from God,
yet in his heart, as in Scripture, a witness will be heard, saying that this distance is
through self-will. He may live in sin and sorrow; but deep in his conscience he knows that
such a life is in opposition to the will and purpose of his Creator. Therefore is God's
creation, in His image, shown BEFORE THE
FALL, to confirm the voice that speaks to every human heart, and which declares that
though all men walk as Adam, sin and death are not part of God's eternal order, but a mere
temporary arrangement in the working out of God's great plan. Man's proper place is seen
IN CHRIST, the last Adam, prefigured by the first Adam before he fell. Adam, ruling all
creatures, and all things, is the type of man in Christ, as God makes him.
By such rulership committed to Adam we get some idea of what
sort of beings we are. One might be so impressed with the majesty of the silent,
speechless mountain that lifts its white peak high above the clouds as to worship in
silence at its altar; so suggestive is it of the infinite. But what is a mountain, or a
star for that matter, or billions of galaxies of stars and suns and planets and moons as
compared with a man? They think not, speak not, neither do they feel or hope or love or
plan or build or have a duty or a destiny. Man is God’s image and likeness! It is
interesting to note that the almighty Creator fashioned and formed everything of nature
throughout the unbounded heavens and into the depths of the earth then, after completing
and ordaining all, He gave us the true estimate of man’s greatness and purpose when
he said, “Let us make man in our image,
and after our likeness: and let them
have dominion.” Man therefore is
not only the most important creature on the earth, but the most important creature
anywhere in the universe. Can we not see by this that Adam stood in the midst of the vast
creation as the revelation of God to it
all. In man in God’s image the invisible God became visible to the material creation. God’s purpose was to
reveal Himself to His creation and bring everything everywhere into intimacy of fellowship
and vital union with Himself.
Adam was God’s special gift to the entire creation. He
came not from the brute ancestry, nor from the muck of some primordial sea, nor from the
mire of the jungle but from the hand and spirit and breath of the Divine Creator. Time
will not allow us to dwell on the glories of man in God’s image, but Adam was
perfect, pure and powerful. He was without spot or stain, taint or tarnish. Pure in
character, perfect in holiness, powerful in personality. He was the embodiment of all
wisdom and knowledge. He was able to do on the morn of creation what no sage, scientist,
or naturalist could do today. He found himself surrounded from the beginning with vast
kingdoms of living things – fish, birds, animals. These were brought to him and at
the command of God he gave them names. In the typology of scripture a name denotes a
nature. Make no mistake about it, my friend, Adam did something greater for them then
merely classifying all the creatures which God had created in the world. When he
“named” these creatures the wonderful truth is that he “natured” them
– that is, he spoke creatively the nature that his mind of wisdom and knowledge
conceived. Sovereignty and authority rested like a crown of glory upon the head of Adam.
He was made the Lord over all the creation of God to rule and reign. As the visible
expression of the invisible Creator. In him God was to be seen and known and touched by
everything everywhere.
We are never told how long Adam lived in that wonderful
Garden where the glory of God was revealed through him in dominion and blessing to
creation but that glorious reign of wonder and peace under the direction of a son in the
image of God was but a dim figure of the day when a whole company of sons in God’s
image would reign in splendor over all things in all realms throughout all worlds and all
things in heaven and in earth would be gathered together into union with God in His life
and purpose. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the first and Head of this glorious company, and as
typified and shadowed by the first man Adam He is the connecting link between God and
creation – the revelation of the invisible Father to the physical worlds. A God who
is unseen and unknown, or who is only the product of inferences from creation, or
providence, or the mysteries of history, or the wonders of my own inner life, the creature
of logic or of reflection, is very powerless to sway and influence men or to affect
creation. The limitations of our physical faculties and the boundlessness of our hearts
both cry out for a God who is nearer to us than that, whom we can see and love and know.
The whole world wants the making visible of Divinity as its deepest want.
Christ meets this need. How can you make wisdom visible? How
can a creature see love or purity? How do I see your spirit? By the expression and deeds
of your body! And the only way by which God can ever come near enough to the material
creation to be a constant power of eternal life and light and love is by creation seeing
Him at work in a man who is His image and revelation. Christ’s whole life is the
making visible of the invisible God. He is the manifestation to the world of the unseen
Father. Jesus Christ in all His words and in all His works is the perfect instrument of
the heavenly Father, so that His words are God’s words, and His works are God’s
works; so that, when He speaks, His gentle wisdom, His loving sympathy, His melting
tenderness, His authoritative commands, His prophetic threatenings, are the speech of God,
and that when He acts, whether it be by miracle, by wonder, by transforming grace, by
creative energy, what we see is God working before our eyes as we never see Him in any
other creature or thing anywhere in the whole universe.
I do not hesitate to tell you that the name of God is Jesus.
“God has highly exalted Him and has freely bestowed on Him THE NAME that is above every name, that in the name of Jesus
every knee should bow, in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth…” (Phil 2:9,
Amplified). The name of Jesus is higher than any other
name in heaven and in earth – higher
than Elohim, higher than Yahweh, higher than El Shaddai, higher than El Elyon – the only name
before whom all things should and must and shall bow. So we say to creation,
“Come and let us introduce you to God. His name is Jesus.” But you cannot mean
that seriously, you say. You don’t honestly think that a Galilean peasant could
really reveal to men and angels and demons the Creator of the world? Surely this sort of
talk belongs to a bygone age, an age when man lived in a little world with small ideas of
space and time? Look up at the stars, and think of them in terms of modern astronomy, and
you will see how absurd this is. The calling of the Creator by a pet name, is like trying
to domesticate
But let us pause here. The grand fact is that this Jesus of
Nazareth, by the sheer force of His personality, has so impressed Himself upon mankind,
and upon human history, and upon principalities and powers in the heavens, and upon
spirits in the darkest underworld, and continues to impress Himself, that the only
adequate description we can give of Him is that He is Emmanuel – God with us; that in the man Jesus dwelt and
dwells all the fullness of the Godhead, under bodily conditions. In Him all we can ever
know of the invisible Creator becomes concrete, and therefore becomes powerful to save.
And if all this has been effected by one
son of God revealing the Father to creation, what, I ask, shall be the result when a vast
company of sons shall be brought to rule and reign in His glorious image and likeness over
all the earth and throughout the vastnesses of infinity forevermore. ah! what an Eden of
God’s glory it will be when judgment is given (to the saints) of the Most High, when
all the (overcomers) out of all the ages (sit with the Christ of God in His throne) even
as He overcame and is set down with His Father in His throne, when SAVIOURS shall come up
on MOUNT ZION to judge the HOUSE OF ESAU (flesh) and the KINGDOM SHALL BE THE LORD’S
(Obadiah 21). Then shall the earth be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters
cover the sea. Then shall all things in heaven and in earth be reconciled and gathered
together into one in Christ. Then shall God be all-in-all.
Man in Christ, man in God's image, is God's government in
the
You won't quite grasp that at first. Its too overwhelming!
To be crowned means to be given KINGLY RULE. To be crowned with
GLORY and HONOR is to be given such rule as Christ Jesus has NOW, and of that rule we
read, "Whom He hath appointed Heir and lawful Owner of all things, also by and
through Whom He created the worlds and the reaches of space and the ages of time –
that is, He made, produced, built, operated and arranged them in order. He is the sole
expression of the glory of God – He is the perfect imprint and the very image of
God's nature, upholding and maintaining and guiding and propelling the UNIVERSE by His
mighty word of power, taking a place and rank by which He himself became as much superior
to angels as the glorious Name which He has inherited is different from and more excellent
than theirs. For to which of the angels did God ever say, You are My Son, today I have
begotten You, that is, established You in an official Sonship relation, with kingly
dignity?" (Heb. 1:2-5, Amplified Bible). And again, "Who is the image of the
invisible God. by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth,
visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or
powers. and ye are complete IN HIM WHICH IS THE HEAD OF A-L-L PRINCIPALITY AND
POWER" (Col. 1:15-17; 2:9-10).
All who come to God's image are destined to share that
awesome dominion, seated together with Him, far above all principality and power. But
– "We see not yet all things
put under him (man). But we see Jesus.
CROWNED WITH GLORY AND HONOR" (Heb. 2:8-9). Verse ten shows that Jesus is the
Captain, the Leader, the One who goes before leading the way – bringing many sons to
the very same glory that God has crowned Him with!
The reason so many people fail to attain to the great
heights of the Spirit is because they are unable to see God's purpose, and therefore they
have no particular incentive to seek the great heights that are in Him. So many Christians
are far too taken up with carnal ideas and childish notions about mansions in the skies
and harps and white night gowns and sitting on clouds eating pork chops with nothing to do
and all eternity to do it in, to be able to see the true purposes of God!
SUBDUING ALL THINGS
That man should bear the image of God and have dominion over all things is the first announcement of God's intention regarding man and the first announcement of His purpose, and locked up in that wonderful declaration is a universe of meaning that does not reach the eye and that the mind has never understood. Furthermore, after God announced that man should have dominion over all realms, He then commanded the man, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply (reproduce the image of God), and replenish the earth and SUBDUE IT" (Gen. 1:28). God instructed man to “subdue” the earth, and to “have dominion over… every living thing that moveth upon earth.” These are military terms – first conquer, and then rule.
The word "subdue" here is the Hebrew word KABASH
which means "to tread down; conquer; subjugate; bring into bondage." Allow me to
stir up your pure minds to think for a moment – what was there in the earth that
needed to be TREADED DOWN, CONQUERED, SUBJUGATED, and BROUGHT INTO BONDAGE to Adam? When
the Lord gave Adam this command to TREAD DOWN and CONQUER, sin had
not yet entered into man's experience, nor any of sins results. There was no sin,
sickness, trouble, sorrow, nor limitation. There was no death. What, then, was there for
Adam to conquer? Now, notice further the responsibility laid upon Adam in Gen. 2:15,
"And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it to
KEEP it." The word "keep" here is the Hebrew word SHAMAR which means
"to guard," as you can see in chapter
It seems to me that if Adam was to guard the Garden against
something, there surely must have been things that were not in harmony with man in God's
image. Would not divine sense, or human sense, or common sense indicate that if Adam was
to tread down and conquer and subjugate things upon earth, there were things that were
overtly hostile to him. It should be crystal clear that we have had a false notion if we
have been among those who assume that in the beginning EVERYTHING WAS HARMONIOUS in God's
creation. How could they have been when we read of one, that ancient serpent, which is the
devil and satan, who was already in the earth IN THE BEGINNING, of whom it is written,
"The devil sinneth FROM THE BEGINNING.
He was a murderer FROM THE BEGINNING,
and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a
falsehood, he speaks what is natural to him; for he is a liar AND THE FATHER OF LIES" (I Jn. 3:8; Jn.
I must confess that I used to believe, as many folks do,
that in the beginning Adam walked upon earth surrounded by the beasts of the field, the
lions, tigers, dinosaurs, cattle, dogs, snakes, scorpions, and creeping things – and
that all these were so naturally peaceful and docile that Adam was able to romp and tussle
playfully with them all, without hostility or fear. Not so! These are but typical
representations, figures of spiritual things, but the principles in the earthly things
must correspond in nature to the spiritual things. Adam was told to SUBDUE the
animal kingdom, to CONQUER and SUBJUGATE the fish of the sea, the fowl of the air, and
everything that moves upon the earth! If the tigers just naturally ambled up to Adam,
wagging their friendly tails, affectionately licking his face, what need would there have
been to subdue them? If the serpents were not poisonous nor the scorpions dangerous, why
would it have been necessary for Adam to guard against them or tread them down? If the
lions were not wild or ravenous, how could Adam conquer and tame them? If the dogs were
not ferocious, why the command to subjugate them?
And beyond all this, it is evident that in nature all
creatures are not savage by nature. But even the domestic animals must be trained and
guided. Proofs abound on every hand that God's creation needs rule, like "the horse,
or the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle,
lest they come near unto thee" (Ps. 32:9). Good as the ox is to labor, he needs a
lord; man, therefore, is given to subdue and guide him. Dogs, tame and friendly as they
may be, need a leash and the restraining hand and command of man. Have weak children never
been knocked down and injured by friendly dogs? Can it not be seen by this that God
committed to Adam the wisdom, power, and responsibility to RULE over
the kingdoms around him? Before him lay the whole earth, the seas, the heavens, all filled
and swarming with creatures, myriad life forms, each declaring by type and shadow that man
was to exercise dominion over every realm BENEATH AND ABOVE that God had created, and as
creation bowed in obedience to his godly mind, and the dominion in his spirit, that
glorious reign of wonder and peace under the direction of a son in the image of God was
but a prefiguring of the day when a whole FIRST-FRUIT COMPANY OF SONS IN GOD'S IMAGE would
reign over THE REGIONS BENEATH, and over ALL THE EARTH, and over THE HEAVENS ABOVE until
everything everywhere, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or
principalities, or powers, would be in submission to their godly minds and omnipotent
wills.
Ah! let us meditate deeply upon the power and authority that
God has given to the body of Christ. I make no apology for declaring to you the truth that
each creature of the earth typifies a reality in the realm of SPIRIT – good or bad,
positive or negative. This can be seen clearly in the words of Jesus when He says in Lk.
10:17-19, "And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are
subject unto us through Thy name. And He said unto them, I beheld satan as lightning fall
from heaven. Behold, I give you power to TREAD ON SERPENTS AND SCORPIONS, and over all the
power of the enemy."
Spake He of the serpents and scorpions of the fields? Nay,
my brother, He spake rather of spirits possessing the nature typified by serpents and
scorpions, hidden and cunning, slithering about in the lowest realms of man's earthiness,
in the thoughts and desires and ambitions of the carnal mind, full of deadly venom. There
is a revelation in all nature, in light and darkness, summer and winter, rain and drought,
in fruits and harvest, in storms and sunshine. There is revelation in the lives of men,
yea, even in beasts and birds and creeping things, each saying something TO US, and
OF US. Every law and wonder of nature speaks to our souls of other higher
things, and as the growth of seeds was to the spiritual eye of Paul a witness of
development of the CHRIST LIFE WITHIN US, so the serpents and scorpions and beasts and
birds of earth and heaven above witnessed of higher things to Jesus, all figuring some of
the countless forms of NATURES.
The dove is the well known figure of meekness, purity,
perception, love and constancy, and so was a fit symbol for the HOLY SPIRIT who at
Christ's baptism came "like a dove" and abode upon Him. The other fowls of
heaven, as the law of Moses shows us, clean and unclean, each bespeak a kind or quality of
nature, expressing those characteristics that originate in the spirit realm. Hence, in the
scriptures unclean birds are a type of evil nature, as John the Revelator shows in Rev.
18:2, "And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is
fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of DEVILS, and the hold of every FOUL
SPIRIT, and a cage of every UNCLEAN AND HATEFUL BIRD." I know the Lamb, the meek and
sacrificial nature of the Son of God, which is oppressed and afflicted, and yet openeth
not its mouth; but I have known also the nature of the beast, wild and ravenous, that
spirit, so obvious in the world, which stomps and rends and breaks in pieces and devours,
of whom Peter warns us, saying, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the
devil, as a ROARING LION, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" (I Pet. 5:8).
Man was created for the Holy Spirit to indwell, to bear the
image of God, but not all spirit is Holy Spirit, and all these unclean spirits
– the spirit of the devil, and the myriad spirits which characterize the kingdom of
darkness – find expression in man as he FAILS TO EXERCISE DOMINION OVER THEM. There
is one more thought that should be mentioned here. The
birds of heaven represent those
spirits which have to do with the UNDERSTANDING, the mind of man. "If our gospel be
hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not." (II Cor. 4:3-4). The beasts of the earth are those spirits affecting the WILL of man.
Serpents, scorpions, and the creeping things
of earth represent those spirits connected
with the EMOTIONS of man. "And these signs shall follow them that believe; In My name
they shall cast out devils. they shall take up serpents" (Mk.
All these, hostile to the image of God in man, Adam was
commanded to SUBDUE, TO TREAD DOWN, CONQUER AND SUBJUGATE! The Spirit today is teaching us
that when the Bible speaks of something being "under our feet," this is a
symbolic phrase meaning that the thing has been put in subjection to us, we rule over it,
it does not rule over us. We find that there have been so many attitudes and dispositions
which have ruled within us – and as His Kingdom takes its rightful place in our
lives, these are subdued and brought to naught. In the soul-realm we have the dominant
spirit of self-will, impulses of evil which rise up out of the heart, emotions of fear,
anger, hostility, bitterness, hurt, pride, etc. which usurp unlawful sway over our lives.
In the body realm we have the fleshly appetites and desires, carnal passions. And then
there are those religious spirits of iron-clad dogmas and creeds, traditions,
sectarianism, and commandments of men.
Behold, I give you power to TREAD on serpents and scorpions,
and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you" (Lk.
WALKING IN DOMINION
I now wish to share with you what I believe to be the most
startling statement in the Word of God, and doubly startling because Jesus Himself said
it. In the tenth chapter of John, Jesus was preaching and He got along very nicely until
He came to this point: "Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. Jesus
answered them, Many good works have I showed you from My Father; for which of those works
do ye stone Me? The Jews answered Him, saying, For a good work we stone Thee not; but for
blasphemy; and because that Thou, being a man, makest Thyself God. Jesus answered them, Is
it not written in your law, I SAID, YE ARE GODS? If He called them gods, unto whom the
Word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken; Say ye of Him, whom the Father hath
sanctified. Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?" (Jn. 10:31-36).
On what ground did Jesus reason when He said to those sinful
Jews, "I said, YE ARE GODS. and the scripture cannot be broken." This takes us
back to the creation of man when God said, "Let us make man IN OUR IMAGE, AFTER OUR
LIKENESS," when God breathed into man the breath of life, and the living Spirit of
God came into his life and nature, when dominion over sin, sickness, demons, and death was
native in the life of man.
The startling thing in Jesus' statement is not that Jesus
said it to those who were His disciples, who accepted Him as their Messiah and Lord, who
had experienced the power of His salvation, but these words were spoken to those who
rejected Him and hated Him. To such Jesus said: "Ye are gods." That reveals the
divine potential in man, to be ultimately realized. If you are going to quarrel with
anyone about that statement, you will have to quarrel with the Lord! Jesus said, "Ye
are gods." And the scripture in Heb. 2:7-8 says of man, "Thou didst set him
(man) over the works of Thy hands: Thou hast put ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS
FEET." And the original man, clothed in the likeness of Christ, was ruler in earth,
and sea and sky. There was a dominion in his spirit that even the animal kingdom
recognized, that the birds knew and the fish understood, and all powers, visible and
invisible feared. Man was God's king – God's king upon earth.
Man was made to
reign. That kingly being was created in the image and likeness of God. He was created on
terms of equality with God, and he could stand in God’s presence without any
consciousness of inferiority. Hear the words of the prophet in Ps. 8:4-5: “What is
man that Thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that Thou visiteth him? For Thou
hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and
honour.” In some translations there is a number or letter by the word
“angels” in this text. If you look in the margin you will find that the Hebrew
word here is ELOHIM – the same word or name for God. “In the beginning God (Elohim)…”
The Hebrew Bible actually says (talking about man-mankind), “Thou hast made him a
little lower than God.” But there is more! This passage from the Old Testament is
quoted in Hebrew 2:7 and the wording of the Greek text says, “Thou has made him for a little while lower…” For a little while! Man, because
of sin and the fall, has been made for a little while lower than God! How awesome. That
means that God has made us the same class of being that He is Himself.
In the first five chapters of Genesis, Elohim is
the name for God. Man, then, was made in the likeness of Elohim. He was made with the life of God in
him. God formed man’s body out of the dust of the ground, and breathed into
man’s nostrils the breath of life. The Hebrew word translated “breath” is
the same word translated “spirit” all through the Old Testament. The animal
kingdom is also said to posses a “breath of life.” But there is a difference.
The animal creation did not receive their “breath” directly from the mouth of
God. God only “breathed” into the nostrils of man. Man’s breath of life did
not come from the air nor the atmosphere of earth. It is something more than the oxygen
one takes into his lungs. It is the very same breath of life that God has! It is
God’s spirit. God took something of
Himself, which was spirit, the life of God, and exhaled it into man. You see that life
manifested in man. It
is in his spirit. Man was master. Man lived in the realm of God. He lived on terms of
equality with God. Man lost his place by disobedience – adolescent rebellion against
God. He lost his dominion over all the worlds of God’s hands. He lost his omnipotence
in the fall. With the fall went his dominion even over his own soul and body. But,
precious friend of mine, one knows universal man has ever yearned for the return of his
lost dominion. Here is a tremendous fact none can deny: There never has been a primitive
people upon the face of the earth who have not yet yearned for dominion. Not a single
primitive people has been found who did not have in their traditions a golden past where
they had dominion, and a golden future where dominion was going to be restored. That is
the universal tradition of man. The reason for that is, man was created to have dominion,
and the memory and hope of it lingers yet in the mysterious mists of his subconscious
mind. Man has aspired to gain mastery over physical loss, over mental and emotional loss,
and over spiritual loss. This primeval desire to gain the lost dominion is seen in his
offerings, in his drinking blood, and in the priesthoods he has appointed. If you study
history, you will find that human blood was never actually desirable to any people. Why
did they drink it? They drank it to be like God. They drank it that they might become
eternal or immortal. The desire for immortality in the physical realm lies in the heart of
universal man. And for that reason, men drank it.
If we want tangible evidence of the wreckage that sin made
in the world, we do not have to go further than our own selves to discover that when the
CHRIST DOMINION is gone, there follows the unleashing of every carnal and devilish
thought, attitude, and action. A king without a kingdom, a king without kingliness of
character, a king robbed of his power. Man fell from his high place, from his glorious
position; he lost his dominion. Man has been weakened to such a degree that instead of
ruling the animal world, the ANIMAL NATURE rules within him! The elements rule him,
control him. Sin and self choke the virtue from his soul, and satan mocks and laughs him
to scorn, while unclean spirits parade about upon the stage of his mind and body. Because
of the weakened state of our being through sin, we have become subject to the varied laws
of nature about us. We get in a draft and catch cold. We develop pneumonia. The waves toss
us about, we get sea-sick. The terrors of life frighten us, the pressures fray our nerves,
and our hearts fail. And further – by what stretch of the imagination can we say that
man today has the slightest dominion over the oceans of fish? or over the fowls of the
air? or over the beasts of the earth? To be sure, we capture some of them and we kill
them; but so do many birds and animals! Capturing and killing has nothing to do with
“dominion” which is subjugation. Only when the lion lies down with the lamb and
children play around the hole of the rattlesnake will such “dominion” be
realized. And beyond this – man has not done a very good job of managing the
Lord’s creation. We have polluted the earth and its environment. Man has not governed
the world in justice and righteousness, nor has man handled the economic affairs of this
world with equity. Man has been a poor administrator and has done a miserable job of
managing the planet. And man has certainly not represented the Lord and His Kingdom very
well. ALL OF THIS THROUGH JESUS CHRIST WAS MEANT TO BE REVERSED, AND IN CHRIST IT IS
REVERSED. By Christ's indwelling, man is restored to his former state. Oh, no, we haven't
experienced it all yet, but this is what salvation is – a progressive deliverance
from sin and self, and limitation and bondage, and the kingdom of darkness – unto the
mind and dominion of the Christ. Christ, coming into a man's life by the Spirit, exalts
his nature into divine dominion. The rulership of God and the power of Christ in his life
makes him once again God's prince and king in the world.
Real salvation is not mere forgiveness of sins or the baptism in the
Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues. Christ's salvation is intended to bring again into
the nature of man that which was lost through sin. Once again through the divine operation
of the Spirit of God, ministered in our hearts by Jesus Christ, His overcoming Son, the
divine Spirit that rules in the soul of Jesus now rules in the hearts of those who are
being joined to Him as sons of God, bringing dominion. And lest we be discouraged in
observing that thus far WE HAVE NOT ATTAINED TO THE FULLNESS OF THIS DOMINION, Paul calls
our attention to the fact in Heb. 2:8 that though “We see not yet ALL
THINGS put under him (man), WE SEE JESUS CROWNED with glory and honour” (Heb 2:9).
What help is that? Cries an objector: “of course He is crowned with glory and honor,
since He is the Son of God. What has Jesus got to do with the question, What is man?”
But notice, this is the crown wherewith His Father crowned Him in the day of the gladness
of His heart, when, as man, He came
forth from the last wrestle with the powers of sin, darkness and death. He is, from among
men, the one overcomer, who in the limitations of a man conquered and entered again into
the divine fullness of God’s estate for man, becoming to man forever God’s
divine inspiration and pattern OF A REAL MAN AND A SON OF GOD.
By way of illustration, let us suppose a man has the rough material to
make a great number of machines; he first finishes off one of the machines and gets it
perfectly adjusted in every part, as a pattern to go by in finishing the rest. You go into
his factory and see this great mass of material and you ask, “What are you
making?” The artisan replies, “All that you see is only rough material; come
this way and I will show you what I am making,” and he takes you to the machine he
has finished off. “There,” he says, “that is what I am making.” You
would have no difficulty in understanding what he meant. You would see at once that the
finished machine was a prototype – a sample or pattern of what the others would be
when the material was all worked up.
So the apostle points to Jesus in just the same way. “What is
man?” he asks. A poor, wretched slave to sin, darkness and corruption. Yes, that is
true. But God’s purpose for him is to make him the noble lord of all
creation, perfect and complete in the image of God. But now we see not yet this great work accomplished except in the case of
one individual, Jesus Christ. He has passed through the entire process of creation, and
been finished, perfected. Hence, He is “the beginning of the creation of God.”
Now if you wish to know what man is,
what is his destiny, LOOK UNTO JESUS, the finished
man, the only finished man, and you will see a perfect pattern of
the perfect man. He is the great representative man, the “forerunner,” the
“beginning,” the “firstfruit,” and “if the firstfruit be holy,
the lump is also holy, and if the root be holy, so are the branches.” The subject is
not, “what is the church,” or
“who are the saints,” but
“what is MAN?” As goes Jesus – so goes the race! Thus the ever blessed Book
gives us a grand and cheering answer to this greatest problem of life, What is man?
“We see not yet ALL THINGS put under him (man), but WE SEE JESUS
CROWNED.” And so we find out just what this word crowned means. Jesus was received in
the upper world, exalted, glorified, made to sit at the Father’s right hand, put far
above all rule and authority, with a name greater in the sweep of its power than any
other, with all things in all realms put in absolute subjection under His feet. “For
He hath put all things under His feet. But when He saith all things
are put under Him, it is manifest that He is excepted, which did put all things
under Him” (I Cor.
Oh, the wonder of it! HE IS BUT THE PROTOTYPE! He is there as the type
and specimen and representative of redeemed men. We, the whole race, are linked with Him
in indissoluble union, for He is the Saviour of all
men (I Tim
This is my conception of the life of sonship. This is what
my heart reads in the blessed Word of God. This is the way my spirit interprets the
indwelling Spirit of Jesus Christ. This is the revelation Jesus brought from heaven for a
world that is down. Rise, saints, rise up to victory! You are destined to RULE!
"And oft there cometh the wise Lord God,
Master of every trade,
And He tells men tales of His daily toils, and of Edens, newly made,
And they rise to their feet as He passeth by, Gentlemen, unafraid."
PREPARATION FOR UNIVERSAL DOMINION
The dominion intended for man is a UNIVERSAL DOMINION.
David, speaking by the Holy Spirit, asked, "When I consider Thy heavens, the work of
Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained; what IS MAN, that Thou art
mindful of him?" (Ps. 8:3-4). Then in answer to his own question he continues,
"Thou madest him to have dominion OVER THE WORKS OF THY HANDS (the heavens, the moon,
and the stars in vs. 3): Thou hast put ALL THINGS under his feet" (Ps. 8:3-6). In
Heb. 2:8 we see that all things are NOT YET under man because MAN IS NOT YET READY. He is
now in the process of coming into the image of God. He is in the process of coming into SONSHIP, and when that process is complete,
he will take his place of lordship and dominion to carry the will of God into all the
universe. We are on our way to His glory, not to strum harps and sit on clouds and walk on
golden streets shouting hallelujah, but in God's image and likeness to take our place as
lords of God's creation, carrying His almighty will into the uttermost universe.
Since the dawn of history, man has marveled at the mystery
and grandeur of the heavens. On a clear night, our own galaxy, the Milky Way, can be seen
as a star-studded ribbon circling the sky. But what secrets lie hidden in the celestial
realm of outer space? Consider the awesome size and complexity of the cosmos that is
revealed by modern science. Our earth is a massive sphere some 8,000 miles in diameter;
yet our star, the sun, has a diameter 100 times larger than the earth. Viewed from afar,
our solar system – the sun and nine revolving planets – would appear as a disc
in space nearly eight thousand million miles across. Already such numbers stagger our
imagination.
Perhaps we can better visualize such incredible distances by
an analogy: If we compressed our solar system so that our sun (which is actually over
800,000 miles in diameter) was reduced to the size of a quarter (one inch in diameter),
then Pluto, the most distant planet in our solar system, would be the size of a grain of
sand located over 400 feet away! And the nearest star? Again on a scale where our sun is
the size of a quarter, the nearest star, Alpha Centauri, would be another quarter 500
miles away! And in between would be the vast emptiness of space. Yet our sun and Alpha
Centauri ARE ONLY TWO OF 100 THOUSAND MILLION STARS in the giant pinwheel of stars known
as the Milky Way, and our entire galaxy could be easily lost in the endless expanses of
space, for far beyond our Milky Way are additional THOUSANDS OF MILLIONS OF GALAXIES
– as common as blades of grass in a meadow! As man reaches out to explore the
heavens, will he ever find the end? So far, using the largest and most sophisticated
telescopes, astronomers have probed the universe to a distance of over one hundred
thousand million million million miles. If we could ride on a beam of light at the speed
of 186,000 miles a second, it would take some ten thousand million years to travel this
distance! Still, astronomers have been UNABLE TO FIND THE EDGE OF THE UNIVERSE. Perhaps it
is endless; no one knows. With this in mind, how great are the words of the prophet:
"Of the INCREASE OF HIS GOVERNMENT and peace THERE SHALL BE NO END" (Isa. 9:7).
Such all-embracing majesty is far too vast for my feeble
understanding, yet I know by the Spirit that man was created for the explicit purpose of
RULING IT ALL. Rulership over the universe does not mean merely the visible, physical
universe of stars, planets, and galaxies. It is a dominion over ALL THINGS contained in
that universe: every creature, every being, every order of angels, devils, principalities,
powers, thrones and dominions. "Know ye not that we shall judge angels?" (I Cor.
6:3). We are children of the universe. We are universal children and we are not to be
confined to any spot or place in the universe. Even as now our minds roam over the vast
expanses of God’s universe, even so shall we ourselves follow our minds and fill all
things. THIS IS PART OF OUR HERITAGE. We are not bound to this earth. God yet has an
obligation to all of the creation and it will be by and through us that He is going to
fulfill that obligation. The sons have not yet come to manifestation to bring deliverance
to the creation and that is the first thing to be accomplished, for it is only after that
that the work of making the universe will begin.
One world is not enough for a human being. It may be for a chipmunk.
It is not for a human being, because man is altogether too big in his spirit, which is his
real self. To be a real man, he must
reach out into the future, and grapple the powers of the world to come, and compel them to
gird him with strength to successfully meet the Herculean tasks assigned him here. If you
wish to be dwarf men, stunt them, cut them down, and bring on a race of Lilliputians, and
then have them live in holes as gophers do, proclaim the doctrine of man being limited
forever to earth. But God made us on no
such diminutive, low-down scale as that. He made us so
big that unless we can lift up our spirits,
and breathe the airs of eternity, our spirits will break, and we will crawl. The Son of
God comes and irradiates us with the glory of transcendent hopes. As ancient warriors put
on their brows burnished helmets, so the Son of God puts on our brows the gleaming helmet
of the hope of salvation from everything that is adverse, corrupting, dark, and limited.
He begets within us a lively hope, which, like leaping and dancing flames, lights up all
that is within us. Oh, what a glory our Saviour wraps mortal man in, when He enfolds him
in the radiance of immortal hopes, which shine so brightly when all earthly hopes are
swallowed up in the black night of death.
In this hour when our whole universe is becoming our backyard, there
are some in whose minds the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is also shrinking.
Such as these look at the smallness of our planet in comparison with the solar system and
the universe, and have great difficulty understanding why our little earth, small and
limited as it seems, is the divine stage whereon God is enacting His magnificent plan for
the government of all things. The inference seems to be that the
This error arises from a failure to discern the difference between a
seed plot, where the seeds are planted, and cultivated, and grown, and the immeasurable
acreage in which those same seeds are afterward sown. The great mistake in our thought is
that this world is the whole theatre of God’s great redemptive and Kingdom
activities. OUR PLANET IS ONLY THE PLACE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SEED. Christ is the
Seed, yes, He is the wondrous Seed-Corn that fell into the ground and died and rose again
and ascended into the heavens of universal dominion and glory. There it is! His destiny is
our destiny, for in Him we die and rise and ascend! Because our planet is one of, if not
the smallest in our universe, it was chosen for the same reason our Saviour and Redeemer
was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in a stable, and laid in a manger. He condescended to the lowest, that He might lift
us to the highest. This planet, to the best of my knowledge, is the only place in the
universe where God could reach the lowest, in order to lift man to the highest. It is
God’s universal seed-plot for sons.
The apostle Paul by inspiration writes that we are the sons of God,
and if sons, then heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ (Rom.
We do not know what other races of creatures there may be, but I think
it is no stretch of the imagination to believe that, as this world is only one speck in
the creation of God, there may be millions of other races in the countless worlds around
us, and all these will be invited to behold the wonders of redeeming love as manifested in
the sons of God in the day of the Lord. I seem to see these intelligences encompassing the
sons of God with wonder, and in rapt vision beholding in them the image and wisdom and
power and glory of their Creator. As they learn of the wisdom and purpose of the One by whom are
all things, and for whom are all things, the great plan of creation and
redemption shall move from the seed-plot of earth into the vast harvest fields of the
cosmos. At last the visible creation will behold the Man who was created to reveal to them
the invisible Creator. For the first time creation shall see God. What songs! What shouts shall arise
from all these to the praise of the ever blessed God! What an orchestra of adulation will
the universe become! From star to star the holy hymn shall roll, till all space shall ring
out the hosannas of wondering spirits.
You must not think that when you are done working in God’s great
Kingdom here that the Master will say, “I have discharged you from My service. Go and
sit on a heavenly mount, and sing yourselves away forever and ever.” No! I am but
learning how to preach now; I shall be able to preach by-and-by. I am only learning to
prophesy now; I will be able to prophesy by-and-by. I am only learning to love and redeem
now; I shall love and redeem unnumbered worlds throughout vast ages yet unborn. Yes, unto
angels, and principalities, and powers, and intelligences in celestial realms we shall
make known the manifold wisdom of God. All those stars, those worlds of light, who knows
how many planets originating their sphere are inhabited? It is my deep conviction that
there are some regions beyond our imagination to which every son of God shall become an
everlasting illumination, a living expression and revelation of the love of God in Jesus
Christ. The people in those far distant lands could not see
The highest glories of the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, are
revealed to us in Paul’s epistle to the Colossians. In the beginning He was
“…the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: for by Him were all things
created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether
they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things
were created by Him and for
Him: and He is before all things,
and by Him all things consist” (Col. 1:15-17). Can the UNIVERSALITY
of Christ’s creation be more forcibly expressed? In every case the word ALL is used
WITHOUT ANY LIMITATION whatever. The heavens and the earth with all that is in them,
visible and invisible, include ALL creation.
The verses that follow continue to express the UNIVERSALITY of
Christ’s glories in the present and the future. “And He is the Head of the body,
the Church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things
He might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him should all
fullness dwell; and, having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to RECONCILE
ALL THINGS unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether they be
things in earth, or things in
heaven.” The supremacy of God’s Son depends on the UNIVERSALITY or TOTALITY
of His many honors. How extraordinary is the emphasis laid on this vital fact in this
short passage! Within the compass of five verses we read no less than eight times
that the glory given the Christ is all-inclusive and all-pervading. He is the firstborn of
EVERY creature. ALL is created by and in Him, and ALL is created through and for Him. He
is before ALL. ALL is bound together by Him. In ALL of ALL, dwells in Him. He reconciles
ALL through the blood of His cross. And on two occasions this is amplified and defined as
ALL that is IN THE HEAVENS and ALL that is ON THE EARTH. It is said to include both
visible and invisible. What more could be said to impress us with the universal scope of
the Son’s activities?
Oh, what a vast and all-inclusive statement that is! All the
Principalities and Powers in heaven and earth are included in the reconciliation effected
by the blood of His cross. Oh, what a mighty redemption! Oh, what a universal
reconciliation! Oh, Church of the Living God, unto you is the Word given, “To make
all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world
hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: to the intent that NOW UNTO
PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS IN HEAVENLY PLACES MIGHT BE KNOWN BY THE CHURCH THE MANIFOLD
WISDOM OF GOD, According to the purpose of the ages which He purposed in Christ Jesus our
Lord” (Eph. 3:9-11).
This word that we bear came to us by revelation, though it is plainly
written across the pages of God’s Word, and completely sealed us to the knowledge
that everything, and we mean EVERYTHING, everyone, even ALL creatures that God ever
created, are to be brought into unification with God through the blood of the cross of
Jesus Christ.
This earth
is but a proving ground for those who through grace will reign with their Lord and Saviour
over the endless vastnesses of infinity. They have proven faithful over few things. Now
they will be made ruler over many things: over all His possessions (Mat. 24:45-47). And
these possessions are beyond number. We are able to see a few of them in the starry
heavens above, but there are others besides these, and they all belong to our King. He
made them. They are His very own. He shares His Kingdom with His brethren. Out there in
the blue is a Kingdom whose
Of this we may be sure: we who are redeemed have entered a
progressive institution, a Kingdom in which stagnation will never enter. We will ever go
on “from glory to glory.” We will never come to the place where we may sit down
with folded hands and say, “This is the end.” “Of the increase of
His government and peace there shall be no
end” (Isa. 9:7). We, who have been born into the heavenly realm, have entered a
stage of action, we have become active agents in the greatest development program ever
conceived. A whole universe awaits our human touch and divine guiding hand. There is a
universal Kingdom of life and light and love for every one, to explore and develop and
perfect. And if ever, in all the countless ages to come, that Kingdom should become too
small or overcrowded for its citizens, let us remember that we, being as He is, are
therefore, one and all, the very same kind of Beings as He who simply spoke the word, and
lo! the present worlds appeared. Being like Him, we will also be creators, one and all,
and not destroyers, as in our present state. “WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM.”
The real reason behind the present gigantic efforts of man
to explore the universe in this space-age is that there lies buried within the
subconscious mind of man the hidden knowledge that he was created to rule the universe.
Out of this subconscious awareness has evolved today's technological world, and now,
unregenerated men are shooting rockets to the moon and Mars and farther planets, boasting
that he is going to use these as a launching pad to soar to the systems beyond. But man is
simply getting in too big a hurry! He is striving to take over and rule what he has not
fitted himself to manage. Man has not yet proved his ability to rule this planet, much
less worlds beyond. Man with his history of greed, lust, strife, treachery, wars,
bloodshed, deceit, and perversion has now stockpiled enough nuclear weapons to not only
blow this earth to smithereens, but twenty more just like it! And man has never yet
devised a weapon of war that he has not used. Shall the Creator commit into the hands of
corrupt, depraved FALLEN HUMAN NATURE the rulership of the universe? No. Man is reaching
out to rule that which he has not qualified himself to rule – and before it has been
made lawfully his! But what man does not know is that IF, through Christ, he first
QUALIFIES for the trust, it has been God's intention all along to place not only the moon
and Mars and Venus, but THE WHOLE VAST, LIMITLESS UNIVERSE under his jurisdiction!
How can a man rule universe if he cannot RULE HIS OWN
SPIRIT? "He that ruleth his spirit is better than he that taketh a city" (Prov.
So God, omniscient and omnipotent, has established here upon
a School for the training of those destined to be the future rulers of the universe. This
School is known as "the body of Christ." None shall ever rule who have not
graduated from this School! Consider this. A college graduation exercise, at which
students receive diplomas for work accomplished, is called a Commencement. The reason for this is that the
graduating students are not really graduating – they are only commencing to
put their studies into practice. Their graduation is in reality a beginning rather than an
ending and a commencement rather than a termination. Graduation from God’s
I cannot overestimate the extreme value of experience. How do we know, really know, any
emotions of any sort whatever? Only by experience. You may talk forever about feelings,
and you teach nothing about them to those who have not experienced them. The poets of the
world have been singing about love ever since the world began. But no heart has learned
what love is from even the sweetest and deepest refrains. Who that is not a father can be
taught paternal love by words, or can come to a perception of it by any effort of the
mind? And so with all other things. Only the lips that have drunk the cup of sweetness or
of bitterness can tell how sweet or how bitter it is, and even when they, made wise by
experience, speak out of their deepest hearts, the listeners are but little wiser, unless
they too have been scholars in the same school. Experience is our only teacher in matters
of feeling and emotion, as in the lower regions of taste and appetite. A man must be
hungry to know what hunger is; he must taste honey or wormwood, and in like manner he
cannot know sorrow but by feeling its ache, and must love if he would know love. Yes,
experience is the best teacher, and her school-fees are heavy!
George Hawtin has written: “After fifty years of
serving the Lord I am thoroughly convinced that nothing is ever fully learned but by
experience. Talk as we may about suffering, tribulation or any subject we wish, our words
will be little more than idle philosophy until the Lord has caused us to walk with Him
through the valleys of death, the paths of tribulation, the place of betrayal by false
brethren, the unreasonableness of unfilial children, the despair of paternal neglect, and
a thousand other stormy seas. Those who have suffered with Him understand by reasons of
their experience. There is no doubt that troubles are educational. We learn things in the
midst of troubles that we never learn in any other place. I have heard many of God’s
saints who have come out of the furnace of affliction saying that there God spoke to them
and they heard Him as they had never heard Him before. Indeed, we have been told that
necessity is the mother of invention and we can see that in the necessities of life and in
the trials and afflictions of life we learn many lessons. We learn lessons in the night
season that we will never learn while the sun is shining brightly and the brooks are
bubbling. It has been said that the stars come out only at night. And if you would know
the sweet influence of the Pleiades, the influence of God’s higher revelation, you
will know it in the night seasons of sorrow” (end quote).
God, the greatest of all Teachers, understood this principle
of teaching by experience long before man discovered its truth. I have learned a great
fact about God's method of teaching: He teaches about five-percent by THUS SAITH THE LORD
and about ninety-five-percent by EXPERIENCE. I do not mean to minimize the Word of God,
nor the Spirit of Prophecy, but I do not hesitate to declare to you, beloved, that you
will never become a son of God, you will never in a billion years learn HOW TO RULE by hearing the Word of God alone. The Word
must be inworked, and in God's
One begins in God's
At this point our Teacher takes us from the classroom to the
workshop. What a wonderful Teacher He is! He puts us right to work, thrusting us into a
situation where we can apply the principle we just learned about "overcoming."
How gracious He is! To begin with He doesn't give us a really big problem, just a little
one: a difficult boss, or a nagging wife, or an obstinate husband, or some unpaid bills,
pressures, kids, broken down car, hateful neighbors, gossiping brethren, sickness. From
time to time everyone finds himself in difficult – indeed, miserable –
circumstances. The job is too demanding, the relationships on the job are difficult,
trouble is brewing in the home, money is tight, you have lost your job, you dislike the
community in which you live, sickness strikes, the children are fighting, or other
pressures mount. When one or more of these things happen, we are plagued with the malady
that I call THE GRASS IS GREENER SYNDROME.
How many times in these problems I hear people say, "If
it wasn't for this nagging wife of mine, I could really have the victory," or
"If it wasn't for this drunken husband, I believe I could really walk in the
Spirit," or "If I didn't have to work on this job where everyone drinks and
tells dirty jokes and fornicates, I could really be spiritual," or "If I just
lived in a Christian Community where everyone is spiritual I could really be a son."
Indeed? This is nothing but THE GRASS IS GREENER SYNDROME. You see, if ever we are to walk
as sons of God with dominion we must first RECOGNIZE GOD AS THE AUTHOR OF ALL
CIRCUMSTANCES AND LIFE SITUATIONS and see that all of them are the proving ground for
these appointed to rule and reign with Christ! How can we rule if we never learn to RULE!
How shall we rule out there in coming ages if we cannot rule here and now in our petty
every-day problems? How can we overcome DEATH, SATAN, AND THE DARKNESS OF THE CARNAL MIND
if we cannot overcome right where we are in our daily distresses? No, every dark situation
may not immediately change, every problem may not be instantly solved, every adverse
circumstance may not be altered, but we can COME UP ABOVE THEM in the Christ-mind, into
the pure air of God's presence and power, and there is a blessed realm there where the
things of earth do not rule us, depress us, upset us, frustrate us, anger us, control us,
defeat us, nor AFFECT US IN ANY WAY, for CHRIST BECOMES OUR LIFE!
Learn this and you will know a great truth: Christ is not
depressed, upset, anxious, frustrated, nor defeated. And CHRIST IN YOU is not either! And
YOU IN CHRIST are not either! This is the first step in overcoming: To rise up above the
problem in the CHRIST SPIRIT until the problem is no longer a problem to you by virtue of
the indwelling of His love and joy and peace.
Man's first instinct under pressure is to run, to extricate
himself from the situation. When we run from the problem we immediately FLUNK THE TEST.
When we fail to overcome "in" the problem, our nature in that area is left weak,
undisciplined, and undeveloped. Oft time, so they can appear "spiritual," men
divorce their wives, wives divorce their husbands, parents abandon their children, people
move from place to place, from job to job, from church to church. Often people pray like
this: "Lord, deliver me from this job where everyone is so filthy and the boss so
hateful; give me a job with the Full Gospel Business Men where everyone is spiritual and
praise God and speaks in tongues!" Ah, we seek an "environment" that is
"conducive" to our "spirituality," little realizing that in that
environment where all is so beautiful and harmonious we only appear to
be spiritual because there is nothing to cross us, nothing hostile, in short NOTHING TO
OVERCOME! You can run from the problem, my brother, you can seek an environment where
nothing is adverse to you, my sister, you can even have faith where God will just
"solve" all your problems and pour down the healings, prosperity, and blessing;
yes, you can do all this and be a Christian, even a good Spirit-filled Christian; but I do
not hesitate to tell you that you cannot do this and BECOME A RULER!
There are steps to the throne. Your next step to the throne
is before you, right where you are, in your present situation, problems and life
circumstances. All the pressures upon you will either rule you, dominating your mind,
attitudes, emotions and actions, causing you to be depressed, frustrated, upset, negative
etc., or you can utilize the OVERCOMING SPIRIT OF SONSHIP WITHIN to soar up above the
problems, putting them under your feet, transformed into STEPPING-STONES TO THE THRONE!
Ah, beloved, a blessed secret I have discovered: The things I once saw as liabilities in my walk in Christ I have now begun to recognize
as assets – glorious opportunities to LEARN HOW TO RULE,
blessed provisions of God by which I may appropriate the triumph of the life of the Son of
God within.
You can never rule anything until you first overcome it within yourself. To "overcome" means TO COME UP OVER THAT
WHICH IS OVER YOU. The term implies the existence of obstacles in the pathway of the
righteousness, peace, and joy of the
As sons of the Most High, we have access to the same
strength that enabled Jesus to live an overcoming life—and to conquer even death. He
has given to us that same authority and power that gave Him victory over sin, death, hell
and the grave. Have you ever wondered what would happen if Jesus would come and transfer
places with you? If suddenly He would come to dwell in
your body. I have often wondered what He would do if He had my
circumstances, my weaknesses, my lusts, my pressures, my problems. If the Master came to
me and said, "Move over, I am coming to live in your house for a season," I do
not doubt that in a short period He would have all my problems straightened out and all of
my weakness and turmoil under control. He would overcome all of the things that I struggle
with. But the wonderful truth is, my beloved, HE HAS COME! HE DOES LIVE IN MY BODY!
"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me…" (Gal. 2:20). "But ye are not in the flesh,
but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. Now if any man have
not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His" (
I do not believe that any man can experience the victory of
Christ except WHERE HE IS. I do not want to distress any soul, but you must know Him where
He is. I have union with Christ where He is, in the higher than all heavens. You cannot
live in the reality of overcoming if you have not gotten into that region of calm. Why
talk of coming up over that which is over me if I do not do it in union with the
resurrected and ascended Christ? Practically we have to learn what the frigate bird does.
When a storm comes on it gets above the region of storms, above the clouds, where there is
none, and there it stays even for days until the storm is over. I am placed beyond the
reach of storms; I am a frigate bird, for I am with Christ in a scene where there is no
storm and no clouds. I am united to an ascended Christ. The Lord says, "The glory
which Thou has given Me I have given them." A person might say, I cannot get this
now. I answer, I belong to the glory now; I possess Him now in glory, and I am changed
into the same image by the Spirit. I belong to the glory. This is where we fully come up
over all that is over us. There is a beautiful promise to the elect of God in Rom. 16:20.
"And the God of peace will soon bruise satan under your feet." Stronger words
than these are not to be found! Greater words than these do not exist! The greatest and
best thing of all about these words is that they are true. If satan is bruised under your
feet, dear reader, it does not mean that he no longer exists. It does not mean that the
negative realm is destroyed and has no more power to mislead, damage, or dominate. That
satan is crushed under your feet signifies that you have risen up above him, gained the
mastery over him, assumed the authority of the Christ within. When this becomes a personal
life-giving light in the very depth of your being, then sin and satan and darkness and
death has lost its power over you. He still exists – under your feet! Crushed under your feet! It is Christ in you who does the
crushing. And He does it as you yield fully to the victory HE IS within you.
A pastor by the name of Barnhouse at one time met a member
of his congregation and asked him how he was. The member responded, "Well, pretty
good under the circumstances." Barnhouse turned sharply and said, "What do you
mean under the circumstances? What are you doing under the
circumstances? Don’t you know that you are seated with Christ in the heavenlies
– way above the circumstances? What are you doing down there?" The man was
obviously quite startled. And yet, a great truth is there for us to consider. I am
reminded of the story I read once of Spurgeon, the great preacher of another day from
As I have stated previously, one can never become an
overcomer while running from the battle. I never cease to be amazed at the number of
believers who want to go through life without ever coming up over the things that are over
them. Every time a hard place comes, the carnal mind drags them further and further into
spiritual, emotional and mental bondage. They look for a way out. These folk will run to
the next town, the next church, the next job, the next friendship… whatever is
convenient. They refuse to mature. Anything negative that crosses their will is avoided
with scheme after scheme energized by the fleshy mind that is hostile toward God. Some of
you are running. Do you know what you will find when you stop. The thing which you have
tried to escape is STILL THERE. You carried it with you. It is within you.. The moment you stop running and
face the issue, the wisdom of God is going to catch up with you and help you become an
overcomer. Turn to God with sincerity, and let Him help you and deal with you. The great tests
or trials that we endure are not necessarily what bring about our development as New
Creatures. The little things, the everyday experiences, the nitty-gritty where the rubber
meets the road, are where the real trials, the true testings, take place. By way of
example, perhaps not many of us remember the era back in the late ‘20’s or early
‘30s, when the in thing was for men to do things that were unusual or
bizarre. Some of you may remember the name, Barney Oldfield. He was considered an
outstanding automobile racer of that time. He set a speed record from
Many people, if they do not run from or evade the problem,
seek "deliverance" from it! There is a vast difference between what the present
religious realms call deliverance, and the Kingdom principle of overcoming. What most
people call deliverance today is an effort to escape out of their pressure and problem, not an
overcoming. Overcoming means to GAIN THE VICTORY OVER THE SITUATION. In deliverance God
takes something away from you, as you would take a knife from a child. But in overcoming
God’s sons are being processed, so that they will know the cause and deal with the
root of the trouble within themselves. The knife is not taken away – you learn how to
use the knife! The dealings and processings must be thorough, until HIS IMAGE be formed in
us. If your car has difficult climbing a hill, you can do one of two things: (1) make the
hill less steep, or (2) increase the horsepower of the car. God usually wants to change
us, not the hill. How many of my readers have had a battle with a bad temper? No need to raise your hand! Temper in balance is a
godly emotion, God Himself possesses the emotions of hatred, jealousy, vengeance, anger,
etc. Jesus was angry with a holy anger when He took a whip and overturned the tables of
the money changers and drove them from the temple. Anger and emotion was part of the
original equipment man was given to give him an aggressive drive so that he can accomplish
worthwhile things in this life. For example, controlled, temperate, balanced anger will
neither ignore a child’s misbehavior nor abuse him. It will correct in the proper
spirit of firmness and sternness – tempered with love. "Whom the Lord loveth He
chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth" (Heb. 12:6) Eph.
4:26 says, "Be ye angry, and sin not." In simple terms this means, "Be
angry – but let it be a controlled, balanced anger will act effectively, not
destructively." For you see, anger out of control is vicious, destructive, and often
deadly. Uncontrolled or misdirected anger can devastate one’s life. But let me make
one thing very clear – God has absolutely no desire to "deliver" you from
your temper! Anger is not on God’s agenda for deliverance. He intends for you to
OVERCOME it. God does indeed deliver people from things over which they have no control,
or which they are ill-equipped to handle. God does take knives from children! But for sons emotion
is not to be "cast out" like a demon; it is to be overcome and
brought into its proper place in our lives in the mind of Christ. How many things
believers seek God to deliver them from that He has ordained them to overcome! So many of
us are like Helga in a story I heard. Helga and Henry were a Swedish couple. They were
married for sixty years. They fought like cats and dogs every day of their lives. Finally,
on their 60th wedding anniversary they began the morning with a terrible spat. They argued
all day long. At the end of the day, Helga said to her husband, "Henry, tonight I
think ven ve pray, ve better pray for peace. Ve been fighting each other for sixty years,
Henry. May the Lord give us peace. So tonight, I think I’ll pray that the Lord will
take you home and I’ll go live with my sister Olga."
True men never seek escape from the difficulties of the way,
whatever the issue may be. Someone has said that difficulties faced are half conquered. At
any rate one who evades the pathway of the will of God discovers greater difficulties, as
the prophet Jonah soon realized. The world’s greatest acclaimed men not only faced
difficulties but conquered them; the pioneer fathers not only hewed their way through the
trackless forests, but laid the foundations of what we today enjoy; Columbus not only
sailed the stormy and uncharted seas, but he opened the gateway to hitherto unknown
continents where, later, men might come and find their homes; Carey and Judson and
Livingstone not only fought their way through the opposition of their friends, but also
laid the foundation stones of all modern missions; Luther not only refused the advice of
his friends to win a personal victory, but he set all Europe free in a religious
reformation; George Washington and Abraham Lincoln faced tremendous odds, but steadfastly
they went forward until a new nation was born and age-long wrongs were righted. It is how
we learn to handle our challenges that separates the boys from the men – the children of
God from the sons of God.
Some of you who read these lines and are facing severe
problems today, are feeling frustrated, at this point, by my apparently trivial treatment
of circumstances that tower so ominously and menacingly before you. You think I don’t
understand just how bad your situation really is, or how many times you have failed.
Listen! I would not make the solution so simple, if it were not simple. These are
principles I have proven in my own experience through years of walking with God. The
answer lies so near – right there within you. The difference lies in whether you view
your situation as a problem or a challenge. "What difference does it make whether I
call it a problem or a challenge," you say. The difference is all important!
Here’s why: If you perceive an obstacle in your path as a problem, you will nurture
negative emotions in respect to it – like anger, frustration, despair, hopelessness,
and depression. These emotions are like gravediggers - they carve out the pit of failure
and death in which to bury you! On the other hand, if somehow the Holy Spirit can give you
the revelation of it, if you can see by the inspiration of the Almighty that the obstacle
is God’s challenge – you have received the spiritual attitude in which spiritual
emotions are released – like faith, hope, confidence, peace, rest, joy, thanksgiving,
encouragement, wisdom, knowledge, understanding and power. These positive emotions, the
fruit of the Spirit, will energize you and propel you through and over and out of and
above the obstacle, bringing strength and triumph! You see, precious friend of mine, the
only problems in the world are problems that are perceived as problems. When the problem ceases (in your mind)
to be
a problem to you, you have risen above it, come up over it, OVER-COME IT! Who cares
how high a mountain is when he is flying high above it!
You may have
heard the old parable of the two frogs, both of which fell into a container of cream. The
frogs tried to leap out but could not make it. One frog was a fatalist. He began to think
defeatest thoughts and the acids of futility spread through his mind. He said to himself,
“I won’t get out of here, so why knock myself out trying?” In despair and
resignation he sank into the cream and died. The other frog was an optimist. He was made
of sterner stuff. He had the character of an overcomer. He said to himself, “Sure, I
could die here, but if I do, believe me, I shall go down with every flag flying.” He
swam around, thrashed about, beat the cream, made a great stir. Gradually, he began to
feel solid footing. His
legs, whipping like little pistons, got traction, and finally he leaped victoriously from
the container, the contents of which he had churned into solid butter. Ah, yes, my
beloved, OBSTACLES ARE STEPPING STONES!
During World War II, a young bride from
Two men looked out from prison bars,
One saw mud, the other saw stars.
The daughter read these lines over and over again. She began
to feel ashamed of her response to the situation she was in. She really didn’t want
to leave her husband, and so she said to herself, "All right, I’ll look for the
stars." In the days that followed she began to make friends with the Indians. She
began to take lessons in weaving and pottery from them. She became fascinated by their
culture and history – everything about them. Moreover, she began to study the desert.
In the process, she saw it wonderfully transformed from a desolate, forbidding place to a
marvelous expanse of beauty. She studied the various forms of cacti, the yuccas, and the
Joshua trees. She collected seashells that had been deposited there perhaps millions of
years before when the sands had been an ocean floor. Later, she became such an expert on
the area that she wrote a book about it. A remarkable transformation had taken place. But
what had changed, really, to make that possible? Not the weather. Not the desert. Not the
lack of modern conveniences. Not the long days without her husband. Not the Indians. What had changed was her own attitude. Simply by changing her own attitude –
"All right, I’ll look for the stars," she said – she had transformed a
miserable life situation into a highly rewarding experience. THIS IS THE PRINCIPLE OF THE
DOLPHIN – THE BREAKING OUT OF A LOWER WORLD TO VIEW THE HIGHER. This principle is
redemptive, restorative, creative. It works on the natural plane, as in the story just
shared, but in that higher dimension of the
I have some good news for you, my friends! As soon as you
conquer the situation you are in right now, God has a bigger mess arranged for you! Oh,
yes, this is God's
The journey to the throne of the universe begins in that
small and undistinguished place where you are. It is impossible to over-emphasize this
foundational and fundamental truth: The Kingdom is within
you. It is here, Oh child of the Most High, that the magnificence of the
all-encompassing, all-enduring, everlasting
As I have previously pointed out, this present time is but a
proving ground for those who through grace will reign with their Lord over the endless
vastnesses of infinity. He is raising us up to sit with Him in the higher than heavenlies.
And the place which He is preparing for each one is not only a world to come, and a
Kingdom of life and light, but a place IN HIM, bone of His bone, flesh of His flesh,
Spirit of His Spirit, nature of His nature, life of HIS LIFE!
Chapter 18
CONSCIENCE IN THE GARDEN
"And they were both naked, the man and
his wife, AND WERE NOT ASHAMED. And the woman took of the fruit, and did eat, and gave
also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened,
and they KNEW THAT THEY WERE NAKED; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made
themselves aprons" (Gen. 2:25; 3:6-7).
The first chapters in the Book of Genesis stand unmoved and immovable,
as a record which is still more up to date than ALL modern human wisdom and knowledge. The
first three chapters of Genesis are stupendous miracles of TRUTH. The entire plan,
purpose, and economy of God are as visible there as the stars which come to the view of
human eyes in the darkness of night. The word "genesis" of course means
"origin" or "beginning," and the Book of Genesis gives the only true
and reliable account of how ALL THINGS and ALL CONDITIONS and ALL STATES OF BEING came
into existence. Gen 1:1 reads, "In the beginning God created." Yes, in the
plural number – "beginnings." There were many things begun all at the same
time, as the manifold wisdom of God found expression in innumerable ways to bring forth
into the realm of visibility the majestic purposes of God.
This truth forms the springboard for the thoughts we would share in
this study concerning the CONSCIENCE. It is not difficult to understand the conscience.
The word "conscience" is translated, in the Bible, from the Greek word
"suneidesis" meaning, CO-PERCEPTION or A KNOWING WITH ONESELF. The root from
which it comes means "to understand, to be aware, to see completely." When the
Scripture says of Adam and Eve, "The eyes of them both were opened, and they
KNEW THAT THEY WERE NAKED," it means that the eyes of their carnal understanding,
sense knowledge, were opened and suddenly THEY KNEW THEMSELVES. Ones conscience indicates
the nature of what he understands and perceives. To perceive right from wrong is
one function of the conscience. To condemn or justify is another one of its functions.
THE ORIGIN OF THE CONSCIENCE
Let us now look at the origin of the human conscience. When did it
first exist, and how did it come into being? The word "conscience" is used 32
times in the New Testament, but does not appear at all in the Old Testament. This does not
mean that the Old Testament has nothing to say about the conscience, merely that it is
spoken of in terms other than the actual word, for man's conscience is clearly one of the
myriad things that had its beginning in the first three chapters of Genesis.
"And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not
ashamed. and the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the
garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said,
Ye shall not eat of it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not
surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, THEN YOUR EYES SHALL BE
OPENED, and ye shall be as gods, KNOWING GOOD AND EVIL. And when the woman saw that the
tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to
make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband
with her; and he did eat. And THE EYES OF THEM BOTH WERE OPENED, and they KNEW THAT THEY
WERE NAKED; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons" (Gen
2:25; 3:2-8).
There is no doubt as to the innocence of Adam and Eve when they were
first created. As man stood in the garden, he was neither holy nor unholy, he was innocent,
brought forth by the hand of God, pure, innocent, undefiled, and to be sure, very unproven
and untried. I know that most theologians will tell us that Adam was holy, but there is
nothing in the Bible to indicate that. Holiness, as you know, is one of the attributes of
God, eternal, unchangeable, and indestructible. If Adam had truly been holy by nature he
could not have sinned! No, my brother, God did not create Adam holy, He created him
innocent, without self-consciousness before God or the creation; the one thing Adam was
conscious of was GOD and only of himself in relation to the One Whose will he was to
fulfill, the main trend of his life was towards God. Man before the fall was in a primeval
state, like a newborn babe. At that time he was not ashamed of his nakedness anymore than
a day-old infant is ashamed. This proves that within man there was NO CONCEPT OF GOOD AND
EVIL, right or wrong, showing that there was neither the feeling nor the function of
the conscience. A little child is in no moral or spiritual struggles.
Then the command was given, "But of the fruit of the tree which
is in the midst of the garden, ye shall not eat of it, lest ye die." Now we have a
law – the command is clearly stated – will we obey, or disobey. Sin is the
transgression of the law. Obedience is under trial. God set up a law, and this law was a
TEST for the creature. It spake of death in the midst of life. Strange,
solemn sound! Adam's life was suspended upon his strict obedience. The link which
connected him with Lord God was obedience. And here he failed. He had not known
experientially any such thing as wrong. In this world, if we were only innocent (naïve)
and did not know right from wrong, it would not be but a few hours until some thief or co
artist would take all that we have and betray our innocence. An innocent person is
suspecting of no one or any wrong doing. He has no knowledge of evil. This was man’s
state when the serpent appeared in the Garden that day long ago.
The serpent enters with a bold question as to divine revelation,
"Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" This was
Satan's crafty inquiry; and had the Word of God been dwelling richly in Eve's heart, her
answer might have been direct, simple, and conclusive, as was that of the Lord Jesus in
the hour of His temptation in the Wilderness of Judea. So the serpent continued his
harassment, "God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be
opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." Let us now inquire how far
Adam and Eve realized the serpent’s promised advantage. This inquiry will lead us to
a deeply important point in connection with the fall of man. God has so ordained it THAT
IN AND BY THE FALL, MAN SHOULD GET WHAT HE PREVIOUSLY HAD NOT – A CONSCIENCE, a
knowledge of good and evil. This, man could not have had before. He could not have known
naught about evil as evil had never been experienced. He was in a state of innocence,
which is a state of ignorance of evil. Let all who read these lines meditate deeply
upon this great fact: Man in the image of God was NOT CREATED WITH A CONSCIENCE; the
conscience is A PRODUCT OF THE FALL!
Well has George Hawtin written: The things all Christians seem
to have forgotten, if indeed they ever knew it, is simply this: The almighty Lord of the
universe said, “Let us make man in our image and after our likeness.” The
initial step in the plan, which would take ages to complete, was to make a man in
God’s likeness, but not wholly so, for the man He made was to begin in innocence.
Intelligent as he was, he was woefully ignorant of good and evil, sin and death, and
vanity. Have you ever heard people affirm that it is wrong to spank a child? You should reason
with him, they try to tell you. The real truth is that you cannot reason with a
child because a child has neither experience nor basis from which to reason. In his
innocence he must learn to obey or suffer the pain of correction, and later on he will
understand the reason for your demand. The foolish restraint of parents in sparing the rod
is the one basic cause above all others for the dreadful wave of disobedience, hate, and
rebellion among the young people of our day. A child does not know good from evil, neither
does he understand right from wrong any more than Adam understood it. Don’t waste
your time reasoning with children who as yet have no basis from which to reason. All they
will do is “pull away the shoulder” and purposely break your heart. – end
of quote.
As soon as man fell by eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil, we read, "And the EYES OF BOTH OF THEM WERE OPENED, and they KNEW
THAT THEY WERE NAKED. and Adam and his wife HID THEMSELVES FROM THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD
GOD amongst the trees of the garden." There is bitter pathos in this scene. Two
people, conscience stricken, overwhelmed with a sense of sin and shame, furtively slink
away into the shadows to hide from God! "The eyes of them both were opened," no
doubt about it; but, alas! to what a sight! – it was only to discover their own
nakedness and shame. They had gained knowledge but had lost peace of soul and mind. No
human tongue could possibly describe the awful nightmare that must have scared their souls
when they awoke to their nakedness, unclothed, nude, undraped, disrobed, bare –
BEFORE GOD! It was not any fresh knowledge of heavenly excellency they had attained, no
fresh beams of divine light from the pure and eternal fountain of life and glory –
alas! no; the very first knowledge that came was the shocking discovery that they were
naked – followed swiftly by a chilling fear!
Where conscience is permitted to speak, the pain of conscience will be
experienced in all its gradations, from almost imperceptible restlessness to
peacelessness, fear, anxiety, horror, and wildest despair. Suicides bear witness to the
fact that the pangs of conscience can become greater than even the dread of death itself. It is these terrible and unending pangs of
conscience also which compel the criminal to make confession of crimes, which the police
have not been able to solve. He prefers any kind of punishment to the torments of his
conscience, which he feels he can no longer endure. As every psychiatrist knows, people in
our mental institutions are there primarily because of guilt. People have wrestled with
the guilt they cannot bear up under, until finally their minds snap, and forms of mental
illness develop. Nothing contributes so much to a negative self-image than a deep feeling
of guilt. We read about it in literature: After committing murder Shakespeare’s Lady
Macbeth exclaims: “Oh, all the perfumes of
It was the pangs of conscience – guilt – that sent Adam
fleeing from God, hiding from Him. He did not insolently confront God, but when he heard
God’s voice in the Garden he hid from Him. Adam’s reaction was not one whit
different from man’s response today. How quickly the small boy who has stolen the
tarts hides when he hears his father’s voice, not only for fear of punishment, but
from shame of his own condition and at disobeying a loved one. What a strange delusion of
Adam’s, both then and today, to think that he could hide from God, as though the
world were opaque to God! But in the throes of conscience-pangs he could not flee fast
enough. “Adam, where are you?” With this word God calls Adam forth out of
his conscience. God speaks to him, He stops him in his flight. “Come out of your
hiding-place, from your self-reproach, your self-covering, your secrecy, your
self-torment, from your vain remorse, do not lose yourself in despair.” God calls
Adam forth out of his conscience and presents to him the Lamb slain from the foundation of
the world to reveal the Creator’s forgiveness and His power to cleanse from all
unrighteousness.
Do not forget for one moment, dear ones, that God, omnipotent,
omniscient, PLANNED ALL THIS. Adam was intended by God, ere the morning stars sang, and
the sons of God shouted for joy, to take part in his own development unto perfection by a
series of moral choices, with ensuing failure, sorrow, redemption, and discipline, whereby
He would transform him FROM INNOCENCE INTO HOLINESS!
THE WORK OF THE CONSCIENCE
Now, it is well to understand how the conscience works. Some students
of scripture have divided the Bible into seven dispensations: the dispensations innocence,
conscience, human government, promise, law, grace, and the kingdom. The first three
dispensations are categorized according to the principle of government. In the
dispensation of innocence we see the principle of GOD'S RULE; in the dispensation of
conscience, the principle of SELF-RULE; and in the dispensation of human government, the
principle of MAN'S RULE. Of the three kinds of government, the one which is under the rule
of SELF is the one related to the CONSCIENCE. Before the fall, no sin barrier existed
between God and man. This was the so-called dispensation of innocence, when man was ruled
directly by God. He lived before God and was responsible to God. Man failed under God's
rule in innocence and became sinful within and without: so the holy and righteous God
drove man out from the realm of the
Consequently, from the time of Adam's expulsion from the Garden of
Eden to the time of Noah's departure from the
Our conscience can really be compared to a judgment seat. A
judgment seat never has legislative authority over men’s lives; it has judicial
authority only, that is, it can only state whether the action of the accused is
punishable according to the law of the land or not. Its duty is to examine the deed in
relation to what the law says, and then decide whether the deed conforms with or violates
the law. This is also what the conscience does. It compares our deeds or our words
or thoughts or our nature with the law of the knowledge of good and evil and then
pronounces judgment, deciding whether we are in conformity or in conflict with it. The
conscience acts as both judge and jury, as well as the key witness in the case! In this
realm of the knowledge of good and evil whatever a man does, as far as he does it from
conscience, so far is it lawful, for his conscience is formed of all those things which he
thinks to be true, and so thinks to be lawful.
LIVING ABOVE THE CONSCIENCE
There are man sacred realms of the revelation where I often fear to
tread, not because I doubt their truth or fear to embrace the wonders which their truths
portray, but I fear those reprobate souls who would with roughshod feet and unbowed head
stomp in to gaze with unsanctified eyes at the burning bush of God's sacred revelation,
and who, like those men of whom Jude wrote, with corrupted hearts turn the truth of God
into a lie and the grace of God into lasciviousness. I now proceed to write of these
sacred truths with godly fear and much prayer to God that He might safely hide the deep
things of God from the carnal heads of the "wise and prudent" men and reveal
them unto babes who walk in the love and fear of the Lord.
We have already noted how the first three dispensations of innocence,
conscience, and human government reveal the principles of government: in the dispensation
of innocence we see the principle of God's rule over man in the blessed realm of the
Kingdom of Heaven on earth; in the dispensation of conscience, the principle of man's
self-rule by the inner knowledge of good and evil; and in the dispensation of human
government, the principle of man's rule over man by force.
Before returning to the rule of the conscience, there are a few things
I should like to mention concerning human government and the principle of man's rule.
After the flood, God told Noah, "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his
blood be shed (Gen. 9:6). Because man was neither subject to God's rule nor obedient to
self-rule, God authorized man to represent Himself in ruling over man. Therefore,
not long afterwards there was the beginning of nations; there came into being among the
human races the rule of political authorities, police and military authorities, the power
of society and laws, and the control in the family. For example, in the nation there are
the president, the officials, and the police; in a factory, the supervisors; and in a
family the parents. These are authorities set up by God to represent Himself in ruling
over fallen man. This is why
Sadly, the condition of many Christians today is the same! Their
behavior STILL REQUIRES THE RULE OF MAN. Students must be controlled by their teachers,
children by their parents, churches by their Headquarters, ministers by their bishops, and
believers by their pastors and elders! If that rule is not there they don't know what to
do, nor how to walk, and their spiritual lives become disoriented and weak. This proves to
a great degree that THEY ARE STILL LIVING IN THE FALLEN CONDITION OF BEING RULED BY MAN!
We praise God for every Spirit-anointed ministry that God has set for the encouragement
and strengthening of the body of Christ, they are examples to the flock, and we rejoice in
that flow of life that emanates from each one, but I do not hesitate to declare to you,
beloved brothers and sisters, that if you still need a man to RULE OVER YOU AS A LORD,
whether apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher, or elders, then you know nothing
yet as you ought to know of what it means to be a son of God led by the Spirit. "For
as many as are led by the Spirit of God, THEY ARE THE SONS OF GOD" (Rom.
But, let me ask you, is the principle of self-rule, of living by the
conscience, superior in any way to the rule of man? I declare to you that it is not!
Conscience means A KNOWING WITH ONESELF, and is, simply, the carnal consciousness of WHAT
WE ARE. Many are astray as to this; they think that the conscience will bring us to God.
Did it operate thus in the case of Adam and Eve? Assuredly not! In the very moment when
their conscience sprang into life within their bosoms, the first thing they did was run
from God and try to hide from Him! There is not one sinner in the whole of the
universe who has ever come to God by his conscience. Millions have come to God by the
convicting power of the Holy Spirit, certainly, but not one has been brought by his
conscience! How can they? How could the sense of what I AM ever bring me back to God, if
not accompanied by the faith of what HE IS? Impossible. It is necessary, therefore, for
God to reveal Himself to man. Man's conscience will testify only of his shame,
remorse, fear and self-reproach. It was acquired in and by the fall, it only proves that
he sees himself, naked, and it drives man away from God. It was conscience that drove Adam
behind the trees of the Garden, but it was THE REVELATION OF GOD WALKING AND SPEAKING that
brought him forth from his hiding place into the presence of God. The consciousness of
what he was terrified him; the revelation of what God was tranquilized him. The reality of
what I am is met by the reality of what God is, and here is salvation!
Since man has been
degraded from God's rule to self-rule and human rule, God, in saving man, and bringing him
into the
Self-rule and God's rule differ greatly. Self-rule means that a man
lives by the feelings of conscience, being responsible to his conscience; whereas God's
rule means that man lives BY THE REVELATION OF THE SPIRIT, being responsible to GOD. We
know that God by the Holy Spirit lives in our spirit, and as new creatures in Christ Jesus
we are now putting on THE MIND OF CHRIST. "The natural man receiveth not the things
of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because
they are spiritually discerned. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may
instruct Him? But WE HAVE THE MIND OF CHRIST" (I Cor.
The conscience has only the feeling of right or wrong. It condemns all
that is wrong and justifies all that is right and good. But THE MIND OF CHRIST is above
right and wrong, good and evil. The mind of Christ is above wrong and also above right; it
is above evil and also above good! It condemns all that is wrong and all that is evil, but
it does not necessarily approve all that is right and all that is good. It accepts not
only that which IS OF GOD, OF THE SPIRIT, AND OF LIFE.
Let me illustrate: Lying is condemned by the conscience while
truthfulness is approved. If we live by the conscience, all is well as long as we do not
lie, but tell the truth. However, if we live in the mind of Christ, walking by the sense
of God, then not only can we not tell lies, but also we cannot always tell the truth. We
have to ask: Are these words of God or of my self? God does not want us to lie, but
neither does he want us to speak the truth. What God desires is that we speak HIS WORDS,
WORDS THAT ARE OF HIM, OF THE SPIRIT, AND OF LIFE; not our own words, even if they are the
truth! Therefore, when one is ministering the Word, whether he is speaking the truth or
not will be witnessed to by the conscience. But as to what he should minister, what God is
in mind for him to speak – this only can be witnessed by the Spirit. The conscience
is unable to do anything in this respect. Only through the mind of Christ can one touch
the mind of God and led by God to speak His words. These differences between the
conscience and the mind of Christ are also the differences between self-rule and the rule
of God! We have all had the experience of hearing someone give a good teaching, minister a
good word, yet knowing by the Spirit that they had missed the mind of God and were not
giving the word for that occasion. I have heard many so-called prophecies over the past
years that were good so far as what they were saying, I could find no fault with the
content, the words, yet I knew by the Spirit that they proceeded out of zeal, not out of
anointing; out of the intellect of the speaker, not out of the mind of God. The saints
judged the prophecy by the sound of the words, the truth of its message, and all shouted
amen! never realizing that GOD HAD NOT SPOKEN ANYTHING.
Our knowledge of good and evil can prevent us from obeying the Voice
of the Spirit. Put yourself in the place of Abraham. What if God told you to go out and
sacrifice your only son – the son God Himself gave you. Most of us would immediately
dismiss the Voice as being from satan – our conscience would render the logical
verdict – it is wrong to make human sacrifice! Our knowledge of good and evil
would prevent us from obeying God. Beyond that, we like to make little rules for
ourselves, such as “it is always good to give” or “it is always wrong to
deceive.” Do you see what we are doing? Once we say that we will always do
this or we will never do that, God can no longer lead us in any area of our lives.
Our well-meaning rules take precedence over God’s leading. There are times when it
glorifies God to share and times when it is sin – God commands us not to give
to some apparently worthy cause. Jesus deceived men on various occasions. He stood before
the temple in
George Hawtin once gave this godly counsel: “In the name of Jesus
Christ, the Son of the living God, cease from giving your ear to every man that clamors
for attention, including the myriad voices in your own soul. In quietness and confidence
give your ear to Him that you might know His voice apart from all strangers. Cease
from trying to divide between sheep and goats and seek to know the one truth
Shepherd. He will do the dividing for you. Cease from consulting with men about who
is right and who is wrong, who is of God and who is of satan, but seek to know Him
who is the only mediator between God and men.”
Today there are too few that are living completely under the rule of
God! Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do,
forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are
before, I press toward the prize of the High Calling of God in Christ Jesus, that I may be
a member of that firstfruit company which shall reveal His all-surpassing glory, bringing
deliverance to the creation. Many saints are living in a condition which is a combination
of the three kinds of government. The greater part of their being is under human rule;
they still need to be ruled by man. Another part of being is under self-rule, the rule of
the human conscience. But only a small part of their being is under God's rule so that
they are controlled by God directly. This is a very abnormal condition. Therefore, there
is the need to have God deal with us more thoroughly so that we can, on the negative side,
be delivered from the need for human rule, and from self-rule and, on the positive side,
enter into God's rule to be directly under His control BY HIS SPIRIT OF LIFE WITHIN.
CLEANESED FROM AN EVIL
CONSCIENCE
This brings us to a most marvelous verse of scripture in Heb. 10:22.
"Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of
Jesus, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, HAVING OUR HEARTS
SPRINKLED FROM AN EVIL CONSCIENCE." When quickened by the spirit of revelation this
passage staggers the imagination with its wonder. Such things are too wonderful for me! In
our fallen state while yet our eyes are dim through the ravages of sin and death and the
weak and insipid rule of conscience, we can but see through a glass darkly. But now comes
the word, "Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience," – having
the "evil conscience" REMOVED FROM OUR HEARTS by the blood of Christ!
The heart is the center of human life, and the conscience again is the
center of the heart. By his conscience man not merely realizes that he commits sin, but
that he is sinful, and alienated from God. He who desires to enter into the life of
God must have his heart cleansed from an evil conscience. The words are translated
"our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience," but the word sprinkled indicates
a cleansing. Mention is often made in the New Testament of a clean or pure heart. Jesus
said, "Blessed are the PURE in heart" (Mat. 5:8). Paul speaks of "love out
of a PURE heart" (I Tim. 1:5). Peter exhorts the saints to "love one another
with a PURE heart fervently" (I Pet.
Little do most saints realize how "sin-conscious" we still
are, when we need to be far more "GOD CONSCIOUS." We still have such an
awareness, a KNOWING of corruption and sin that surrounds us, and far too little of AN
AWARENESS OF GOD, A KNOWING OF HIS ABIDING PRESENCE, AND THAT HE IS IN CONTROL OF ALL
THINGS. Oh, to be purged from all the "knowing of sin" and the "knowing of
self" and all the discouragement and frustration that attends this, that His truth
might spring forth from every avenue of our being and bear witness to the glory of God
that is set before us. It was the partaking of the KNOWLEDGE of good and evil, an entering
into state of duality with its consciousness of evil as well as good, which brought such a
state of confusion. It is now the KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST DWELLING WITHIN that shall bring
peace and glory!
PURGING THE CONSCIENCE FROM
DEAD WORKS
"How much more 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" (Heb.
I am persuaded that no man can serve his human conscience and at the
same time serve THE LIVING GOD. I do not mean by this that the child of God has no
conscience, but my earnest prayer to God is that all who read this message may quickly be
brought to see that the true conscience of the child of God IS THE CONSCIENCE OF GOD
HIMSELF and not the old HUMAN CONSCIENCE which has its existence in the fallen nature of
Adam. The scriptures do, indeed, testify that saints have a conscience, but I exhort you
to pay heed to what kind of conscience it is!
"I
say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness IN THE
HOLY GHOST" (
"Now
the end of the commandment is charity out of a PURE HEART, and a GOOD CONSCIENCE" (I
Tim. 1:5). Here are two items: a pure heart and a good
conscience. The pure heart is the NEW HEART, the heart of the NEW SPIRIT. "A NEW
HEART also will I give you, and a NEW SPIRIT will I put within you: I will take away the
stony heart out of your flesh. and I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk
in My statutes" (Eze. 36:26-27). The good conscience is the NEW CONSCIENCE of
the new spirit and the new heart, the voice of CHRIST WITHIN, directing our lives in the
righteousness and will of God.
"Holding the mysteries of the faith IN A PURE CONSCIENCE" (I
Tim. 3:9). Man has three main parts in his being: spirit, soul and body. Before we were
born again our spirit was DEAD – unresponsive to God – and it should be
self-evident that the human conscience is not located in the unregenerate man's spirit,
rather in his soul, for "the first man was made a LIVING SOUL" (I Cor.
Every child of God has a three-fold conscience. Within your body is
the biological conscience which distinguishes between things which are cold or hot,
painful or pleasurable, bitter or sweet, pretty or ugly etc. Within your soul is the psychological
conscience which judges whether things are good or bad, legal or illegal, honest or
dishonest etc. This is the conscience man got in the fall. Now, within your spirit is the spiritual
conscience which determines WHETHER A THING IS OF GOD OR NOT OF GOD, OF LIFE OR NOT OF
LIFE. The natural man is guided entirely by his biological and psychological consciences,
making all judgments upon the basis of good and evil. The spiritual man,
however, judges all things by the MIND OF CHRIST and discerns WHAT IS OF GOD AND OF LIFE.
The problem with the soulish conscience is, first, that it is a
product of the fall; second, it is a conscience of condemnation which can never lead you
to God; and thirdly, it is totally undependable, being CONDITIONED by the external
influences of the world. To understand the truth of what I now say you have only to
observe the life of a child. In their first bloom of innocence children can readily
develop a sense of what is right. But as they grow older, deprived of original simplicity,
imbibing of the voices, concepts, and influences of the world around them - of parents,
friends, teachers, television, movies, books etc. – they become affected by the
values they learn from these sources and their conscience becomes CONDITIONED TO JUDGE
RIGHT AND WRONG BY THE STANDARD OF WHAT THEY ARE TAUGHT. Your conscience is like a
computer into which data has been fed from childhood on. Your computer gives out the
information that has been fed into it!
"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some
shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
speaking lies in hypocrisy; HAVING THEIR CONSCIENCE SEARED WITH A HOT IRON" (I Tim.
4:1-2). The more a person yields his mind to the sway and control of the spirit of this
world, the more his conscience will become seared, insensitive to the spirit of right, and
begin to lose its function. The moralistic sense of the world bends to the desires and
lusts of the flesh, justifying itself, excusing itself, though generally quick to accuse
others.
The conscience takes the shape of the things we feed the conscience
with. If one is born in a Moslem country his conscience takes on the Moslem
characteristics. A Muslim, in good conscience, without any compunction will slay an
infidel. It is his guarantee of glory. He has done the will of Allah. He has acted with a
clear Muslim conscience. This is the very root of all terrorism perpetrated out of the
Moslem countries. If one is raised under communist indoctrination his conscience takes on
communist characteristics, sensing right and wrong according to communist value. If one is
raised in an ungodly home where cursing, filthy language, drunkenness, and adultery is the
order of the day, then his conscience takes that shape. If one is raised in a Catholic
home his conscience takes the Catholic shape. If he bends his knee in front of an image,
his conscience will approve it, because that is the way his conscience has been
conditioned. If another has been raised in a Baptist home his conscience is conditioned by
the Baptist values and if he bows before an image his conscience will not let him sleep!
Suppose all your life had been taught that drinking coffee was wrong.
Would something rise up within you if a person offered you a cup of coffee with your meal?
Would a mere reminder, "But Jesus says in Mat.
Can you not now see why the apostle declares that OUR CONSCIENCE MUST
BE PURGED FROM DEAD WORKS to serve the living God? The condition of the conscience is a
very important thing! In my case, I was born into a Mennonite home in
I remember when as a young man I wanted a tie pin to hold my tie in
place. In those days I pinned my tie to my shirt with a safety pin, underneath. I thought
about the tie pin for a long time and finally got up enough courage to go buy one. I
purchased a rather plain, gold colored one. I will never forget the day when I put it on,
stood in front of the mirror, looked at myself, and said, "
Shortly afterward, when a fresh and marvelous moving of the Holy
Spirit came and swept over my life in quickening, bringing glory and the Spirit of
revelation from God, there came a new and wonderful UNVEILING OF CHRIST to my heart, and
for the first time in my life I saw the bondage of tradition, the commandments of men
taught as the doctrine of Christ, for the pitiful thing it is. The blessed Spirit of God
turned the searchlight within and I saw that just as the sinner needs his heart cleansed
from fornication, adultery, lying, drunkenness, cursing, and all the ungodly works of the
flesh, so did my conscience need to be cleansed from the traditions of religion –
PURGED FROM DEAD WORKS TO SERVE THE LIVING GOD!
How desperately we still need much of this purging, for in many of us
our conscience yet labors under the hangover of multiplied man-made-standards, and
duty-bound rituals and observances. Many who hear the call to come out of
Within the defiled human conscience are ingrained certain concepts of
right and wrong, of what is acceptable to God and what is not acceptable to Him. When ever
we are challenged to change one of these concepts we feel threatened. Then, when God puts
His finger on some area of our lives, and we do change, quickened by His Spirit, it
is hard for us to see that not everyone has to make the same changes! Our attitude is,
"If the Lord deals with me about this, He had better deal with you about it!"
Not so! God alone knows each of our hearts, our motives, our needs, our plane of growth
and development in Him, and He works one way with one individual, and another with the
next. HE ALONE knows the what, when, how and why of dealing with each one to accomplish
His overall purpose and to conform each of the apprehended ones into THE IMAGE OF CHRIST.
All who receive the call to sonship will be dealt with to abandon all confidence in the
human conscience that they may put on THE MIND OF CHRIST.
GOD ALL IN ALL
The apostle Paul wrote of great and glorious day that is coming,
"Then cometh the end, when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the
Father; when He shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. And when all
things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that
put all things under Him, THAT GOD MAY BE ALL IN ALL" (I Cor. 15:24,28). The
Amplified Bible expresses this so beautifully, ".so that God may be all in all –
that is, be everything to everyone, supreme, the INDWELLING AND CONTROLLING FACTOR OF
LIFE." Truly that is realm beyond human rule and the self-rule of the conscience
– GOD the INDWELLING AND CONTROLLING FACTORS OF LIFE, GOD ALL IN ALL!
This will be the grand conclusion of the great drama of the world's
history and of Christ's redemption. There will come a day – the glory is such we can
form no conception of it, the mystery is so deep we cannot realize it – when the Son
shall deliver up the kingdom that the Father gave Him and which He won with His precious
blood and established and perfected from the throne of His glory, the Son shall deliver
the kingdom up to the Father, the Son Himself shall be subject also unto the Father,
"that God may be all in all." It is this that Christ died and rose again for; it
is this that His Spirit is working for today in us; it is this that His heart is longing
for in each of us, "that God may be all in all." And now, joined unto His as one
spirit, the passion of our lives has become: Everything made subject and swallowed up in
Him "that God may be all in all." What a life is ours when this becomes the
vision! I am praying, and the Holy Spirit is wrestling in me with unutterable longing,
"that God may be all in all – in me!"
Yes, the day shall come when throughout all the unbounded heavens, and
unto the lowest hell, God shall be all in all, but now there is a company of firstfruits
being called and selected to experientially know this "all in all" realm in the
here and now, that it may be revealed to the rest of creation. Let us take this home to
our hearts that it may rule our lives – this one thought, this one desire, this one
aim, this one joy, this one faith: From henceforth I live fully, wholly, only, for this
one thing, that in my life, GOD MAY BE ALL IN ALL!
A little seed is the beginning of a great tree. A mustard seed becomes
a tree in which the birds of the air can nestle. That great day of which the apostle
speaks, when Christ Himself shall be subject to the Father, and deliver up the kingdom to
the Father, and God shall be all in all – that is the great tree of the Kingdom of
God reaching its perfect consummation and glory, when there shall not be a creature
anywhere in God's great universe to whom He has not become EVERYTHING. What a song! the
Celestial Song of Creation, when every voice intones the words, and every heart bursts
with the message, "HE IS EVERYTHING TO ME!" Oh, let us take the seed of that
glory into our hearts and let us bow in lowly surrender and submission, saying,
"Amen, Lord; this be my one life – that the spirit of sonship within me here and
now bow in submission to the Father, delivering up the kingdom in my life, surrendering
all to Him, that today, and for ever, GOD MAY BE ALL IN ALL."
God help
everyone of us who cherish the hope of sonship. God help us all to yield ourselves to HIM,
and to make it our everyday life, for His name's sake. Amen!
Chapter 19
THE OBEDIENCE OF SONS
"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 die. and
when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes,
and a tree to desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and
gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat" (Gen. 2:16-17; 3:6).
Genesis opens wondrously, first announcing a creation, then showing it
marred, and then a restoration. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the
earth." As for God, His work is perfect. If He created, His work must have been good.
And yet the next thing is a darkened, chaotic world. for "the earth was without form,
and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep." In some way, not revealed,
God's work had been destroyed. Contrast this statement of a chaotic condition with the
following from Isa 45:18: "For thus says the Lord Who created the heavens, God
Himself Who formed the earth and made it, Who established it and created it NOT A
WORTHLESS WASTE; He formed it to be inhabited." Is this a contradiction between
Isaiah and Moses? That question can best be answered by a careful study of the first two
verses of Genesis.
The first contents itself with a simple statement of a consummated
act: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Not a word about
the method, manner, means or procedure of creation, and nothing of its result. The second
verse carries a tremendous suggestion of collapse in its touching picture of the Spirit of
God brooding over the watery face of the formless void! Let us see what a careful
word-study of this second verse will yield.
In the King James Version the text begins: "And the earth
was." This word (and) in the Hebrew text is also translated "but," or
"moreover." Thus in the Septuagint version of the Scripture the text begins:
"But the earth had become." and this is the sense of the Vulgate as well.
The second word to be noted is the one translated in the English Bible "was."
The Hebrew language lacks a word for "became," so the word "was" is
always used to carry out the sense of "became."
It is so used in describing
The prophet Jeremiah tells us what happened to that pre-historic
world, what happened to the cities, how great areas of the world convulsed, the earth
rolled over, and the tops rolled over the bottom as the mountains trembled and the hills
removed. “I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the
heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all
the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the
heavens were fled. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the
cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger”
Jer.
The second verse of Genesis, then, literally should read, "But
the earth had become desolate, ruined and unfurnished, covered with water and shrouded
with darkness. And the Spirit of God brooded over the face of the waters." Let us
clearly keep in mind that all this is prior to the six days of creation. Isaiah
says that God created the earth not a waste and Moses states that the earth
nevertheless had become a waste. God, then, in the six days, restores that earth,
not originally made dark by Him, yet now in darkness; and on this ruined earth His work
proceeds UNTIL HIS IMAGE IS SEEN, and He can rest there.
This wonder – of a work of God so soon self-destroyed, meets us
again in the beginning of human history, in the Garden. Scarcely is God's image seen in
man, before that spiritual work is marred in Adam. The creature formed to bear God's image
falls, and thus becomes the stage for another work. In each case mystery surrounds the
fall. How the earth once beautiful became "without form and void and dark," is
not told us. And how the man, God's image, falls, is a great deep: for great is the
mystery of godliness, and not less the mystery of iniquity. But the fact is here. We see
man made by the Word of God; and then we see man, AS HE MAKES HIMSELF BY DISOBEDIENCE!
This same event happened to Israel – Jeremiah likens Israel to a vessel that was
spoiled in the hands of the potter, and how, over and over again, the Lord God “made
it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it” (Jer. 18:1-6). What
a comfort it is that, however dark the circumstances may be, God never gives up, and we
read of how the Holy Spirit brooded over the darkness, the chaos, and the howling waste,
the havoc that befell that ancient world. Light came instead of satanic darkness, order
out of chaos, and beauty out of formlessness and ugliness.
George Hawtin beautifully described the scene when he wrote: Our
little minds can but dimly grasp the wonderful transformation that took place when the
Spirit of God began to move on the face of the deep. The water, of course, was ice because
there was neither light nor heat. That was the true ice age, of which men of science often
speak. But now the Spirit of God was moving upon the deep, dividing darkness from light,
dispelling the bitter cold, melting the endless snows and the timeless ice, to make the
dry land appear that both vegetable and animal life could spring forth at God’s
command to live and thrive. Thus it is written, “Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit;
they are created: and Thou renewest the face of the earth.” Psa. 104:30.
What a marvelous transformation was taking place in that natural creation as old things
began to pass away and all things became new! Gone was the darkness, the death, the snow,
the ice, and the dreadful cold, and in its stead bustling life and bubbling song filled
the whole earth. The earth, that was without form and void, and the gross and terrible
darkness that covered it like a shroud is the Lord’s symbolic picture of the
condition of unregenerate man. The description given in Genesis 1:2 – the earth was without
form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep – is an apt and
accurate description of the spiritual condition of a man outside of Christ, unconverted,
unregenerate, and not born again. The word void conveys the meaning of emptiness,
destitution, unoccupied, of no effect. What more accurate picture could be given of an
unregenerate man as he lives without God or hope in the world? The earth was “without
form” before the Spirit of God moved upon it, and darkness – gross, outer
darkness – was upon the face of the deep. O man of the world, is not this a picture
of your life without God? What form or shape can be given to such an emptiness as a life
lived without the Lord? Darkness hangs like a pall over the soul that is dead in
trespasses and sins, and, should one gain the whole world and lose his soul, it would
profit him nothing at all. Moffatt in his translation of Prov. 4:18,19 has so
significantly stated, “The course of bad men lies through darkness dim. They cannot
see what makes them stumble; the course of good men, like a ray of dawn, shines on and on
to the full light of day.” – end quote.
In relation to spiritual life this man begins nothing, continues
nothing, perfects nothing. The wondrous change wrought is by the power of the Word of
God. Life and power are in the Word. “God said” – this is the means
– just as God formed the first creation in that long ago, so He now fashions the new
creation. In both the initiative is on God's part. When all was void and formless and
shrouded in darkness and hopelessness and nothing moved, "the Spirit of God moved
upon the face of the waters." In both creations the transformation is the work of the
Word of God, the living and energetic Word of God. God speaks and light breaks forth upon
the void. The first step in creation is the awakening of man to spiritual consciousness,
the dawning of light in his mind and heart, his perception of Truth through the quickening
of his spirit. Light is understanding; and the first day's work is the calling of light or
understanding into expression. Light represents intelligence and life – a spiritual
quality. Darkness represents ignorance and death. Symbolically these are "day"
and "night." Understanding and illumination quicken and enlighten mind and heart
and man comes face to face with God, transformed by His glory. Those in whom this work
goes on, know that each succeeding step is entirely by the Word of God. As Andrew Jukes
wrote, "From everlasting all the work had been hid in Christ, the Eternal Word. Then,
in time, that which was in the wisdom of God is wrought actually in the creature. Whether
light, or a heaven, or fruits, or heavenly lights, or the living creatures, or the man in
God's image – each form of light and life, once hid in Christ, is reproduced,
manifested in the creature to the Creator's praise. What was in Christ is step by step
accomplished in the earth by the transforming power of the same Word of God. Without this
no change is or can be wrought. No saint can grow or live without the Word. What was in
the Word from everlasting, by the Word is wrought in us" – end quote.
In the midst of
I would here suggest to my reader the remarkable contrast between the
testimony set up in Eden and that which is set up now under the grace of God. Then, when
all around was life, God spoke of death; now, on the contrary, when all
around is death, God speaks of life! Then, the word was, "In the day thou eatest thou
shalt die; now, the word is, "He that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him
that sent Me, hath EVERLASTING LIFE, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed
from death unto life" (Jn. 5:24). And again, "Blessed are they that DO HIS
COMMANDMENTS, that they may have right to the tree of life" (Rev. 22:14).
Then, in the midst of life, God spoke of disobedience and death; now, in the midst of
death, God speaks of OBEDIENCE AND LIFE!
We shall briefly look at Adam's position in
The word used in the original is "tupos," from which our
word "type" derives. The word "tupos" comes from a verb that means
"to strike." Tupos, however, did not take on the meaning "blow," but
rather the meaning of what is left by a blow, that is, "impression,"
"imprint," "statuette" (small works of sculpture). Further the word
also takes on the meaning of the "mold" with which an impression, imprint, or
statuette is made. Thus it can also mean a "pattern." That Adam is called a
"tupos" of Christ means that Adam and Christ are related in the same way the
mold in which a statuette is cast and the statuette itself are related. The mold
prefigures the statuette, and Adam is the "prefiguration" of Christ. The first
man Adam, the type, was made "IN the image of God" (Gen. 1:26), but of the last
man Adam, the anti-type, the reality, it is written: "Who IS the image of God. the
brightness of His glory, and the EXPRESS IMAGE OF HIS PERSON" (Col. 1:15; Heb. 1:3).
Some glad morning, the dawn of which methinks I now behold, when the
processings of God in the lives of His firstfruits company are complete, our eyes will
behold with endless joy the full glory of that heaven blest Eden, the garden in which
walked Adam, the Son of God. Our eyes, long dimmed by the darkness of this carnal realm,
have not beheld such glories as were there; our ears have not heard its celestial song,
nor have our wildest imaginations probed the splendor of that realm of life where Adam and
Eve, the Son and daughter of God, stood in God's image knowing no sin, no sorrow nor
crying, no labor nor sweat, no pain nor death; for even now, in this "in part"
realm of the firstfruits of the Spirit, we yet see through a glass darkly. In the secret
place of
Then in God's inscrutable wisdom the dark hour came when the creature was
made subject to vanity (Rom.
Here, then, when Adam in disobedience and fear and shame hid himself
from the presence of God, was the beginning of all our labor, sorrow and night. The image
of God in man was marred, his soul became like the primeval earth, without form and an
empty waste, darkened, and agitated by the angry waters of its own passions and lust and
frustrations and sorrows. Thus from the brightness of God's glory all men in Adam were
cast out; for there is no difference, since all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God through man's transgression. Upon our eyes a veil was cast that could not be taken
away until the day of triumph in which JESUS CHRIST, THE ONE PREFIGURED BY ADAM, THE
SECOND MAN, rent the veil in twain and flung Eden's gates wide open that repentant,
forgiven, and newborn men might come with boldness into the Holiest by the blood of Jesus
– by a new and living way which He has consecrated for us through the veil, that we
who have fixed our hope upon Jesus may now enter back into the glories of Eden, finding
ourselves IN THE LAST MAN CHRIST.
Though we are not saved by obedience, we are saved unto obedience.
God’s purpose for our lives is that we become holy, and happiness is subsidiary to
that. We will never really be happy or fulfilled until we have become holy. Without
holiness, no man can see the Lord and it is at His right hand that there are pleasures
forevermore. This great truth that happiness comes through obedience and unhappiness,
sadness, sorrow and misery come from disobedience is found throughout the scripture. We
see it in the very opening of history when God instructed man that he should not eat of
the fruit of the tree. But man ate. With that act of disobedience, mankind was plunged
into sorrow, sin and woe. It began there and it has never changed. It ends there. In the
last chapter of the book of Revelation, we read this: “Blessed are they that do
His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life” (
In
When Jesus came to earth He died to all that He was as God to become a
man. But when He came to the Jordan He died again – He DIED TO ALL THAT HE WAS AS A
MAN to be the Son of God. When He went down into the watery grave of John's baptism to
"fulfill all righteousness," He offered there all the capabilities, potentials,
ambitions, desires, and talents He possessed AS A MAN, laying all upon the altar,
surrendered completely to God, reserving nothing for Himself, a burnt-offering, a sweet
smelling savor unto God.
Can we imagine what Jesus might have accomplished had He elected to
use the wisdom and knowledge and power resident in His PERFECT MANHOOD for His own ends?
He could have used His power for wealth and become the richest man in the world. He could
have used His talents for power, usurped the thrones of the rulers of this world and
become Emperor of the mighty
Finally, Jesus died to all that He was as the Son of God, God manifest
in the flesh, that He might live again in the glory He had with the Father before the
world was – the incorruptible, eternal, unlimited dimension of SPIRIT. For when Jesus
was crucified, risen and ascended, He returned to the Father or to SPIRIT and is now with
the Father as SPIRIT, omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. When this Christ or Anointed
One was crucified, risen, and ascended, He returned to His eonian resting place –
HUMANITY. He has come as the last Adam, in the place of the first Adam, assuming his
position as Head of the race, in order to QUICKEN THE SPIRITS OF ALL MEN BY HIS SPIRIT
that they may regain the sacred knowledge of WHO THEY ARE and from WHENCE THEY CAME –
the image of God on earth. As in the first chapter of Genesis, the Spirit of God –
the Christ, the Anointing – is moving upon the face of the waters, upon the faces of
multitudes of people, even the whole vast world of humanity. And God is speaking
into the darkened consciousness of all men the transforming fiat: "LET THERE BE
LIGHT!"
When the Lord God lowered man into this gross material realm man
possessed, by the spirit, the divine potential to overcome the flesh, sanctify it,
transform it, infusing it with the qualities of Life – holiness and incorruption.
Jesus, the last Adam, came and demonstrated for us this very principle. This potential in
man to rule the natural by the spirit is shed forth in Jesus' mighty works – by His
healing the sick, cleansing the lepers, casting out devils, forgiving sins, and raising
the dead – He transcended by His life, words, and actions all the so-called laws of
the material, mortal realm. The great significance of Jesus' mighty works will never ring
clear in our spirits until we understand that He did not perform as a unique, different
kind of man – all His wonderful works were the teaching of what is NORMAL FOR MAN IN
HIS TRUE STATE AS THE IMAGE OF GOD. As the last Adam Jesus demonstrated all that the first
Adam lost--mankind's heritage as the sons and daughters of the Most High. Little wonder,
then, that He confidently and joyfully proclaimed to His disciples, "The works that I
do shall YE DO ALSO; and greater works than these shall YE DO" (Jn.
By the Spirit within (the Father dwelling in Him) Jesus made nature
harmonious – calming the raging of the sea, walking on the water, multiplying the
loaves and fishes, turning water into wine, and making everything in nature, including the
human mind and body, to be servants instead of masters. When a man's life is governed by
the Spirit, his body is in submission to everlasting Life, Truth and Love. Finally, going
to the cross and Himself rising from the dead He demonstrated for all men the wonderful
and incontrovertible truth in the words of the apostle: "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 your mortal bodies by His Spirit which DWELLETH I-N Y-O-U" (Rom. 8:11).
The truth had been lived among men, God was manifested in flesh, the image of God had come
forth in the face of Jesus Christ. But until they saw that the INDWELLING SPIRIT enabled
their Master to triumph even over the grave, His own disciples could not comprehend the
MAGNITUDE OF THE POWER OF GOD IN MAN. After the resurrection, even the unbelieving Thomas
was forced to acknowledge how complete was the great proof of the power of the divine life
in earthen vessels.
By His resurrection Jesus proved the Spirit within to be OMNIPOTENT,
all-conquering, all-sufficient. He met and mastered death itself by the law of the Spirit
of Life. He took no drugs to allay inflammation. He did not depend upon food or pure air
or vitamins or herbs to resuscitate wasted energies. He did not require the skill of a
surgeon to heal the torn palms and bind up the wounded side and lacerated feet, that He
might use those hands to remove the napkin and winding-sheet, and that He might employ His
feet as before. Jesus vanquished every material obstacle, overcame every law of matter,
and stepped forth from His gloomy resting-place, crowned with the glory of a sublime
success, and everlasting victory – the second MAN, the last ADAM – the
role-model for each and every man of Adam's race! Jesus' victory over sin, sickness, pain,
limitation, death and the grave was for the enlightenment of all men and for the salvation
of the whole world. Paul writes, "For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to
God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved BY HIS LIFE
(WITHIN). Rom
Glory be to God and peace to the struggling hearts, Christ hath rolled
away the stone from the human door, human hope and faith through the revelation and
demonstration of Life in God, the life resident in the SPIRITUAL MAN.
We have come to the most sublime of all truths. The beauty of these
celestial realities is found in the fact that all Jesus did He did "for us"
– not in our place, but ON OUR BEHALF. A musician demonstrates the beauty of the
music he teaches in order to show the learner the way by practice as well as precept. This
was the precious import of our Lord's sinless life and of His demonstration of power over
the whole flesh realm, including death. Our heavenly Father demands that all men should
follow the example of our Lord and Master. In order to enter the Kingdom of the Heavens,
the anchor of hope must be cast beyond the veil of this carnal, dying realm into the
Shekinah into which Jesus has passed before us; and this advance beyond the law of sin and
death must come through the joys and triumphs of a people "led by the Spirit"
who are "the sons of God" as well as through their sorrows and afflictions. It
is by facing the enemy in the crucible of experience and by the authority of the Spirit
that victory is snatched from the jaws of defeat. Each and every test in our lives is an
opportunity to prove for ourselves and demonstrate to those about the triumph of the
Spirit over the flesh. Step by step, battle by battle, victory upon victory we ascend into
the heights of the
Man, through self, is all that we see in disobedient Adam, debased and
sunk from God and thrust out of the Kingdom of Heaven into the desolation of self-hood,
from joy and glory into misery; and yet in Christ, THE SECOND MAN WHO WAS OBEDIENT, man
has been, and shall be set in all the glory which the first man typified, so that Paul can
say, "God hath raised us up, and blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ" (Eph. 2:6; 1:3). Adam, sinless and ruling all things in Eden's
blest domain, is the type of the man in Christ, as God makes him by the Spirit; fallen
Adam, losing all through disobedience, with mind and will and body and soul devastated by
the tyranny of sin, sorrow and decay, typifies man in self, as he unmakes his own nature.
Adam in the image of God prefigured, with glories more than the eye can see, the wonderful
hope of sonship to God which is the hope set before us who are today following Christ,
which hope we have as an anchor for the soul both steadfast and sure and which entereth
into that within the veil (Heb. 6:19).
THE POWER OF DISOBEDIENCE
Let us pursue a little further the thought of the effect of Adam's
disobedience upon all mankind. Paul says in Rom. 5:19: "for just as by one man's
disobedience (failing to hear, heedlessness and carelessness) the many were constituted
sinners, so by one Man's obedience the many will be constituted righteous – made
acceptable to God, brought into right standing with Him" (Amplified Bible). The word
disobedience in this verse is from the Greek word parakoe which comes from a root meaning "to mishear; neglect to hear;
inattention." It speaks of A HEARING AMISS, or a wrong hearing. The verse also speaks
of Christ's obedience, the word for obedience in the Greek is hupako meaning A
SUBMISSIVE HEARKENING. If obedience is a right hearing and obedient action thereto, then
disobedience is simply a wrong hearing, a hearing amiss, and then acting in kind. It means
a hearing of a voice OTHER THAN GOD'S, a LISTENING TO THE WRONG VOICE and then acting upon
what is suggested. Adam and Eve listened to the voice of a stranger, the voice of the
bestial spirit of this world, as represented by the serpent, and found that sin was at the
door, and death by sin.
It would not have been so tragic if Adam's sin had affected himself
alone, if all after him could have observed the horrible fruit of his sin and then kept
themselves from the same ravaging despair; but the scriptures faithfully point out the
awful POWER OF DISOBEDIENCE, revealing that it was by ONE MAN'S DISOBEDIENCE that "the
many" – ALL – WERE MADE SINNERS! As Adam fell, we
fall each one, for Adam lives yet in his progeny. Because Adam had the principle of sin
and death imposed as an actual feature of his biological life, his descendants also have
inherited a life principle which involves a built-in death principle. The moment a child
is conceived the nature of disobedience is in him and the power of death – so that in
the same moment he is conceived he is a sinner by nature and also begins to die; he is
dying ere he is born, and eventually the death principle wins out over the life principle
and he does die. And, fallen in Adam, men prove he is in them, by walking just as he
walked. Adam yet relives old Adam's life in every unregenerated man, as Christ in us yet
lives Christ's life. With all emphasis I must declare that at the very most, the worst
offender on earth, has committed a crime WHICH IS INHERENT IN HIS OWN NATURE, and the eye
of the all-seeing God sees what even we, in most cases, cannot see, that the most wicked
sinner on earth IS SIMPLY DOING THAT OVER WHICH HE REALLY HAS NO CONTROL. People tell me
that "man has a choice," but I declare to you that when I came into this world
some 43 years ago ADAM HAD ALREADY MADE MY CHOICE FOR ME. God didn't ask me if I would
prefer to be born a sinner or a saint – Adam answered that question for me in the dim
and misty past! Never in my life did I have a choice until the blessed day when the Spirit
of God came and illumined my mind, convincing me of sin, of righteousness and of judgment
to come, and showing me the things of Christ, taking the glories of Him and unveiling them
to my astonished soul; then, and not until then did I have a choice, and it did not
take me long, beloved friends, to make that choice!
Until the day God intervened and apprehended me sovereignly by His
Spirit I was in no way responsible for my actions and, try as I might, I could never have
been different that I was, and neither could you. If this is not the case then the apostle
lied when he said, "And you He made alive, when you were dead, slain by your
trespasses and sins in which at one time you walked HABITUALLY. You were following
the course and fashion of this world – were under the sway of the tendency of this
present age – following the prince of the power of the air. You were obedient to him
and UNDER HIS CONTROL, the demon spirit that still constantly works in THE SONS
OF DISOBEDIENCE, who go against the purposes of God. Among these we as well as you
once lived and conducted ourselves in passions of our flesh – our behavior governed
by our corrupt and sensual nature; obeying the impulses of the flesh and the thoughts of
the mind – our cravings dictated by our senses and our dark imaginings. WE WERE THEN
BY NATURE THE CHILDREN OF WRATH, like the rest of mankind" (Eph. 2:1-3, Amplified
Bible).
Surely this explains why the day-old infant in the crib gets mad,
turns red in the face, screams to the top of his lung's capacity, and the only reason he
doesn't "cuss" is because he hasn't learned the words! Have you not observed
that in this world children do not have to be taught to do wrong – it comes
naturally! You don't have to teach little Johnny to sneak around and disobey – and
then lie about it. He will do it naturally, out of his own heart and mind, without ever
being taught. Johnny will steal cookies out of the cookie jar and then look you straight
in the eye and swear he hasn't been near the cookie jar – while the telltale cookie
crumbs around his mouth give the lie to his affirmations! Ah, children only have to be taught
to do right – never wrong! Consider the following quote: “Our youths love
luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority – they show disrespect for
their elders, and love to chatter in place of experience. Children are now tyrants, not
the servants of their households. They no longer rise when their elders enter the room.
They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up food, and tyrannize
teachers.” You may think these are the words of a speaker in
Men have, in their very blood, been saturated with sin, with
lawlessness, with nervous temperaments and diseases WHICH HAVE BEEN THE DIRECT CAUSE OF
THEIR TRANSGRESSION. God in His great mercy knows this, and thus it is written, "And
the Lord said in His heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for
the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more
every living thing, as I have done" (Gen. 8:21). I do not hesitate to say that all
the multiplied sins upon earth today ARE THE RESULT OF HEREDITORY WEAKNESSES –
inherited from Adam! Ah, beloved, such is the unspeakable POWER OF DISOBEDIENCE, a power
beyond the scope of human imagination. I now invite you to meditate deeply upon these
inspired words penned nineteen centuries ago by the consecrated hand of the apostle Paul.
"Well then, as one man's trespass – one man's false step and falling away –
led to CONDEMNATION FOR ALL MEN, so one Man's act of righteousness leads to ACQUITTAL AND
RIGHT STANDING WITH GOD, AND LIFE FOR ALL MEN" (Rom. 5:18). Can we not see by these
words what a mighty power there is in both obedience and disobedience?
THE POWER OF OBEDIENCE
How shall I describe the blessing that came to my own soul when Jesus
Christ revealed to me that as potent as was the power of Adam's disobedience, mightier
yet is the power contained in THE OBEDIENCE OF THE SON OF GOD. All the languages and
dialects of earth do not contain words meaningful enough to describe the immensity and
all-embracing work of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. Open wide your heart to
behold the power and the glory of the CONQUERING LOVE OF GOD spoken of in these words of
scripture: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or
distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written,
For Thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.
Nay, in all these things we are MORE THAN CONQUERORS through Him that loved us" (Rom.
But now, take careful note of the truth the Spirit is here revealing.
"In all these things we are MORE than conquerors." Not just a banner waving
sense of personal victory that "I" am a great conqueror. No! It is not that
"I" am, but that HE IS – more than conquerors THROUGH HIM THAT LOVED US. If
then it is through-Him-that-loved-us, by which we have become more than conquerors, then
HE IS NOT ONLY A CONQUEROR BUT MORE THAN A CONQUEROR, blessed be His name!
More. More than. My deepest prayer to God is that He may grant
understanding to all who read these lines that you may see the wonderful significance of
this word "more." You can never comprehend the greatness of God's love, the
majesty of His purpose, nor the glories of His Kingdom and the bright ages yet to come
unless your spirit can grasp this word "more." Rex Andrews once explained that
"more” is that which goes beyond the limits. A pound of beans is a set limit. I
pay 53 cents for a pound package of beans. But if I find in my bag a pound and a half or
two pounds, that is "more." It surpasses the limits of the 53 cents. I am
amazed, delighted, happy, and a sense of well-being pervades me; someone has done MORE
than required or paid for. It has a language all its own. That language of MORE THAN is
what the Bible is teaching from the first verse in Genesis to the last verse in
Revelation. That is what GOD IS AND DOES. That is what LOVE IS AND DOES. That is what
GRACE IS AND DOES. That is what SALVATION IS AND DOES!
More than! You cannot understand God nor His language apart from it.
Nor can you really fellowship deeply with the Father in prayer unless you understand HIM
as being "more than." Nor can you understand what His Kingdom is, nor how it
shall develop, nor His plan and purpose for the ages to come, unless you understand what
"more than" means. If your hope is merely something for you, and the rest of the
"little flock" of saints, and not "more than," then it is not from the
heart of God and is a product of self. Listen! "The love of God is broader than the
measures of man's mind; and the heart of the eternal is most wonderfully kind."
"More than" is something for HIM – yes, ALL for Him! More than means
abundance – MORE THAN ENOUGH.
"The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them;
and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. Then shall the lame man leap as an
hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and
streams in the desert. AND THE PARCHED GROUND SHALL BECOME A POOL, and the thirsty land
springs of water" (Isa. 35:1,6-7). Abundance may mean: a good rain as compared with a
dry season. Now if it keeps on steadily, that abundance becomes super abundance –
“more than” enough. And, more-than-enough is floods (Isa. 44:3). But
again the term "floods" can mean: a wonderful, wonderful abundance, almost
unknown, as compared with a characteristic dryness of long, long standing. That is what
"more than" means in God's Word: "FLOODS" – overflowing,
super-abounding!
And what has God promised? "The thief cometh not, but for to
steal, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it
MORE ABUNDANTLY" (Jn.
I suppose that all the arguments and persuasions in the world will not
convince some saints of the incontrovertible truth of the words found in Rom. 5:19-20.
"For just as by one man's disobedience the many were constituted sinners, so by one
Man's obedience the many WILL BE CONSTITUTED RIGHTEOUS – made acceptable to
God, brought into right standing with Him. But then Law came in, only to expand and
increase the trespass (making it more apparent and exciting opposition). But where sin
increased and abounded, GRACE HAS SURPASSED IT AND INCREASED THE MORE AND
SUPERABOUNDED." The King James Version says simply, "Where sin abounded, GRACE
DID MUCH MORE ABOUND."
No one will dispute that SIN abounded, or that it overflowed, spilling
out of
But what about that other seed that was cast into the earth, the
second man, the last Adam, the OBEDIENT SON? Are we going to credit the disobedience of
Adam with having more power and authority than the Christ? Are we going to infer
that the law of sin and death has even greater potential than the law of the spirit of
life in Christ Jesus? Are we going to believe that the law of sin and death has the power
and ability to stretch forth its poisonous tentacles into every area of human-kind, to the
complete perversion of body, soul, and spirit, and then at the same time draw back in
unbelief at the revelation of the Word concerning the law of the spirit of life (more
abundantly) in Christ Jesus? Five times in Romans 5 does the apostle Paul use the
expression "much more" relative to the POWER OF GRACE OF GOD, IN CONTRAST TO THE
SIN OF ADAM. Shall we not believe that there is a much greater and a "much more"
potential in the redeeming grace of Christ, than there is in the law of sin and death? Is
there not a "much more" effectual working of grace of God in the last Adam, than
there was of the power of disobedience in the first Adam? In other words, are we going to
honor the power of Adam and Satan ABOVE THE REDEEMING POWER OF CHRIST?
Our problem seems to be simply this. We believe, oh, HOW we believe!
in the horrible manifestation of sin and death in Adam – because it is a matter of
history in the past, and of fact in the present. But – we reject the glorious
manifestation of the law of the Spirit of life in Christ because it is not too manifest in
history, nor scarcely visible in this present day. Men will not believe until they see.
But those called to be the SONS OF GOD, though unknown by the world as yet, are even now
believing what they cannot see, and indeed the whole creation groans for their
manifestation, for the creation itself SHALL BE DELIVERED from the bondage of corruption
into the glorious liberty of the children of God. If the life of God is not to overflow
super-abundantly to the entire creation, then the manifestation of the sons of God is
TOTALLY WITHOUT PURPOSE. I do not hesitate to declare it.
Who has not been distressed by the overflowing of evil and sorrow and
death? But – where sin increased and abounded, grace has surpassed it and increased
the more and super-abounded. In the same place where sin and evil overflowed, grace did
– do we dare to say what the scripture says here? Will not someone think that we are
getting off into some heresy? Oh well, we will just happily sing it out – "where
sin overflowed, grace did EXCEEDINGLY-MORE-THAN-OVERFLOW!" Where evil flooded, grace
more-than flooded. Grace equaled the overflow of sin, and THEN MORE. Grace overflowed
where sin did, and then became permanent floods of mercy and redemption! If the Word of
God does not teach this, then I know nothing of the Word. Oft times we have sung the
little chorus:
"His love has no limit, 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!"
The limitation of God's mercy, if it were possible, would be the
condemnation of God Himself. If there are limits to His mercy, then the Word of God, which
says that "His mercy endureth forever," is a lie. The limitation of God's mercy
is a trick of the devil, to discredit God and to defeat His gospel. The limitation of
God's mercy makes the disobedience of Adam more powerful and enduring than the OBEDIENCE
OF CHRIST. I am glad for a gospel that is coextensive with, AND GREATER THAN, the
devil’s work in spirit, soul and body. I am glad for a gospel that is not limited to
one age, or to the three-score-and-ten years of man's frail existence, but reaches out
into the ages to come until GOD IS ALL IN ALL. I am so glad for a gospel which tells me
that God has made a way by which even His banished may return. The Lord Jesus, the Christ,
said, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw" – how many?
"ALL men." "ALL MEN unto Myself! (Jn. 12:32). If that proclamation is not
true, if He is not strong enough and gracious enough to draw every man on earth, and under
the earth, and throughout the universe, to Himself, then He has told a lie.
If you say that sin abounds to an extent not equaled by grace, you
again contradict the Word of God. If God could eventually be defeated in the purpose for
which He created man, to be an "habitation" for Himself, "in the
Spirit," and if He were to abandon all effort, and permit man throughout the
endlessness of eternity to be possessed by the devil, then He had better stop saying that
He is God Almighty. All-wise and All-merciful. That would be failure and proof that the
devil is stronger than the Christ, that sin exceeds grace, which we know is not true. You
will have to tear the Bible all to pieces if you teach such doctrine.
THE WAY TO OBEDIENCE
The Lord Jesus Christ, the second Man, the last Adam, was the first
perfectly obedient man. It is written of Him in His youth: "And Jesus kept increasing
in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men" (Lk.
The writer to the Hebrews impresses upon us the intense reality of
Christ's humanity – His being made like unto His brethren, His partaking of
flesh and blood in like manner as ourselves, His being tempted in all things like
as we are. He leads us in spirit down into Christ's humiliation in the flesh, and
speaks of the wondrous mystery of the agony there, as the "second man" was
prepared and perfected for the redeeming and glorifying work He came to do. Let us enter
upon this holy ground with hearts bowed under a consciousness of our ignorance, but
thirsting to know something more of the great mystery of godliness, the Son of God become
flesh for us. "Who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and
supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death,
and was heard in that He feared; though He were a Son, YET LEARNED HE OBEDIENCE BY
THE THINGS WHICH HE SUFFERED; and being made perfect, He became the author of eternal
salvation unto all them that obey Him" (Heb. 5:7-9).
THOUGH HE WERE A SON – the form of the expression implies that no
one would have expected from the Son of God what is now to be said, – YET LEARNED HE
OBEDIENCE BY THE THINGS WHICH HE SUFFERED.
This is the very essence of the life of man, that the life and the
will he has received from God cannot be developed without the voluntary giving up to God
in all that He asks, even when it appears a sacrifice. Man can only attain his perfection
under a law of growth, of trial, and of development, in the overcoming of what is contrary
to God's will, and the assimilating of what that will reveals. In His prayers and
supplications, with strong crying and tears, Jesus maintained His allegiance to God's
will: in the wrestlings and bloody sweat He became obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross. The deepest suffering taught Him the highest lesson of obedience: when He had
yielded His will and His life, His obedience was complete, – He Himself was perfected
forevermore, bless His wonderful name!
The fact that Jesus had to pass through such awesome sufferings to
lead Him to obedience should teach us something about the plight of the unregenerated man
and his total inability to do righteousness or even to voluntarily choose the way of the
Lord. This is why Jesus came as a pioneer of obedience, to open up the way. And
this is why God sent an OVERFLOWING OF GRACE to redeem poor helpless slaves to the devil.
I clearly see what God takes into account when dealing with mankind in Adam. He never
forgets that we are "dust," and He remembers just the kind of muck from which
our souls and bodies came. Jesus Christ, our High Priest, knows what the weakness of the
flesh is. He knows what it costs to conquer it, and how little, even we who have been
begotten from above, are able to do it. He lives in the heavens, able to succour us;
sympathizing with our weaknesses; bearing gently with the ignorant and erring; a High
Priest on the throne, that we may boldly draw nigh to find grace for timely help. He lives
in our life and reigns in our heart, to impart to us His own spirit of obedience, so that
His Priesthood may bring us into the full reality of all He Himself has and is.
So when He had been perfected, He became the author of eternal
salvation to all who obey Him, because He now had that perfected human nature which He
could communicate to them. And so He was appointed High Priest – a Son, perfected
forever more. As Son of God, He was able to take us up into the very life of God; as High
Priest, He was to lift us, in actual spiritual reality, into God's fellowship and will and
glory; the way in which He was perfected through obedience was the living way in which He
was to lead us; – as a Son, perfected through obedience, who had found and opened and
walked the path of obedience as the path into God, and would animate us with His own
Spirit to do it too; He, the perfected One, can alone be OUR SALVATION! Salvation is by
grace; perfection is by obedience. But even perfection is a part of salvation, for we are
SAVED FROM OURSELVES INTO THE IMAGE OF HIMSELF.
Those who will be privileged to be with the Lord, and reign with Him
in His Kingdom, bringing the nations and the powers that be into subjection to the King of
kings, and restoring the creation to find its one Head in Christ Jesus, will be under the
command of the King. And being under His command, to do His will, and fulfill His purpose,
we will have to know what unquestioning obedience is. This is what is required of a
soldier, to obey the command of his superior officer without question; even though
he might not think it is the right thing to do, and he may believe that he knows a better
way; but he is bound to obey, asking no questions and offering no advice. So those who
will reign with Christ must learn this same measure of obedience. In order to do this we
have to learn to know the voice of God, and to understand what His commands and will are.
This requires complete surrender and absolute submission to Him.
THE OBEDIENCE OF THE SONS
All sons must learn this obedience. "For as many as are led by
the Spirit of God, THEY ARE THE SONS OF GOD. For the earnest expectation of the
creation waiteth for the MANIFESTATION OF THE SONS OF GOD" (Rom.
Needless to say, such a manifestation will not include
"rebellious, immature sons," who refuse to walk in the Spirit and fulfill the
righteousness of God, not having overcome the lusts of the flesh and the nature of old
Adam. There is a "going on to perfection," bringing to maturity this new
creation life, bringing the formation of a "firstfruit company" through whom HE
shall minister the life and triumph of His Kingdom, to bless all nations, and to fulfill
His purpose of restoration of all things, for how shall we minister that which we do not
ourselves experientially possess? And this now brings me to the conclusion that either we
are going on to perfection, or we are not. It is not a case of "win some, lose some,
one day God is winning, the next day the devil is winning, pray for me that I'll hold out
to the end, after all I'm just human, but hope that in the hour when the sons of God are
revealed I may squeak through."
We have already considered the mighty power released by ADAM'S
DISOBEDIENCE and the super-mighty power contained in CHRIST'S OBEDIENCE. The languages of
earth simply do not contain words that are able to express the VAST IMPORTANCE of THE
POWER OF OBEDIENCE AND DISOBEDIENCE. At one time King Nebuchadnezzar of
Every nation and people and tongue to honor the God of Heaven! Why?
Because of the OBEDIENCE OF THREE MEN OF GOD. Nothing else. They did not conduct an
evangelistic campaign, they passed out no tracts, they did no healings nor miracles, they
sent no armies against the King of Babylon; they simply OBEYED; and by their obedience
every nation under heaven was brought to honor God. This should help us to understand THE
POWER OF OBEDIENCE!
And what shall I more say? for the time and space fail me to tell of
Gideon, and David, and Solomon, and Daniel and the prophets who by their OBEDIENCE shook
and subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness and filled the earth with the glory of the
Lord. Daniel OBEYED and found himself in the lions den, but God sent His angel and shut
the lion's mouths. When Darius, King of the Medes and Persians, called Daniel forth from
the den of lions it is written: "Then King Darius wrote unto ALL PEOPLE, NATIONS, AND
LANGUAGES, THAT DWELL IN ALL THE EARTH; Peace be multiplied unto you. I make a decree,
that in every dominion of my kingdom MEN TREMBLE AND FEAR BEFORE THE GOD OF DANIEL, FOR HE
IS THE LIVING GOD, and steadfast forever, AND HIS KINGDOM THAT WHICH SHALL NOT BE
DESTROYED, AND HIS DOMINION SHALL BE UNTO THE END." What a word! What a type is
Daniel of those sons of God who shall pass through the tribulation of these final days of
the kingdoms of this world and who shall, BY THEIR OBEDIENCE ALONE, bring in that more
glorious age of the
We have thus far considered the power of Adam's disobedience, the
power of obedience revealed through the lives of men of faith, and the transcendent power
of CHRIST'S OBEDIENCE. Let us now meditate upon the power contained in the obedience of
the sons of God. There is indeed a wonderful fruit to be borne out of our obedience, as
Paul explains in II Cor. 10:4-6. "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but
mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; casting down imaginations, and
every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into
captivity every thought to the OBEDIENCE OF CHRIST; and (Christ) having in a readiness to
REVENGE ALL DISOBEDIENCE, WHEN YOUR OBEDIENCE IS FULFILLED." The Amplified Bible
reads: "Being in readiness to punish every insubordinate for his disobedience, WHEN
YOUR OWN SUBMISSION AND OBEDIENCE ARE FULLY SECURED." The great soul-gripping truth
is that all disobedience in every stronghold of the spirit realms and the lofty
reasoning's of the carnal minds of men shall be revenged, punished, and SUBJECTED TO
CHRIST, WHEN OUR OBEDIENCE IS FULLY SECURED AND COMPLETE!
As we have already pointed out, all creation is groaning in travail
and waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God, for in them lies the embodiment of
creation's hope for its deliverance. Now, as the sons betoken the hope for creation, it is
THE SON who is the hope of the sons, for it is in our Lord Jesus Christ that all our hope
for restoration lies resident. Now when we say that the hope of the world is found in the
Sons, that does not exclude our Lord – we are only emphasizing the point that these
sons, when they are fully conformed to His image, become the manifestation of HIMSELF to
the world, and thus Christ is glorified and lifted up in measures hitherto unknown. The
world shall behold THE CHRIST revealed through the CHRISTED-COMPANY, with the Sons being
the many-splendored manifestation of Himself. The price of becoming a part of this
manifestation is simply that of being a partaker of the fellowship of His sufferings,
being made conformable unto His death, until it is no more I, but CHRIST. Our identity
erased, His alone to be revealed. Thus it is not taking way from His glory, but only an
adding, enlarging, intensification, multiplying of it, increasing the platform of HIS
OBEDIENCE unto the subduing of all things. And it is this obedience, now being personified
in a people, THE FIRST-FRUITS OF HIMSELF, that becomes the HOPE of creation, for if God,
omnipotent and glorious, gracious and merciful, can transform such as us – we
become the hope, yea, the proof – that He can and shall do so for the rest of
Creation!
Chapter 20
A SABBATH IN
"Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host
of them. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and HE RESTED ON THE
SEVENTH DAY from all His work which He had made. And God BLESSED THE SEVENTH DAY, AND
SANCTIFIED IT: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and
made" (Gen. 2:1-3).
In Genesis we have the Book of Beginnings. To its first three chapters
we are specially indebted for divine light shining on the many questions to which human
wisdom never could find the answer. In our search after the fullness of God, and a
separation unto Him and His purposes, we are led thither too. The great reality of being
separated unto God, of being conformed to His image, to be holy as He is holy, perfect as
He is perfect, is there revealed. In the whole book of Genesis the Hebrew word for
"holy" or "sanctified" occurs but once. But that once is so profound
and dramatic, opening to us the secret treasure house in which we discover all that the
Bible has to teach us of this heavenly blessing of being SEPARATED UNTO GOD. The full
meaning of the precious word the Spirit would now unveil to our hearts is disclosed in
what is here written of that wondrous act of God, by which He completed His creation work,
and revealed how wonderfully it would be brought into relationship with Himself and His
purpose in it gloriously fulfilled. When God BLESSED THE SEVENTH DAY AND SANCTIFIED IT, He
lifted it up above other days, and set it apart to a work and revelation of Himself,
excelling in glory all that had preceded. In this simple expression, "and God sanctified,"
scripture reveals to us the character of God as the Holy One, who MAKES HOLY, and the way
in which He makes holy – by entering in and RESTING.
God sanctified the Sabbath day. He made it holy. Of the
previous six days the keyword was, from the first calling into existence of the heavens
and the earth, down to the making of man: God created. Suddenly a new word and a
new work of God is introduced: God sanctified. Something higher than creation, that
for which creation is to exist, is now to be revealed; God, omnipotent in might and power,
is now to be known as God Most Holy. And just as the work of creation shows His Power, so
His making holy the seventh day reveals His Character as the Holy One. And just as He
alone is Creator, so He alone is Sanctifier; to separate unto Himself and make holy is His
work as truly and exclusively as to create. Blessed is the child of God who truly and
fully believes this!
God had pronounced all His works, and man the crown of them, very good,
exceedingly good. And yet, they were not holy. The six days work had naught
of defilement, sin, or death, and yet it was not holy. Man stood in the image of God
– but in innocence, not holiness, brought forth by the hand of God, pure, innocent,
undefiled, but to be sure, very unproven and untried. Had Adam been truly holy by nature
he would not have sinned! No, my brother, God did not create Adam holy, He created him
innocent, as a new-born babe, to be dealt with and eventually made holy. The seventh day
needed to be specially set apart and MADE HOLY, for the great work of making holy the man,
who was already good.
In Exodus, God says distinctly that He sanctified the Sabbath day,
with a view to man's sanctification. It is altogether impossible to overemphasize the
truth of this inspired word: "Truly you shall keep My Sabbaths, for it is a sign
between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, do
SANCTIFY YOU – SET YOU APART FOR MYSELF" (Ex. 31:13). Thus God sanctified a DAY
to declare that He would sanctify a PEOPLE; the day and the people are not merely related
– the day and the people so become ONE that the people BECOME THE DAY. The seventh
day was made holy by God, separated from all others unto oneness with Himself, as a pledge
that He would make man holy and separated from all else unto ONENESS WITH HIMSELF AS ONE
SPIRIT. In the ages that preceded the seventh day, the Creation period, God's Power and
Goodness had been displayed. But the age to come, the seventh day period, was designed to
be the dispensation in which God takes His creation and raises it into an infinitely
higher realm, the realm of sanctification unto Himself, to become ONE SPIRIT IN HIM, even
His Sabbath, His Holy Day, HIS RESTING PLACE.
THE SEVEN DAYS OF GOD
The word "day" is one of the mysteries of scripture,
unlocked only by the spirit of wisdom and revelation from God. The word Moses used in the
Hebrew is yowm, pronounced, yome. This word appears in the Hebrew text of the Old
Testament one thousand four hundred and eighty different times and is translated into
the English by not less than fifty-four different words! To get the matter even more
clearly in our minds, let us look at the different ways yowm is translated in the
King James Version: 1181 times as "day" (this covering several meanings); 67
times as "time"; 30 times as "today"; 18 times as "forever";
10 times as "continually"; 6 times as "age"; 4 times as
"life"; and 2 times as "perpetually".
The word yowm, or "day," in Scripture, frequently
means a solar day as we understand it, an earth time made up of 24 hours. Again, the word
sometimes means a period of time, of greater or lesser extent, generally of indefinite
duration. Such a time period is found in Isaiah the second chapter, where the prophet
says: "For there shall be a day (yowm) of Jehovah of Host upon all that is
proud and haughty. and Jehovah alone shall be exalted in that day (yowm) in that
day (yowm) men shall cast away their idols." (Isa. 2:12,17,20). All through
the prophecy of Isaiah this meaning is given in many instances to the word
"day," and without presenting too many instances, see the fourth chapter, where
the prophet again says: "And seven women shall take hold of one man in that day (yowm),
saying, We will eat our own bread and wear our own apparel, only let us be called by thy
name. In that day (yowm) shall the branch of Jehovah be beautiful and
glorious." (Isa. 4:1-2). So, then, the word "day," or yowm, is
sometimes used in a figurative sense, a time period being intended. There are many such
passages where this is so.
The term “day” in scripture can refer to a twenty-four hour
day, or it can mean a YEAR, or it can mean 1,000 YEARS. For instance, in Eze. 4:6,
“… I have appointed thee each DAY for a YEAR.” Thus many prophetic days
involved prophetic years on the day to a year ratio. Then, there is the layer ratio of a
day to a thousand years as given in Psalm 90:4, “For a thousand years in Thy sight
(are but) as yesterday…” The two words ARE BUT are in italics in the King James
Version meaning they were supplied by the translators. Thus the true rendering would be,
“For a thousand years as yesterday.” This is confirmed by II Peter 3:8,
“But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that ONE DAY is with the Lord as a
THOUSAND YEARS, and a THOUSAND YEARS as ONE DAY.” It is this ratio of a day to a
thousand years or a thousand years to a day that gives rise to the doctrine of the
“millennial” reign of Christ. The term “a thousand years” in the book
of Revelation is, however, merely a symbol standing for THE DAY OF THE LORD. The
sons of God reign with Christ in the illumination, glory and power of THE DAY OF THE LORD!
Through the life-giving ministry and righteous reign of God’s sons the illumination
and release of God’s eternal day will be communicated to the earth’s
teaming billions of every kindred, tongue, tribe and nation, bringing all under the
dominion of the
In other instances the word "day" means time itself. Thus we
read in Gen. 4:3, "And in process of time (yowm) it came to pass." In
Gen. 26:8 we read again, "And it came to pass, when he had been there a long
time." and once more this word yowm appears, but this time instead of being
translated day it is translated "a long time." So also we read in Num. 20:15,
"And we have dwelt in Egypt a long time." the word yowm here translated
"a long time," meaning "a long DAY," this "day" covering a
span of four hundred and twenty years! Yet this is the same word that appears in the first
chapter of Genesis as the creative period, and is called, there, "day." Thus we
see that in the first chapter of Genesis the story of creation is given in seven yowm,
or days, or time periods. That these seven days are not twenty-four hour days is evident
for in Gen.2:4 we read: "These are generations of the heaven and the earth when they
were created, in THE DAY (yowm) that Jehovah made heaven and earth." Here we
have the day (yowm) embracing in its meaning ALL THE SIX DAYS of the first chapter,
yet without doing violence to the meaning of the word.
In view of the wide scriptural use of the term "day," it is
strange anyone should conclude that the creative days of Genesis were only twenty-four
hours in length – especially since Gen. 2:4 refers to the entire creative period as
ONE DAY. It is the so-called fundamentalist viewpoint of Genesis which is in sharp
contrast with the well-established facts of science. This viewpoint, simply stated, is
that approximately six thousand years ago the sun, moon, and stars, together with our own
planet, Earth, were created in just
It is the will of God that we know what hope God had when He blessed
the seventh day, and sanctified it, and rested from all His labors. It was that He might
make us to know that He, the Lord, does SANCTIFY US, setting US apart unto Himself, to
dwell with Him in His own day (realm) of rest and fullness, to be one spirit in Him.
The seventh day, God's Sabbath of rest, is an eternal day in which God
is still abiding, a day eternally accessible to man! Of each of the creative days it is
written, up to the last, "There was evening, and there was morning, a first
day," and so on. But when we come to sixth day, the Hebrew text says, "The
evening and the morning were the sixth day," the definite article appearing
for the first time, indicating the absolute end of the entire creative process (Gen.
1:5,8,13,19,23,31). OF THE SEVENTH DAY THERE IS NO SUCH STATEMENT! The seventh day has no
"evening" and no "morning." Does this not speak to us that the record
of the seventh day has not yet been made; God abides in it yet, we are living in it
now, it is there for the entering, God's own day of rest and blessing and fullness.
God sanctified the Sabbath day because in it He rested from all
His work. The rest is something real. In creation, God had, as it were, gone beyond
Himself to bring forth something new; in resting He now returns from His creating work
into Himself, to rejoice in His love over the creation He has created, and to communicate
Himself to it. In God we see two distinct stages to His work. The first was that of
creation – until He had finished all the work which He created and made. The second,
His rest when creation was finished, and He rejoice in what He had made, now to begin the
higher work of COMMUNICATING HIMSELF TO THE CREATION AND SECURING ITS SANCTIFICATION AND
PERFECTION. Oh! that God may give us eyes to see and hearts to understand how it is that
God's seventh-day rest is a rest from work which is now finished, for HIGHER WORK TO BE
CARRIED ON! It should not seem strange to us that God should rest from one kind of work by
engaging in another. Do not the men of this world, business executives and the like,
"rest" from their toil of the day by engaging in a game of golf? Who would
contend that there is no "work" involved in playing golf? But while one
"works" at the game, is he not relaxed and refreshed by having "ceased from
all his labors?"
In like manner God is now resting from all His works wrought in the
external, physical creation. There is no evidence in either the Bible or science that God
is now actively engaged in creating worlds, suns, stars, solar systems, galaxies, or
living creatures, anywhere in all the unbounded heavens. He is today resting from all that
work; but let it be thoroughly known that God is NOW ACTIVELY WORKING in the bringing
forth of a higher and spiritual work – a NEW CREATION. As Adam was the crown of the
first and physical creation and all men were fashioned in his likeness, so now Christ is
the beginning of a NEW CREATION. Rev. 3:14 states that Jesus Christ is "the beginning
of the creation of God." Adam was the beginning of the creation of man. Jesus Christ
is the beginning of the creation of God, and those who believe on Him become members of a
new creation, the creation of THE LORD'S DAY, a new race of people, even the children of
God, having one blood, the blood of Christ; one spirit, the Holy Spirit; one Lord, the God
and Father of all; one faith, the faith of Christ; and one baptism, the baptism into His
body, which is the true church (Col. 1:18). HE is the beginning of THE CREATION OF GOD,
the new creation, the firstborn from the dead, not a product of the labor of the six days
of Genesis, but the outraying and effulgence of the GOD WHO RESTS IN HIMSELF IN HIS OWN
DAY, and it is IN HIM that man is brought to cease from all his own labors and strivings
and enter into GOD'S REST and glory.
It is a wonderful fact that GOD WORKS on His Sabbath day – a
higher work, a new creation. The Lord declares in Isaiah 46:9-10, “I am God, and
there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times THE
THINGS THAT ARE NOT YET DONE, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My
pleasure.” I used to believe, as do many, that all God’s creative works had been
finished. We believed that God had done everything He was going to do, and now was just
sitting on a throne in some far-off heaven somewhere, waiting for all things to work out
as best they can. But from the passage above we can see that God is still creating,
and other passages just as clearly show that God is still resting. It is a divine
paradox – but GOD WORKS OUT OF HIS REST! The on-going creation of God is revealed
again in Isaiah 48:7, “They are CREATED now, and not from the beginning: even before
the day when thou heardest them not; lest thou shouldest say, BEHOLD I KNEW THEM.”
And yet again, “For, behold, I CREATE new heavens and a new earth: and the former
shall not be remembered, nor come into mind” (Isa. 65:17). “And He that sat upon
the throne said, Behold, I MAKE ALL THINGS NEW. And he said unto me, Write: for these
words are true and faithful” (Rev 21:5). The Lord Jesus Himself confirmed this
beautiful truth: “And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay Him,
because He had done these things on the Sabbath day. But Jesus answered
them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. My meat is to do the will of
Him that sent Me, and to FINISH HIS WORK” (Jn.
Jesus Christ is the firstborn of every creature and all creation. When
the Holy Spirit says that Christ is the firstborn of all creation, He is emphasizing that
new creation, the seventh-day creation, of which the believer is a member. Christ Himself
was the first to rise from the dead, rising out of the limitation of the old creation,
possessing immortality. He is the Head of His body, the church, because He is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead, the first to ascend out of the dominion of the
physical creation of the six days, into the higher and transcendent glory of the God of
the seventh day. As Christ arose in resurrection life, putting off the bondage and
limitation of the earthly realm of the six creative days of Genesis, so shall we also be
quickened, already in spirit, and now in soul and body, raised up to dwell with Him in His
eternal day of rest and glory.
THE DAY WITHOUT END
I have shown how that on each of the six days of God's labor there was
an "evening" and a "morning" marking the beginning and the conclusion
of the work and purpose of God in each day. On the seventh day we read of no evening or
morning, for the seventh day bespeaks a COMPLETED CREATION, God resting in Himself, the
never ending day of the fullness of the glory of the Lord.
But further, the "evening and morning" mark the duration of
a day, a work accomplished, a purpose fulfilled; and each new evening and morning
indicates a "going on" to another work, which work will also ultimately end, to
give way to yet another work. Each day begins and ends. Typically, this reveals to
us how each moving of God's Spirit accomplishes His purpose for that time and then becomes
history. God marches on. I am convinced that one of man's great faults is that he always
expects the future to be just a repetition of the past. If God moved in a certain way
once, they were sure the next move would be in the same manner and form, so they called
their all-night prayer meetings and implored, "Oh, God, do it again!" I do not
hesitate to declare to you that such a prayer is utterly void of understanding and can
never be answered, for God does not repeat the work of a first day, or a second – He
marches on! As one has so ably pointed out, God does move in His appointed cycles, but
each season of refreshing has a totally NEW element in it as well as some of the
age-abiding truths which were revealed in former moves. Thus we have the paradox of how
God's moves are both OLD and NEW, and no man can say he already knows what's coming,
because there is that new part which has never been uncovered before, being reserved for
this special hour. And there is that abiding part from former days, so that we are able to
relate to the new from our past experience enough to have confidence that GOD is in it.
Thus God moves onward in a progressive working, from age to age, from revelation to
revelation, from dealing to dealing, from one moving of his Spirit and outpouring of His
glory to another, until finally His image is brought forth and He can rest.
Let all who hear the call to Sonship know that every "day"
of the Lord's "labor" ends, the way God has moved in your life in former times
will end, all the old orders are ending, the glory of former revivals and movings of God's
Spirit are passing away, all the religious institutions organized into powerful kingdoms
out of bygone times of refreshing are crumbling and ready to collapse. And – let
something else be equally clear, God has a new order arising, a NEW DAY is dawning, there
is a growing consciousness that we are standing on the threshold of a glorious new moving
of the Spirit in the earth, TOTALLY UNLIKE ANYTHING WHICH HAS BEEN SEEN IN PAST AGES. I do
not say that a revival shall break out! A revival means the reviving of that which was
once alive, but has died and needs reviving. This new day is far more than the reviving of
some old order, including the old order of the "
The "early church" with all its gifts and glory and power
did not bring in the
We have passed through many "days" of God's dealings,
revival after revival, move after move, revelation after revelation, and blessing upon
blessing. Each has had its evening and morning. Each has come and gone. Thank God, the
first rays of the light of A NEW DAY are even now painting the eastern sky! Thank God! a
few of His chosen ones have arisen in the Spirit to behold the glories of the dawn and to
drink in the intoxicating freshness of the morn! This is a day of days, as the six days of
the old creation were but one day of creation, so this seventh day has been preceded by
"days" of unfoldment, yet it is but one day in which God brings mankind into
rest with Him in His glory. This seventh day is not like any other day in one important
way. We have seen that God's Sabbath has no evening or morning. All the days of
"labor" have this evening and morning, for they need it, and good as are the
days when God's work goes on within us from evening to morning, cycle after cycle, while
yet we need them, FAR MORE BLESSED IS THE ETERNAL DAY OF REST IN HIS GLORY WHEN HIS WORK
IS COMPLETED AND WE AWAKE IN HIS LIKENESS.
This blessed realm of His fullness, of perfection, is the day of which
John prophesied in the Spirit, saying, "And there shall be no night there" (Rev.
21:25). No night! No darkness, no dusk, a day filled with the effulgent glory of
the Lord. No night! An eternal day, a day with no end. Of this day it has also been
revealed: "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them,
and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. And
God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither
sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed
away. And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be
there. and they shall see His face: and His name shall be in their foreheads. And there
shall be no night there. for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever
and ever" (Rev. 21:3-4; 22:3-5). Ah, beloved, such is the seventh day, a walk with
God, uniting earth to heaven in blessedness, God and man dwelling and resting together,
joined in one Spirit. If we know it not, let us wait for it: to those who wait with
patience and faith, it will surely come, and will not tarry.
When the fullness of God in His seventh day is realized in the body of
Christ, then shall be fulfilled that which was spoken by the prophet, saying, "Arise,
shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold,
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 TO THE BRIGHTNESS OF THY RISING" (Isa. 60:1-3).
The seventh day is not merely a period of time; the seventh day is the
REALM OF GOD'S REST, and finally, the seventh day becomes A PEOPLE. In Gen. 2:3 it is
stated of the seventh day: "And God BLESSED the seventh day, and SANCTIFIED IT."
He did this because in it HE RESTED. When God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it,
He set it apart unto Himself and lifted it up above all other days, specifically above all
the days of "labor." But in Ex. 31:13 God identifies the day with a people,
showing how the one prefigures the other, and how the twain are one. "Verily, MY
SABBATHS SHALL YE KEEP (ye shall rest in My rest): for it is a sign between Me and you
throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth SANCTIFY
YOU." Here the DAY and the PEOPLE are BOTH SO SANCTIFIED TO GOD that they become as
ONE. As we enter into God's rest, so that His rest becomes personified within us,
WE BECOME HIS REST, HIS HOLY DAY, HIS SABBATH. A Sabbath of rest, applied to us, would be
a STATE OF
God is bringing forth a SABBATH PEOPLE, a people who ARE HIS REST in
the earth, even a DAY OF THE LORD PEOPLE, a people who ARE HIS LIGHT. Jesus said, "
YE are the light of the world" (Mat.
WE ARE HIS WORKMANSHIP
The work of creation, whether the old or new, is wholly and entirely
OF THE LORD. "For we are HIS WORKMANSHIP, created in Christ Jesus unto good
works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them" (Eph.
God made the heavens, and yet He rested not; He made the sun, the
moon, and the stars, and yet He rested not; He made the earth, and yet He rested not; He
made the herbs, and fruits, and the moving creatures of sea and land and air, and yet He
rested not. But He made man, His image in the earth, and then He rested. But wonder of
wonders, and marvel of marvels – MAN RESTED WITH HIM! God's last day was man's first
day. Man's first day of life was lived out in God's seventh day. God rested from all His
work, but man who had never worked began, not by working six days, but by RESTING WITH
GOD! This is why the scripture states: "And to whom swore He (God) that they should
not enter into His (God's) rest, but to them that believe not? For he that is entered into
HIS REST (God's), he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His" (Heb.
Let us SEE! Man did not make Himself, but he rested with the God who
did. It was not man's, but God's rest. Man had done no work from which to rest. Open wide
your heart and drink deeply of this fountain of truth: Man entered into God's rest!
In this man became ONE WITH GOD, dwelling with HIM, resting in HIS accomplishment,
without striving to produce anything out of his own labors. In this hour God is calling a
company of sons into His Kingdom Realm, which is the realm of
constant Peace, an everyday Sabbath, the realm of undisturbed and unending Rest. It is the
realm of His “millennium” of the Spirit – of a continuing Sabbath that
never ceases. That realm is in Christ. He is calling a company of sons into Christ, that
He might become their total Rest. It is rest from external religious labors. It is
entering into Him and finding themselves COMPLETE IN CHRIST.
"And I am convinced and sure of this very thing, that He who
began a good work in you will continue developing that good work and perfecting it and
bringing it to full completion in you" (Phil. 1:6, Amplified Bible). These words of
Paul teach us a much needed and most blessed truth – that just as it was God who
moved and worked and created in the physical creation, so is it God who moves and works
and creates in the new creation. There is nothing that will so help root and ground the
members of God's firstfruit company in Christ as this faith: "GOD will perfect that
which concerneth me." How many precious ones who cherish the hope of sonship can
witness that this faith is just what they need! They continually mourn over the
variableness of their spiritual life, up one day, down the next; victorious one day,
defeated the next; overcoming today, but swept away by the emotions of the soul tomorrow.
Sometimes there are hours and days of blessed experience of the grace of God to triumph
over the flesh, but how little is needed to mar their peace, to bring a cloud over the
soul! And then, in a moment of weakness, how their faith is shattered! All efforts to
press on to "overcome all things" appear utterly fruitless; and neither solemn
vows, nor watching and prayer, avail to bring them into a place of constant victory over
self, sin, and failure.
Could they but understand how it is that THEIR OWN EFFORTS ARE THE
CAUSE OF THEIR FAILURE, because it is God alone who can perfect us in Christ Jesus. They
would see that just as in the new birth they had to cease from their own working, and to
accept in faith the promise that GOD would give them life in Christ, so now, in the matter
of their perfection, their need is TO CEASE FROM STRIVING THEMSELVES TO PERFECT THE LIFE
OF GOD WITHIN, AND TO ALLOW GOD TO DO IT. "Now He which established us with you in
Christ, IS GOD" (II Cor.
What peace and rest, to know that there is a Husbandman who cares for
the branch, to see that it grows stronger, who watches over every hindrance and danger, to
see that fruit is borne! What peace and rest, fully and finally to give up our spiritual
unfoldment into the care of GOD, and never have a wish or thought, never to offer a prayer
or do any thing in connection with it, without first having the glad remembrance that what
we do is only the manifestation of what GOD IS DOING IN US! The perfecting in Christ is
His work, but this He can do with power only as we cease interrupting Him by our
self-working, as we accept in faith the dependent posture which bows low before Him, and
honors Him, and opens the heart to let Him work. How such a faith frees the soul from care
and responsibility! In the midst of the rush and bustle of the world's activity, amid the
subtle and ceaseless clamoring of the emotions of the soul, amid the daily cares and
trials that so easily distract and lead to failure, how blessed it is to be a son of the
Father – always abiding in Christ, in the realm of His life and peace and victory!
How blessed even to have the faith that one can surely become it – that the
attainment is within our reach!
Dear child of God, the life of sonship is indeed within your reach. He
that established you with us in Christ IS GOD. What I want you to take in is this –
that believing this promise will not only give comfort and good hope, but will be the
means of your obtaining your desire. You know how the scripture teaches us that in all
God's leadings of His people faith has everywhere been the one condition of the
manifestation of His power. But contrary to what the so-called "faith preachers"
tell you, faith is never centered in what "we" can do or accomplish in God.
Faith is the ceasing from all nature's efforts, and all other dependence; faith is the
putting ourselves quietly into God's hands for HIM TO DO HIS WORK. What you and I need now
is to take time to meditate deeply, until this truth stands out in all its spiritual
brightness: It is God Almighty, the Faithful and Gracious Creator and Father, who has
undertaken to perfect us in Christ Jesus!
Listen to what the Word teaches you: "For it is GOD WHICH WORKETH
IN YOU both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Now to Him who, by the action of His
power that IS AT WORK WITHIN US, is able to carry out His purpose and do superabundantly,
far over and above all that we dare ask or think" (Phil. 2:13; Eph. 3:19-20,
Amplified Bible). Ah, beloved, let us take time to listen, in simple childlike
teachableness, to these words as the truth of God, and the confidence will surely come: As
surely as I am apprehended in Christ Jesus, I shall also, day by day, be conformed to His
image, transformed into His likeness – and GOD SHALL DO IT!
LABOR TO ENTER INTO REST
Man's first blessed experience of rest with God was soon marred by sin
– the sin of man's own anxiety about his inner life and development into the fullness
of God – as he broke God's Sabbath rest with his own FLESHLY WORK, the carnal
self-effort to MAKE HIMSELF LIKE UNTO GOD! "For God doth know that in the day ye eat
thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
And when the women saw that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of the
fruit thereof. and gave also unto her husband" (Gen. 3:5-6). In this act man's
fellowship and relationship with God in the blessing of holy rest was cut off. When Adam
was banished from Eden's fair garden, he was cut off not only from the tree of life, but
also shut out from participation in God's Sabbath rest, as it is written, "And unto
Adam He said, Because thou hast harkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten
of the tree: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the
days of thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; IN THE SWEAT OF
THY FACE shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground." (Gen. 3:17-19).
Alas! what tragedy, the man who had RESTED WITH GOD IN HEAVEN BLEST EDEN is seen now
toiling and struggling and sweating through six long days of sorrowful labor. There had
been no labor nor toil in Eden; no struggle for existence, no disease, no pollution, no
calamities of earthquakes or floods, no imbalance or lack of harmony, no disorder, no
tears nor sorrow, no crying nor pain, no heartache, no sin and, above all, NO DEATH! Such
was the ineffable glory of GOD'S REST in the
The fourth chapter of Hebrews makes it plain that God's Sabbath is not
just a Mosaic law concerning one day in the week, nor is it the natural land of Canaan
that the people of Israel look forward to entering, nor is it just the thousand year
Kingdom age we are about to enter. The Sabbath Day is a relationship to God, a place where
HE IS ABSOLUTE LORD and where the fullness of God is manifested in His people. It is the
place of full redemption, release from the curse, where man is again admitted to the
Garden of Eden, the
In Heb. 4:1-11 the shrouds of heaven are drawn aside and our wondering
hearts bow in holy awe before the things that are there revealed. The apostle penned under
inspiration of the Holy Spirit these blessed words of divine instruction: "Now since
the same promise of rest is offered to us today, let us be continually on our guard that
none of us even looks like failing to attain it. For we too have had a gospel preached to
us, as those men had. Yet the message proclaimed to them did no good, because they only
heard and did not believe as well. It is only as a result of our faith and trust that we
experience that rest. For He said: As I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter into My
rest: not because the rest was not prepared – IT HAD BEEN READY SINCE THE WORK OF
CREATION WAS COMPLETED, as He says elsewhere in the scriptures, speaking of the seventh
day of creation, And God rested on the seventh day from all His works. In the passage
above He says, "They shall not enter into My rest." It is clear that some were
intended to experience this rest and, since the previous hearers of the message failed to
attain to it because they would not believe God, He proclaims a further opportunity
when He says through David, many years later, "today," just as He had said
"today" before. Today if ye shall hear His voice, Harden not your hearts.
For if Joshua had given them the rest, we should not find God saying, at a much later
date, "today". There still exists, therefore, A FULL AND COMPLETE REST
FOR THE PEOPLE OF GOD. And he who experiences HIS REST is resting from his own works as
fully as God did from His. Let us then be eager to know this rest for ourselves, and let
us beware that no one misses it through falling into the same kind of unbelief as those we
have mentioned" (Phillips translation).
In these words "enter into My rest," is the revelation of a
deep spiritual mystery and a prophecy of what Christ should bring. The statement,
"There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God," would be better
translated "There remaineth therefore A KEEPING OF THE SABBATH UPON THE SABBATH"
(see Greek-English lexicons). The word "rest" is translated from the Greek sabbatismos
– Sabbath. This Sabbath is spoken of as remaining in contrast to both the
weekly sabbath and the rest of
We labor and strive and struggle to be what God wants us to be. We
labor to be perfect, to overcome, to grow up into Christ, to put on the mind of Christ, to
do the will of God, to break through into immortality and incorruption, to be a son. We
labor to come out of the bondages of religious
THE GLORY OF GOD'S SABBATH
God's Sabbath of rest is the realm of His own rest in divine fullness.
There is no toil nor work there for all, it is complete and full and abundant, nothing is
lacking, nothing can be added. In entering into God's rest man regains all he lost in the
fateful day when he was banished from
Both Paul and Peter were quite aware of a greater fullness to come in
the last time. Paul says, "The night is far spent, the DAY IS AT HAND" (Rom.
There was a generation of Israelites that said it was alright to go in
and spy out the
It is alright, these declare, to enjoy the blessing of the Spirit
occasionally, when the revival is going on at the church; but it is impossible to really
enter into the realm of the Spirit so fully that you LIVE there constantly. It is alright
to be healed, but not to enjoy divine health of divine life to such an extent that your
days are lengthened without pain or feebleness or the abatement of your natural faculties,
or until mortality is swallowed up of life and this corruptible puts on incorruption. It
is alright to get deliverance from tobacco, alcohol, or other habits, or to conquer your
temper, but not to be so positively freed from the carnal mind and nature until "sin
hath no more dominion" over you. That would be perfection and, they say, you cannot
have perfection until you die and go to heaven! It is alright to fight satan here on this
earth and cast out a few devils, but you cannot ascend up in the Spirit into "the
heavenlies" and literally knock satan off his throne and walk in the realm of power
and authority "in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus." You can receive thoughts
from God occasionally, and speaks His words from time to time, but you cannot have the
mind of Christ in such a degree of fullness that you actually think His thoughts, say His
words, do His will, perform His works, and live out His very life. We don't mind tasting
the grapes of Eschol, and the figs and pomegranates which the spies have brought back, BUT
WE REFUSE TO MAKE ANY ATTEMPT AT CONQUERING THE WHOLE LAND!
The whole question resolves itself into this: Are we going to remain
in the condition of those who have been saved and baptized with the earnest of the Spirit?
Or are we going to arise from the dusty sands of this great and terrible wilderness and
follow our Joshua across
The Holy Ghost saith, TODAY. God is the eternal One. With Him there is
no yesterday, neither is there any tomorrow. What we call past and future are with Him an
ever-present Now; His life and His rest and His glory dwells in an ever-blessed,
never-ending TODAY. God's Sabbath day is without evening or morning, an eternal day ever
existing in the Now. TODAY! It is a wonderful word of promise, yea, a solemn command. It
tells us that Today, this very moment, the wondrous love of God is for thee – it is
even now waiting to be poured out in thy heart; that To-day, all that Christ has done, and
is now doing, and shall ever do, He is able to do in thee – this very day it is
within thy reach, if thou shalt believe. Even now Christ within you speaks that wondrous
note of hope – TODAY!
For years the saints have been singing about what they are going to do
when the battle is over. They are going to be with Christ, in heaven, enjoying the peace
and rest of their inheritance. They are going to shout and dance over the hills of glory,
drink at the eternal fountains, eat of the tree of life, and there shall be no more
struggle, neither limitation, nor sorrow, nor curse, nor death. But the truth of the
matter is simply this: the fruits of the land, the glories typified by the tree of life
and the fountains of waters, are glorious and eternal realities to be appropriated HERE
AND NOW, gained one by one, as the battle rages, and the saints of the Most High triumph
over the enemy! Why fight if you don't intend to win? Each victory will carry a step
further into the
Chapter 21
A SABBATH IN
(continued)
"Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host
of them. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and HE RESTED ON THE
SEVENTH DAY from all His work which He had made. And God BLESSED THE SEVENTH DAY, AND
SANCTIFIED IT: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and
made" (Gen. 2:1-3).
When God BLESSED THE SEVENTH DAY AND SANCTIFIED IT, He lifted it above
other days, and set it apart to a work and revelation of Himself, excelling in glory all
that had preceded. In this simple expression, "and God sanctified," scripture
reveals to us the character of God as the Holy One, who MAKES HOLY, and the way in which
He makes holy – by entering in and RESTING.
The seventh day is not merely a period of time; the seventh day is the
REALM OF GOD'S REST, and ultimately, the seventh day becomes A PEOPLE. In Gen. 2:3 it is
stated of the seventh day: "And God blessed the seventh day, and SANCTIFIED IT."
He did this because in it HE RESTED. Then in Exe. 31:13 God identifies the day with a
people, showing how the one prefigures the other, and how the twain are one. "Verily,
MY SABBATHS SHALL YE KEEP: for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your
generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth SANCTIFY YOU." Here
the DAY and the PEOPLE are BOTH SO SANCTIFIED TO GOD that they become as ONE. As we enter
into God's rest, so that His rest becomes personified within us, WE BECOME HIS REST, HIS
HOLY DAY, HIS SABBATH. God is bringing forth a SABBATH PEOPLE, a people who ARE HIS REST
in the earth. As God brings His rest into us, and us into His rest, causing His rest to be
personified in us, even righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit – let the
nations rage, let the people imagine a vain thing, let the storms of trouble blow, let
sorrows spread as a cloud over the land, let the kingdoms around us tremble and fall, the
whole economic and political structure collapse and darkness cover the earth – God's
SABBATH PEOPLE ARE AT REST and unafraid, because they DWELL IN HIM. Hallelujah!
THE THREE-FOLD SABBATH
I have shown in the previous Study on this subject that the Sabbath in
Gen. 2:2-3 was not a twenty-four hour period of time, in which God rested from the labor
of six other twenty-four hour periods of time. The Sabbath following the six days of
creation is an eternal day of rest in which God still abides, a day eternally accessible
to man, for man is still enjoined to "enter in to His (God's) rest" (Heb.
4:1-11). How could it be possible today, six millenniums after Adam dwelt in
This realm of God's rest is three-fold as it pertains to man, for man
has three main parts in his being: body, soul, and spirit. The Spirit today is teaching us
how great is the necessity for each of these three faculties of our being to "enter
into His rest," that we might know the fullness of the rest of God provided for THE
WHOLE MAN. God has not given us a Sabbath merely for the body, nor just for the soul, nor
only for the spirit. The simple truth of the matter is this: When the omniscient,
immutable, omnipotent, and eternal God said, "They shall enter into My rest," He
intended the whole man to enter into that rest, spirit, soul, and body. Behold how
great and complete a provision God has made for His people! Concerning the three-fold
dimensions of the Sabbath-rest, let us note:
There
is a rest that is given – it is for the body.
There
is a rest that is found – it is for the soul.
There
is a rest that is entered – it is for the spirit.
A SABBATH FOR THE BODY
When Adam walked out of the Garden of Eden, he brought with him two
institutions which have immeasurably blessed the life of mankind ever since – the
institution of the home and one that was even older, the institution of the Sabbath, the
first blessing which God gave to mankind. The benefit that has come to the human race
through the gift of the Sabbath can hardly be overestimated.
Among the special dealings of God with His people
Another point I would mention in passing – the Word of the Lord
is that "the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." Now, which
day is the seventh day? We must keep in mind that calendars and the reckoning of
time have changed at various points in history. There was no Roman Gregorian Calendar in
Jesus' day, nor in the days of the Old Testament. In fact, by the calendar of ancient
In the Gregorian calendar, we call the last day of the week Saturday,
while the first we call Sunday. Because Saturday is the seventh day of our week, some
suppose that it should be made the Sabbath, "the day of cessation." But in light
of all the changes in calendars and the reckoning of time through the ages there is
absolutely no way of knowing that the "seventh day" we keep would be the same
day as the "seventh day" in ancient times. In their wrangling over the letter of
the Word – bringing into question which day the Lord's people should observe as the
Sabbath, following six days of labor – the legalistic seventh day advocates have
either written into the fourth commandment, or assumed it to be understood, three words
– "of the week." Thus they present the commandment as stating: "Six
days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day of the week is the
Sabbath of the Lord thy God." By what authority and right are these three words added
to the commandment? The Lord did not specify a particular day of the week, for
the simple reason that it would be uniformly impossible to keep the identical day
worldwide as the Sabbath unto the Lord. He, therefore, had Moses specify that the seventh
day, following six days of labor, was to be the Sabbath of the Lord. Therefore,
regardless of where your six days of labor may begin – the seventh day, following the
six days of labor – is the Sabbath. In this light all the changes in the calendars
and the reckoning of time become utterly irrelevant, whether our seventh day corresponds
historically to any other peoples' seventh day matters not at all. And today, when it is
Saturday on one side of a time line, it is Sunday on the other side, and yet it is exactly
the same day. By what right or reason can the Sabbatarian on his side of the line condemn
the Sunday observer of the Sabbath on his side of the line, when both are observing the
same day as their Sabbath following six days of labor? We have often said it would
be interesting for the Sabbatarians to start at a given point on the earth, with one going
east and the other west, each observing Saturday as their Sabbath. When they meet on the
other side of the earth, they would be observing different days as their Sabbath but each
calling the day "Saturday!"
Our omniscient Father and Creator, full of wisdom, knowing every need
of His creatures, has made gracious provision for the whole man, not only for the inner
man, the spirit and soul realms, but He also gave His people a day of physical rest. I
realize that immediately there are those who will rise up in indignation and reject any
thought of a day of rest for the physical body, for they claim that they are walking by
the grace of God and are able to go on day after day without rest. But I would point out
that as long as we have a flesh and blood body of the physical creation, until we have
been thoroughly changed, and clothed upon with our house which is from above; until this
body of humiliation has been transfigured, fashioned "like unto His body of
glory," this body, like it or not, admit it or not, is subject to the LAWS OF GOD
which govern the physical order.
The entire universe is governed by law. All of life operates according
to law. When we observe these laws, we get definite beneficial results. When we disregard
them, we get certain evil consequences. In the realm of agriculture, the farmer knows from
experience that laws govern his crops. He who sows wheat reaps the same, and so with all
other grains, vegetables, fruits, nuts, etc. Crying, screaming, and praying for a field
that has been sown with oats to come up into stalks of corn will only reveal the folly of
the fool. There is a law. God's law. and it cannot be broken. We, in disobedience, merely
break ourselves over it. There is a law, unwritten but positive, that says that, if you
jump into a fire, you will be burned; if you leap from a precipice, your bones will break
and your flesh and blood will spatter; if you expose your body to the frost, you will get
frost-bite; if your breath is cut off, you will perish. Ah, beloved, we are in the midst
of a universe that God has made, and we have to think as God thinks regarding even natural
laws. If a man thinks otherwise than God has thought about electricity, electricity will
soon knock him out. A 400 pound weight impends over a man's head and is about to fall. He
is warned to get out of the way, but he refuses and says that he doesn't believe in the
law of gravitation, and anyhow, he isn't under any law for he is walking in the grace of
God. Soon the man doesn't think anymore. When the 400 pound weight falls, his thinking
machinery is forever smashed.
And there is a law which declares that if you work seven days a week,
month after month, year after year, there will surely come the time when physical
exhaustion takes over, because you have not joyfully received God's precious gift of a
Sabbath for the body. The French revolutionaries decided that Moses was not wise in
insisting on a Sabbath day of rest, so they decided they could not afford to spend one day
in seven, and adopted the decimal system with rest every tenth day. And what happened was
this. The donkeys began to break down. The scientists came together and asked: "What
is the matter with the donkeys?" When they looked into it they found that the
donkeys, and all other animals like them, man included, have this peculiarity about them.
The physical body is so constructed that the pulse is feebler on the seventh day after six
days of work and stress, and if work continues long enough beyond this point it will break
down altogether. The donkeys thus broke down and the French revolutionaries had to go back
to the Bible day of rest, because they were wise enough to take a lesson from the donkeys.
We need to rest our bodies. That not only means a Sabbath, it means fewer late
night movies and no late, late ones. Jesus said to His disciples, "come ye apart
and rest a while." Well, a lot of us are doing the first part of that –
we're coming apart! The whole country is filled with people who are burning their candle
at both ends and in the middle too. It is God, gracious and wise, who has written the law
of one day of rest out of every seven, into the very fabric of our being. As batteries
need constant recharging, so our bodies need regular periods of rest to revitalize and
restore them. "Oh, but," someone objects, "I have gone beyond that, I am
now walking in the Spirit, I am in the Kingdom, I am living in a higher realm than that, I
need no natural "day" of rest because Christ is my rest!" I only say to
this one: Let him who says he needs no day of rest for his body, and that God has not
provided one, also demonstrate: "I no longer go to bed nor sleep at night, I am now
walking in the Spirit, I am in the Kingdom, I am living in a higher realm than that,
Christ is my rest and I can go twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, fifty-two weeks
in the year without ever getting tired!" Can any say that? I deny it. They cannot.
Have such also stopped eating and drinking? Do they no longer hunger or thirst or need
food for strength? Do they still wake up in the morning with "dragon's mouth"
and brush their teeth? Do they drive their automobiles to get from place to place, or are
they now transported by the Spirit? Do they not conform to multitudinous other laws of
nature?
We sit in the glory light of our anticipation of an incorruptible,
celestial plane of existence BEYOND THIS PHYSICAL WORLD to which all God's sons are
destined to attain, and the transformation of our body into a body like unto HIS body of
glory shall mean the fullness of what the body-sabbath is to be. But until the reality has
broken through, let us not walk as fools. The laws are here – health laws, which, if
they are obeyed will result in health, happiness and long life. What grief, what sorrow
many have borne because they have cast away God's laws, stuffing their stomachs with
unclean and unhealthy junk, and their bodies have been defiled with disease and
corruption. Are you defiling your body, the temple of the Holy Spirit? If you defile your
body by any nicotine poison, by the filthy vice of smoking, then you sin against the
Men cast away God's moral law, and their minds become the hold of
every foul thought and imagination and they indulge their flesh in every lust and passion
without restraint. Even the churches are filled with the corruption of strife, envy,
jealously, covetousness, lies, deceits, foolishness, adultery, gluttonous appetites,
undisciplined tempers, contentions, unbridled gossipy tongues, critical spirits, pettiness
and childishness. We have cast away God's spiritual laws, and many have become entangled
with every form of cultism, metaphysics, eastern philosophies, and devilish doctrines.
Let all men know that for the breaking of every law there is a result.
Eat too much rich food and you will get indigestion! It's a law. If it makes no impression
on a man to know that God will visit his iniquities upon him, he cannot blind himself to
the fact that NATURE WILL. Do we not all know what it is to be punished by Nature for
disobeying her? We have looked around the wards of a hospital, a prison, or a mental
institute, and seen there Nature at work squaring her accounts with sin. And we knew as we
looked that if no Judge sat on the throne of the heavens at all there was a Judgment
there, where an inexorable Nature was crying aloud for justice, and carrying out her heavy
sentences for violated laws.
On the other hand, there is great blessing in walking in
harmony with God's laws. Normally speaking, if you would quit working every few days to
take a needed rest, you might naturally expect to get behind with your work and finances.
But God Himself has set in motion a great law. The law of the Sabbath says that if you
will pause to rest on the seventh day, you will be so physically blessed by the
rest that the work of the six days will more than make up for what you might have
accomplished on the Sabbath! Do you realize what that amounts to? In one way of looking at
it, God is giving us a PAID VACATION every seventh day! The world rushes on, caught up in
their frenzied desire to gain material things, to build and to plant and to store up,
seeking for some kind of security, but, blessed be the name of the Lord, HIS OWN can take
their Sabbaths, and know that HE will provide all that is needed, and they can rest in
Him!
ONE POINT I WOULD MAKE VERY CLEAR: There is positively NO SALVATION in
keeping a day of physical rest, one will never be made MORE RIGHTEOUS in the eyes of God
by keeping a day of rest, and one will never be brought into PERFECTION AND SONSHIP by
keeping a day. It should be clear to all who read these pages that all the NATURAL LAWS
were given for the benefit of the PHYSICAL MAN during this time of watching and waiting
for the full manifestation of the eternal glory that is set before us, into which
some must soon enter, praise God! Let all of God's apprehended ones know beyond any shadow
of doubt that we will never, in a million million years, reap any particular SPIRITUAL
BENEFIT from keeping a Sabbath or eating the right kinds of food. These things minister to
the physical man, not the spiritual man, and no physical thing possesses any power or
ability to minister anything to the inward man of the spirit. Natural laws are not given
for our spiritual enrichment, rather, for our physical blessing. There are absolutely no
ETERNAL SPIRITUAL BENEFITS derived from the keeping of natural laws – but –
there ARE DEFINITE PHYSICAL BENEFITS for the here and now!
I explain this, beloved, and boldly declare it, for there are some who
would bring God's people under bondage to the keeping of a day, as though their
salvation depended upon it, as though it were a mark of deep spirituality, or as though
our attainment to sonship required it. It is inconceivable to imagine any scripture or any
inspired saying that could possibly make this truth more plain and understandable than
these words of the apostle Paul: "To declare, I say, at this time His righteousness:
that He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. by what law? of
works? Nay; but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified BY
FAITH WITHOUT THE DEEDS OF THE LAW. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with
God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have ACCESS BY FAITH into this grace
wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Christ is become of no
effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. For
we THROUGH THE SPIRIT WAIT FOR THE HOPE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS BY FAITH. O foolish Galatians,
who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth? This only would I learn of you,
Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, OR BY THE HEARING OF FAITH? Are ye so
foolish? having begun in the Spirit, ARE YE NOW MADE PERFECT BY THE FLESH? FOR THE
LAW MADE NOTHING PERFECT, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we
draw nigh unto God" (Rom. 3:26-28; Rom. 5:1-2; Gal. 5:4-5; Gal. 3:1-3; Heb. 7:19).
Obeying the physical laws of God will reap rich reward to the physical
man on the plane of corruptible life, but if you consider with reverent honesty the above
stated words of the apostle Paul, it should be clear that physical laws are powerless to
produce anything in the higher realm of the Spirit. How good is our heavenly Father that
He in grace and wisdom should give us a day of rest for our physical bodies, and the
CONSUMMATION of this SABBATH FOR THE BODY comes with the redemption of our bodies from the
tyranny of change and decay, and until then our bodies need their Sabbaths, while we carry
on in this travail. "For ye are bought with a price: therefore GLORIFY GOD IN YOUR
BODY, and in your spirit, which are God's" (I Cor. 6:20).
Ray Prinzing has shared this precious word of confirmation: "Paul
described it this way: 'For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I see
another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into
captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. So then with the mind I myself serve
the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.' (
"Full well Paul knew that he had given himself to the Lord, made
his surrender, and received the INDWELLING LIFE OF THE SPIRIT. But he also knew that there
was a law in his members, in the flesh, which would war against this inner life and that
there were only two ways to bring a cessation to the conflict, either to PUT OFF THIS
BODY, or else to have this body SWALLOWED UP INTO HIS LIFE. He had no great desire to
become a dis-embodied spirit, but rather longed to have this body CHANGED and fashioned
anew like unto HIS glorious body, for then he would know that GLORIOUS REST FOR THE BODY.
"What conflicts – the negative says, 'This body is mine by
reason of the fall, and the sin that dwells therein.' The spirit of the world adds, 'This
body is mine, I give it life and nourishment – I feed its senses, tickle its
emotions, stir up its impulses, etc.' But the Spirit of God within , says, 'IT IS MINE BY
VIRTUE OF REDEMPTION – I shall transform it, I shall lift it into higher realms
beyond all sin and corruption.' Thus we have conflict between the negative and the
positive. There might be momentary pauses in the battle, but there will be no THOROUGH
PAUSE, complete cessation of warfare, until we are totally changed. It is when we are ALL
RIGHTEOUS, that the 'prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.' (John 14:30),
that we know the rest of righteousness." – end quote.
Thank God! the change is coming where we will no longer need rest for
the body, nor be subject to any physical law. When our Lord arose from the dead, He was
not raised in corruption, but in incorruption. That which is incorruptible is
beyond the power of corruption, decay, weakness or death. It is also beyond the power of
tiredness or the need for either food or rest. Thus of the resurrection of the dead it is
written, "It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in
dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown weakness; it is raised in power: it is sown a
natural body; it is raised a spiritual body" (I Cor. 15:42-44). This
corruptible must put on incorruption. The body of the corruptible man is the body
of death, but the body of the incorruptible man is the body of the resurrection, a
body beyond the power of change or death. When our Forerunner rose from the dead, He arose
incorruptible. He did not take His blood into the tomb, and when He arose He did not arise
with blood flowing in His veins, He arose with a body pulsating with LIFE, the life of
God, life incorruptible and eternal.
The spiritual body of glory and incorruption is the body of the
resurrection. When the
SHADOWS OF THINGS TO COME
I have pointed out that God knows the need of the whole man, not only
did He provide for the inner man, the spirit and soul realms, But He also gave His people
a day of physical rest. But we praise God for that quickening of the Spirit which
enlightens our minds and hearts to the knowledge that not only is there a LAW AND ORDER
for the body realm, but there is that higher and more glorious LAW OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE
IN CHRIST JESUS. All the natural laws find their fulfillment in Christ, in the law
of the Spirit of life. IN HIM we find the fulfillment of the "seventh day
Sabbath," for HE IS BECOMING OUR REST, body, soul, and spirit. The seventh day is far
more than a period of time; the seventh day is the whole REALM OF GOD'S REST, and that
rest is found in Christ.
Just as surely as Christ is our salvation, our sacrifice, our
passover, our high priest, our peace, our wisdom, our righteousness, our anointing, and
our life, so also is Christ our Sabbath. Is not this the plain and forceful teaching of
Paul in his letter to the Colossian saints? "Let no man therefore judge you in meat,
or drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath
days: WHICH ARE A SHADOW of things to come; but the body is of Christ"
(Col. 2:16-17). All the things contained in the law, good and wondrous as they are, are
only shadows of things to come. A shadow falling upon the ground tells us that
there is a body nearby, and if you will lift your eyes away from the dusky shadow
on the surface of the ground, you will see the body that made the shadow. You will behold
the reality rather than the reflection. All earthly things are but the shadow of heavenly
things, and all physical things are the shadow cast by higher realities in the realm of
the Spirit. Therefore Paul says, "The body is of Christ." The Amplified Bible
reads: "Such things are only the shadow of things that are to come. but the reality
– the SUBSTANCE, the SOLID FACT of what is foreshadowed, the body of it –
belongs to Christ." If I see the shadowy image of a snarling bulldog on the ground
beside me, then I can be assured there is a SUBSTANCE, a REALITY behind the shadow –
and I had better move quickly! The dog is the substance, the body of the shadow. So is
Christ the substance of the law. Meats and drinks and holydays and sabbaths are but
shadows, lying darkly upon the surface of the ground (the earth realm), but look a little
farther and you will behold the reality – CHRIST OUR SABBATH IN WHOM WE FIND GLORIOUS
REST! That there is physical blessing in keeping physical laws, that there is God-ordained
bodily profit in keeping even the seventh day Sabbath for the body is evident, for, if
there was no value nor benefit to the physical man in meats and drinks and Sabbath days,
these could not then stand as the shadow of the reality in Christ. But let us never settle
for the mere shadow when God is also offering us the substance!
A SABBATH FOR THE SOUL
Next, there is also a rest for the soul – the realm of the mind,
will, emotions, and desires. Our Lord Jesus Christ proclaimed this rest for the soul when
He said, "Come unto Me, all ye that labour 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. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light" (Mat.
11:28-30). Yes, beloved, the whole soulish realm needs to be brought into rest. As Ray
Prinzing has written, "We often speak of entering into HIS REST, and we often quote
the verse, 'There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered
into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His. Let us labour
(Greek, make haste, speed) therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the
same example of unbelief.' (Hebrews 4:9-11). But it is also found that while we might lie
down and give our physical body a rest, this mind of ours can remain agitated and in
turmoil, thoughts upon thoughts stirred up within – and to 'find rest for your
souls,' (Matthew 11:29) only comes as we LEARN OF HIM, and are RENEWED INTO HIS
MIND."
Jesus encourages us to "TAKE MY YOKE UPON YOU and LEARN OF
ME," for this is what will bring rest to the soul. How strange this admonition of our
Lord! How exhausted we become in our minds and bodies with all the feverish activity of
trying to keep pace with this world's system. There are so many pressures in the world,
each one bearing down upon us and clamoring for our attention – each one presenting a
problem that needs to be solved, until your head aches with all the urgency and clatter,
and your nerves are frayed from the tension. And now comes the word, "Take My yoke
upon you. and ye shall find rest unto your souls." Is life not hard and sorrowful
enough without being fettered with yet another yoke? Then the statement, "For My yoke
is easy, and My burden is light."
Did you ever stop to ask what a yoke is for? Is it to be a burden to
the animal which wears it? It is just the opposite. It is to make its burden light.
Attached to the oxen in any other way than by a yoke, the plough would be intolerable.
Worked by means of a yoke, it is light! A yoke is not an instrument of torture; it is AN
INSTRUMENT OF MERCY. It is not a malicious contrivance for making work hard; it is a
gentle device to make hard labor light. It is not meant to give pain, but to save pain.
Christ says, "My yoke is EASY." The word easy comes from the Greek word
(chrestos), literally meaning "goodness," "gracious," or
"kind." MY YOKE IS GOODNESS, MY YOKE IS GRACIOUS, MY YOKE IS KIND! Take My
goodness, take My graciousness, take My kindness upon you, and learn of Me. Learn what?
Learn that "I am meek and lowly in heart." Meekness is the opposite of all that
is hard or bitter or sharp. Meekness is one of the fruits of the Spirit.
There is perhaps none of the lovely virtues which adorn the image of
God's Son, which is more seldom seen in those who are called to be the expression of
Christ. There are many precious saints, in whom much love for souls, much zeal for God's
will, much desire after God's glory, much hope for the call to sonship, are visible, and
yet who continually come short in this. How often, when offence comes unexpectedly,
whether at home, in the church, or in the world, they are carried away by temper and anger
and upset emotions, and have to confess that they have lost the PERFECT REST OF SOUL IN
GOD! There is no virtue, perhaps, for which some have prayed more earnestly: they feel
they would give anything if in their intercourse with partner, or children, or brothers
and sisters in Christ, in company or in business, they could always keep their emotions
perfectly, and exhibit the meekness and gentleness of Christ. Unspeakable is the grief and
disappointment experienced by those who have been stirred to long for it, and yet have not
discovered where the secret to meekness lies!
For every apprehended one who longs to possess this spirit, Christ's
word is full of encouragement and wisdom: "Learn of Me that I am meek." The soul
that seeks to be meek, must learn that Jesus is meek. We must take time to gaze on His
meekness, until the heart has received the full import of the message: HE ONLY IS MEEK:
with Him alone can meekness be found. When the truth of this bursts within our souls, we
next fix our hearts upon the truth: This meek One is THE INDWELLING CHRIST. All He is, all
He has, is shared with His "many brethren," His meekness is to be communicated
to every area of our beings. But He does not impart it, by giving, as it were from
Himself, something away to us. He does not sit in the heavens and "spoon out" to
us a "spoonful" of meekness! No! we must learn that He alone is meek, and only
when He is known as the INDWELLING CHRIST, only as He takes possession of heart and life
from within, as we spend blessed time "at His feet," His meekness is enabled to
rule in our souls.
He has been exalted to the power of God from thence to reign in our
hearts, to conquer every enemy, and continue in us His own victorious conquering life.
Therefore, only believe! Believe that Christ dwells not in some far-off heaven somewhere,
but He dwells within your life and is able to fill your soul with His own spirit of
meekness. Within your own heart reverberates the message: "BEHOLD! THY KING COMETH
UNTO THEE, MEEK" (Mat. 21:5). Expect Him to reveal Himself to you and in you, unto
the praise of His glory. Thank God! there is a rest that can be found for the SOUL, as we
take His yoke upon us, and learn of Him.
Rest. For the soul. Ah, how we yearn for it! And it comes by taking
His yoke upon us. Men speak of the yoke of Christ as if it were slavery, and look upon
those who wear it as objects of compassion. The mistake has arisen from taking the word
"yoke" here in the same sense as in the expressions "under the yoke,"
or "wear the yoke in his youth." But in Christ's illustration it is not the
"jugum" of the Roman soldier, but the simple "harness" or
"ox-collar" used by the Eastern peasant. It is the literal wooden yoke which He,
with His own hands in the carpenter shop, had probably often made. He knew the difference
between a smooth yoke and a rough one, a bad fit and a good fit; the difference also it
made to the patient animal which had to wear it. The rough yoke galled, and the burden was
heavy; the smooth yoke caused no pain, and the load was lightly drawn. The badly fitted
harness was a misery; the well-fitted collar was "easy."
And what is the "burden"? It is not some special burden laid
upon the believer, some unique infliction laid upon those called to sonship, that they
alone must bear. IT IS WHAT ALL MEN BEAR. It is simply life, human life itself, the
general burden of life lived out in a corruptible body, on the earth plane, with all it
has of problems, frustrations, pressures, weaknesses and difficulties. Christ saw that
most men take life painfully. To some it is a weariness, to others a failure, to many a
tragedy, and to nearly all a struggle and a sorrow. How to carry this burden of life, this
burden of the creature made subject to vanity, has been the whole world's problem.
It is today the whole world's problem. How men handle it can be seen in the daily
newspaper, as we read of murders, suicides, divorces, lawsuits, nervous breakdowns,
arguments, fights, men cursing and swearing at one another, drunkenness, dope addiction,
cultism, and those who simply seek to escape from the pressures by withdrawing to the
seclusion of communes and wilderness retreats.
But here is Christ's solution: "Take My yoke upon you, and learn
of Me THAT I AM MEEK AND LOWLY IN HEART: and ye shall find rest for your souls!"
He invites us: "Take life as I do. Carry it as I carry it. Look at it from My point
of view. Interpret it upon My principles. Live it in the power of My life and by the
energy of My Spirit. Get yoked up with Me. Stop struggling within yourself, and walk in
step with Me. Listen to My voice. Yield to My will. Be conscious, every moment, of My
presence within. Because you have become new creatures through the grace of God and the
power of His Spirit, think of yourselves as new creatures, a new creation, and not
as the old men you used to be. Take My yoke upon you and learn of
"There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he
that is entered into His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from
His. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest" (Heb. 4:9-11). Some say,
"I believe there is such a rest, but not for me." There are people who
continually say, "Oh, my nature is so unstable; my will is naturally very weak; I am
Irish and my temperament is nervous and excitable, it is impossible for me always to live
without worry or irritableness, resting in God." Beloved brother, sister, do not say
that. You say so only for one reason: You do not know what your God will do for you! Begin
to look away from self and look to Christ. "Learn of ME." Take that precious
word: "He brought them out that He might bring them in" (Deut.
Do you believe it is possible for Christ to bring you today into the
rest of God, even in your soul? Remember that word in Hebrews, "Even as the Holy
Ghost saith, TODAY if ye will hear His voice. there remaineth a rest to the people of
God." Let us believe even now that our Joshua leads us into the rest of God in our
souls, the rest in which we are saved from self-care, self-seeking, self-trusting, and
self-loving, the rest in which we do not think of ourselves, but where we know that He who
is almighty will always be dwelling and working in us. When we have done that, let us know
as surety that as we have sought first the
God is bringing forth a people who shall know the fullness of rest in
every part of their being. They shall become the manifestation to the entire creation of
what REST really is. Buried deep in the heart of every man is that desire and hunger to
know God, and to find in Him their permanent dwelling place. As long as we continue to
burn the candle at both ends seven days a week, our body shall not have the benefit of its
God-appointed rest. As long as we remain caught up in the madness of this world's system,
and fail to spend time AT HIS FEET TO LEARN OF HIM, our minds, emotions, desires and will
cannot find their rest. "Let us labour therefore TO ENTER INTO THAT REST!"
A SABBATH FOR THE SPIRIT
I would draw your attention to a most wonderful and meaningful event
in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, and recommend that you read the entire account in
Mat. 12:1-8. Here we shall extract only two verses out of this significant story: "I
say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple. for the Son of man is
Lord even of the Sabbath day." Read these inspired and holy statements with all
diligence and prayer, and with bowed head and contrite heart ask the Spirit of God to fill
your spirit with the glorious revelation contained in these words, for out of the incident
in the grain field, rises two startling truths: that CHRIST is greater than the TEMPLE;
and CHRIST is greater than the SABBATH. Greater than the
As the Greater-than-the-Temple is CHRIST IN YOU, so the
Greater-than-the-Sabbath also is CHRIST IN YOU. Jesus said, "The Son of man is LORD.
OF THE SABBATH DAY." If He is LORD of the Sabbath day, He is then GREATER than the
Sabbath day. If He is LORD of the SABBATH, the Sabbath then finds its fulfillment IN HIS
LORDSHIP. Can we not see that the Sabbath is the place where Christ IS ABSOLUTE LORD
within.
WE BECOME THE SUBSTANCE OF THE SHADOW as He rests in us, and we rest
in Him. When the rest of HIS LORDSHIP becomes personified within us, WE BECOME HIS REST,
HIS HOLY DAY, THE SABBATH OF THE LORD OUR GOD! If we are going to enter into the rest, we
must enter into Christ. But where is Christ today? We answer that He is in our spirit, for
"He that is joined unto the Lord IS ONE SPIRIT, and if Christ be IN YOU, the body is
dead because of sin; but THE SPIRIT IS LIFE because of righteousness" (I Cor.
Praise God! our spirits have been quickened by God's Spirit, and there
is a rest deep within our bosoms, birthed by the Spirit of Him who is rest. Well may they
be troubled who know not God and have no confidence in the indwelling Christ. He who KNOWS
HIM says within his heart, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in
trouble. Therefore will we not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains
be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled,
though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof" (Ps. 46:1-3). The heathen may
rage and the kingdoms of earth be moved. Tyranny may sweep across the land as a dark and
furious storm. We may be imprisoned for our faith in Christ, our sons and daughters may
shed their blood in the streets, our women may be ravished cruelly before our eyes. The
earth itself may melt at the voice of the Lord, yet, to those who DO KNOW THEIR GOD,
"The God of Jacob is our refuge." They who find this kind of rest in God
speak from the midst of the fire, saying with joy, "There is a river, the streams
whereof shall make glad the city of
There is a rest in the spirit of every child of God which is a source
of mighty peace and victory in the midst of earth's trying circumstances. Dear ones, do
not be distressed by the confusion around you at home, on the job, in the nation. Today
you are a kernel of wheat in the tumult of the threshing floor. The weeds, chaff, and
straw are being blown about by the wind, but you are being gathered into the garner. Do
not be disturbed about the present disorder, deception, violence, weakness and
vacillation of our national leaders, confusion in the religious world, hatred, war,
disease, famine, pestilence, moral breakdown of society, or the specter of persecution.
Do not run away and hide. Do not worry. If you are worrying, then you are not trusting.
Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though SOME
STRANGE THING HAPPENED TO YOU: but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's
sufferings; that, when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy
(I Pet. 4:12-13). The fiery trial is for our purification that we may be qualified to rule
and reign as overcomers in the
WITHIN YOUR SPIRIT, my brother, my sister, has been planted the
incorruptible seed of Christ and therein is a reservoir of THE PEACE OF GOD that passeth
understanding. As this peace grows in stature and strength within to RULE IN YOUR HEARTH,
you are transformed into God's SABBATH PEOPLE, a people who ARE HIS REST in the earth.
God's SABBATH PEOPLE ARE AT REST and unafraid, because they dwell in the secret place of
the Most High and they abide under the shadow of the almighty. These saints so become ONE
WITH HIS REST that they are not disturbed by the pressures without. When Paul wrote to the
saints at Thessalonica, he told them of many dreadful things that would come upon the
earth. He warned them not to be shaken in mind or troubled, and then gave this beautiful
assurance, "And to you who are troubled, REST WITH US, when the Lord Jesus
shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty messengers, when He shall come to be
GLORIFIED IN HIS SAINTS and to be ADMIRED IN ALL THEM THAT BELIEVE in that day" (II
Thes. 1:7,10). Yes, God is preparing a SABBATH COMPANY, not only to have rest, but to
bring rest, to minister peace, joy, and righteousness to the troubled peoples of earth in
the distressing days which lie before us, praise HIS wonderful name! If you want to be
raptured off to heaven and sit on a cloud eating pork chops, go ahead; as for me and my
house, we choose to remain on the battle field until we see His Kingdom a great mountain
THAT FILLS THE WHOLE EARTH.
This rest of the spirit had its inception on the day of Pentecost when
the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the disciples. Jesus had promised: "And, behold,
I send the promise of My Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of
"For with stammering lips and another tongue will He speak to
this people. THIS IS THE REST wherewith ye may cause THE WEARY TO REST; and this is the
refreshing." It means simply this: If you have not received God's precious gift of
the Holy Spirit; if you are not walking in the Spirit – YOU ARE A
SABBATH-BREAKER! The baptism in the Spirit is merely the "earnest," the
"down payment" of this Sabbath rest, and, praise God, the fullness is surely
becoming reality within as we FOLLOW ON to know the Lord in deeper measures.
Oh, the goodness and greatness of the purposes of God! How wonderful
and wise His ways! How almighty His acts!
Chapter 22
A SABBATH IN
(continued)
"Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host
of them. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and HE RESTED ON THE
SEVENTH DAY from all His work which He had made. And God BLESSED THE SEVENTH DAY, AND
SANCTIFIED IT: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and
made" (Gen. 2:1-3).
In the two previous Studies on this subject of A SABBATH IN EDEN I
have pointed out that the Sabbath in Gen. 2:2-3 was not a twenty-four period of time, in
which God rested from the labor of six other twenty-four hour periods of time. The Sabbath
following the six days of creation is an ETERNAL DAY OF REST in which God still abides, a
day ever accessible to man, for man is still enjoined to "enter into His
(God's) rest" (Heb. 4:1-11). How could it be possible today, six long millenniums
after Adam dwelt in
This hallowed realm of God's rest is three-fold as pertains to man,
for man has three main parts in his being: body, soul, and spirit. The Spirit of God is
today teaching us how great is the necessity for each of these three faculties of our
being to "enter into His rest," that we might know the fullness of the rest of
God provided for THE WHOLE MAN. God has not given us a Sabbath merely for the body, nor
just for the soul, nor alone for the spirit. The simple truth of the matter is this: When
the omniscient, immutable, omnipotent, and eternal God said, "They shall enter into
My rest," He INTENDED THE WHOLE MAN TO ENTER INTO THAT REST, spirit, soul, and body.
Behold how great and complete a provision God has made for His people! In this present
article we shall pursue further the thought of a three-fold Sabbath for man.
A SABBATH FOR THE SPIRIT
Praise God! our spirits have been quickened by God's Spirit, and there
is a rest deep within our bosoms, begotten by the Spirit of Him WHO IS REST. Here is where
God's Sabbath is rooted, in the area of our spirit. "He that is joined unto the Lord
is ONE SPIRIT" (I Cor.
A SABBATH FOR THE SOUL
"And He brought us out from thence, that He might bring us in, to
give us the land which He swore unto our fathers" (Deut.
Rest for the soul! Rest for the mind and emotions, rest from the
warrings of the will and desires of the flesh. Soul weariness can't be healed through
sleep or relaxation, as can body weariness, and it can actually rob us of sleep. It
involves tension, fear, anxiety, anger, frustration, the disturbing of our inner peace,
the deep unrest of mind and heart that saps strength from the center of our being. While
in this world, no matter how much we try, things are constantly happening that batter away
at our soul. These battles take their toll, and as a result, our soul needs to be rested.
If we try to fight in our own strength against the things that assault our souls, we will
just heighten the problem. Temptations that we have to resist, arguments in which we find
ourselves embroiled, misunderstanding between friends, family, and brethren, rumors that
we somehow get caught up in, accusations that are hurled toward us, the multiplied
pressures on the job and at home, all the activities of trying to keep pace with this
world's system – these are all things that constantly beat upon the soul to wear us
down.
Soul rest is a gift that comes from the God of all grace. The world
fails to find rest for its soul in spite of attempts made through drugs, Eastern religions
and philosophies, abnormal sexual practices, rock music, psychiatry, psychology,
psychoanalysis, and countless other ways. It would be a great blessing if every man on
earth could hear by the Spirit the wonderful invitation of the Christ of God: "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: and YE SHALL FIND REST UNTO YOUR SOULS" (Mat.
Rest and Peace are synonyms. Would you like peace today? I do not mean
the peace of lethargic ease or of a safe and sheltered life. Nor do I mean the peace of
the motionless Stoic, who achieves calm by doing violence to his affections, and by
damping down the fires of love and sorrow and pity in his heart. I do not mean that. I
mean the peace that stands sentinel at the gateway of the soul, and confronts all manner
of difficult things with steady eyes, the peace that holds the heart serene through
crowded days and pressures and overwork and problems and all the criticisms of men. Would
you like that? Well, saith the Lord, you can have it! It is not a matter of temperament:
the most highly strung soul can have it. It is a matter of embracing a gift. “My
peace I give unto you,” said Jesus. Notice His language. “My
peace.” The peace that my heart knows. Will you think of that? Jesus did not often
speak about it, but on every page of the Gospels you can feel it.
The serenity of Christ! The inner stability of the Christ! Look at the
narratives. Did anyone, watching Jesus in those Galilean days, ever see Him irritated?
Think what He had to put up with. Could you have stood it and remained serene? Continual
intrusions upon His privacy, no respite from dawn to dark, the steady drain on His
spiritual resources, inconsiderate people breaking in on His hours of quiet, the awful
burden of sharing every hurt heart’s sins and sorrows, the misunderstandings, the
cutting criticisms, the pettiness of the people, the viciousness of the scribes and
Pharisees and religion leaders, the terrible, unremitting toil, the disappointments, the
crushing load of such a life – and yet, through it all, that same serene, untroubled
heart. No flurry, no sign of strain upon His face, no trace of nerves – always
“My peace.” Is there anything more marvelous in the Gospels than that?
Contrast His own disciples. Their nerves sometimes gave way. There was
a Samaritan village that was rude and inhospitable. “Lord,” they cried
exasperated, “let us call down fire from heaven! Let us teach these boorish folk a
lesson!” But Jesus? “Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.” Always
that strong serenity, that deep inner calm and confidence! The frail boat was being tossed
one night on a murderous sea. “Master,” they shouted, all self-control flung to
the winds, “Master, carest Thou not that we perish?” “Peace, be
still,” said Jesus, and I think He was speaking to those panic-stricken hearts as
much as to the angry waves, “Peace, be still!” always inner calm. A crowd of
five thousand people followed them one day out to their secret retreat in the wilderness.
“Send them away,” said the disciples, “For heaven’s sake, let us have
a holiday for once!” “They need not depart,” said Jesus, “they are
sheep without a shepherd, and I love them.” Always that heart at leisure from itself.
Then came the end; and things went terribly wrong, or so it seemed. “Don’t go to
“Ah,” you say, “but that was Jesus! He was different.
We are common clay. You can’t expect us to achieve that praise of soul, that spirit
serene. It was lovely, it was marvelous, it was magnificent: but for us – utterly and
for ever impossible!” I beg you not to be too sure of that. If I could today convince
one troubled heart that this same thing – the peace of Christ, which is the peace of
God that passeth understanding – is not a far-off dream, but actually within the
reach of any soul who will claim it; if even one person who reads these lines were to lay
aside his paper and arise quite sure of this, that whatever happens, whatever comes or
goes, there is always far more in Jesus to hold a man steady and serene than there can be
anywhere else in life to shake or unnerve his soul – this ministry would not have
been in vain. For the real marvel is not only to hear, all through the story of
Jesus from the carpenter’s bench to the cross, the deep central theme, “My
peace”: the real marvel is to hear Him saying in the depths of our own spirit, as I
believe He is saying now, “My peace I give to you” – to those
younger sons of God who know in this life what it means to be rushed and pressured and
tested and fearful and agitated: “My peace – to you!”
If we will turn our hearts away from the things of this world and from
the religious vanity, the churchianity, the religious rubbish that everywhere confronts
us, and turn our eyes upon CHRIST JESUS, we will find rest for our souls. All who
long after HIS REST must cease from following after men to inquire of them and imbibe
their vain philosophy. The carnal mind has nothing more to offer in counsel but darkness
and death, for the carnal mind IS DEAD, and knows nothing at all of that which pertains to
life. For the people of God to seek counsel from the counselors of this world, be they
psychologists, psychiatrists, marriage counselors, or the ministers of religion in the
harlot church systems, is as futile and worthless as seeking counsel from a zombie. How
accurately did Paul pen the words in
Listen now, with bowed head and contrite spirit, to the heart-cry of
the lovely Shulamite as she, possessed by the godly desire to enter into a closer walk
with her Beloved, and to know Him in deeper measures of intimacy and union, implores,
"Tell me, O Thou whom my soul loveth, where Thou feedest, where Thou makest Thy flock
to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of Thy
companions?" (S. of S. 1:7). All that the world or any creature can give, is as ashes
to that hungry soul who is longing for a revelation of his Lord. Nothing else can satisfy,
nothing else can bring peace and joy and imperishable reality. All other love is as husks,
to the love and companionship of God, and to the love which He draws from the heart that
is yielded to Him. The lovely Shulamite maiden in the Song of Solomon represents the elect
of God. Truly has His Name become to God's apprehended ones as ointment poured forth; and
their hunger for divine fellowship and communion has increased, so that they long TO BE
FED BY HIM, and Him alone. They would know WHERE HE IS FEEDING HIS FLOCK, that they may
join that company which follows the Lamb to
It is absolutely amazing to see how God is drawing those who are
willing to pay the price to go all the way with God in this momentous hour. His hand is
upon them, and He is drawing them to Himself in increasingly deeper measures. there is no
self-satisfaction with those whom God is drawing and making hungry for Himself. Though we
are always satisfied with Christ, it seems that the more we feed upon Him and the more
satisfied we become in our relationship with Him, the hungrier we are for Him. The more we
drink of the living waters, the more satisfied we become and yet the thirstier we are. The
closer we draw to God, the more Christ is revealed to us, the more satisfied we are, and
yet the more fervently our hearts pant for Him. This is because a portion of our being has
been satisfied, and the portion that remains desires Him all the more! The reason many of
God's children are not hungering and thirsting after Him, is because they are not feeding
at all, or are eating the impure, contaminated food of the carnal doctrines and programs
of the church systems, and drinking lukewarm muddy water from
How puny, how weak, how miserable at best, is our love for our Lord!
Oh, that He would melt us down, that we might cry to Him with a voice that would go right
up into His heart: "O Thou, whom my soul loveth, tell me where Thou art feeding Thy
flock, that I may ever keep step with Thee: and not be lingering over food that is fried,
withered, and untimely, even though it may once, in some revival or experience of the
past, been fresh. Guide me, that I may walk in every ray of light and continually feed
upon Thee who art the Bread of Life; feed in trial and perplexity, in pressure and
trouble, in temptation and difficulty; that from Thee, who art my strength and redeemer, I
may derive the quickening power for everything that comes into my life." "Tell
me where Thou feedest Thy flock," is the fervent cry in the hearts of all sons of
God. Their hunger and desire after HIM have increased as they search for, and follow after
reality.
And now comes the promise: "I will feed My flock, and I will
cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God. I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon
the high mountains, shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat
pasture shall they feed" (Eze. 34:15,14). How significant that in these verses we
find that first comes the FEEDING, and then follows the REST. There would be
no rest if one's stomach were gnawing with hunger pangs. The internal desires must be
satisfied first. We have tried in our fleshly zeal to find that which satisfies, and we
have wandered through a great and vast wilderness of religious programs, rituals,
ceremonies, meetings, revivals, and activities, only to discover that the shepherds of
Babylon have trampled under foot the precious and glorious realities our hearts have so
desperately panted after. But HE who is the GOOD SHEPHERD has promised that HE will feed,
and HE will cause to lie down! It is His own sovereign work, as many can testify who have
heard His voice and have followed on to know the Lord. One does not "work up"
nor "shout down" the deep dealings and unfoldings of God, they have to be given
by the Spirit to our spirit, and simply received and appropriated by faith and obedience.
How precious is the impartation of HIS LIFE, and when it ABIDES WITHIN, you find a rest
taking over within. Gone are the strivings and the multitude of works. No need, now for
the flesh to conjure up a new batch of religious exercises, for the soul is at rest,
divinely quickened, divinely sustained.
"Tell me, O Thou whom my soul loveth, where Thou feedest, where
Thou MAKEST THY FLOCK TO REST AT
It is when the flock has to the full, that they LIE DOWN, but the
shepherd is with them all the time. Thus would we have it continually in our life. When we
have fed upon the Living Word of Christ so that faith has arisen in our hearts, we can
then lie down upon that Word in rest and confidence, knowing that we are in the pasture of
the Great Shepherd. As we eat of HIM, and LIE DOWN WITH HIM upon the promises of God, and
hide away in blessed fellowship with Him, we shall find peace and rest to our souls. Is
your life tossed and troubled, beloved friend, is your mind weary, your nerves frayed,
your emotions erupting, agitated and distressed? I do not hesitate to say that it is
because you have not sought out Him whom thy soul loveth, you have not found the place
where HE FEEDETH HIS FLOCK and MAKEST IT TO REST AT NOON, you have not discovered that
blessed place ALONE WITH HIM AT HIS FEET, even the secret place of the Most High.
Those who would be the sons of God in this dark hour must be diligent
to feed in the green pastures of His leading, not only in the cool of the morn and at eve
when the dew is upon the grass, but even in the hottest hour of the day, when the sun is
beating down so fiercely, and there is no breeze stirring. Amidst all the pressures within
and without we must be so nourished and strengthened by the heavenly manna of HIS
INDWELLING LIFE, that the heat cannot make us faint, nor the storms dismay or make us
afraid.
There is a wonderful relationship with Christ, in which we are hidden
away and draw upon Him for all enabling and strength in every time of need. Not only this.
There is a relationship where He causes us to lie down and rest when all is turmoil about
us. When everything without is going wrong, when the toast burns, the milk spills, the
brats bawl, the car won't start, the tire goes flat on the freeway, the boss curses, and
the pressures reach the point of crushing the life out, even in the worse testings and the
hardest things that can come upon us, HE IS ABLE TO MAKE US REST BESIDE STILL WATERS.
Though the sun's rays are hot, and, in ourselves, we would be overcome; He will hush our
fears and cause us to rest. He will spread His wing over us, and in its shadow we shall
rest. In the covert of His INDWELLING PRESENCE will He hide us from the plottings and
words of men. He will keep us secretly in His pavilion from the strife of tongues, for He
is our keeper. He is our shade upon our right hand, the sun shall not smite us by day nor
the moon by night. As the whole world situation crumbles around us in the days which lie
ahead, HE will keep our going out and our coming in. He will keep us from all evil, for He
neither slumbers nor sleeps. Those who KNOW THIS are SONS OF THE MOST HIGH GOD!
Rest for the soul! "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.
But alas! I hear someone say, it is this constant labor to bear His
yoke, to learn of Him, that is so difficult, and the very effort to attain to this often
disturbs my rest even more than the pressures from the world around me. What a mistake to
speak thus! Does it weary the traveler to rest on the bed where he seeks relaxation from
his fatigue? Or is it a labor for an infant to rest in its mother's arms? Is it not the
bed that supports the traveler? Do not the arms of the mother sustain and keep the little
one? And so it is with CHRIST IN OUR SPIRIT. The soul has but to yield itself to HIM, to
be still and rest in the confidence that "GREATER IS HE THAT IS IN YOU, THAN HE THAT
IS IN THE WORLD" (I Jn. 4:4). I stand in amazement and wonder at such words of life
as these. The Christ within rejoices in them, and my own begotten spirit shouts,
"Amen!" He that is within IS GREATER than all, therefore the soul who trusts in
this truth finds blessed rest. This rest is the fruit of the fellowship of God's
own rest, it is the peace of God, the great calm of the eternal world, that passeth all
understanding, where CHRIST IS LORD OF ALL.
God wants you to know that He that is WITHIN YOU IS GREATER
than he that is in the world. If He is – HE IS! It doesn't mean that He is greater IF
you pray all night, IF you read ten chapters in the Bible each day, IF you fast all week,
IF you praise ever so loud or long, IF you "plead the blood" every time evil
presents itself, IF you go to the meeting and sing some chorus twenty-five times, or IF
you have five prophecies and two seven-foot angels assuring you that He is working in your
behalf. Though none of the above happen, it is still a great fact: HE THAT IS IN YOU IS
GREATER THAN HE THAT IS IN THE WORLD. He IS GREATER! IS! IS! IS! Only the blessed Holy
Spirit can take this word and make it real. Let us therefore humbly bow before the Lord of
the universe, and acknowledge in adoring contemplation this glorious truth that He who
dwells in the secret place of our quickened spirit IS GREATER than all the raging passions
of the soul and all the powers and pressures that are in the world.
Twenty years ago a spiritualist sat across a room from me and told me
that he could take my spirit out of my body while I slept, and bring it up to talk to him
in the night. This man continually worked in occult powers, and had I not known the wonder
of THE INDWELLING CHRIST there might have been reason to become alarmed, or
fearful. But in those days the Spirit of God had made wonderfully real to my heart the
absolute and incontrovertible truth that He that is within me IS GREATER than all. This,
beloved friend, is an unalterable and eternal fact, contingent upon nothing but our simple
acceptance of it as fact. No religious works of any kind
will add aught to this fact, no pietistic exercises can make it any more effective –
He simply IS GREATER! Calmly, I looked this spiritualist in the eye and said, "I defy
you; you can never take my spirit out of my body and carry it anywhere." When I left
that house I did not even pray about the matter; I did not waste time worrying or thinking
about it; neither did I commence to "bind the devil," or "plead the
blood," or "rebuke the spirits." I simply forgot about it. When one KNOWS
THAT HE KNOWS that THE CHRIST WITHIN IS GREATER it gives blessed rest.
"For thus saith the Lord God: in rest shall ye be saved;
in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength" (Isa. 30:15).
That very night I had an experience while sleeping. I dreamed, and in my dream I saw my
mother, who has moved for many years in a powerful gift of tongues and interpretation. She
was standing with right hand stretched forth, speaking vehemently in other tongues, in the
tone of authority and rebuke. Immediately I awoke, and the Spirit of God revealed to me
that at that very moment the spiritualist was working with occult powers to draw my spirit
from my body, but the dream revealed that even as I slept in confidence in the power of
the Christ within, THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD HAD RAISED UP A STANDARD AGAINST HIM, and no
evil on earth could touch me. Ah, beloved, this victory came not from much agonizing,
praying, rebuking, or binding. It came by calm and patient ASSURANCE. Either the Christ
within is greater than all, or He isn't. Through the years I have learned more and more of
the certain reality of the mystery, hidden from all previous ages, "which is Christ
in you, the hope of glory" (Col. 1:27). This is a great fact, and those who pray
the loudest and rebuke devils the longest, have never discovered this fact, and have the
least faith.
Oh! that spirit of wisdom and revelation from God may give to all who
read these pages the ability to see with enlightened eyes how it is that this blessed
realm of REST, PEACE, and CONFIDENCE IN THE CHRIST WITHIN is the Sabbath of the Lord
our God. We are to labor to enter into this rest! We are to labor to come to the point
of faith where we stop striving and calmly LET GOD BE GOD. We must believe that Christ,
the Almighty One, will in every deed lead, teach, defend, keep, preserve, deal, work,
transform, and sustain us all the day. Oh, my Lord and my God! If ever our hearts should
doubt or fear again, as if the reality were too great to expect, or too high to attain,
let us hear Thy voice to quicken our faith and obedience: "Take My yoke upon you, and
learn of Me; and ye shall find rest UNTO YOUR SOULS." When in everything you
can rest in God, you have stepped into the eternal fountain of life and inexhaustible
riches of Christ. There is no faith so mighty as the faith that RESTS IN GOD alone. When I
pray, I never excite myself. I get excited about many things. You who heard me minister
the Word know how excited I can get over the revelation of God for this hour! I have been
known to get LOUD. But of all the lessons God has taught me, I think none as sweet as
this, that when I pray, then I rest. I rest in God. In quiet faith we step into the
fountain of God's unfailing goodness and there stand still to see the salvation of the
Lord.
THIS IS MY REST
There is another truth altogether as grand as the truth of our
entering into the rest of God, namely, God entering in to rest in us. "And on
the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and HE RESTED on the seventh day
from all His work which He had made" (Gen. 2:2). It is now, as it has been through
all the ages of time, the Lord may work in many a house, but He can find rest in very few.
So He works in many souls, and comes to bring His fullness; but few so entirely yield to
Him, as to let Him rest there.
Our Lord Jesus the Christ said, "The foxes have holes, and the
birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head" (Mat.
Would God that all the saints might see that God's purpose from the
foundation of the world has been the building of a spiritual house, an holy temple, an
eternal abiding place in which He can be at home and rest. It is a house made up of many
living stones. Every stone is a redeemed person and every stone is a person upon whom the
mighty hand of God has been laid in dealing. More than three thousand years ago Solomon
built a magnificent temple of stone and precious materials. He overlaid it with gold and
adorned it with silver. All manner of costly stones were in it. So wonderful was it that
the Queen of Sheba stood transfixed at the sight. But the temple built by Solomon was only
an ephemeral foreshadow of the living temple which Christ would build by the Spirit –
a temple not made with hands(Eph.
Surely it was not by accident that Solomon, the type of Christ who
should build the eternal house of God, received his name. Solomon means "rest."
It is interesting that Stephen, referring to Solomon and his temple says, "But
Solomon built Him an house. Howbeit the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
as saith the prophet, Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool: what house will ye
build Me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of My rest?" (Acts 7:47-49).
The temple of God IS THE PLACE OF HIS REST, and there is only one temple recognized by the
Lord, the
"Walk about
There was a day when, confined within the dank walls of a prison
house, Paul, the beloved apostle, was caught away in spirit into a realm of revelation.
There he beheld
Suddenly the scene changed as the Holy Spirit transported him across
the ages of time to gaze with wonder upon things that were yet to come, to another, more
beautiful scene. Borne by the Spirit he stood before another Mount, even glorious
spiritual
Paul's spirit is enraptured with glory, his heart is exulting in
praise, as he beholds the transcendent glory of SPIRITUAL MOUNT ZION contrasted with the
indescribable dreadfulness of
What is this
One of the chief mistakes made by Christians of almost all persuasions
is the common notion that all saved people belong to the same company or rank in God's
Kingdom. Men like to imagine that ALL Christians are the bride of Christ, ALL are sons of
God, ALL have the mind of Christ, ALL are "going to the same place" and so on.
To assume this is to frustrate the purpose of God in your life. Do not be deceived by the
senseless prattle of carnally minded theologians, nor by the childish understanding of
baby Christians. There are many justified believers who have not been filled with
the Holy Spirit of God. There are many Spirit-baptized believers who have not grown
up into maturity. And nearly all Christians fit somewhere in between those who are
just SAVED BY GRACE and those who have been completely CONFORMED TO THE IMAGE OF THE SON
OF GOD.
It should be clear to all who have eyes to see that the JERUSALEM
PEOPLE dwell in a brighter glory than do the ISRAEL PEOPLE, even as SPIRIT-FILLED PEOPLE
dwell in a brighter glory than do JUSTIFIED PEOPLE. The New Jerusalem is THE BRIDE OF
CHRIST (Rev. 21:2, 9-10). A bride is one who is no longer a babe, but has reached a degree
of maturity, and has fallen so intensely in love that her only wish is to yield herself to
high desires of her husband, giving herself completely and unreservedly to him as her
lover, submitting her whole life to him as her head and lord. Oh! So many of the Lord's
redeemed people know so little of what it means to BE THE BRIDE OF CHRIST! Not all who
pray the sinner's prayer, who receive Christ as Saviour, and fill the pews of Churches on
Sunday morning, have discovered this blessed relationship with Christ. I do not believe
that I would be mistaken to say that practically none has. Only those who truly
FOLLOW ON in their Christian life to know the Lord in this secret place of intense love
and complete surrender, of intimacy of fellowship and vital union, ARE THE NEW JERUSALEM,
the city foursquare, which is THE BRIDE OF CHRIST, having the glory of God.
And what is
The apostle John was borne away on the wings of the Spirit into a
realm of revelation and beheld this
The only people who could possibly REIGN WITH CHRIST will be those who
through death to self have become ONE WITH HIS MIND. All through the ages there have been
a minute few who by the grace of God have been able to crucify self, put off the carnal
mind, and become LIKE UNTO THE SON OF GOD. Would you dare say that most Christians in any
age have attained to this? Ah, beloved, I can assure you that these individuals have been
so few in number that if you could place them as grains of sand upon the seashores, it
would take an entire life-time of searching before you discovered even one of them. This
is
But, let us nevermore forget, "YE ARE COME unto
God's Kingdom and Throne and
This
Oh the depth that opens here! As in the beginning, God made the
heavens, and yet rested not; He made the sun, the moon, and the stars, and yet He rested
not; He made the earth, and yet He rested not; He made the herbs, and fruits, and the
moving creatures of sea and land and air, and yet He rested not. But He made man, His
image in the earth, AND THEN HE RESTED. I do not hesitate to declare to you that God has
saved men, and yet he rested not; He has blessed men, and yet He rested not; He has healed
men, and yet He rested not; He has given gifts and ministries unto men, and yet He rested
not; He has shown marvelous revelations unto men, and yet He rested not. But when MOUNT
ZION IS ESTABLISHED He declares, "THIS IS MY REST FOREVER: here will I dwell; for I
have desired it!"
Do you despair, my friend, that God shall ever complete His work in
your life and find in you a place to rest? I invite you to come now, lend your ear to the
gentle voice of the Lord God your Creator as He whispers to His apprehended ones this
precious promise: "For Zion's sake I will not hold My peace, and for Jerusalem's sake
I will not rest, UNTIL THE RIGHTEOUSNESS THEREOF GO FORTH AS BRIGHTNESS, and the salvation
thereof as a lamp that burneth. And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all
kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall
name. Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in
the hand of thy God" (Isa. 62:1-3).
Chapter 23
A SABBATH IN
(continued)
"Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host
of them. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and HE RESTED ON THE
SEVENTH DAY from all His work which He had made. And God BLESSED THE SEVENTH DAY, AND
SANCTIFIED IT: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and
made" (Gen. 2:1-3).
The Bible is the history of man. In its sixty-six books it describes
in chronicle, biography, allegory, prophecy, epistle, parable, and poem, man's generation,
degeneration and regeneration. It has been preserved and prized beyond all other books
because it teaches man from whence he came, the meaning of life, and how to become that
which God has purposed for him before the foundation of the world – to be the sons of
God in the image of God. As man is a three-fold being, spirit, soul, and body, so the
Bible is a trinity in unity. It is body as a book of history; soul as a
teacher of morals and order; and spirit as a teacher of the mysteries of being,
revealing to man the awe-inspiring wonder of the spiritual life in the realm of the
Kingdom of Heaven, joined in union with God AS ONE SPIRIT.
The Spirit of God has many ways of teaching His people, but there are
few methods more powerful than the method of types and shadows. The sublime importance of
a truth can be clearly seen by the gradual unfolding of its message through the
progression of ages and millenniums of time. Thus it is, for example, that the story of
the blood runs as a scarlet thread from the opening scenes of creation when a lamb was
sacrificed in Eden (Gen. 3:21; Rev. 13:8), to that hallowed drama at the closing of the
ages when with the indescribable harmony of every creature which is in heaven, and on the
earth, and under the earth, the grand anthem shall fill the universe, "Blessing, and
honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and UNTO THE LAMB
for ever and ever" (Rev. 5:13). As one has stated, "The shedding of the precious
blood of Christ at
So also the story of God's Sabbath develops through the pages of God's
Word from the first simple statement, "And He rested on the seventh day from all His
work which He had made" (Gen. 2:2), to the New Jerusalem descending from God out of
heaven and the wondrous proclamation to all men, "And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither
shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away" (Rev. 21:4).
"There remaineth therefore a REST to the people of God. For he that is entered into
His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His. Let us labor
therefore to enter into that rest" (Heb. 4:9-11).
Paul, speaking of the entire history of
We have, in previous articles, considered the weekly day of rest given
to
THE FEAST OF REST
Many of the thoughts in this section are adapted from George
Warnack’s inspired book THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES.
The seventh month was sacred month in
Now consider how, as we begin to read the ordinances of the Feasts of
Israel in Leviticus chapter twenty-three, the Holy Spirit first directs our attention to
the weekly Sabbath, "Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is a Sabbath of
rest. ye shall do no work therein: it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your
dwellings" (Lev. 23:3). Then immediately follows the order of the Feasts, and the
seven-fold events involved in the feasts:
1. The Passover
2. The Unleavened Bread
3. The Sheaf of Firstfruits
4. The Feast of Pentecost
5. The Blowing of the Trumpets
6. The Day of Atonement
7. THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES
From these statements of holy scripture we must confidently affirm
that just as the weekly Sabbath was the end of Israel's toil and labor, typifying that
blessed realm where God's people cease from all their own works, and rest in the work of
Christ, so the Feast of Tabernacles is the end of the saint's long season of strife,
turmoil, struggle, and battle: the Feast of all Feasts, the Sabbath of all Sabbaths. It is
the fullness of Christ, it is perfection, it is the
The Feast of Tabernacles was celebrated at the time of harvest and
ingathering of the crops. Speaking of this, God promised His people: "I will give you
the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou
mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil" (Deut.
Thus, the Feast of Tabernacles speaks to us of two things: abundance
of fruit; and rest from our labors when the harvest is complete. All the Feasts are types
of Christ. Each one, as a type, is complete and perfect in itself; but the last one, the
Feast of Tabernacles, is the all-inclusive and great type. The lamb of the Feast of
Passover as a type of Christ is indeed complete and perfect; yet it is a type of Christ in
a much limited measure. As far as the Lord Himself is concerned, He is not limited at all,
but as far as our experience of Him is concerned, there is such a limitation. When we come
to the Lord and receive Him as our Redemption, the Christ we receive is whole, complete,
and perfect; but as far our experience of Him is concerned, we experience Him in only a
small measure, just as the little lamb of salvation. From the time we experienced Christ
as the lamb, we have always been progressing and advancing; we have continually made
progress in our experience of Christ and received of Him more and more. This does not mean
that Christ has become greater and greater. No, Christ is the same, He changes not! But as
we grow in our appropriation of Him He becomes greater and greater TO US AND IN US. Day by
day in our experience Christ is becoming greater and greater! At the stage of our
experience in which we arrive at the last Feast, the Feast of Tabernacles, the UNLIMITED
CHRIST, Christ is unlimited to us, He becomes ALL IN ALL. The other Feasts are limited, we
know Christ by measure in them, but in the Feast of the SEVENTH MONTH we know Him in all
fullness and rest with Him in all His glorious and eternal abundance forever more!
All the other Feasts can be measured. There is an extent, a limit, to
the features and realities of Christ they prefigure. Not so with the Feast of Tabernacles,
here the harvest is complete, all the fruits of the land are gathered in, the people now
rest and rejoice and eat to the full of the fruits of the land. Here Christ is known as
the inexhaustible and immeasurable, and we rest from all our labors, and enjoy HIM as the
fruit. In his book, THE FEAST OF TABERNACLE, George Warnock has so beautifully written of
the fruit of this Feast: "'And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall
overflow with wine and oil.' Or, literally, 'New wine and oil,' beautiful symbols of the
fruit of the Spirit in the saints. Said Paul, 'Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess;
but be filled with the Spirit' (Eph.
Oh, what a grand and glorious realm lies before us in the Feast of
Ingathering, the Feast of Rest! The Day of the Fruit of the Spirit! The Day of Perfection!
The full and complete experiencing of HIMSELF! The Feast of Feasts, the Sabbath of
Sabbaths! I have already pointed out that the literal Feasts which God gave to Israel of
old were types of the great SPIRITUAL FEASTS that God is, in this age, bringing His people
into, by which we EXPERIENCE CHRIST. Of the seven Feasts of Israel, the first was
Passover. We are called to the SPIRITUAL FEAST of Passover in experiencing Christ as
salvation. "For even Christ OUR PASSOVER is sacrificed for us" (I Cor. 5:7).
Later we are called to the great SPIRITUAL FEAST of PENTECOST in the experience of the
Baptism in the Holy Spirit. "And when the day of Pentecost was fully come.
they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues as the
Spirit gave them utterance" (Acts 2:1-4). In
The last great Feast of the Israelite year, as we have shown, was
TABERNACLES. and startling as it might seem, THIS is the FEAST that REMAINS to be
FULFILLED! "There REMAINETH therefore a REST unto the people of God."
Tabernacles is called "the Feast of Ingathering, which is in the END OF THE
YEAR." Pentecost is only the firstfruits of the Spirit, but Tabernacles is the full
harvest – FULLNESS! And this fullness comes in the END of the year, at the completion
of our walk with God, and I believe that we have not witnessed such fullness in any save
our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, neither shall we until the very close of this present age.
The Feast of Tabernacles could not be celebrated until
I do not hesitate to say that for the most part we are still partaking
of the Feast of Pentecost. How bountifully the table has been spread with His presence and
divers gifts of the Holy Spirit! But the Feast of Tabernacles, the Feast at the END of
this year, is the Feast of Fullness. And BLESSED are they who are called to this great
Feast, that which supersedes Pentecost, that which is the BALANCE OF THE MEAL of which
Passover and Pentecost were merely first courses. And the balance must therefore come, the
remainder of the meal which will give strength to the laborers to go forth and accomplish
great things for the Master. And this Tabernacles Feast, being the last, will bring
perfection! It will bring the consummation of our REST, spirit, soul, and body. As we
leave this Feast in great strength, those who will be in control of this planet from that
time forth will be abiding in the fullness of Resurrection Life and will be forever free
from the curse, spirit, soul, and body. It shall mean a new day of glory for the whole
earth as God turns from dealing with His people, to dealing through His people
WITH THE NATIONS. Oh! blessed rest!
Tabernacles is the Feast of Rest. We have experienced God's rest in
measure as we have received the Master's gracious invitation, "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
FROM THE WILDERNESS TO
"Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering
into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. There remaineth therefore a
rest to the people of God. Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man
fall after the same example of unbelief" (Heb. 4:1,9,11).
What is this rest? We have to look at a type in the Old Testament to
discover its meaning. After the children of
Even though we may have been saved for many years, we must now ask the
Spirit of God to lift the veil that is upon our minds and reveal the truth of whether we
are presently living in the realm of the body (Egypt: sensuality, sin), the soul
(the Wilderness: carnality, self-will, intellect, emotions etc.), or in the spirit
(Canaan: divine life, light, love, victory, peace, joy, righteousness, power, etc.). With
reverent heart ask the Lord to search yourself in order to be clear where you are.
Frankly, many of the Lord's people are wandering day after day in the wilderness of the
soul! In the morning they may have joyful countenances, but ere long the pressures of the
day take their toll and they become irritable, frustrated, upset, anxious, and dismayed.
Yesterday, it seems they were in the heavens, but today they are making their bed in hell,
discouraged, depressed, and defeated. Yesterday they were full of faith and courage, ready
to believe God for exploits, but today they are disheartened with their walk in God and
fearful about the future. In the meeting on Sunday they had an overflow of joy and
victory, but today in the battle, under the pressure of the problems, their emotions are
erupting, their minds are weary, and nerves frayed. They are continually wandering about
in the soul, the wilderness, without rest, circling in the same rut day after day, getting
nowhere. They may have been walking with God for forty years, but are still going around
in the same vicious circles, just as the children of
The Word of God must pierce us so that we may know how to press on
from the soul into the good
All things that happened to
Some think that the
There is a people rising from the barren dust of the wilderness of the
soul to sit together with Christ in the heavenly places of the Spirit. God dwells in your
spirit, dear one, and God in your spirit is both infinite and eternal, and therefore in
finding all that is available in God one must be prepared to go ever onward and upward
into the vast expanses of the Spirit of God. If God is infinite, there is NO LIMIT to the
experience which we might have in union with Him by the Spirit. And if God is eternal,
there is NO END to the measure of grace and glory into which He would lead us by the
Spirit. When our astronauts began their explorations to the moon, it was not sufficient
that they should enter a rocket and pushed through the atmosphere for an hour or two.
True, they were in space the hour they started. But space is vast – and they must go
on, and on, and on, and on, even to the surface of the moon. If God permits, man will go
on to Mars, and eventually from solar system to solar system, and from galaxy to galaxy,
through the unbounded heavens!
Now, God has made us partakers of His Holy Spirit, and that simply
means He has called us to explore the inexhaustible sphere of the DEEP THINGS OF GOD and
the INFINITE SUMMITS of His glory, and power, and holiness. Our spirit has been quickened
by His Spirit for this very purpose: "that we might know the things that are freely
given us of God" (I Cor.
CONSIDER THE LILIES
How gracious and wise is our God in all His ways! The Bible is
literally packed full of mysteries, parables, types, shadows, and allegories, which are
only unfolded by the Holy Spirit to those who FOLLOW ON to KNOW THE LORD. Jesus once spake
a parable which holds a revelation of unspeakable glory for all who would be conformed to
the image of God's Son. The parable occupies just two short verses, but its message is a
thing of tremendous importance to those who yearn to enter fully into His rest. Jesus
said, "And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how
they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon
in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these" (Mat.
Consider the lilies! What gives exceptional meaning to this object
lesson from the lips of Jesus is, that He was not only the author of the parable, but the
creator of the lilies. It is like an inventor describing his own machine. He made the
lilies and He made man and He makes the New Creation – all on the same broad
principle. All together, lilies, men, and sons of God, He gives life and causes to grow
and develop into beauty and maturity. So Jesus points to the miracle of nature in the
plant kingdom to teach us how to live a free and natural life in Christ, a life which God
will unfold for us, without our anxiety or effort, just as HE UNFOLDS THE FLOWER.
These wonderful words of Jesus were not uttered to cause us to aspire
to become horticulturists; we are not to consider the lilies simply to admire their
beauty, to wonder at the delicate strength of stem and petal. The thing we are to consider
is HOW THEY GROW – how without anxiety or care the flower woke into loveliness, how
without weaving these leaves were woven, how without artist's paint or brush the flower
was tinted with exotic hues, how without toiling these complex tissues spun themselves,
and how WITHOUT ANY EFFORT OR STRUGGLE they slowly came created from the loom of God in
their "greater than Solomon" glory. "So," the parable declares,
"you toil worn, struggling, anxious children of God must grow! You, too, need take no
thought for your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink or what you shall put
on. For if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into
the oven, shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
Every man and woman who has been begotten of God should meditate
deeply upon the thoughts I now share, until the spirit of wisdom and revelation from God
unveils to mind and heart how it is that our Lord spake not merely of having faith for
natural things, food and clothing for the body, but His words were a prophetic prefiguring
of a graver anxiety, not this time for the body, but for the inner realms of soul and
spirit. For the physical life we can consider the lilies – but what about our
spiritual life, the Christ-life within? How are we to grow in grace and unfoldment of THE
LIFE OF CHRIST? How shall we add the necessary cubits to our spiritual stature until we
come to a Perfect Man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ? How
shall we put off the old man and put on the new? How shall we subjugate the carnal mind
and put on the mind of Christ? How shall we crucify our own will to live only and always
in the will of the Father? How shall we grow up into Him who is the Head in all things,
being conformed into the image of God? Because we have not understood how such awesome
realities as these can be accomplished, we have been beset by anxiety and our inner life
has been filled with conflict, toil, self-effort, multiplied works, agony and an awful
sense of failure. Our efforts after perfection seem continually doomed, and instead of
rising into the beauty of holiness our life is a daily heartbreak and humiliation.
Now the reason for this is very clear! We have not known the parable
of the lilies. Violent "efforts" to "grow" or "become
God-like" are altogether understandable, but wholly wrong in principle. There is but
A SINGLE PRINCIPLE OF GROWTH for the natural and spiritual, for animal and plant, and for
man, body, soul, and spirit. All growth is a natural, spontaneous thing. And the principle
of growing up into the likeness of Christ is once more this: "Consider the lilies, how
they grow."
The lilies grow, Jesus says, of themselves; they toil not, neither do
they spin. They grow automatically, spontaneously, without trying, without fretting,
without thinking, without work. Applied on any level, to plant, to animal, to the body, or
to the quickened spirit of the child of God the law is the same. A boy grows, for example,
without trying. One or two simple conditions are met, and the growth goes on. He must eat,
drink water, and exercise. But a boy does not eat to grow, he eats because he is hungry.
It is natural. He thinks as little about the eating as about the growing, he fulfills the
conditions by nature, and result follows by nature. Both processes go steadily on year
after year without thought, worry, or effort. One would never think of telling a
boy to grow! To try to make a thing grow is as absurd as to help the stars to shine
or the wind to blow.
Everything grows without trying, and, on the other hand, nothing can
grow by trying. No man by taking thought has ever added a cubit to his stature, nor has
any son or daughter of God ever approached nearer to the stature of the Lord Jesus Christ
by working at it! Jesus did not become the Son of God by working, and any who thinks to
reach this blessed height by anxious effort is really departing from it. Christ's life
unfolded itself FROM A DIVINE GERM, planted centrally in His nature, which grew as
naturally as a flower from a bud. Only life can do that! For a seed to germinate, to
sprout, to grow, change, develop into a plant of beauty and grace requires the power of an
INDWELLING LIFE. Therefore the man who has within himself this great formative agent, THE
LIFE OF CHRIST, contains within himself the power to become a son of God. The man who does
not have this Life cannot be transformed, but the man who has it must be.
The life must develop out according to its type; and being a germ of the Christ-life, it
must unfold into A CHRIST. The end of the growth process is perfection, the mind of
Christ, the character of Christ, the life of Christ.
The regenerated spirit is a new creature. The re-born man is a new man
in Christ Jesus. He adds the cubits to his stature just as the old man does, naturally. He
is rooted and built up in Christ; he abides in the vine, and so abiding, not toiling or
spinning, without effort, brings forth fruit. Sons of God in short, like poets, ARE BORN
not made; and the fruits of their character are not manufactured things but living things,
things which have grown from the secret germ, the fruits of the living Spirit. They are
not the produce of the climate of this evil world, but exotics from the CELESTIAL REALM.
When a man learns this parable of the lilies, and how they grow, he will
immediately ENTER INTO REST and cease from all his own works as God did from His.
Do not worry, dear ones, as to whether you seem to be making progress
or not. There is nothing in the world that grows so fast that you can see it grow.
Let God be judge of how much or how little you have grown. Your duty and mine is to abide
in Him, RESTING IN FAITH, pressing patiently toward the mark for the prize of the high
calling of God in Christ Jesus.
A lily grows mysteriously, pushing up its solid weight of stem and
leaf in the teeth of gravity and through obstacles of the soil. Oft times we have sung the
words of the little chorus:
Oh, I marvel at the wisdom of my God,
Yes, I marvel at the wisdom of my God,
When I see the little lily pushing up the heavy clod,
Then I marvel at the wisdom of my God!
Rising spontaneously from the dust of earth, shaped into beauty by
secret and invisible fingers, the flower develops we know not how. But we do not doubt it.
Every day the thing is done; it is nature, it is GOD. We are spiritual enough at least to
understand that. But when the spirit rises slowly above the world, pushing up its pure
virtues in the teeth of sin, bursting forth into manifestation through the hard clods of
the flesh, shaping itself mysteriously into the image of Christ, we often imagine that our
own efforts and zeal have contributed substantially to the process! A strong will, we say,
determination, hours of prayer, days of fasting, faithfulness in the Lord’s work,
much study, Bible reading – these account for our growth. Spiritual stature is merely
the product of anxious work, self-command, self-control, self-denial. We confess that the
growth of the little lily IS A MIRACLE, spontaneous, instinctive, uncompelled, but the
believer must fret and toil and spin. Not so! Contemplating the wonder of the lily, a wise
man does not say, "There has been a great EFFORT here," but "there has been
a great POWER here!" It is the power of the indwelling life.
We have now seen that the process of spiritual unfoldment is secured
and maintained by a spontaneous and mysterious inward principle. It is a spontaneous
principle even in its origin, for it bloweth where it listeth, it is not of him that
willeth, but of God who showeth mercy; mysterious in its operation, curiously wrought in
the hidden parts of our earth. The whole process therefore transcends us; we do not work,
we are taken in hand – “It is GOD WHICH WORKETH IN US, both to will and to do of
His good pleasure" (Phil.
Yes, there is a realm of "doing," where, like Christ, we
must be about our Father's business, working the works of Him that sent us. But these are
works which are the RESULT OF HIS LIFE IN US, not a means to His life. Christ is the
CAUSE, works are the effect. It is when men try to make works the cause of their becoming
spiritual that they have missed the mark. There is no work on earth that can make you
spiritual. But His life in us will surely manifest itself in righteousness, the outward
expression of the indwelling Christ, so that "If ye know that HE is righteous, ye
know that every one that DOETH righteousness is born of God,” and “Little
children, let no man deceive you: he that DOETH righteousness is righteous, even as He is
righteous" (I Jn. 2:29; 3:7).
For its growth the plant needs heat, light, air, and moisture. Does
this mean that a man must go in search of these, or their spiritual equivalents, and this
is his work? By no means! Does the plant go in search of the garden, of air, or sun, or
rain? Nay, it is carried and planted in the garden by a power greater than itself, and all
the other conditions come to the plant. It no more manufactures the heat, light, air,
moisture, than it manufactures it own stem. It simply stands still WITH ITS LEAVES SPREAD
OUT IN UNCONSCIOUS PRAYER, and nature lavishes upon it all these bountiful blessings,
bathing it in sunshine, surrounding it with life-giving air, reviving it graciously with
rain from heaven. Can we, my brethren, manufacture the conditions for our growth? When we
see the haste and impatience of Christians as they drown their lives in religious
activity, meetings twice on Sunday, door-to-door witnessing on Monday night, Bible study
on Tuesday night, men's prayer meeting on Wednesday night, young people's meeting on
Thursday night, choir practice on Friday night, and the church picnic on Saturday, with
committee meetings stuck all in between, we would surely think that God had fallen asleep
and left it to us to create our own environment and conditions for growth. We praise God
for those times He gives us of gathering together with the saints, in corporate praise and
prayer and sharing, but if you would be a son of God and know the power of that life which
raised Jesus from the dead, then you must come to have great confidence in CHRIST IN YOU
and know that HE continually showers upon you all that is needed to bring you to
perfection.
The Lord is a Sun. He is as the Dew to
Become still before the God of all grace and glory and you will
soon learn that you do not need to go out in search of the conditions and elements of your
growth in Christ; they, rather, WILL COME IN SEARCH OF YOU! You will feel how they press
themselves upon you, how unweariedly they appeal to you, how faithfully they work for you.
He is not far from us. He is as near as the life within your believing heart, for He is
your life and of Him are ALL THINGS. You need manufacture nothing, earn nothing; you need
be anxious for nothing; your one duty is to ABIDE IN HIS PRESENCE, abide in the conditions
which are of Him and in Him and from Him, and then be still therein and KNOW THAT HE IS
GOD. The conflict begins and prevails in all its life-long agony the moment a man forgets
this. He struggles in himself to grow instead of struggling to get back into position. He
struggles to WORK, rather than laboring to enter REST. He makes sonship into a gymnasium
when God meant it to be a beautiful Garden!
The life of sonship is finally simplified to this – this child of
God has but to abide in Christ, to be in position, that is all. Much work may be done on
board a sailboat crossing the ocean. Yet none of it is spent on making the boat go. The
sailor harnesses his vessel to the wind, he puts his sail and rudder in position, and lo,
the miracle is wrought. God gives the wind and the water. Man but abides in the path of
the wind, fixes his sail, and is driven along effortlessly to yonder fair harbor. As God's
apprehended ones hold themselves in position BEFORE GOD'S SPIRIT, all the energies of
Omnipotence course within their souls. They are like a tree planted by the river whose
leaf is green and whose fruits fail not. Such is the blessed lesson to be learned from
considering the lily. It is the power of nature's parable trumpeting the whole evangel of
Jesus – "Come unto ME, and I WILL GIVE YOU REST!"
Chapter 24
THE GARMENTS OF
"And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not
ashamed. And when the woman saw that the tree was a tree to be desired to make one wise,
she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and
he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and
they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. And Adam and his wife hid
themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. And the Lord
God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in
the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. Unto Adam and his
wife did the Lord God make COATS OF SKINS, AND CLOTHED THEM" (Gen. 2:25; 3:6-10,21).
If we understand how a machine works, then the most intricate
mechanism in the world is simple, but if we lack this understanding, even the simplest
device can bewilder us. Well do I remember my fascination as I listened to a friend who
works at the nearby
The same thought of understanding was in the heart of the
apostle Paul when he wrote, "I cease not to make mention of you in my prayers; that
the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of
wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the EYES OF YOUR UNDERSTANDING BEING
ENLIGHTENED; that ye may KNOW what is the hope of His calling." (Eph. 1:15-18). When
men earnestly seek the face of the Lord, He sends His Holy Spirit to dispel the darkness
of the natural mind that ever hangs as a shroud over us that He may reveal to our
spiritual minds the things that pertain to higher realm of His Kingdom. In all matters of
revelation and spiritual understanding it is impossible to overestimate the importance of
the Spirit, who comes to take the things of God and show them unto us. Two worlds, indeed,
two realms exist all about us – the natural world and the spiritual world. The
natural realm is the realm of man, but the spiritual realm is the realm of God. The
natural man cannot understand the things of the Spirit of God, for they are
foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned.
Men of the world have told me that the things recorded in the Bible
are ridiculous, and I suppose to them they are, since God has declared, "it is
foolishness unto them" (I Cor.
There is not the slightest uncertainty in my mind that although the
mind and heart of each and every child of God has been quickened by the Spirit of God,
yet, in our spiritual immaturity we have oft times understood only a minute portion of the
things that pertain to the vast and marvelous realm into which we have been birthed. Like
This is no more the case anywhere than when we approach the opening
chapters of the book of Genesis with their story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
The vast majority of God's people have never progressed beyond what the carnal mind
beholds in that wondrous scene: An earthly paradise flourishing with fruit-laden trees,
abounding with babbling brooks, grassy slopes and secluded dales; inhabited by exotic
animals and one naked human couple who had nothing better to do than spend their days
sampling the luscious fruit, romping and playing over the sun-kissed hills and across the
valleys, bathing their flesh in the invigorating waters, and petting the animals. But can
you not see, beloved friend, that if you were to give the story of Adam and Eve to the
vilest sinner on earth, and to the meanest man in the country, and to the wealthiest
business man you know, and to the most depraved drunk in the gutter, along with the most
fundamental pastor in your city and the most lettered scholar from the seminary, after all
have read and studied the story with great deliberation, ask each of these men to relate
what they have learned, and one and all, having read with darkened natural minds, will
have perceived precisely the same things, will have reached exactly the same conclusions,
and the ungodly drunk will recite the same set of facts as the preacher!
Ah, beloved, it does not take one ounce of revelation from God to
interpret the story of the Garden of Eden with the natural mind! Because God is God,
because God is Spirit, and because His Book is a spiritual Book, we must expect Him to say
many things and state many facts that the human mind cannot comprehend nor pry into.
"It is the inspiration of the Almighty that giveth understanding" (Job. 32:8).
It is a great fact that the simplest, most uneducated and unlearned among saints can
comprehend the deepest things of God in that moment when divine light from above shines
upon them. "Open mine eyes," said David, "that I may behold wonderful
things out of Thy law" (Ps. 119:18). So you see, spiritual understanding is not
given to the learned and lettered of this age, nor to any who read and study with natural
minds, but to those blessed ones upon whom God has breathed the Spirit of understanding
from on high.
There is one thing about which the Lord's people must be very clear.
The Bible is not primarily intended to teach history, or biography, or natural science. It
is intended to teach THE PURPOSES OF GOD and SPIRITUAL PRINCIPLES AND REALITIES. It deals
primarily with states of being and the laws of spiritual activity; and anything else is
only incidental. Each of the principle characters in the Bible represents a kind of
nature, character, or state of being that any of us may experience and walk out; and the
events that happen to the various characters illustrate the consequences to us of walking
in such realms of nature and character, either good or bad.
May the Holy Spirit stir up our spiritual minds to see that the story
of Adam and Eve is not merely the historical tale of an original pair that leaves us more
or less uninvolved. Adam is mankind. Adam is everyman. Adam is you and me and every other
man and woman that have ever lived or shall live. What happened to him happens to us. What
he was we have been. His experience is our experience. May God now give enlightenment to
the eyes of your spiritual understanding that you may see and know of a truth that what
was happening to Adam in the Garden speaks of SPIRITUAL REALITIES even in the beginning of
history, before history, beyond history and yet in history; it is we ourselves of
whom the Garden speaks, it is we ourselves who are confronted, intended, addressed,
accused, expelled, and redeemed. It is our pre-history, truly our own. It is the
beginning, destiny, guilt, redemption and perfection of every one of us. What happened to
Adam there is exactly what is happening to us here!
NAKED IN THE GARDEN
This is the essential significance of the Garden of Eden drama. Every
detail is extremely important and instructive. The thing most Christians seem to have
forgotten, if indeed they ever knew it, is simply this: The Almighty Creator of the
universe said, "Let us make man in our image and after our likeness" (Gen.
1:26). The initial step in the process, which would require ages to complete, was to make
a man in God's image, but not wholly so, for the man He made was to begin in innocence.
Intelligent as he was, he was dreadfully ignorant of good and evil, life and death, wisdom
and vanity. In respect to these weighty matters he was but a child, immature, undeveloped,
inexperienced, unprepared, unfinished, and therefore incapable of assuming the authority
over the creation that God has destined him to have when the process is finally complete.
Have you ever heard people say that it is "cruel and unusual
punishment" to spank a child? You should "reason" with him, the
psychologist tell us. But the simple fact is that you cannot reason with a child
because a child has neither experience nor understanding from which to reason. He comes
into the world void of either experience or knowledge, and in his innocence he must
learn to obey by suffering the pain of correction when he disobeys. This is the
God-ordained method by which the child eventually comes to understand the reason for your
demand. The foolish refusal of parents to apply the rod of correction is the one cause
above all others for the terrible wave of disobedience, disrespect, hate, delinquency and
rebellion spewing forth from so many millions of our young people over the past several
decades. A child does not know good or evil, neither does it understand right from wrong
anymore than Adam understood it. Don't waste your time reasoning with children who as yet
have no basis from which to reason. I can assure you that if you do not break a child's
will, that child will break your heart.
Adam was created in innocence, then given a command, and when he
disobeyed the command God did not sit down and reason with him. No! For six long
millenniums Adam's race has walked under God's chastening rod as every sorrow, tragedy,
pain, disappointment, heartbreak, and funeral procession has served to administer the
Creator's correction to mankind. It is not my purpose in this article to go into a
discussion of the ages-lasting processes of God's disciplines upon man by which he shall
be finally brought from original innocence to the mature image of God, but let us note
here that the first thing the Lord did in making man in His image was to make him innocent
and without experience. The record states of man in his original innocence, "And they
were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed" (Gen. 2:25). Adam and
Eve were both naked and were no more ashamed than a day old infant is ashamed. This proves
that man was created in innocence.
"And they were both NAKED, the man and his wife." It seems
to the unenlightened mind that this little statement could have been omitted. Of what
importance is it whether Adam and Eve moved about in
Adam and Eve were both. NAKED! I do not see, as some teach, that Adam
walked in the Garden clothed upon and enveloped in some kind of effulgent light. There is
not one verse of scripture in the whole Bible that indicates that Adam was originally
CLOTHED IN HEAVENLY LIGHT, or that he lost his vesture of light when he sinned. What is
stated, unequivocally, is that he was NAKED, and was not ashamed. Following the
fall there was one great difference, man was still naked but, was ashamed!
Among all the creatures which God made, Adam, man stands out unique,
stark naked, which means devoid of true wisdom and knowledge, with his inner nature
revealed, opened up, exhibited, and made bare. Oh! that God may give us understanding to
see that to be naked simply means to have THE FLESH UNCOVERED AND EXPOSED!
THE EXPOSURE OF THE FLESH
What is this "flesh" which can be "exposed,"
making a man "naked"? The word "sarx" is the Greek word translated
"flesh" in the New Testament. Sarx means the meat of a physical body,
whether it be man, or beast, or birds, or fishes of the sea; not the outer layer of skin
immediately visible to the eye, but the raw meat under the skin. To physically have
the flesh "exposed" in this sense would mean to have the outer skin removed,
causing the raw meat underneath to be visible. Thus, the flesh speaks of more than just
our physical body with its normal needs and desires for food, clothing, comfort, rest,
exercise, etc. God made our body, He knoweth our frame, and remembereth that we are but
dust, and there is no condemnation for being tabernacled in this body of clay. But
"THE FLESH" literally speaks of that inward nature which is earthy-minded, with
its lusts and self-centeredness, its ego and I-will which are in rebellion to the Spirit.
Thus, the flesh is not the outward, visible man of meat, muscle and bones, but the inward
nature.
The flesh is the name by which scripture designates our HUMAN NATURE
– soul and body. The soul at creation was placed between the spiritual or divine and
the sensible or worldly, to the end that both soul and body might be raised up into that
perfect union in the Spirit which would result in man attaining his destiny – a
spiritual body. When the soul yielded to the sensible (senses), it came under the power of
the body – it became flesh. And now the flesh – human nature, soul and body
united – is not only without the spirit, but even hostile to it: "The flesh
lusteth (wars) against the spirit!" (Gal. 5:17).
As William Law has ably pointed out, in this antagonism of the flesh
to the spirit there are two sides. On the one hand, the flesh lusts against the spirit in
its committing sin and transgressing God's law. On the other hand, its hostility to the
spirit is no less manifested in its seeking TO BE RELIGIOUS – to serve God –apart
from the Spirit! In yielding to the sense realm, the soul sought itself instead of
God. Self-effort, self-expression, and self-development prevailed over God's life. And
now, so subtle and mighty is this spirit of self, ego, and I-will, that the flesh, not
only in fulfilling its own lusts and desires and sinning against God, but even when the
soul comes into contact with God, still asserts its power, refuses to be led by the Spirit
alone, and, in its self-efforts to be religious, is still the great enemy that ever
hinders and quenches the spirit! It is because of this deceitfulness of the flesh that
there often takes place what Paul speaks of the Galatians: "Having begun in the
spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" (Gal. 3:3). Unless the surrender to
the Spirit be very entire, and the holy waiting on Him be followed in great dependence and
humility, what has been begun in the spirit, very soon passes over into confidence in the
flesh.
All the world lives after the flesh, human nature, with its
propensities for good and evil. Both the depraved and religious aspects of the flesh are
referred to as "the works of the flesh." Paul says in Gal. 5:19-21, "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 also told you in time past, that they which do such
things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God." It should not be difficult for any man
to perceive the strange mixture of bodily-sensuality and soulish-religiosity in the above
listed catalog of fleshly works!
Because the natural man is so prone to magnify the "good"
which he does, insisting that God should pay attention to his efforts, to offset his bad,
it is only natural for man's "good" to become the enemy of God's best. How many
times have you attended a funeral of an unbeliever only to hear someone say, "I know
that Joe wasn't a Christian, but he surely was a good man." Then they
awkwardly rattle off a list of his "good deeds" which he managed to accomplish
in spite of the fact that he was unregenerate. The idea, of course, is that his good works
give doubly-dead Joe a chance to be justified in God's sight! But I do not hesitate to
tell you that even the great Patriarch Abraham could not count on his "works" to
run up a good "score" with the Lord. Paul says, "What shall we say then
that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were
justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; BUT NOT BEFORE GOD. For what saith the
scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness" (
As the revelation of sonship breaks upon our believing hearts we shall
come to be led by the Spirit of God, and not by the flesh (Rom. 8:1-14). This means that
we shall earnestly seek the face of God to direct us His INDWELLING SPIRIT in all things.
We cannot any longer choose our life's occupation with the carnal mind which asks,
"How much will it pay? Will it make me famous?" No, we will live to know that
the Father would have us do, even if it offers us little in terms of gold or fame. The
carnal mind makes its own plans, chooses its own mate, seeks it own comfort and security,
fulfills its own desires, follows its own wisdom, holds its own opinions, does its own
thing, and is totally alienated from the Holy Spirit of God. It cares nothing for God, or
His will, or His way.
Lest I fail to make the message clear and plain, let me reiterate that
even when the flesh produces a good work, humanly speaking, it is just as much
"sin" as the bad which it does, because it does not bring glory to God and is
not an expression of HIS LIFE. The English word "sin" translates a Greek word
which comes from a root meaning "to miss the mark; to fall short." If any
motive, thought, word or deed, falls short of the GLORY OF GOD it is sin. Sin is made up
of anything which satisfies the SELF and glorifies the CREATURE and not the Creator. Can
we not see by this that money given to any "cause" that is not CHRIST EXALTING
is sin money? Can we not see by this that time spent in doing that which does not redound
to the glory of the Son of God is time spent in sin? Is it not clear that any talent used
to bring praise to the talented, rather than to magnify the Name of the Lord, is corrupted
talent and constitutes a work of the flesh? Yes, all the good religious works of programs,
meeting, ceremonies, rituals etc. which are not products of HIS LIFE are JUST AS FLESHLY
AND SINFUL AS THE MAN WHO MURDERS HIS WIFE!
To be "naked" means TO HAVE THE FLESH UNCOVERED AND EXPOSED.
Good flesh or bad flesh, it really makes no difference. Adulterous flesh or religious
flesh, it matters not. I can guarantee you that I've been seen naked a few times! Oh, yes,
I had my natural clothes on, perhaps my finest J.C. Penny suit, but I was nonetheless
caught naked! Have you ever been caught naked? Have you ever had someone slip up from your
blind side in a moment when you were not expecting them and you didn't reveal anything to
them but what you are in your flesh, by some ungodly act, or an angry outburst, some
un-Christ-like attitude, or some carnal self-assertiveness, and you could only hang your
head in shame and confess that for whoever saw you, you didn't leave one ounce of witness
of the life and nature of the Son of God and they did not behold the glory of God at all
in you? Then dear brother, precious sister, YOU WERE CAUGHT NAKED, you were discovered
with YOUR FLESH EXPOSED, you were found with YOUR CARNAL NATURE DISPLAYED! You may have
had your store-bought clothes on, but you were no less naked than Adam and Eve in
It means that in that moment you inner state of being was made bare,
laid open, brought to light, and men did not see the Lord's life, all they saw was your
life. They beheld your nakedness and then you felt ashamed when you realized what you had
revealed unto them. At times like that how conscious we are that we have dishonored THE
CHRIST in our lives! In innocence there is no shame when our flesh is exposed. Before God
has dealt with us and laid His requirements upon us, there is no shame. But after He
speaks and deals, there is always the sense of shame when our nakedness appears before
men. If you get mad, fly off the handle, blow your stack, slam the door, throw things
around and yell and fuss and fume and cuss, don't tell me that is the life of Christ
coming out of you, for if you do are telling me that Christ acts that way. Not so! It is
only your nakedness being revealed, your inner nature being unrobed, your flesh being
exposed to be gazed at by all around. We feel shame and embarrassment strikes us when our
nakedness is uncovered, and that is God's divine order! GOD HIMSELF is a great "flesh
exposer." And never forget, dear ones, that ministering without the anointing,
serving God with human zeal and man-made methods, going through the religious motions of
singing, clapping, dancing, praising, worshipping, or any ministry performed by rote
rather than from the spontaneous arising of His life within – all this is as much an
exposure of OUR FLESH as if we were caught in bed with our neighbor's spouse!
FIG LEAVES
One of the greatest truths to be gleaned from the Garden of Eden is
the truth that Adam was first created in the very condition in which every son and
daughter of Adam comes into the world – in a state of nakedness, coupled with
innocence. The Lord God so ordered it, that in and by the fall man should get what
previously had not, and that was, a conscience, the knowledge of good and evil. By
means of the conscience "the eyes of them both were opened," but, alas! to what
a sight! – 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). Suddenly “they knew that they were naked” – they
knew that their flesh lay bare and exposed, their carnal nature hanging out – sad
fruit of the tree of knowledge. No sooner does a man discover his nakedness than this
knowledge gives birth 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 man's attempt to remedy, by his
own device, his condition, but this was not the single act of Adam of old, it is truly the
act of each of us, yes, OUR VERY OWN! The Spirit would make very real to your heart, dear
reader, that Adam's effort to cover his nakedness was not a mere moral act, it was a
RELIGIOUS ACT. Our attentive consideration of what transpired in that
And this, let every man know, is the difference between the walk in
the Spirit of God and human religiousness. The walk in the Spirit is founded upon the fact
of a man's being clothed; religion is founded upon the fact of his being naked. All that a
son of God does, is BECAUSE HE IS CLOTHED; all that a mere religionist does, is a
self-effort to be clothed. This makes a vast difference! When a man comes to look at these
terrible realities straight in the face, by the spirit of wisdom and revelation from God,
he will discover that the religion, works, traditions and observances of men is a bed too
short for him to stretch himself upon, and a covering too narrow for him to wrap himself
in.
Can we now open the eyes of our understanding to behold what it means
when the Holy Spirit states that "they sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves
aprons"? The Authorized version does not express all that is indicated by the Hebrew
word taphar, translated "sewed." The true meaning is that they tied,
twisted, platted, or fastened together the leafy twigs and small branches of
the fig tree, so as to form a sort of girdle, somewhat resembling the laurel wreath worn
upon the head among the Romans. The same word occurs in Job.
What happened to Adam happens to us. What he was we have been. His
experience is our experience. Ah, child of God, may the blessed Spirit give enlightenment
to your mind that you may know 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 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 man sews together very wide leaves of the fig tree; that is, he
tries every device he can, including multiplied religious works, to gloss over his true
condition. But all the garments which men device to hide their nakedness become mere
"spider's webs" when the dazzling light of God's presence and glory shines in
upon them.
There is something in man’s soul that makes him substitute his
own ideas for God’s. As soon as Adam and Eve sensed their guilt and fear, they
devised an elaborate way of winning God’s approval. Their fig-leaf aprons are a
symbolic presentation of all the religions in the world. Every human religious invention
since that time has simply been an unfurling and a spinning-out of that fig-leaf theology
which was invented there in the Garden so long ago. What they did was institute the first
religion which could have been called “THE FIRST HOLINESS CHURCH OF THE FIG
LEAF.” Are you a member of that church? Here is how you can tell. I think I might
give you a bit of a fashion show. The perennial favorite in this fashion parade is
probably the choicest fig leaf on the whole tree called “holiness.” But it is
not God’s holiness! It is man’s holiness. Ah, you can see people dressed in it
everywhere, parading up and down in the street, hiding behind that leaf. “We dress
holy, our women don’t wear pants, the sleeves are down to the wrist, the neck-line is
high, the skirts long, we are not adorned with jewelry or make-up, our hair is long, we
don’t go to theatres, we don’t play cards, we don’t drink wine, we
don’t participate in worldly things, we don’t… we don’t…”
Why, you would think they were covered completely by the way they look. Haven’t you
seen that fashion? It never seems to go out of style! There is always a large fig-leaf
company adorned in outward works of so-called righteousness. I do not hesitate to tell
you, beloved, that often there is a deceitful heart of carnality hidden just behind the
fig-leaves – wagging tongues, gossip, pride, self-righteousness, bitterness,
judgmentalism, harshness, vindictiveness, deceitfulness, spiritual immaturity, etc. Jesus
identified the fig-leaf church of His day when He charged the Pharisees, “Ye
blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. Woe unto you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but
within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that
which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto
you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward,
but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly
appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.” Other
fig-leaf churches trust in sacraments, ordinances, rituals,
ceremonies, ministries, denominations, creeds and doctrines. “Fig-leaf
theology,” my friends, is very much out of style at the judgment seat of Christ! All
who trust in it will find their fig leaves lying in brown curled-up remnants around their
feet as they stand naked before God.
The Bible says that there in Eden, God looking upon Adam and
Eve’s fig leaves, made coats of skins and clothed them. The first thing God does is
strip away all the artificial, man-made coverings, and presents His own glorious covering.
"For Adam also and for his wife the Lord God made long coats (tunics) of skins, and
clothed them" (Gen. 3:21, Amplified Bible). We would be totally void of understanding
as to what kind of victim it was that provided this blessed covering for the sinning man
and his wife, were it not that the Holy Spirit has shed precious light upon this wonder,
revealing that Christ is “the LAMB slain from the foundation of the
world” (Rev. 13:8) who verily was “a LAMB without blemish and spot…
foreordained before the foundation of the world” (I Pet. 1:19-20). In the symbolism
of the Garden of Eden story Adam and Eve silently and sorrowfully watched as the Lord God
selected a lamb and slew it there, fastening it to a tree before their wondering eyes, the
victim then being made naked, stripped of its skin, that a covering might be provided for
the naked ones. Thus, with this one wondrous act does the God of heaven introduce THE
CROSS into
I now invite you to meditate deeply upon my words. In the process of
changing our garments and covering our nakedness God brings us to the CROSS, which has its
base in the foundation of God before the world began. Interesting that the Lamb in
Hear now this remarkable statement by the apostle Paul as to what was
nailed to the cross of Christ. "And you, being dead in your sins and the
uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all
trespasses; blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, and
took it out of the way, NAILING IT TO HIS CROSS. Let no man THEREFORE judge you in
meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holiday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath
days: which are a shadow of things to come; but THE BODY IS OF CHRIST" (Col.
2:13-17). Yes, beloved, God took not only man's sin and man himself to the cross in
Christ, but He took the fig-leaves of EXTERNAL ORDINANCES which stand in meats and drinks
and holy days and divers washings (baptisms) and rituals and ceremonies and rules and
regulations and (hallelujah!) NAILED THEM ALL TO HIS CROSS! In their place He now clothes
us in the covering of the blessed Lamb, a righteousness which indeed is seen externally,
but is the product of THE INDWELLING LIFE OF THE LAMB!
Fig-leaves righteousness is so shallow, limited to outward
observances, appearances, works, regulations, do this, don't do that, go here, don't go
there, etc. But for those who have become identified with the Lamb, having discovered HIS
INDWELLING LIFE which produces HIS IMAGE, who now live in the wisdom and righteousness of
His LIFE-FLOW, it is no longer a matter of regulations – do this, and do that, etc.
It is not a matter today of so many do's and don'ts, but entirely a matter of THE LIFE OF
THE LAMB.
How vain have been our strivings about externals and our insistence
upon little technicalities which we in ignorance deemed so very important! How often my
own heart has been saddened 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, and petty doctrines of every kind, and when they were
through with all their pietistic wrangling, they had accomplished nothing but to prove
that they knew everything about the dead letter of the Word and absolutely nothing
of the LIFE-GIVING SPIRIT! When I consider the vastness of God's great plan and the
awesome majesty of His eternal purposes, my soul grows weary with the petty quibblings of
earth-bound, tradition-ridden men who are never able to deliver themselves from their own
trivial opinions about heaven and hell, what we must or must not eat or drink, what we
must or must not put on, how we must observe this ordinance, that ceremony, and the other
ritual, who can or cannot minister, and as a result are not able to see who God is or
grasp the wonder of His ways or the ALL-SUFFICIENCY OF HIS INDWELLING LIFE. Men do not
need any external ordinances, ceremonies, or regulations. They need Christ! They do not
need to know doctrine. They need to KNOW HIM as their INDWELLING LIFE AND LAW.
When I know GOD AS LIFE, then, as the SPIRIT OF LIFE WITHIN leads me
to eat, I will eat. When the LIFE prompts me to drink, I will drink. When the LIFE anoints
me to fast, I will fast. When the LIFE quickens me to sing, I will sing. When the LIFE
commands me to speak, I will speak. When the LIFE orders me to be silent, I will be
silent. When the LIFE stirs me to go, I will go. When the LIFE tells me to stay, I will
stay. When the LIFE directs me to work, I will work. When the LIFE guides me to rest, I
will rest. When the LIFE impresses me to wait, I will wait. When the LIFE draws me aside
for a season of separation, I will turn aside. When the LIFE speaks that I should go here
or there, to this meeting or that gathering, I will go. When the LIFE reveals that I
should give, I will give. You see, with Christ there are no regulations, no rules, only
the indwelling rule of HIS LIFE. Today it is not a matter of the law, or ordinances, or
observances, or tradition, or regulations, but wholly a matter of Christ. As long as the
Christ life within directs, you are safe – for Christ today is the present, instant,
up-to-date, indwelling LAWGIVER. Hallelujah!
"The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the
midst of thee, of thy brethren, LIKE UNTO ME; UNTO HIM SHALL YE HEARKEN" (Deut.
18:15). Christ is today's real Moses, and we are His followers. Christ is today's real
Lawgiver, and we have Him WITHIN US and we are learning to do all things in His presence
and by His life. There are no regulations today, but the real Moses. There are no external
observances of ordinances, ceremonies etc., but the indwelling life. As long as I am
following my Moses today, as long as I am ONE SPIRIT WITH MY CHRIST, whatever I do as a
product of His indwelling life is both the will and the work of the Father. What ever I do
of myself, or because I have always done it this way, or I feel some responsibility to do
it, or it is traditional to do it, or my friends and family wouldn't understand if I
didn't do it – I am decking myself out with naught but withering, rustling
fig-leaves.
ALL must be brought to the CROSS, washed away in the life of
Human energy, soulish zeal, carnal planning, selfish ambitions, doing
by rote what we have been taught and programmed by the religious systems to do, has
produced a fig-leaf condition that must be dealt with, stripped away, and replaced by the
living breath of God. Ah, yes, self has enjoyed the recognition that men give for our
service to the Lord. And how often has our service for the Lord been natural rather
than BY THE SPIRIT. We become accustomed to doing it OUR OWN WAY, and out of
habit. I do not see how any child of God can ever become an overcomer and enter into
Sonship by following the ordinary course of Church activity. There is something about the
continual VAIN REPETITIONS of the Church systems that keeps saints in a state of
spiritual infancy.
When the Jewish offerings and sacrifices got to be nothing but a
ritual which they performed every week, God turned His face away in disgust and said it
was a weariness to Him and a stench in His nostrils. What more is there to the wearisome
repetitions into which today's church activities have entered? Do they not go through the
same ceremony every week as they sing their hymns, say their prayers, give their
offerings, make their announcements, preach their sermons, and wait for the benediction?
This is not the WAY OF LIFE nor is it the path that leads to sonship. Ah! and how we need
to watch our own little "Spirit-led" traditions! – you know: three peppy,
hand-clapping choruses followed by two slow worship choruses followed by three minutes of
singing in the Spirit following by two prophecies followed by teaching followed by prayer
requests and personal ministry. I feel that I cannot be too strong in my earnest
exhortation to all who read these pages that regardless what form our traditions may take,
they are the path to stagnation and infancy.
I know whereof I speak. In my early ministry in one of the Pentecostal
denominations I ignorantly practiced all the religious tomfoolery. I taught things as they
came from the Bible Schools, from the Sunday School materials. I received materials from
the Headquarters and put them into practice without ever asking God about them. We had a
Ladies Auxiliary because that is how we were taught from the Headquarters. We had the
Young People's Life-liners because that is how we were taught from the Headquarters. We
taught the Sunday School class from Mat. 11:1-19 because that was the lesson in the Sunday
School quarterly sent from Headquarters. Everything we did was because it came from the
Headquarters! We had our name, our board, our District Conference, our State Conference,
our Stationing Committee to move the pastors around like chessmen on a chess board. We
never stopped to ask the Lord whether this was from Him or not! And I doubt if the
Headquarters of the denomination ever stopped to ask either. We just kept going, doing the
same things for years, never stopping to seek the face of God to find whether what we were
doing was His will or not. So few people have ever learned that our relationship is WITH
CHRIST and without Him we can do nothing. Thank God for the day when I learned this one
simple but basic truth and began at last to break out of the smothering cocoon of
tradition. The Spirit of God is calling you to lift up your eyes to the heavenly hills to
behold a place IN CHRIST where Christ becomes ALL IN ALL. In these heavenly places in
Christ Jesus there are no more chains of self-effort, man-made religion, or external
observances, for here we walk with God and learn of Him, being indwelt by His life, led of
His Spirit and, being thus led, we grow up into full sonship in Him.
In all the dead works of religion MAN'S FLESH SHOWS THROUGH and it is
manifest that his covering is insufficient – for when God clothes a man with the
covering of His Lamb NO FLESH WILL BE SEEN – ONLY CHRIST! When God clothed Adam and
Eve in the skins of the slain Lamb, yet dripping with the precious blood, He showed that
they were COVERED WITH LIFE. It is a wonderful day for a child of God when he becomes so
conscious of the indwelling and overshadowing presence of Christ and the ALL-SUFFICIENCY
OF HIS LIFE that he no longer makes any effort to cloak himself with anything that is not
a product of that life. When once you know this life experientially, you no longer care
one whit about silly forms, procedures, methods, external observances or regulations. The
true cause of spiritual dryness and fleshliness among Christians is that they strive and
contend so much for the letter of the external trappings of religion that they
never discover the blessedness of His quickening life. Everywhere we see Christians busy,
running here, going there, promoting this program and that project, fighting for this and
that cause, doing, doing, doing, and in it all literally billions of dollars being spent
on outward show, glass cathedrals, fine buildings, comfortable pews, lettered and famous
preachers, popular and glamorous speakers, programs and schemes of every imaginable
description. It is not difficult therefore to understand why the spirits of so many
Christians are as shriveled as prunes and as dry as a hay stack. All this outward show is
but a sepulcher void of life and full of dead men's bones.
Fig-leaves! Fig-leaves! Fig-leaves! Cursed covering of man's 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 in our day 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, sprinkled with the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ, and CLOTHED IN THE
GARMENTS OF THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD'S ETERNAL LAMB, who now WALK IN AND LIVE BY HIS LIFE.
Chapter 25
THE
GARMENTS OF
(continued)
"And they were both naked,
the man and his wife. and the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were
naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. And, unto Adam and
his wife did the Lord God make COATS OF SKINS, AND CLOTHED THEM" (Gen. 2:25;
3:6-10,21).
"And they were both NAKED,
the man and his wife." It seems to the unenlightened mind that this little statement
could have been omitted. Of what importance is it whether Adam and Eve moved about in
Adam and Eve were both NAKED!
Among all the creatures which God made, man stands out unique, stark naked, which means
devoid of true wisdom and knowledge, with his inner nature revealed, opened up, exhibited,
and made bare. Oh! that God may give us understanding to see that to be naked means to
have THE FLESH UNCOVERED AND EXPOSED! In the typology of Scripture "the flesh"
is the name by which the scripture designates our HUMAN NATURE, literally speaking of that
inward nature which is earthy-minded, with its lusts and self-centeredness, its ego and
I-will, which are rebellion to the Spirit. Thus, the flesh is not the outward, visible man
of meat, muscle and bones, but the inward nature. This nature was in man from the
beginning, and could be seen to be in him, but as long as he was caught up in God he was
not aware of it, for he was "naked, and was not ashamed."
Then suddenly "they knew that
they were naked” – they knew that their flesh lay bare and exposed – sad
fruit of the tree of knowledge. No sooner does a man discover his nakedness than this
knowledge gives birth 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 man's attempt to
remedy, by his own device, his condition, but this was not the single act of Adam of old,
it is truly the act of each of us, yes, OUR VERY OWN! The Spirit would make it very real
to your heart, dear reader, that Adam's effort to cover his nakedness was not a mere
physical or moral act, it was a RELIGIOUS ACT. The nakedness in
In an effort to appear other than
he is, man sews together very wide leaves of the fig tree; that is, he tries every device
he can, including multiplied religious works, to gloss over his true condition. But all
the garments which men devise to hide their nakedness become mere "spider's
webs" when the dazzling light of God's presence and glory shines upon them. There is
nothing more obvious than the fact that leaves quickly wither and fall off and, indeed,
clothed in all the dead works of religion MAN'S FLESH SHOWS THROUGH and it becomes
manifest that his covering is pitifully insufficient.
The first thing God does is strip
away all the artificial, man-made coverings, and presents His own glorious covering, the
slain Lamb, the Christ of God. "For Adam also and for his wife the Lord God made long
coats (tunics) of skins, and clothed them" (Gen. 3:21, Amplified Bible). In the
symbolism of Garden of Eden story Adam and Eve silently watched as the Lord God selected a
lamb and slew it there, fastening it to a tree before their wondering eyes, the victim
then being made naked, stripped of its skin, that a covering might be provided for the
naked ones. Thus, with this one wondrous act does the God of heaven introduce THE CROSS,
THE ATONEMENT, and THE CHRIST AS MAN'S COVERING. When God clothed Adam and Eve in the
skins of the slain Lamb, yet dripping with the precious blood, He showed that they were
COVERED WITH THE LIFE OF THE LAMB. When God covers a man with the covering of His own Lamb
the covering is so complete that NO FLESH WILL BE SEEN – ONLY CHRIST!
THE ATONEMENT
What a blessed and thrilling
revelation it has been to have the Spirit unfold the wonders of the Garden of Eden! All
that now pertains or shall ever pertain to man's relationship with God is there unveiled
to the wondering eyes of our understanding. The first mention of "clothing" or
"covering" is in Gen 3:21. The idea expressed in this covering of man's flesh is
the same as that contained in the Old Testament word "atonement." The Hebrew
word most commonly translated "atonement" and which most perfectly expressed its
Biblical meaning is kaphar, and means
"to cover."
This word occurs for the first
time in Genesis 6:14, where we read concerning God's instructions for the building of
Noah's ark: "Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and
shalt pitch it within and without with pitch." It is a very interesting fact to note
that the word translated "pitch" is the word for "atonement." Noah was
to pitch the ark within and without with pitch. The words used are kaphar and kophar, the first being the verb, and the
second the noun. Literally, therefore, we can read Genesis
This is what the "blood of
the atonement" in all the Old Testament sacrifices did. "For the life of the
flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for
your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul" (Lev.
In the book of Exodus we have one
of the most unique and remarkable happenings in the world's history. It is a part of the
same pattern as the life and work of Jesus Himself. The Lord had come down in a thick
cloud to speak with Moses in the sight of the people. There was given him the substance of
the law. But then, by command of the Lord Moses went up into the mount and into the cloud,
and remained there in the presence of the Lord for forty days and forty nights. At the end
of that time of communion, the Lord gave Moses two tables of stones upon which was written
the Law of the Lord by the finger of God. So, robed in the spiritual splendor of the Holy
One, he returned to the people.
In Exodus chapter 32, we read that
the people had fallen into idolatry during these forty days of waiting. They had made a
golden calf to worship and to lead them. In this was the essence of their idolatry: the
turning to SELF to satisfy self in all its demands, the desire to establish a power and a
good of their own choosing to be followed after and worshipped rather than God. The
wickedness was in turning from God to the idols of their own flesh and corruption. They
made and worshipped the image of a beast, and the fact of the matter is that the beast was
but a representation of THEIR OWN BESTIAL NATURE which they were pursuing with all their
carnally-minded vigor. Then comes a most enlightening statement: "And Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies)." The
people were. NAKED! Ah! beloved, it was not that the people had discarded their outer
garments of linen and wool to stalk about under the scorching desert sun in a state of
nudity; it was that Aaron, in appeasing their carnal murmurings and reasonings, had caused their inner natures to be revealed, their
inner state of being to be opened up, brought to light, manifested, exhibited – their FLESH WAS EXPOSED!
It seems evident to me that this
is the meaning of the scripture, for when Moses saw on his return what was taking place,
he threw the two tablets of stone down upon the rocks and broke them to pieces. Then on
the morrow Moses said to the people, "Ye have sinned a great sin; and now I will go
up unto the Lord; peradventure I shall make AN ATONEMENT FOR YOUR SOULS" (Ex. 32:30).
"Atonement" means a covering – a protective covering. The Hebrew word kaphar (pronounced KAW-FAR') has come down to us through
the long centuries in the English word "cover." You will note that they are
nearly the same in sound. Kaphar is used in the Old Testament as the distinct word for
atonement for sin. Sin is a NAKED STATE OF THE SOUL, the denuding of our "self"
with all its self-love, self-confidence, self-righteousness, self-admiration, self-effort,
self-pity, self-expression, self-aggrandizement and self-development. Atonement is the
COVERING, protective covering of the Lord's mercy, presence, and life upon the redeemed
soul. Moses returned to the Lord in the mount to seek a means to atone for, to COVER THE
PEOPLE'S SOULS. My earnest prayer is that those who read these lines may quickly see that
the covering provided for the people was a SPIRITUAL COVERING for the inner realm of the
soul; therefore, the nakedness of the people was likewise a SPIRITUAL NAKEDNESS of the
soul.
We have put so much stress on
outward things, so much "carnalizing" of the Word which is "spirit and
life," that when we read the scriptures we oft times overlook the real truth the
Spirit is speaking. The real man who is naked is not the outer physical man. In spite of
all the "dress codes" religion may impose, it makes no difference, my friend,
how much you clothe the outer body – your true "flesh" will still be
exposed! It should be clear to all who have eyes to see that when the scripture makes such
statements as, "put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ," "put on the whole amour
of God," "put on the amour of light," "buy of Me white raiment, that
thou mayest be clothed," "put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem,"
"to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white,"
"blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they
see his shame," these cannot be put on the outer physical man, they must be put on in
the inner realms of the soul and spirit, upon the hidden man of the heart, even that NEW
MAN which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
THE GARMENTS OF
SALVATION AND THE ROBE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
There is an interesting passage in
Isaiah 61:10. "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God;
for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of
righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth
herself with her jewels." This verse teaches us two things: (1) that God has clothed us
with the GARMENTS OF SALVATION and (2) He has covered us with the ROBE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. The Spirit here
points out to us that not only is there a garment of salvation, but there is also a robe
of righteousness. Jesus Christ is our salvation. We are saved by grace through faith; and
that not of ourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast
(Eph. 2:8-9). We are clothed with the garment of salvation in the blessed moment when they
believed on Christ Jesus as Saviour and Redeemer. We are to greatly rejoice in the Lord
that He has clothed us with the garment of salvation!
As soon as man sinned, God made them garments, the Bible declares.
That means that God accepts men as they are, as sinful. He affirms them as fallen, as
sheep gone astray, each turned to his own way. But, blessed be God! He does not expose
them to one another in their nakedness: HE HIMSELF COVERS THEM. By making garments for men
God shows that He first of all accepts them as they are, with their flesh. In this way He
COVERS THEIR FLESH but does not destroy it. God's first action toward man is that He
preserves him in his sinful state of being, with the carnal nature, giving him an
"atonement," a "covering" to hide his flesh and protect him from
destruction, making him "accepted in the Beloved” – until he can be
changed! With the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden, having disobeyed the command of God,
and partaking of the forbidden fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, their
eyes were opened, and they knew that they were naked and went and "hid themselves
from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden" (Gen. 3:8). To
this day Adam's race senses their shame, and cannot stand in the presence of God without
fear, UNLESS CLOTHED UPON WITH THE GARMENTS OF OUR GOD.
Gladly, therefore, do we freely
acknowledge that "He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered
me with the robe of righteousness." Realizing that all our covering garments must be
of HIM, let us follow on to examine the dimensions of these garments, and their operation
in our lives.
May I share with you now a
revelation that has been a great blessing to me in my walk with God. First let me say that
the GARMENT OF SALVATION is the righteousness of God IMPUTED TO US BY FAITH. "For
what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for
righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.
But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith
is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man,
unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose
iniquities are forgiven, and whose SINS ARE COVERED. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord
will not impute sin" (
This is the sphere with which most
Christians are acquainted – for it is the realm which most preachers deal with, how
that BY FAITH THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IS IMPUTED TO US WHEN WE BELIEVE ON OUR LORD AND
SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST. While this makes good evangelistic preaching, and is the solid
foundation upon which we can build, yet daily experience has revealed the fact that just
because the righteousness of God is now "imputed" to you, that doesn't mean that
immediately you have a complete change in your STATE OF BEING. It means that you now
possess by faith, and as a free gift, the GARMENT OF SALVATION, and clothed in this
garment you are saved from your sins, forgiven, acquitted, and all your past has been
covered by God's matchless grace. Ah, yes, you have received all this as a gift, but you
yourself have not yet been totally changed, transformed, having put on ALL HE IS.
So, while IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS
gives us a clean slate before God, yet we discover by experience that this leaves us far
short of the image and the glory of God, far short of PERFECTION. We still find in our
nature the working of "sin and death," and all the old emotions and cravings of
"the flesh." In our salvation experience we have found a covering, an atonement,
by the sacrifice of God's precious Lamb, and yet, is it not true, dear child of God, that
our hearts are not completely satisfied? Why? Because we know in our deepest heart that
the garment of salvation has covered ALL OUR SINS, but our INNER STATE OF BEING STILL
REMAINS PITIFULLY UNCHANGED.
We want more than just to pile
"coverings" over our sins, we want our inherent nature changed into HIS, so that
all that is contrary to Him shall be completely done away. Multitudes have received the
glad news of how the righteousness of God is imputed to us by faith, and have believed,
but still in their daily life they know that in themselves there remains the rudiments of
sin, carnal mindedness, etc. And with repeated failure and guilt-consciousness they keep
on praying day after day, "Lord, forgive us our short-comings! Forgive us our
trespasses! Forgive us our many sins!" And year after year never cease praying that
way. Why? Because imputed righteousness is our possession as we believe on Him, but we
must go on into the second dimension of the atonement, to lay hold upon His IMPARTED
RIGHTEOUSNESS, His INWORKED RIGHTEOUSNESS, becoming COVERED WITH THE ROBE OF
RIGHTEOUSNESS, experiencing the inworkings of the change which results in an entirely new
STATE OF BEING, making us LIKE HIM, transformed and transfigured into His very own image
in ever increasing splendor, from one degree of glory to another (II Cor.
To be covered with the robe of
righteousness means that when men look at us they SEE NOTHING BUT RIGHTEOUSNESS! We were
reconciled to God by the death of His Son, but being reconciled, we shall be saved by His
life (Rom.
God is going to spring forth
righteousness until all nations see it! Hallelujah! This, beloved, can only be wrought by
the power of the Holy Spirit. When people see a life and that life is beyond and contrary
to any life they have ever witnessed, then the righteousness of God in Christ is revealed.
When people behold us in our problems, under the pressures of job, family, and bills, in
the perplexities of trouble and tragedy, and never see a reaction from us of our flesh,
but only the Spirit of Christ within, then are we decked with the robe of righteousness
and CHRIST IS SEEN AS RIGHTEOUSNESS in our lives. Here, nothing but HIM is revealed. When
HE is revealed men will declare, "I never saw a people act like these act, I never
heard a people speak like these speak; how can a person stand so calm, cool and collected
in the face of such difficulties, testings and pressures – something supernatural is
here!"
"Put ye on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof" (Rom.
Psalm 97:2 states that
"Righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His throne." His throne –
means HIS RULERSHIP in our lives, as His will replaces our will, His thoughts replace our
thoughts, and HIS LIFE becomes the sphere of our daily living. "Now no chastening for
the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yielded the
peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby" (Heb.
MELCHIZEDEK –
KING OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
A message is filling my heart
today and with it there is an unspeakable longing that the heart of every saint of God be
turned to seek earnestly to be covered completely with the robe of the righteousness of
the Son of God. I speak the truth when I tell you that there is a great difference between
a garment and a robe. The garment of salvation is that which the Lord has already
purchased for us and is freely bestowed to cover the nakedness of our flesh, but the robe
of righteousness is set before us to be sought after and seized as a prize.
A person's position or state of
being can often be told by his clothing. A white uniform indicates a nurse, the blue
uniform identifies the policeman on his beat, filthy or torn garments are a sign of
poverty, and royal robes are a sign of royal estate. The first occurrence of the word robe
in the Bible is in Exodus 28:4 and 31. "And these are the garments which they shall
make; a breastplate, and an ephod, and a ROBE, and a broidered coat, a mitre, and a
girdle: and they shall make holy garments for Aaron their brother, and his sons, that he
may minister unto Me in the priest's office. AND THOU SHALT MAKE THE ROBE OF THE EPHOD all
of blue." The Hebrew word is subsequently translated robe in
I Samuel 24:4, I Chronicles 15:27, Job 29:14. and Ezekiel 26:16, in which cases it
specifies a garment worn by a king or prince. From all these uses of the word it can be
seen that the robe of the ephod was a garment of special dignity – A ROBE OF OFFICE
– and which gave a PRINCELY CHARACTER to the High Priest.
No material was specified for the
High Priest's robe, but the color only, blue. It was the work of a weaver, Bezaleel and
Aholiab having been filled with wisdom of heart to execute the fabric. This robe embodied
the color of the heavens; it was all of blue. All the priests, the sons of Aaron, wore
white linen garments, representing the imputed righteousness of Christ. The High Priest
also wore the white linen garment when he entered into the
In the book of Genesis all we know
of Melchizedek is told in three short, very simple verses. A thousand years later we find
a Psalm with just one single verse, in which God Himself is introduced, swearing to His
Son that He is to be a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek. Another thousand years
pass, and that single verse becomes the seed of the wondrous exposition in the Epistle to
the Hebrews of the whole work of redemption as revealed in Jesus Christ. Melchizedek was
King and Priest – a thing unknown in all the history of
I have stated these things to
emphasize the following truth: "Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the
things which He suffered; and being made perfect, He became the author of eternal
salvation unto all them that obey Him; Called of God AN HIGH PRIEST AFTER THE ORDER OF
MELCHIZEDEK" (Heb. 5:8-10). Our Lord Jesus learned obedience by the things which He
suffered. Through this obedience He was MADE PERFECT, and became the author of eternal
salvation to all that obey Him. So He entered heaven as our HIGH PRIEST, A SON, PERFECTED
FOR EVERMORE.
The word "perfect" is
one of the key-words of the book of Hebrews. It occurs thirteen times. Four times in
regard to the Old Testament, which could make nothing perfect. (1) The law made nothing
perfect (Heb.
Notice, now, what follows His
obedience and perfection: "Being designated and recognized and saluted by God as High
Priest AFTER THE ORDER (WITH THE RANK) OF MELCHIZEDEK" (Heb. 5:10, Amplified Bible).
The dazzling glory of this great truth is that the Melchizedek order of Priesthood is the
Priesthood of THE KING OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. King of Righteousness – means HIS RULERSHIP
in our lives, as His will replaces our will, His thoughts replace our thoughts, His ways
replace our ways, His nature replaces our nature, and HIS LIFE becomes the sphere of all
our living and moving and being, filling up our life with His dominion, His throne
established in us, where He rules and reigns in righteousness within His temple, which
temple we are.
Ah, the Melchizedek order of
Priesthood ministers not merely an "imputed righteousness" which forgives our
sins and covers over our flesh by the loving-kindness of God, but a righteousness INWORKED
by God's dealings with us as sons, an obedience LEARNED by discipline and suffering,
perfection ENTERED INTO as a state of being, qualifying one for ENTRANCE INTO THE
PRIESHOOD REALM OF THE ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEK. Throughout the past twenty centuries of
church history most students of the Word of God have known that Christ is a Priest after
the order of Melchizedek. All through the centuries there have been a minute few who by
the spirit of wisdom and revelation from God have been blessed with the knowledge that
OTHERS ALSO ARE CALLED OF GOD to walk the path of obedience, crucify self, put off the
carnal mind, be made like unto the son of God, and FOLLOW HIM INTO THE HIGHEST REALM OF
SONSHIP, THE PRIESTHOOD ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEK. Ah, beloved, I can assure you that those who
have understood this truth have been so few in number that if you could collect them all
from the day of Pentecost until now, they would scarcely be noticed among the great
multitude of the redeemed that no man can number (Rev. 7:9).
Hear now what the scripture says
on this most vital subject, for I think the scripture must be the final authority for all
truth. "We who have fled to Him for refuge, have mighty indwelling strength and
strong encouragement to grasp and hold fast the hope appointed for us and set before us.
Now we have this hope as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul – it cannot slip and
it cannot break down under whoever steps out upon it – a hope that reaches farther
and ENTERS INTO THE VERY CERTAINTY, WITHIN THE VEIL, WHERE JESUS HAS ENTERED IN FOR US IN
ADVANCE, A FORERUNNER HAVING BECOME A HIGH PRIEST FOREVER AFTER THE ORDER (WITH THE RANK)
OF MELCHIZEDEK" (Heb. 6:18-20, Amplified Bible). It is a sure hope, anchored by
Christ within the veil, and He is an High Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.
Furthermore, Jesus is a FORERUNNER, which is a clear indication that OTHERS ARE EXPECTED
TO FOLLOW ON INTO THE SAME REALMS OF GLORY. He is the Captain of our salvation, He is the
King, the Lord, and WITH HIM will be all the kings and lords which become ONE IN HIM, for
they are all SONS OF GOD and a ROYAL PRIESTHOOD.
The Forerunner! Here we have
another of the key-words of the book of Hebrews, without the right understanding of which
our view of the work of Jesus as High Priest must be defective. It points us to the work
He did in opening up the way, by walking in it Himself; to our following Him in that way
to the place into which He has entered, not only the location, but the glory and honor and
majesty and position and state of being of that realm, to which we now have access. And
what is this place? "Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an
High Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek." We have had His name as Leader.
We shall yet enter in!
He entered for us, not in our stead, but on our behalf.
We are so familiar with all the blessed meaning there is in the words for us, in reference to Christ on the cross.
No less it is true of Christ within the veil. It is all for us; all that He is and has
there is for us; it is to be our own
possession; by it and in it we are to live with Him and in Him. The veil was rent that the
way through it might be opened for us;
that we might have access to that which is WITHIN THE VEIL; that we might enter into a new
world, a new realm, a new glory, a new fellowship, a new position, a new name, a new
nature, a new dominion, a new ministry, a new state of being – “being MADE
PERFECT, A PRIEST FOREVER AFTER THE ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEK." We have yet to learn all
that is contained in the Melchizedek Priesthood. But this will be its chief glory –
that He is a Priest forever, a Priest in the power of an ENDLESS LIFE, a Priest who opens
to us the STATE OF
No greater tragedy can overtake a
man than that, after he has been saved by God's grace, cleansed by the blood of Christ,
made a partaker of God's Holy Spirit, he should be satisfied to walk in the garment of
salvation and fail to realize the transcendent glory which lies before him in the ROBE OF
RIGHTEOUSNESS. Meditate deeply, dear friend, upon this higher righteousness, which is the
righteousness of the King of Righteousness, of the Melchizedek order, which is the ORDER
OF THE SON OF GOD.
And so, "If ye know that He
is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of Him" (I Jn.
"Thy people also shall BE ALL
RIGHTEOUS: the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, that I may be glorified"
(Isa. 60:21). To God be the glory, HE is bringing forth a firstfruit company, the work of
His hands, the branch of His planting, to BECOME ONE IN CHRIST, and of this very Christ,
Head and body we read, "this is His name whereby He shall be called, THE LORD OUR
RIGHTEOUSNESS" (Jer. 23:6). No more of our self-righteousness, no more stumbling and
blundering and failing, but so FULLY CLOTHED WITH HIM, that our very state of being
testifies "THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS." Certainly He shall be glorified, because
HE alone shall be exalted, magnified through the revelation of His grace in the completed
work of His hands. "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness:
for they shall be filled" (Mat. 5:6). This desire has been implanted by God, and HE
shall certainly bring about its fulfillment. We have tried to do it ourselves, but praise
the Lord, He is now stripping us of all our self-effort and fig-leaf works, while the
great DISCIPLINE HAND OF GOD BEGINS TO WORK, causing us to experience inworkings of one
kind of righteousness after another. The result shall be A NEW STATE OF BEING, not one
self-appropriated nor self-proclaimed, but the finished work of HIS HANDS, and how it
shall redound to His praise!
Yes, as His life alone becomes our
life, all that we do shall be righteous. There is no grand leap from the simple GARMENTS
OF SALVATION to the exquisite ROBE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, but there must be that active
inworking of Himself. "May HE that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread
for your food, and multiply your seed sown, AND INCREASE THE FRUITS OF YOUR
RIGHTEOUSNESS" (II Cor. 9:10). Amen!
THE SMELL OF HIS
GARMENTS
The skins with which God clothed
Adam and Eve in
And now our heavenly King Solomon
can bear witness of us, "Honey and milk are under thy tongue; and THE SMELL OF THY
GARMENTS IS LIKE THE SMELL OF LEBANON" (S. of S.
Oh, how our hearts long that, even
in our most common movements and actions, the Christ-life shall be seen and discerned. As
we put Him on and are clothed in Him, as we are hidden away in this Divine Robe, the smell
of our garments begins to partake of the smell of
Closely connected with Christ's
life, death and burial, are the precious oils and costly, fragrance spices. He alone
received gifts of fragrance oil and spices. The anointings He received at the hands of the
women who loved Him with a surpassing love, appeared to have been more precious to Him
than all else that was done for Him while He was on earth. "All Thy garments smell of
myrrh." Myrrh was esteemed for its fragrance, it was used to scent garments, beds and
other items. Myrrh was also one of the substances employed in preparing bodies for burial.
The anointings and spices that were offered to Jesus in life and in death symbolized the
wonderful work wrought in and through Him; His abandonment to do God's will; the
perfection of His graces and attributes; His laying down His life; the preciousness of His
atoning work.
Myrrh is not only fragrant, but it
is bitter; the bitterness is an emblem of suffering. Fragrant and bitter! setting forth
our identification with Him in the bitterness of partaking with Him in His death; through
which bitterness we put on the fragrance of His life and attributes. If we would have our
Lord dwell in our hearts and have full control, if we would have Him cover us completely
as our robe of righteousness, if we would ever live in the atmosphere of His perfume and
be sending forth His precious odors ourselves, we shall find that it is not all joy; but
there is an entering into the fellowship of His sufferings. There is the bitterness that
comes through our union with Him as we remain in the place of death, dying to all that
pertains to SELF, that His life may be manifested. Only as the myrrh is crushed and
pierced, does its fragrance go forth; and it is not easy to yield to the crushing and
piercing process. As we partake of Him in His death, and yield to the cross at every step,
HOW HIS PERFUME GOES FORTH AND REFRESHES OUR SOULS, AND ATTRACTS OTHERS.
The spices and gums used in the
worship of
Are our hearts crying out for a
deeper revelation of THE CHRIST, and for it to be operative in our lives? Do not look for
the answer among the crowds, where the "blessings" and "prosperity"
are pursued, but at the foot of the daily cross, outside the camp, bearing His reproach.
Look for Heaven's perfumes in the wilderness place that no one sees nor understands,
excepting Jesus who gathered the first cargo of spices to the glory of His Father!
We hear so much of the "faith
message" today. How do we gather the precious Spice of "Faith"? God brings
us to a desert place where EVERYBODY AND EVERYTHING FAILS US; where we must stand upon the
air, as it were, with nothing under our feet. We can look nowhere but up to God, and HE
LEAVES US HANGING THERE UPON THE THREAD OF FAITH, clinging and looking to Him, believing
Him. As we do this without wavering, we begin to add to our cargo the faith that calls all
things that are not as though they were, and opens the way into the
Let all who now read this message
know that Jesus Christ is our garment of salvation and He is our robe of righteousness.
Put on Christ! This work must be done each day in the inner chamber of our communion and
identification with Him. No man changes clothes in public view. And how better can we put
Him on than by our constant attitude of living and abiding in His presence as citizens of
His glorious realm? His garments are the garments of
Oh soul, take time to meditate
upon this wonderful truth. Just as your clothing is a necessity as you go out into the
world, let it be equally indispensable for you to put on Jesus Christ and to abide in Him
all the day. This cannot be done hastily or superficially. It takes time, quiet time in
living in fellowship with Jesus, to realize that you have put Him on. Take the time and
the trouble. Your reward will be great!
Chapter 26
THE GARMENTS OF
(continued)
"And they were both naked, the man and his wife. and the eyes of
them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves
together, and made themselves aprons. And, unto Adam and his wife did the Lord God make
COATS OF SKINS, AND CLOTHED THEM" (Gen. 2:25; 3:6-10,21).
What a blessed and thrilling revelation it has been to have the Spirit
unfold the wonders of the Garden of Eden! All that now pertains, or shall ever pertain to
man's relationship with God is there unveiled to the wondering eyes of our understanding.
With the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden, having disobeyed the command of God, and
partaking of the forbidden fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, their eyes
were opened, and they knew that they were naked and went and "hid themselves from the
presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the Garden" (Gen. 3:8). To this day
Adam's race senses their shame, and cannot stand in the presence of God without fear,
UNLESS CLOTHED UPON WITH THE GARMENTS OF OUR GOD. Gladly, therefore, do we freely
acknowledge that "HE hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, HE hath covered
me with the robe of righteousness" (Isa. 61:10). Realizing that all our covering
garments must be of HIM, let us follow on to examine the character of these garments, and
their operation in our lives.
"Unto Adam also and his wife did the Lord God make coats of
skins, and clothed them" (Gen. 3:21). These coats were for clothing as well as to
hide their shame. They were not their own; not of their own invention, but made by
Jehovah from skin taken off some slain victim, and placed by His hand upon the man
and woman who needed them. It may be observed here that while "coats" is in
plural number, "skin" is in the original in the singular number, and not plural
as in the King James Version, intended by the Spirit to make the type more significant
– ONE victim supplying the whole cover! Also the Hebrew word translated
"skin," is derived from a root, signifying "to be naked." The victim
was made naked, stripped of its skin, that a covering might be provided for the naked
ones.
We would be hard pressed to determine what kind of victim it was that
provided this blessed covering, were it not that the Holy Spirit has shed precious light
upon this wonder, revealing that CHRIST is "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the
world" (Rev. 13:8), who verily was "a Lamb without blemish or spot, foreordained
before the foundation of the world" (I Pet.
The skin with which God clothed Adam and Eve in
STRANGE APPAREL
We must once and for all settle it in our hearts that in all the world
there is NO OTHER COVERING than that which God has Himself provided in our Lord Jesus
Christ. We are living in days of extreme peril. The feverish activity of all the religious
systems of earth is immense, but it is not motivated by the Spirit of God. This is a day
of every imaginable spiritual deception. One of these many deceptions is described by the
prophet Zephaniah in these words, "And it shall come to pass in the day of the Lord's
sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the king's children, and all such as are
CLOTHED WITH STRANGE APPAREL" (Zeph. 1:8). What do we mean by "strange
apparel”? Strange apparel bespeaks a covering which is strange to the Lord, not of
HIS SPIRIT, but of the flesh.
We hear much these days about having a "local group for a
covering," whatever that is supposed to mean. Strange apparel, indeed! This so-called
"truth" usually refers to a pseudo-spiritual submission to men calling
themselves elders, or shepherds, who desire to lord it over a flock or other men's lives,
and tell others what they can and cannot do. They esteem themselves spiritual enough to
discern for everybody else what the will of the Lord is, though they themselves are
missing the point entirely. My brother, my sister, hearken to the words of the prophet
Isaiah: "Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel, BUT NOT
OF ME; and that cover with a covering, BUT NOT OF MY SPIRIT, that they may add sin
to sin" (Isa. 30:1).
COVERING! By many this term is used to mean that each believer, being
a "dumb sheep," needs the "covering" or protection of a group, or
fold, presided over by men who are "elders" or "shepherds". Every one
is in "submission" to someone higher in the pyramid, until the whole structure
becomes one vast hierarchy with just a few men or one man at the top. Each
"shepherd" of a local group is "in submission" to some other higher
"shepherd" and all these are ultimately submitted to an "apostle"
somewhere in the world. Some rule more strictly than others over their "dumb
sheep," but in general the individual believer is taught that he cannot trust his own
ability to hear from the Lord, or understand the Word of God, or order his own life, but
must look to his earthly shepherd to hear from the Lord for him. In many cases one dare
not change jobs, move from one place to another, marry, or make any other decision without
checking it out with the elder or elders. The counsel of the elder or shepherd in many
cases MUST be followed! Women have often been told that they must always obey their
husband's wishes, even if he requires something illegal or immoral! Some are instructed as
to how much of their means to "give" to the "body".
Now, not all who teach "the covering" are that extreme, but
for many of them the half has not been told. There is a great emphasis on the word
"covering" as being necessary for each member, for protection from harm and
deception. If we do not have this "covering" of the local fellowship, or elders,
or shepherds, then, we are told, we cannot discern the will of the Lord, cannot understand
the Word of the Lord, will be overcome by our adversary, will fall into sin and delusion,
or the present world system will destroy us. Some groups across the country will not
receive your ministry unless you reveal to them who your "covering" is.
I am frankly appalled at the shallowness, gullibility, and lack of
spiritual discernment among the people of God, for they give heed continually to the voice
of such strangers, but the voice of the Good Shepherd they do not know. Why are the
children of God so ready to blindly accept every subtle and plausible teaching that is
thrust at them, without earnestly seeking the help of the blessed Spirit WHO ALONE HAS
BEEN SENT TO GUIDE US INTO ALL TRUTH. Any preacher today who can come up with some fantastic
notion can corral God's people under his authority, and the more fantastic the
notion the more people run after it. I do not hesitate to tell you that I know of no
greater deception that has entered in among the people of God during the past twenty years
than the error of the "covering" teaching.
Where, I ask, WHERE DOES THE SCRIPTURE GIVE EVIDENCE THIS APPLICATION
OF THE WORD "COVERING" IS LEGITIMATE? I know of no place! Where in the Bible, I
ask, is the husband called a "covering" for his wife? Where in the whole Bible
are elders called a "covering" for the Church? In what place is the Church
spoken of as a "covering" for believers? Where is the chapter and verse to be
found that refers to an apostle as a "covering" for other ministries, elders, or
shepherds? Where is the rule that a ministry should not be accepted unless he has some
group or eldership for a "covering"? Ah, my friend, you may search for these
long and hard, you may burn the midnight oil, you may read and study until your eyes are
bloodshot and vision blurred, until you fall into fitful sleep with your Bible and
reference books still open on the desk before you, and I can assure you without fear of
contradiction that your most diligent and persistent efforts shall prove fruitless and in
vain! We are blind readers indeed if we do not readily see that the fact of the matter is
that the "covering" doctrine is foreign to the Word of God! Strange apparel,
indeed! You will have to tear the Bible all to pieces if you teach such doctrine.
The time has come when people no longer endure sound doctrine but are
turned to fables. Many false Christs and false prophets and false forms of religion are
going forth into all the world. Some time ago a dear sister stopped to visit with us for a
few hours, and during the course of our conversation she asked a most momentous question.
She wanted to know, in my opinion, what is the greatest danger present among God's people
in this hour. I could only reply that the greatest danger I perceive today is that of
God's saints being BROUGHT INTO BONDAGE TO MEN. And I will tell you frankly that there are
a thousand and one different schemes and distortions of the Word of God continually being
concocted by conniving and power-hungry preachers to bring the saints into bondage to men.
I speak the truth when I say it is high time for the people of God to
begin to KNOW THE LORD FOR THEMSELVES. Let God's people come out from among them and begin
to seek God, and walk with God, and know God, and search the scriptures for themselves,
and GOD HIMSELF will be YOUR FATHER and you will sup with HIM and He with you. Let us ask
the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and before we realize it we will find ourselves digging
deep in the storehouse of God's treasures of wisdom and knowledge and sitting with Him at
His banqueting table. He will spread a table before us in the presence of our enemies, He
will lead us through green pastures; He will reveal to us fountains of living water
flowing FROM WITHIN; He will cause us to rest beside cool, still streams; and HE, the
Great Shepherd of the sheep will abide with us and our cup will overflow with the
unspeakable riches of His grace and the wonder of His glorious and eternal reality.
Ray Prinzing has shared the following words of wisdom and truth:
Proverbs 29:18, “Where there is no vision, the people perish (Heb. Are naked).”
Same Hebrew word is used when Aaron stripped the people of their
ear-rings and jewels, and forged a golden calf. They were naked, not because they had
given up their physical adornments of jewels, but because they were stripped of their
faith and worship of the True God, and turned to the idolatry of a golden calf.
And so it is, when the Spirit of God does not quicken to us of HIS
TRUTH to be our covering, we are left naked. For our vision, our revelation is our
covering until it be brought into reality – then reality is our covering. And if we
are GROWING IN HIM, it becomes obvious that we need a progressive revelation to cover our
increased stature, lest on some point we reveal a nakedness. It is somewhat difficult to
illustrate this, but we shall try. How often we have heard a person, preacher or
otherwise, try to answer a question upon which they had no revelation. They stretched
themselves out into a realm for which they had no covering, and simply exposed their
nakedness in doing so. An honest gaze to another direction. But if I stutter and stammer
and offer some scanty answer, it only serves to emphasize that I am naked on that point.
Nor does it help to proceed into the depths of study with the natural man, to come up with
some researched answer of the carnal mind. Only a revelation from above can clothe us,
that the shame of our nakedness do not appear.
Because of the lack of revelation, and sending their state of
nakedness, many people go looking for a covering, and when they see “a goodly
Babylonish garment,” (Joshua 7:21), they take it for their clothing. Achan, having
seen this garment, coveted it, and could not resist taking it to himself.
The temptation remains very strong to this day. Even when God has
called you onward, out of the religious systems of man, to go on with Him – and you
feel so stripped of everything, and suddenly see, in somebody else’s tent, a goodly
Babylonish garment, we are tempted to take it for our own clothing. But you cannot live on
a borrowed revelation. This confusion of doctrine, all of the strange teachings, is only a
self-evident token that we have stolen something which does not belong to us, something
which we did not receive from God. We find it a constant source of amazement the
“garments” which people take up with. They have not received it in a personal
revelation, quickening of life from the Spirit of God, but they saw it, heard it, took it
from somebody that was parading around in it, showing themselves off as a super-spiritual,
clothed with a doctrine that nobody else has. They draw attention to themselves. But
because it is “a covering,” people will envy them, and try to cover themselves
with the same vision. Later on, if you challenge them about that so-called truth, examine
it in the Light of The Word, prove it to be a product of carnal man, it adds to their
shame because with its removal they again stand naked.
Our soul, the bride to be adorned
In garments He doth choose,
Till we are fully covered o’er, and
There’s naught to shame or bruise.
Such nakedness the world has seen,
As ritual, form, and creed
Exposed the flesh – professions failed
To hide self-thought and deed.
Men seek for covering, but not
The Christ to be their Head.
In blindness reach they out to grasp
A Babylon’s robe instead.
But there are those who seek the Lord
For garments to His praise,
His righteousness, His truth, His law
To undergird their days.
Put on thy garments, O my soul,
The hour draweth near,
The naked shall not see His face
When He doth soon appear.
– end quote
A dear brother has so aptly written in an article received just a few
days ago: "Ephesians 5:8, Williams translation, 'For at one time you were darkness
itself, but now IN UNION with the Lord you are light itself. You must live like children
of light.' The word of emphasis right now surely must be upon the word '
I feel to share further from another precious brother to whom the Lord
has given great wisdom in this hour: "God is always faithful to send forth true
leaders to bring His people into new ways in God, when the time comes for His people to
enter in. And God is faithfully doing this today. That is why it is so important that the
ministry, as well as the people, 'hear what the Spirit is saying to the Churches,' lest
the ministry on the one hand assume a place of carnal authority and leadership that has no
relation to what God is doing today, and lest the people on the other hand submit to such
authority under the false notion that it is the highway to the Kingdom of God. The
ministry has amply fulfilled its purpose on earth if it succeeds in declaring Him,
speaking about Him, and leading others INTO DIRECT UNION WITH HIM. And having fulfilled
this divine objective they should be willing to just 'fade away', as it were (as Moses and
Elijah faded away on the Mount of Transfiguration), that the people of God might
‘HEAR HIM,’ and see ‘JESUS ONLY’. Moses and Elijah have an important
part to play, and the ministry that is sent forth from the throne as God's gift to the
Church has an important role to fulfill. But they are important for one purpose only, and
that is TO BRING MEN INTO CLOSER UNION WITH CHRIST, WHERE THEY CAN HEAR HIS VOICE, AND SEE
HIS FACE, AND HAVE PERSONAL AND INTIMATE COMMUNION WITH HIM WHO IS THE HEAD. As the
government of Christ increase in the hearts of His people, then the ministers of Christ
must decrease. As the heart of a true son begins to mature and develop, then the servant
(for God's true ministers are ‘servants’) must be quick and anxious to loosen
the ties of allegiance that somehow may have come into being as he sought to lead God's
sons into maturity; and encourage them to walk ALONE WITH GOD. (Alone, I say, because no
matter how many thousands there are who are walking with you and with God, your walk with
God is intended to be very individual and unique). Ministry in the Holy Place must give
way to SONSHIP in the HOLIEST OF ALL, as Faith gives way to Hope, as Hope gives way to
Love, as the Blade gives way to the Ear, as the Ear gives way to the Full Corn in the Ear,
as bondage in Egypt gives way to a walk of discipline in the Wilderness, as the Wilderness
gives way to Fruitfulness in the Land of Canaan. In other words, the ministry has
fulfilled its purpose if it has been successful in bringing the people of God into direct,
intimate communion with the Lord!
"The purpose of all ministry that proceeds from the exalted
Christ is to so minister the Truth that the sheep of God's pasture might come into direct,
unhindered personal union with the Lord. They make disciples FOR CHRIST, BUT NONE FOR
THEMSELVES. In still another analogy, God's ministers are gardeners: those who plant the
seed, or those who water the growing plant, or those who reap the harvest. They must not
meddle with the seed, or with the growing plant. GOD is the REAL HUSBANDMAN, and He it is
that giveth ‘the increase.’ ‘So then neither is he that planteth anything,
neither he that watereth; BUT GOD THAT GIVETH THE INCREASE’ (I Cor. 3:7)."
Ah, yes, we do need a "covering"! The Spirit has revealed
this over and over again in numerous ways, through types, and shadows, and forms, and
inspired utterances through all His holy prophets since the day Adam and Eve were clothed
in
God does use His people and His ministers to teach, and to minister
one to another. We are always to esteem another better than ourselves. As we walk in the
Spirit of Christ we will submit ourselves ONE TO ANOTHER, in honor preferring one another.
The wife is to honor and respect her husband and the husband to love and cherish his wife.
In the area of ministry, we are to know those who labor among us. We praise God for every
ministry HE sets in the midst of the body of Christ, They are examples to the flock, and a
source of encouragement, confirmation, and strength to all unto whom they are sent, we
support and esteem them highly, and take heed when they admonish us in the Lord, but they
are not, and never in a million years can they ever become, our "covering". Oh,
child of God, I pray that the truth of these things will grip our heart! Let every saint
of God RECOGNIZE THE LORD A-L-O-N-E AS THEIR COVERING!
Why, oh why, is it not possible for the Lord's people to see that any
"covering" except THE LIFE OF THE LAMB is naught but withering fig-leaves which
in due time fall away and fail to cover sufficiently, leaving the flesh exposed. To say
that we need MEN, or ELDERS, or ANYONE AT ALL other than the Lord Jesus Christ to
"cover" us will surely bring spiritual stagnation, or worse, spiritual death.
Nothing will avail but the ANOINTING OF LIFE which comes alone from the Holy Spirit as we
seek the Lord with all our hearts. The authority of men over men and over women is still
being fought for very, very fiercely. Men simply will not let go of wanting to RULE OVER
SOMEONE, for it is built right into the fleshly nature of the SELF. Yes, we need a
covering, but it is not a group of men, however spiritual or well-intentioned they may be.
After nearly fifty years of ministry among Spirit-filled saints I testify to you that
never, in all these years, have I witnessed a quickening flow of HIS LIFE, never have I
seen saints being truly conformed into the image of Christ, and never have I beheld sons
coming to glory IN ANY GROUP where MEN OR ELDERS RULE OVER GOD'S PEOPLE OR
BECOME A COVERING FOR THEM. They only bring horrible bondage and spiritual
stagnation to themselves.
Invariably, in the history of God's dealings, the Lord's people have
grown weary in pursuing the fullness of God for themselves, and as the vision grows dim
before their drowsy eyes they become impatient in spirit and are willing to turn their
walk with God into the hands of others whom they deem more capable than themselves to
watch for their souls. This is what happened in the early days of
God will let them have it! If you want a covering other than Christ,
God will let you have it. If you want men to rule over you, rather than learning to walk
in a personal relationship with the Lord in the Spirit, you will get it! There are many
around who would just love to RULE YOU! I can direct you to quite a number who would be
delighted to become your COVERING! "Jonestown," with all its horrible extreme of
the dominating authority of man, should be a warning example to all Christians who give
blind obedience to their leaders or who are looking to man as their spiritual authority,
instead of looking to the CHRIST WITHIN as the hope of glory. Any counsel or advice or
supposed "Word of the Lord" through man MUST BE CONFIRMED TO OUR HEARTS
before we accept it! If someone – even one you revere as a prophet – tells you
that God wants you to do this or that conceiving an area wherein you (not that
someone) have the RESPONSIBILITY for the action and its outcome, then politely listen, but
do NOT do what they say. Wait for God to confirm the order through someone else and, more
importantly, within your own heart and spirit. If there is no witness – no knowing
within yourself – forget it!
"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made
us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage, for, brethren, ye have been
called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve
one another" (Gal. 5:1,13). "These things have I written unto you concerning
them that seduce you. But the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth IN YOU,
and ye need not that any man teach you; but as the same anointing teacheth you of all
things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in
Him" (I Jn. 2:26-27). Oh, yes! The enemy loves it if he can make us abide to hear
from God for ourselves! Afraid to trust the CHRIST WITHIN! But, "My sheep HEAR MY
VOICE (not the voice of hirelings) and I know them, and they follow ME. And I give unto
them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall ANY MAN pluck them out of MY
HAND. My Father, which gave them Me, is GREATER THAN ALL; and NO MAN is able to pluck them
OUT OF MY FATHER'S HAND" (Jn. 10:27-30). I rejoice with exceeding great joy and my
soul shouts unending hallelujahs, for I have found THE COVERING OF LIFE! His name is Jesus
Christ,
THE GARMENTS OF EXPRESSION
When Christ becomes our covering, Christ as the embodiment of God is
wrought into us that we may know and experience HIM as life and as our all-in-all. The
Lord must open our eyes and quicken our understanding to know these things. We cannot
merely find a "church" pattern in the book of Acts, get a group of saints
together, set up elders and deacons, call this the "church," and imagine God
will use this contrivance to bring us into the glorious hope of sonship. First of all,
this is not the church; this is an imitation of the church.
If we ask someone how he came into being and became such a tall, dark,
and handsome fellow, he will tell us, "I was begotten by my father, born of my
mother, I have eaten a lot of nourishing food, and I have grown up to such a height."
We can manufacture a doll or a statue, but there is no way for us to manufacture a man.
The church is a REAL MAN, the BODY OF THE CHRIST; no one can make a church! It must
be something of new birth in the spirit and growth of life in Christ. I find that I must
say again and again: Brethren, keep hands off! We should not try to form or organize or
structure anything. In so many places during the past many years I have pleaded in this
way, yet not many saints realize what I mean. They say. "Well, if we do not form a
church, if we do not organize anything, what should we do?" We should do one thing:
seek Christ, eat Christ, drink Christ, think Christ, speak Christ, sleep Christ, and live
Christ! We must be swallowed up by Christ. We think we are only feeding on Him, and
enjoying Him, but actually the more we feed on Him, and abide in Him, the more we are
being swallowed up by Him! The life of a son of God cannot be formulated and organized,
but must be born of Christ in the spirit, it must be the living body of Christ grown up
with the life of Christ. Then, as a result, it will spontaneously assume a certain form,
the form of THE SON OF GOD, and HE shall be seen! You do not organize the life of the Son
of God anymore than you can organize the life of a pumpkin. The gardener knows that if he
just plants it, waters it, and weeds the soil, somehow he discovers that the pumpkin will
take on beautiful form and structure without him tampering with it in any way. Yes, the
gardener has his part to play, but the whole process is governed by THE LAW OF LIFE IN THE
SEED, and the pumpkin is formed from the nutrients it receives from where its roots dwell,
not from the gardener.
For those apprehended to be the firstfruits unto God, being conformed
to the image of Christ, no man can become their covering. If man is our covering,
we will become the EXPRESSION OF MAN. Only Christ can be our covering, for every son of
God must be only the expression of Christ Himself. I would point out here that all
clothing fulfills three objectives for the wearer. First, the clothing covers and hides
the flesh; second, it protects from the elements of sun, wind, cold, etc;
third, clothing is a person's expression. What you wear on the outside expresses
your personality and inner state of being. Many people spend a great deal of money, and
select with great care each item in their wardrobe, paying meticulous attention to such
matters as color, style, fit etc., with the one object of projecting their person in the
most favorable or flattering light. One can appear either wealthy, poor, dignified,
intellectual, athletic, beautiful, discriminating, business-like, seductive, or unimposing
merely by the choice of clothing they put on.
Ah, Christ is to be not only our covering and our protection,
but also OUR EXPRESSION! This means that if we do not have Christ as our expression, if
His attributes are not manifested out of our lives, we do not have His protection or His
covering. In some places it seems that the Lord's people are not covered by Christ, but
rather by some kind of doctrine, for the doctrine becomes their expression. In other
places the covering is a manifestation of certain gifts or manifestations – the gifts
have become the expression. In other places the covering is the ministry, and the leaders
impart their own spirit to the people, themselves becoming the expression, as the younger
ones take on even the physical mannerisms and talk, act, teach, sing, clap, and prophesy
just like their mentors! Groups of believers are either under the covering of teachings,
under the covering of gifts, or under the covering of ministers – not under the
covering of Christ! But the teachings and gifts and ministries can never cover our flesh,
or protect us, or produce the expression of CHRIST. No doctrines, no gifts, no men are
adequate to cover a single believer! Only Christ must be exalted, only Christ must be
EXPRESSED AS THE CLOTHING THAT ADORNS OUR LIVES! Little wonder the scripture exhorts,
"PUT YE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill
the lusts thereof" (Rom.
This is a wonderful truth. It is not a matter of doctrines,
organizations, New Testament Church structures, how the chairs are arranged, whether or
not you have a pulpit, meetings, gifts, elderships, methods, works, techniques, rules,
fellowships, or external observances, but it is CHRIST WROUGHT INTO MEN'S LIVES, and they
now seek only Christ, exalt Christ, and put on Christ AS THEIR EXPRESSION. God's own
precious Lamb "slain from the foundation of the world" wonderfully provides that
which is of Himself, borne out of His life, as the covering for His "many
brethren" – a Christ within who is full of divine comeliness, and a Christ
without who bears the form, likeness, and image of the Father.
Christ becomes our expression as we enter into vital union with HIM.
Through our union with Him we are able to put off the natural man and put on His
attributes. The one who preaches and teaches, but does not partake of what he gives forth;
who testifies to one thing and living another, has little or no influence when he attempts
to share the reality of Christ. None judge our relationship with God by our knowledge of
the Bible, or doctrines, or our profession and testimonies. The Christ-life must be
working out in our lives, and manifested in our daily walk in the home and before those
who see us the most.
When Jesus came to earth, it was that He might express the Father,
that He might again show forth in its true light and beauty that glory which sin had so
entirely hid from man. Man himself had been created in the image of God, that God might
lay His glory upon him, to be shown forth in him – that God might be expressed in
him. The Holy Ghost says, "Man is the image and glory of God" (I Cor. 11:7).
Jesus came to restore man to his high destiny: He laid aside the glory which He had with
the Father, and came in our weakness and humiliation, that He might teach us how to
express the Father in the earth realm. And so it will be with all the holy sons of God. If
here on earth we have given ourselves to have God's glory take possession of us, and God's
holiness and love to dwell and shine in us, then our human nature with all our faculties,
created in the likeness of God, shall have poured into and transfused through it, in a way
that passes all conception, the purity and holiness and the life, the very brightness of
the glory of God.
"I shall be satisfied when I awake with THY LIKENESS," so
the Psalmist sung of old. Nothing can satisfy the soul but God's image, because for that
it was created. Blessed are they who here long for it with an insatiable hunger; they
shall be filled. This, the very likeness of God, this will be the glory, streaming down on
them from God Himself, streaming through their whole being, streaming out from them
through the universe! "When Christ who is our life shall be manifested, we also shall
be manifested with Him in glory" (Col. 3:4). Standing between two eternities, the
eternal purpose in which we were predestined to be conformed to the image of the
first-born Son, and the eternal realization of that purpose when we shall be like Him in
His glory, we hear the voice from every side: Oh ye image bearers of God! on the way to
share the glory of God and of Christ! put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ! and be ye clothed
with ALL HE IS that HE may be the expression of your life!
In the light of such ineffable glory, can it not be clearly seen that
the "covering" teaching so revered by the Charismatic movement today (and, I
regret to say, by some "Sonship" groups as well) is indeed "a bed shorter
than that a man can stretch himself on it: and a COVERING NARROWER than that he can wrap
himself in it" (Isa. 28:20), insufficient to cover those who trust in it or to carry
them on into the fullness of God. It may be, dear child of God, that you do not like the
things I write in this article, but I am constrained by the Spirit of God to state
emphatically that I believe all such teachings to be heresy and a complete distortion of
truth. It is a lie that "you must have a group or a ministry" as your covering!
It is more than a lie, it is a monstrous blasphemy, men usurping the place that both the
scriptures and the Spirit of God have GIVEN ALONE TO CHRIST.
It is interesting to note that Joseph had a coat of many colors. The
word “colors” in the Bible record is actually a word that means
“pieces.” Each piece could easily have been of a different color too, as in a
patchwork quilt, but the real point is that several pieces were sewed together to make him
a coat. So also God imparts to us truth upon truth and experience upon experience, and
each has its own hue or color, but it all blends together into one identity in God. The
churches of
It is the will of God that we should look only to Him and know that
ALL OUR COVERINGS ARE OF HIM. I do not mean that we should not love and appreciate our
brethren, or that we should not receive from those whom the Lord sets to minister to us
along our journey, but we must never fix our confidence or hope upon men lest we be
ashamed. We must not pin our admiration upon men, who have been sustained, but upon God,
who sustained them. Neither are we admire men who have gotten the victory, but God, who
gave them the victory. We must never pay homage to men who have accomplished great works,
but God, who wrought through them. There exists a great cloud of witnesses who through
faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, closed the mouths of
lions, quenched the power of raging fire, escaped the devourings of the sword, out of
weakness were made strong, waxed mighty and resistless in battle, routing alien hosts;
women received their dead raised to life again, others suffered the trial of mocking and
scourging, and even chains of imprisonment; they were stoned, were sawn asunder, were
tempted, were slain with the sword: they went about wrapped in the skins of sheep and
goats, utterly destitute, oppressed, cruelly treated, men of whom the world was not
worthy. But for all the glory of their mighty works and wonderful victory we are
instructed to build neither upon their personal faith nor upon themselves. All the
teaching of scripture instructs us to SEEK AFTER THE GOD WHO HELPED AND SUSTAINED THEM and
who is faithful to all who put their trust in HIM. Who among us can refrain from rejoicing
that some have done mighty things and have gained the victory? But they would not have
gained it had they been left to their own resources! Every man's sufficiency IS OF THE
LORD. It is HE who is our strength, our covering, our glory, our protection, and our
exceeding great reward. Let us not thereof rejoice in any MAN who has found favor with
God, but in God, WHO HAS FAVORED HIM.
THE GARMENTS OF PROTECTION
Again, let us go back to the Garden we have been studying, and a
further beautiful lesson will come to our souls. When the Lord God thrust our erring
parents forth from the Garden they had marred, although the earthly punishment for their
sin still had to be endured, of His loving mercy He clad Adam and Eve in garments of His
own selection which should be to them a shield from the evil and hostile world they now
had to enter. The garden fences of
Once the impending trouble and judgment breaks in terrifying fury upon
the nations, those held captive by men, those whose trust is in men who rule over them,
those who are content to have their lives ordered by others, failing to enter into vital
union with the Lord for themselves; those who are comfortable in their established
patterns of church life and ritual, and those who fill the pews of the beautiful buildings
of the so-called churches – these will be the first to fall before the overflowing
scourge. Only those who do not bear any outward show but have the heavenly beauty and
divine power of Christ upon them will endure to the end and come through the valley
safely, to the amazement not only of the ungodly, but the religious as well. Clothed upon
with the Spirit and Power of Christ they shall be untouched by the evil around them.
God's word is sure, His promise is clear, and we shall take courage
and believe what He has spoken. Yes, HE is our covering, our expression, AND OUR
PROTECTION. "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under
the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress:
my God; in Him will I trust. Surely He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler,
and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under
His wings shalt thou trust: His truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not
be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the
pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A
thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come
nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.
BECAUSE THOU HAST MADE THE LORD, WHICH IS MY REFUGE, EVEN THE MOST HIGH, THY
HABITATION" (Ps. 91:1-9). Nothing can damage or overcome the Sons of the Most High
covered with such a Christ!
The Spirit bids me share a vision given to a brother on the East Coast
of the
"After spending a period of time in prayer in the Spirit, before
daylight, I dropped off to sleep between
"As the cloud came toward me, approaching with the speed of a
tornado, I became aware of something other than the increasing roar of noise as it
approached. As it rapidly spread over the land, I saw tiny lights, like dancing candle
flames appearing to be folded into the cloud as it sped along. The lights seemed more
numerous than the darkness could contain, but the cloud was not lightened by these
millions of little lights it carried with it.
"I ran out to watch its progress, for I was drawn to it by a
terrible fascination. As the darkness swept past me, suddenly shimmering waves of
"Light" came before me, seeming to separate me from the cloud – then it
cleared and I could see clearly. Instantly came the conscious thought: 'This is a vision
from the Lord: I must watch closely!' As the shimmering waves of "Light"
cleared, I saw the blackness sweeping past with jet-pane velocity, yet I was neither
afraid of its noise or appearance. Suddenly, the lights changed and took form. They became
numbers and letters of the alphabet. They did not count or spell anything, but literally
millions of them streamed by in the cloud so rapidly that I could only distinguish what
they were.
"Then the sounds of explosions, rending of metal, whining of
engines out of control ended in a great cloud of white-looking smoke that billowed into
the air. I saw one very fat-bodied plane falling crazily to the earth, and when the smoke
cleared away, the earth was littered with crumpled aircraft and debris of all sorts. I
looked on in agony, sickened by the destruction, yet in a way, I was strangely unmoved.
Then I noticed the insignia on the planes was that of our beloved nation!
"Again the shimmering waves of light cut off the sight of the
destruction, and I woke with a start. As I pondered these things greatly, the Word of the
Lord came to me saying, 'My child, the dark cloud you beheld is the wrath of God in
judgment. The lights, as numbers and letters it bore along with its passing, are
peoples of innumerable number, and many languages which it shall sweep before
it, and carry to destruction. The speed with which it came and went upon a day of sunlight
and rest is to show you how unexpected and rapid this judgment shall be. The shimmering
Light which came between you and the cloud of darkness is THE GLORY OF MY PRESENCE! The
lack of fear you had for yourself is to show you the condition of those WHO HAVE DWELT IN
THE SECRET PLACE OF THE MOST HIGH! The planes you saw are those of
"'My son, think no longer upon these things, but arise, and write
that you forget not! Satan would remove these things from you with doubtful disputations.
Rise and write! For you must warn My people that those filled with the confidence of the
flesh, and assurance of well-being shall suffer in the flesh, even as they have not sought
to mortify the deeds of the flesh with the power of My Spirit! Verily I say unto you, no
flesh shall glory in My sight! Thus saith the Lord: The evil day shall come upon many
unawares, BUT THE OBEDIENT CHILDREN OF THE MOST HIGH SHALL ABIDE UNDER THE SHADOW OF THE
ALMIGHTY."
It would be presumptuous to add anything to this vision, or seek to
explain the wrath it foretells, so soon to be accomplished upon the world and our own
beloved land. Nationally we have forsaken the God in whose hand is our breath to live
instead after the baseness of the god of this age. In these troublous times let us lay
aside every weight and the sin that doth so easily beset us, and let us meditate deeply
upon these significant and portentous words of the vision: MY CHILD, THE LACK OF FEAR YOU
HAD FOR YOURSELF IS TO SHOW YOU THE CONDITION OF THOSE WHO HAVE DWELT IN THE SECRET PLACE
OF THE MOST HIGH. THE OBEDIENT CHILDREN OF THE MOST HIGH SHALL ABIDE UNDER THE SHADOW OF
THE ALMIGHTY.
There has been a cleft made in the Rock, there is a secret place in
the bosom of our Saviour, for there was a rent made in His side making possible the
engrafting of us all. The Spirit would reveal in the depths of our consciousness at what
untold cost this place was provided for us in the cleft of the Rock of ages. What
suffering and ignominy were His, as through the veil, that is to say His flesh, He opened
to us a new and living way into the Holiest of all; into those eternal abiding places in
the cleft of the Rock. When He cried: "It is finished!" was the Rock rent; then
were those hiding-places opened up, in which we are invited to hide away from the enemy.
People who see us do not know that we are hiding away in the cleft of the Rock. They only
see a heavenly, supernatural calm, which abides through every storm of life; but God knows
we are hiding away in the Rock. As we abide in Christ, in union with Him, truly ONE WITH
HIM, we are as much hidden away as God can hide us. Those about us see our bodies walking
around on earth; but they do not know that we, who live in these frail tents, are so
hidden away that no man or devil can find or touch us!
If we take this place and there abide, at every step we shall prove
that Yahweh is a wall of fire around us that He is the glory within. It is here that the
sons of God find security from every foe and every storm. Though the storms are fierce,
they cannot dismay those sons who abide IN HIM. Though the wind blows and the hurricane
sweeps down upon their hiding place, they cannot come near them. In this secret place they
do not fear though a host encamps against them, their hearts are confident. Though the
earth do change, no fear comes nigh them. The mountains may be shaken into the depths of
the seas, "howbeit the firm foundation of God standeth, having this seal, the Lord
knoweth them that are His!" Though the waters of the sea roar and are troubled, their
hearts are fixed, trusting in God; though the mountains tremble with the swelling thereof,
they have set the Lord always before them, because He is at their right hand, they shall
not be moved. Oh precious cleft, Oh wondrous secret place! which can only be found when
new vision is given by the Holy Spirit! Oh blessed hiding-place where no one but God is
with us, and no eye but His beholds us if we perfectly abide there! What strength and
power, what refreshing and holy swiftness are to those who ever abide in the cleft of the
Rock which our elder Brother has opened up for us through the veil!
"He shall cover us with His feathers." This word
"feathers" in the Hebrew is ebrah and means - a wing, from its
strength. He shall give us the covering of HIS STRENGTH, and under His wings we will
trust. Now here we have a different word for "wings" in the Hebrew, it is kanaph
meaning – a wing, as covering and protecting. Hidden in the Most High, in
the secret place, we have both STRENGTH and complete PROTECTION. Glory!
Desperate days are upon the world and, by the time this Study is read,
there will be ever increasing sorrow. There is only one place of true safety. It is not
among the blinding traditions of
Chapter 27
THE GARMENTS OF
(continued)
"And they were both naked, the man and his wife. and the eyes of
them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves
together, and made themselves aprons. And, unto Adam and his wife did the Lord God make
COATS OF SKINS, AND CLOTHED THEM" (Gen. 2:25; 3:6-10,21).
"Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before
the angel. And he answered saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he
said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will CLOTHE THEE WITH
A CHANGE OF RAIMENT. So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and CLOTHED HIM WITH
GARMENTS" (Zech. 3:3-5).
If you in spirit will stand "as in the beginning" with your
all-wise heavenly Father, you will behold the unfolding of an infinite purpose. You will
see the unveiling of God's divine intention in
THE TWO TABERNACLES
In the vast storehouse of truth embraced by the holy scriptures no
part nor phase thereof is in any way more outstanding or clear than the truth that man was
designed by his Creator to possess a body. Man is not designed to have his spirit or soul
flit about through eternity without a body. The apostle Paul echoes the sense of revulsion
found in the heart of every man at the thought of being found "naked" or
disembodied upon physical death. Speaking of the earthly residence of the tabernacle of
flesh, he writes, "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were
dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the
heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which
is from heaven: if so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are
in this tabernacle do groan, not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that
mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now He that hath wrought us FOR THIS SELFSAME
THING is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit" (II Cor. 5:1-5).
The desire of the man who is begotten of God, whose spirit is a living
body born from above, is that he should be clothed with a body at all times, and the
apostle assures us that "He that hath wrought us for this very thing IS
GOD." The awful doctrine of one's "soul" or "spirit," with its
disembodiment personality spending eternity "naked" is unbearable. The cry of
the spirit is: "Not that we should be UNCLOTHED, but CLOTHED UPON!" Man was
designed by God to possess a body for all eternity – and he shall. The resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead assures this.
In the verses we have quoted Paul speaks of the human body as a
"tabernacle" or "tent" or "clothing" to be discarded and
laid aside. In I Cor.
In a manner peculiar to God all truth is clothed in mystery. The
greater and more important the truth the greater the mystery it unfolds. Even in the
natural realm the human body is undoubtedly among the most profound mysteries of the
universe. Its hidden secrets are so great that I know not how any doctor or scientist
could ponder its composition and intricate complexities and physiological marvels and yet
fail to see the master mind of an omniscient Creator. But in the Scripture above we see
that the Spirit of the Creator declares that not only is there this PHYSICAL BODY of the
earth realm, but there is also the SPRITUAL BODY of the heavenly realm.
Furthermore, He depicts both the physical and spiritual bodies not only as garments with
which we are clothed, but as TABERNACLES in which we dwell – and in which He dwells.
As we meditate upon the wonderful truth of these TWO BODIES, these TWO
GARMENTS, these TWO TABERNACLES, the natural and the spiritual, the earthly and the
heavenly, I would draw your attention to the blessed significance of the TWO TABERNACLES
spoken of in the book of Hebrews. "Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances
of divine service, and a worldly (earthly) sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle made; the
first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the showbread; which is called the
sanctuary. And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of All.
Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first
tabernacle (the
The truth is conveyed to us in these verses is briefly summed up as
follows: (1) there were TWO TABERNACLES in the wilderness: the Holy Place and the Holiest
of All (2) the veil between these two tabernacles signified that the way into the second,
the Holiest of All, was not yet manifest, while the first tabernacle was still
standing (3) Christ is a priest of good things to come by a GREATER AND MORE PERFECT
TABERNACLE, not of the physical creation (4) this greater tabernacle is HEAVEN ITSELF, or
that which is spiritual and heavenly as contrasted with that which is physical and
earthly.
The one thing the writer wishes to direct our attention to is the
difference and the relation between the two compartments into which the tabernacle was
divided, and the meaning of the veil that separated them. The inner sanctuary was called
the Holiest of All, or, as it is in Hebrew, the Holiness of Holiness. It was the highest
embodiment there could be of holiness; it was the place where God Most Holy dwelt. His
holy presence and power and life filled it. No man might enter there on pain of death but
the high priest, and even he only once a year. In the
Christ came down in human form, took upon Him the form of sinful
flesh, took upon Him humanity, God dwelling Himself within the limitation of a human body,
THIS IS THE REALM OF THE FIRST TABERNACLE, the
When our Lord Jesus Christ died, Roman soldiers cast lots for His
vesture and one of them took away the seamless robe in which He had walked and taught and
healed. His naked, mortal body was then wrapped in linen cloths, which the Bible speaks of
as grave clothes, and then wrapped in cloth He was laid away in the tomb. But
wonder of wonders, when upon the glorious resurrection morning Peter and John went into
the tomb, they found not the body of the Lord Jesus, but the grave clothes, His only
covering, were found lying in the exact position He had lain while in the state of death,
just as though our Lord had vanished out of them, for that is exactly what He did. Special
mention is made by John that the grave clothes lay exactly as though the Christ were still
in them, yet He had disappeared out of them. The grave clothes represent the body of
death, the first tabernacle, the earthly house – and this one fact alone speaks the
truth more eloquently than the blast of a trumpet. Jesus laid aside, slipped out of, and
forever passed beyond the mortal realm into His building of God, the house not made
with hands, eternal and incorruptible and immortal in the realm of the Spirit – the
spiritual body.
In order to grasp fully what the Spirit would now convey to our
hearts, we must realize that the Holiest of All does not pertain to anything in this earth
realm. It is, rather, clearly identified as the HEAVENLY REALM, for the writer to the
Hebrews said of it: ". we have a great high priest that is passed INTO THE HEAVENS
(Holiest of All)" (Heb.
Should you find difficulty in perceiving this necessary point of
truth, may I direct your attention to a most enlightening statement by the apostle Paul in
I Cor. 15:39-44: "All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of
flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. There are
also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the
celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another, there is a natural body,
and there is a spiritual body. The mystery revealed here is that ALL FLESH IS NOT
THE SAME FLESH, there are different kinds of flesh, there is a flesh that is of the earth
(terrestrial bodies) and there is a flesh that is of heaven (celestial bodies). There is a
BODY that belongs to the soul (natural – Gr.: "soul body") and there is a
BODY that belongs to the spirit (spiritual body). Ah , dear ones, all flesh is not the
same flesh! And there are bodies that are not earthly or physical! Poor limited
mortals, we are inclined to imagine that only physical beings have bodies! Nonsense, my
brother! "There are BODIES CELESTIAL."
A clear distinction is drawn for us by the Holy Spirit between the two
types of flesh. Of that flesh which is born of the earth, Paul had this to say, "For
he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption: but he that soweth to the
Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting" (Gal. 6:8). It was also of this
flesh that he wrote when he penned these words: "If ye live after the flesh ye shall
die" (Rom.
As we praise this thought of the two kinds of flesh I should mention
my deep indebtedness to my friend and sister in Christ, Connie Asbill, for the role she
played in sharing these powerful concepts with me. A portion of what I shall share along
this line is gleaned from her writings and personal correspondence with her over the
years.
THE FLESH OF THE SON OF GOD
Our little minds are far too limited to grasp heavenly realities. We
are limited in our thinking to earthly interpretations and understanding. We can only
conceive of the "flesh" of the animal kingdom, and of fish and fowl and creeping
things of earth. But it should not seem strange to discover that all flesh is not the same
flesh and that there are bodies terrestrial AND bodies celestial. The flesh
of the Son of God is not that flesh upon the bones of Jesus as He walked the earth for
thirty-three and a half years. It is not that flesh born of Mary, which suffered hunger,
weariness, weakness, and death. That human flesh was just that: HUMAN flesh. Human flesh
is DEAD FLESH, for the Holy Spirit calls our human bodies "mortal (dying)
bodies." That which is dying can only produce that which is dying. Adamic flesh is
doomed from the moment it is conceived in the womb, and in that flesh can be found no hope
whatever of eternal life. The law of creation is that everything produces "after its
kind" (Gen. 1:11-12, 21-24). It can never be, then, that Jesus was offering us that
Adamic flesh in which He was clothed, for that flesh is corruptible, dying from the day of
its birth. Only that which is ALIVE can produce life, and Jesus said of Himself, "I
am the LIVING BREAD which CAME DOWN FROM HEAVEN," and again, "He that eateth MY
FLESH, shall live." The flesh of which Jesus spoke is an incorruptible flesh, yea, a
celestial flesh, and our Lord promises that those who come unto Him and eat of THIS FLESH
will have ETERNAL LIFE.
My sincere prayer to God is that He may give my readers eyes to see
and hearts to understand this simple but sublime truth: ALL FLESH IS NOT THE SAME FLESH!
ALL BODIES ARE NOT TERRESTRIAL BODIES! There is a flesh that is corruptible and there is a
flesh that is incorruptible. There is a flesh that is a shame and there is a flesh that is
a glory. There is a flesh which if a man eats of it, brings death. But blessed be the name
of the Lord! there is a flesh that, if a man eats thereof, brings ETERNAL LIFE. "If
you live after the flesh (earthly), ye shall die" (Rom.
When Jesus spoke of this table He had just performed the miracle
whereby He fed five thousand men with nothing more than five barley loaves and two small
fishes. Jesus departed and the day following He and His disciples were pursued by the
multitude which sought them on the other side of the sea of Galilee. One would think that
Jesus would be honored by their devotion, but without mincing words He charged them,
"Ye seek Me, BECAUSE YE DID EAT OF THE LOAVES AND WERE FILLED." What He was
saying was, "You have no interest in the spiritual things pertaining to the
In all the world there is no greater tragedy than that which overtake
the man who follows Christ primarily for TEMPORAL BLESSINGS – healing, health,
prosperity, houses, lands, success, solution to problems, meeting of needs, etc., etc. As
I observe the Christians today in their prayers, preaching and meetings I am more and more
convinced that the vast majority of them are not seeking the Lord for that which HE IS,
but for that which He can give to them. Ah, yes, we praise God for His great love and
faithfulness, how bountiful His grace in supplying our daily needs, in healing our bodies,
in blessing us in the hundreds of mundane things which daily touch our lives in this
present earth-realm, but do you not see, beloved, that ALL THIS IS MEAT THAT PERISHES,
though it be given from the hand of God? All that is lavished upon this Adamic flesh is
TEMPORAL BLESSING at best, and wonderful as it is, it is entirely restricted to the plane
of the physical, material, and mortal, so that when a man dies ALL THESE BLESSINGS ARE
PART OF THE THINGS HE LEAVES BEHIND! Pause – and think about that!
How great is the glory contained in these words of our Lord Jesus
Christ: "He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, dwelleth in Me, and I in
him. As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth
Me, even he shall live by Me" (Jn.
Bear with me as I repeat again this great and wonderful truth: All
flesh is not the same flesh, and all bodies are not terrestrial bodies. There is a flesh
with which we are familiar. There is flesh about which the natural man knows nothing at
all. There are bodies which are earthly, physical, visible and tangible. And there are
bodies which are heavenly, spiritual, invisible, and imperceptible. The flesh with which
we are acquainted is OUR FLESH. That which yet remains a mystery is HIS FLESH. The natural
mind is very dark and without understanding. Only the Holy Spirit can awaken it. Only the
Holy Spirit can give us eyes to see that Jesus was not offering us the flesh of His
earthly tabernacle, NEITHER WAS HE OFFERING US SOMETHING WITHOUT SUBSTANCE. When Jesus
said, "Eat My flesh," He was speaking of a flesh invisible to the human eye but
a flesh that was and is, nonetheless, very real. Not corruptible flesh, but incorruptible.
Not decaying flesh, but living flesh. Not flesh that would splatter when struck by a
truck, not flesh that lives off of steak and potatoes, not flesh that uses Scope and Right
Guard and Old Spice to keep it smelling good, not temporal flesh – eternal flesh!
ONLY ETERNAL FLESH CAN PRODUCE ETERNAL LIFE!
The eating of divine flesh (the celestial body) of Christ produces
LIFE. And what is this heavenly flesh, this celestial body? We know how the Word (logos),
who had from eternity existed in the Father realm, entered upon a new stage of existence
when He was lowered into the earth realm and became flesh, the Son of man. After passing
through His earth experience, when He ascended to heaven, He was still the same only
begotten Son of God who had been witnessed to by the Father throughout His earth life
– and yet not altogether the same. For He was now also, as Son of man, the
first-begotten from the dead, CLOTHED WITH THAT GLORIFIED HUMANITY which He had perfected
and sanctified for Himself, as the last Adam. And now, as we receive into our lives the
Spirit of the firstborn Son we receive the Spirit of the LAST MAN ADAM, the SECOND MAN
FROM HEAVEN, the GLORIFIED JESUS, yes, the Spirit of the risen and exalted Christ, the
bearer and communicator to us, not merely of the life of God as such, but of that divine
life as it has been interwoven into the perfect manhood of the person of Jesus Christ.
Oh! the mystery of it. When the Spirit of the Son comes down not only
as the Holy Spirit of the Father, but as the Spirit of the perfected and glorified God-man
– most really the Spirit of God, and yet as truly the Spirit of THE LAST MAN ADAM. In
and through this exalted Son we see and receive not only the kind of spirit man was
intended to have, but the KIND OF FLESH, as well. Now, blessed be God! Jesus has been
glorified; we can now eat of His HEAVENLY FLESH, His CELESTIAL BODY by which HIS GLORIFIED
LIFE IS COMMUNICATED TO US.
Speaking of the bread and wine, Paul stated, "The cup of blessing
which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break,
is it not the communion of the BODY OF CHRIST?... are not they which eat of the sacrifices
partakers of the altar?" (I Cor. 10:16,18). We are what we eat! If, like the fool of
Eccl. 4:5 we are "folding our hands together and eating our own flesh," that is,
living after the desires and claims of the Adamic flesh, we are, then mortal and
corruptible. If, on the other hand, we are eating HIS FLESH, which is resurrected and
glorified flesh, and drinking HIS BLOOD, the new wine of the Spirit of God, we become
immortal and incorruptible, for he who eats the sacrifices of the altar becomes a partaker
of the altar. He, the living Word, says, "I am the bread which came down from
heaven." Him therefore we receive, and in so receiving become "bone of His bone
and FLESH OF HIS FLESH" (Eph.
Ah, beloved, for two thousand years God's people have been eating the
human flesh of Jesus Christ – knowing Him after the commandments of men, knowing Him
as doctrine, knowing Him in rituals and forms, in sacraments and external observances,
seeing Him as the historical Jesus, traveling to Israel to "walk where He
walked," etc. But, oh! how our hearts pant and hunger and thirst after His glorious
and eternal reality, that we may at last know Him AS HE IS, partaking of Him AS HE IS, and
experiencing Him in all His divine fullness. And it is high time that all who are
apprehended of God to follow Him in sonship should discover that the "shadows"
of the bread and wine of the communion service are slipping away AS THE REALITY COMES IN
UPON US!
EXCEPT A GRAIN OF WHEAT DIE
The life which Jesus gives is Himself, and the life, which He is, is
imperishable. Those who partake of it cannot perish, for they have passed from the kingdom
of death to the kingdom of life. "And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall
NEVER PERISH" (Jn.
The flesh which we inherited from Adam (who was of the earth, earthy)
is counted by God to be nothing more than a seed. "But some man will say, How are the
dead raised up? and with what body do they come? Thou fool, that which thou sowest
is not quickened, except it die: and that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body
that shall be, but bare grain (seed), it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain:
but God giveth it a body as it hath pleased Him, and to every seed his own body"
(I Cor.
Paul had a word for all who raise such questions: "Thou
FOOL!" The Phillips translation says, "Now that is a silly question!" The
Wuest translation says, "Stupid one!" The Amplified Bible reads, "You
foolish man!" And another version renders it, "You unreasonable person!"
Why are these questions foolish, stupid, silly, and unreasonable? Because, the apostle
explains, appealing to nature, "In your own experience you know that a seed does not
germinate without itself "dying." When you sow a seed you do not sow the
"body" that will eventually be produced, but bare grain, of wheat, for example,
or one of the other seeds. God gives the seed a "body" according to His laws
– a different “body” to each kind of “seed” (Phillips
translation). Paul tells us plainly that the "body" of the harvest is not the
same "body" that was planted, and calls the man a fool for even questioning
whether the corn of the harvest is the same grains of corn that were planted. Let the
farmer answer this!
When we really know life, when we understand our environment and the
dynamics of the biological forces within it, we will surely have a clearer understanding
of the laws and processes of the higher spiritual realm of the
And of the heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, the heavenly is not
earthly, is it? And there is nothing heavenly about that body whose foul breath you
sweetened this morning by brushing its teeth, is there? There is nothing heavenly about
the earthly body, and there is nothing earthly about the heavenly body. "There is a
natural body, and there is a spiritual body" (I Cor.
And Paul further tells us, "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. 15:48-49) As Adam has produced for us an Adamic body in his image, so Christ is
producing for us a glorious CHRIST BODY IN HIS IMAGE. Can anything be plainer? So here is
an image of the earthly, and an image of the heavenly; these are TWO IMAGES, TWO BODIES,
TWO NATURES, earthly and heavenly, terrestrial and celestial. So well the apostle might
say, "Thou fool!" for an heavenly image is not an earthly, a spiritual body is
not a natural, nor an heavenly body an earthly. So, thou fool, THAT WHICH THOU SOWEST,
THOU SOWEST NOT THAT BODY THAT SHALL BE!
Can we not see by this that the spiritual body IS NOT THE NATURAL BODY
RECONSTRUCTED at all, but a brand new, totally different body, the PRODUCT OF THE CHRIST
LIFE CONTAINED WITHIN YOUR NATURAL BODY, THE SEED? Surely, if no other instruction were
given in the Bible but these few verses, we would have a sound foundation upon which to
fasten our firm understanding that the natural body does not in any way become the
spiritual body, but the spiritual body is the product of the indwelling life of the
resurrected, glorified Son of God! If we would heed the voice of inspiration and
revelation as it speaks through these words of the apostle, we would at once see and
acknowledge that the embryo of our spiritual body ALREADY EXISTS AS A PRESENT
REALITY WITHIN OUR REGENERATED SPIRIT! Hallelujah! It is "a life within a life, a MAN
WITHIN A MAN, and a body within a body." That MAN WITHIN A MAN, therefore, is not as
we have in the past supposed, some ethereal spirit, some nebulous, vague, airy,
nothingness but IS, rather, SUBSTANCE, the very resurrected and glorified CHRIST!
There are certain times and seasons when God brings to life truths
that have been allowed to lie in grave clothes for ages and dispensations. As a seed lies
dormant in the winter months and bursts into life in the warmth and rain of spring, so
also has the truth of God been allowed to lie in death throughout the wintry night of our
walk in the religious systems of Babylon now at last to burst into a fruitful harvest in
the spring of God's purpose to bring sons to glory. There came a wonderful day when Christ
came into our lives. "What a wonderful change in my life has been wrought, Since
Jesus came into my heart," we sweetly sing. But did you ever wait in holy reverence
for the Spirit to reveal the eternal truth of those words to your deepest heart? Oh yes,
we received Him – as a saviour, as a thought, as an idea or an ideal, as a truth, as
a presence, as an ethereal kind of spirit, something vague and intangible. The Spirit of
the Lord is quickening, however, that there is SUBSTANCE to that MAN within us. When the
incorruptible life of Christ was conceived within us, we must realize that He was
conceived within as the EMBRYO of a SPIRIT-BODY, Not just a spirit, but a SPIRIT-BODY!
When Paul speaks, then, of being strengthened with might in the INNER
MAN, he is speaking of SUBSTANCE within us. When Peter speaks of the HIDDEN MAN of the
heart, he is speaking of GLORIFIED FLESH that has been born into the believer but is
hidden beneath the veil of Adamic flesh. As we feed that man within with the Spirit and
the living Word of God, this infant spirit-man begins to grow and when he is fully formed,
he will burst forth from the womb of Adamic flesh and stand as a mature NEW CREATION MAN!
God has so beautifully provided a parable of this blessed truth in the
world of nature about us. The lowly caterpillar which crawls along the ground, trod upon
by the foot of man, is destined to flit on starry wings in a heavenly atmosphere no longer
hampered by earth-bound things but transformed as though by God's Spirit from a creature
of dust to one which has put on a somewhat heavenly tabernacle. There is planted within
the very being of that worm a call to a higher life-form, and, driven by that hidden
nature within (which exists as a SUBSTANCE), at the appointed time he begins to spin
around himself a cocoon. Before the caterpillar ever crawled upon the earth the potential
to become a butterfly lay within his being from the very moment of fertilization of the
egg. When the larva had begun to form in the egg, certain little groups of cells,
belonging NOT TO THE LARVA BUT TO THE EVENTUAL BUTTERFLY, had also formed, and these
remained dormant, safely stored within the body of the caterpillar. At the appointed time
these cells awaken to life and begin to grow and multiply. Their presence becomes
dramatically evident during the six short minutes when the last larval skin is shed, and
the cocoon is spun. Hanging there in his cocoon, the worm bides his time and acts out a
living prophecy of the words of Job who said, "If a man die, will he live again? ALL
THE DAYS OF MY APPOINTED TIME WILL I WAIT UNTIL MY CHANGE COMES!" (Job 14:4). One
observing merely from the outside would never imagine the awesome work being performed
within that little cocoon. On the surface, there is nothing to see, for the cocoon serves
as a veil, a womb, to conceal the marvelous processes which change a caterpillar into a
butterfly. As the butterfly cells grow, they completely CONSUME the form of the
caterpillar, and when the process is complete the hour comes when the cocoon begins to
yield to the pressure of the NEW BEING within and is burst asunder as the butterfly
emerges. There is now an object of surpassing beauty which seems in no way related to the
hairy worm of days before. In the process the caterpillar ceases to exist, the cocoon is
discarded, laid aside, and THE NEW CREATION IS MANIFESTED TO THE WORLD!
Oh! my brother, my sister, may the Spirit of God quicken the truth of
these things to your heart! As I have looked to the Lord about these precious truths, it
has become increasingly clear to my spirit that Jesus did not receive the glorified body
when he arose from the tomb – no more than the butterfly became a butterfly when it
broke from the cocoon. The worm becomes a butterfly BEFORE it emerges from the cocoon. The
thing the Spirit would teach us in this, then, is that a butterfly does not become a
butterfly BECAUSE it escapes the cocoon. It, rather, escapes the cocoon BECAUSE IT HAS
BECOME A BUTTERFLY! Even so, Jesus did not possess a glorified body BECAUSE He arose from
the grave. He, instead, burst forth from the grave BECAUSE HE ALREADY POSSESSED A
GLORIFIED BODY! What a difference! Because He was indwelt by the incorruptible life of His
Father, that life being formed fully within Him. He could announce to His disciples before
His death: "The third day I shall rise again." And indwelt by this resurrected,
glorified Christ Paul could confidently declare: "For we know that if our earthly
house of this tabernacle (cocoon of flesh) were dissolved, we have a building of God, an
house not made with hands, ETERNAL IN THE HEAVENS" (II Cor. 5:1).
God would have all His holy sons to know of a certainty the
incomprehensible treasure which lies within them – a house, a tabernacle, a clothing
from heaven is within them – and we have the confidence that even this outward body
of clay shall be exchanged for that heavenly body, thus fulfilling the glorious words of
victory: "For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on
immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal
shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written,
Death is swallowed up in victory! O death, where is thy sting! O grave, where is thy
victory?" (I Cor. 15:53-55). I do not hesitate to boldly proclaim to you, beloved,
that we are even now receiving our spirit-body within our flesh-body, and as we continue
to PUT ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST there is an increase of the celestial body within. Indeed,
we are PUTTING ON OUR HOUSE WHICH IS FROM HEAVEN! Christ Himself is that house and He is
our eternal covering.
Ah, as we allow this old Adam-nature, this outer-man-body of
corruption and wickedness to be put to death, to die and get out of sight, then the
inner-man body of the spirit is built up in his divine life and substance. The blood
of Christ (His Spirit-life) and the flesh of Christ (His celestial body) are first
communicated to us through the implantation of the "incorruptible seed," which
is THE WORD OF GOD; for seed, whether corruptible or incorruptible, is the very essence
and substance of the blood and body. When we are babes it comes as "milk"; until
we grow up in Christ it becomes "strong meat," and "flesh and blood,"
daily increasing our strength and growth and substance, as we can bear it.
Yes, our earthly house is this corruptible, mortal tabernacle, the
body of flesh in which we now dwell. But within, in the inner realm of our spirit, even
now as I pen these words, there is being constructed a BUILDING OF GOD, a house not made
with hands, a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not of this creation, eternal in the
heavens. Not a mansion in the sky, not a white nightgown in which to flit about over
golden streets strumming a harp, as the preachers are always foolishly telling us, but a
new body, a new tabernacle, a new garment, a new nature, a body of light and glory and
power, a body of CELESTIAL FLESH, a body of incorruption, a garment of immortality! Then
Paul states that, when this body of life has been fully put on, WE WILL NOT BE FOUND NAKED
even though this present old bag of bones be laid aside!
Paul Mueller has written, “Our Lord promised that He would clothe
His chosen ones. He spoke of the grass of the field, and then said, “shall He not
much more clothe you?” Only God can clothe us with the proper garments of the life of
the
I never cease to be amazed at how much effort people put in trying to
"immortalize" this earth body, the first tabernacle, the first man Adam. But the
Holy Spirit witnesses, "There is a natural body AND there is a spiritual body."
Most saints don't know the difference between these two bodies! So many of God's precious
people imagine that the natural body shall some how become the spiritual body. Is
that which is spiritual, natural? Is that which is natural, spiritual? Is that which is
earthly, heavenly? Is that which is heavenly, earthly? Is that which is terrestrial,
celestial? Is that which is celestial, terrestrial? Is that which is corruptible, also
incorruptible? Is that which is incorruptible, corruptible? Ah, my friend, there are TWO
BODIES, TWO TABERNACLES, TWO GARMENTS. The one must decrease, the other must increase. The
one must be laid aside, the other must be "put on."
I continually meet up with brethren who believe that their earth body
is the heavenly body, that their natural body is the spiritual body, that their
terrestrial is the celestial body, and that therefore they shall live forever in that hunk
of flesh they are carrying around! Nonsense, my brother! I must be very honest and quite
frank with you, beloved. I have not one whit of a desire to live forever IN THIS BODY OF
HUMILIATION. There is no more frightening thought than the idea that I might live forever
in this body of limitation! The very idea of such limitation, the thought that I might
have to bathe, brush my teeth, chew breath mints, and use Right Guard throughout eternity;
the suggestion that I may retain this same form, with all its uncomeliness, that I shall
continue to be AS I AM unendingly, falls as far short of what I comprehend as THE GREATER
AND MORE PERFECT TABERNACLE, OUR HOUSE WHICH IS FROM HEAVEN, A BUILDING OF GOD, NOT MADE
WITH HANDS (by the will of the flesh), ETERNAL IN THE HEAVENS as does hell fall short of
heaven!
It would be amiss to conclude this article without quoting II Cor.
5:1-5 from Moffatt's beautiful translation. "I know that if this earthly tent of mine
is taken down, I get a home from God, made by no human hands, eternal in the heavens. It
makes me sigh, indeed, this yearning to be under cover of my heavenly habitation, since I
am sure that once so covered I shall not be naked at the hour of death. I do sigh within
this tent of mine heavy anxiety – not that I want to be stripped, no, but to be under
cover of the other, to have my mortal element absorbed by life. I am
prepared for this change by God, who has given me the Spirit as its pledge and
installment."
There is a very real sense in which the withering fig-leaves of Adam's
own making represent this vile body of death and humiliation, while the enduring covering
of the life of God's precious Lamb bespeaks the eternal garment of THE CELESTIAL BODY OF
THE CHRIST.
We shall pursue further this vital subject of the two garments, the
two bodies, in next month's article, Lord willing.
Chapter 28
THE GARMENTS OF
(continued)
“And they were both
naked, the man and his wife. and the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that
they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. And, unto
Adam and his wife did the Lord God make COATS OF SKINS, AND CLOTHED THEM" (Gen. 2:25;
3:6-10,21).
"Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before
the angel. And he answered saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he
said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will CLOTHE THEE WITH
A CHANGE OF RAIMENT. So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and CLOTHED HIM WITH
GARMENTS" (Zech. 3:3-5).
Throughout the Word of God the contrast of God's SECONDS against the
realm of God's FIRSTS is most beautiful, inspiring and enlightening. We find that these
SECONDS are always higher, better, and far more glorious than the FIRSTS. "Then said
He, Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that He may establish
the second" (Heb. 10:9). The FIRSTS in God's dealings are in every instance removed,
that the SECONDS may be established. There are many comparisons of the taking away
of the first and establishing of the second in the scriptures. Ishmael and Isaac are
perhaps the first example. "For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by
a bondmaid, the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the
flesh; but he of the free woman was by promise. Nevertheless what saith the scripture?
Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with
the son of the free woman" (Gal.
Later, Esau, the firstborn, was removed from the blessing and
birthright and Jacob, the second-born, was established as heir of the promise in his place
(Rom.
The FIRSTS are always found lacking, but God's SECONDS give forth a
radiant glow of the glory and the majesty of our Omnipotent God! The Levitical Priesthood
of the order of Aaron has been removed, superseded by the more glorious and eternal
Priesthood of the Son of God after the order of Melchizedek. "If therefore perfection
were by the Levitical Priesthood, what further need was there that another priest should
rise after the order of Melchizedek, and not be called after the order of Aaron? For the
Priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change of the law also"
(Heb.
With this wonderful truth in mind it should not be difficult in the
least for us to understand the contrast between the two bodies spoken of in I Cor.
15:39-50. "All flesh is not the same flesh. there are also CELESTIAL BODIES and
BODIES TERRESTRIAL: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the
terrestrial is another, there is a NATURAL BODY, and there is a SPIRITUAL BODY. 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. Now this I say brethren, that FLESH AND BLOOD CANNOT
INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption."
The contrast between these two bodies – the FIRST of flesh, the
SECOND of spirit – is almost too much for our weak and earthbound minds to
comprehend. The natural mind and natural understanding cannot grasp it. The Holy Spirit
declares that "as we have born the image of the earthy, we shall ALSO bear the image
of the heavenly." There are some who do not believe that Jesus Christ in His glory at
the right hand of the Father now possesses a BODY. But let us pause and meditate briefly
upon the words of Paul in Phil. 3:20-21: "For our conversation is in heaven; from
whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile
body, that it may be fashioned like unto HIS GLORIOUS BODY, according to the working
whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself." The words "HIS
GLORIOUS BODY" are more correctly translated "THE BODY OF HIS GLORY." If HE
is fashioning US to have a BODY LIKE UNTO HIS BODY OF GLORY then HE MUST HAVE A BODY, yes,
a BODY OF GLORY! Christ is not only the Spirit of glory, or a glorious Spirit, but He has
a BODY OF GLORY. He is changing us and making us, not spirits, but redeemed beings, new
creation men in spirit, soul, and body.
Bearing the image of the heavenly is not taking your natural body to
heaven. That's what millions of Christians think, that one of these days their present
body of flesh is going to fly away to heaven, there to strum a harp and walk up and down
the streets of gold. Not so! my brother. HIS BODY is not a body of flesh and blood and
bones, it is a BODY OF GLORY. A body of flesh is a body COMPOSED OF FLESH and a body
of glory is a body COMPOSED OF GLORY. As it is written, "There are also celestial
bodies and terrestrial bodies, there is a natural body and there is a
spiritual body."
The most comprehensive single paragraph of scripture that deals with
the truth that there are two distinct kinds of bodies, or two totally different bodies, is
found in II Cor. 5:1-5 where we read, "For we know that if our earthly house of this
tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands,
eternal in the heavens. For in this (the earthly) we groan, earnestly desiring to be
clothed upon with our house (celestial body) which IS FROM HEAVEN: if so be that being
clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle (fleshly body) do
groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon (with the
celestial body), that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now He that hath wrought us
for this selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the
Spirit."
This passage starts with assurances of absolute certainty. "For
we know" is as dogmatic and definitely positive as human speech can be. The thing we
thus know is that if our EARTHLY HOUSE OF THIS TABERNACLE (physical body) were dissolved,
our spirit would not be "naked" or "disembodied," for there is ANOTHER
BODY, a CELESTIAL BODY, a SPIRITUAL BODY, a
In veritable truth does the apostle say that in this body we groan. We
groan from the hour of our birth until the time of our departure. We groan when our
stomachs are empty and the pangs of hunger ravish our system. We also groan when we eat
too much Mexican food and suffer the consequences. We groan when we get our teeth; we
groan again when we lose them. We groan when we are children under the rule of parents,
teachers etc. We groan again when we become adults and have to face the responsibilities
of life. We groan because of our children and we groan when they leave home. We groan at
the multiplied problems and sorrows and tragedies that fall our lot. At almost every
movement of the body, we are apt to come in violent contact with some sharp object, and
groan again!
We can readily see that it will not be a very great loss when we lay
aside this groaning form for one that is no longer susceptible to pain, sorrow and death.
So the figure of speech that is used here is the common and familiar figure of clothing.
Inhabiting this earthly sphere, the spirit is clothed with a body adapted to the
conditions of earth living. When the spirit has outworn and outgrown this fleshy suit of
garments, it casts that suit aside for another and more glorious garment. In that heavenly
realm where dwells the all-glorious Son of God the spirit does not wander naked, but the
divine Tailor has already measured the regenerated spirit for a spiritual garment, a
heavenly house, a celestial body prepared for it! There is a very real sense in which the
withering fig-leaf apron of Adam’s own making, once fallen into corruption,
represents the vile and perishing body of death and humiliation, while the enduring
covering of the life of God’s precious Lamb bespeaks of and foreshadows the eternal
garment of THE CELESTIAL BODY OF THE CHRIST.
Can we not see by this that the celestial body, our "clothing
from heaven," is not the natural body reconstructed,
but a brand new, totally different body? The words of Paul must be made very real to our
hearts: "There are celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the
celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. So, is the resurrection of
the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: it is sown
in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is
raised in power: it is sown a NATURAL BODY; it is raised a SPIRITUAL BODY. There is
a NATURAL BODY and there is a SPIRITUAL BODY" (I Cor.
Our "earthly house," our physical body, is characterized as
a "tabernacle" or a better translation would be "tent-house." The
transient character of the earthly body is thus revealed by this symbol. This house is to
be "dissolved." Being one of God's FIRSTS it was never intended to remain!
"Dissolved" comes from a Greek word meaning "loosened down," as the
ropes of a tent are loosened and the tent is taken down, folded up, removed. The
"spirit body," on the other hand, is described as a "building of God,
eternal in the heavens." The metaphor changes, interestingly, from a "tent"
to a "building," from that which can be "dissolved" to that which is
"eternal." My beloved brethren! I have absolutely no desire whatever to have God
imbue with any eternal qualities this poor, weak, imperfect, limited, restricted,
humiliating, earthly, animal body! My hope of sonship does not rest in preserving forever
a body that must be washed and clothed, fed and rested, groomed and manicured, and
powdered and deodorized. There is another body, thank God! formed of the incorruptible
life of the resurrected and glorified Christ of God and this marvelous body is from heaven
even as my present body is of earth. I do not hesitate to declare to you that as a man
"puts on Christ" he puts on not only the Spirit of Christ but also the
RESURRECTION BODY of Christ, and this body IS OUR HOUSE FROM HEAVEN. Even as our
earth body has come from the FIRST MAN ADAM, and IS ADAM'S BODY, so our spiritual body
comes from the SECOND MAN ADAM and is the body of Christ's resurrection. As the pure and
holy life of the Son of God is formed within us God shall also give us bodies worthy of
such divine life, bodies capable of expressing all the wisdom and power of that blessed
realm beyond sin and death, yea, beyond time and space and matter!
What happens when we put on immortality? What happens when we are
brought into that condition or place where it is impossible for us to die? What is going
to be our condition when we find death swallowed up of life and destroyed? When there just
is not any more such a thing as death? No thought of it. No idea of it. No word for it. It
will have disappeared entirely and there will not be the ability to die. Then what takes
place?
There are a lot of so-called revelations that are set forth these days
which, at first hearing sound very religious, advanced, or seemingly spiritual, but as one
examines that which is set forth, there are times when we find what is being taught in
some circles is not the same thing which the Spirit of God speaks into your own heart. For
example, through many years I have heard a lot of folk speak of the "LIFE
MESSAGE" and have been asked if I believe it. I would then have to inquire and probe
into their minds and hearts to find out exactly what they meant by this term. Often I
discovered that what they really meant was that they had already attained "by
faith" a condition of immortality for this physical, flesh body, which they said
would never die. A great number of those with whom I talked are now lying silent in their
graves! I never cease to be amazed at how much effort people put into trying to
"immortalize" this earth body, the first tabernacle, the first man Adam. The
Holy Spirit witnesses that "there is a natural body, AND there is a spiritual
body." The order in which these two bodies are experienced is also defined:
"Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and
afterward that which is spiritual" (I Cor.
Ah, hearken! my beloved brother, thou who thinkest thou possesseth
immortality in thy Adam body of flesh! Truly it is written, "I am the resurrection,
and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and
whosoever liveth and believeth in Me SHALL NEVER DIE" (Jn.
If there is still fire, you who cannot die cannot in any way be
affected by the burning power of fire, no matter how great it might be. A furnace heated
to seven times hotter than ever before would have no power. The fires of an atomic or
hydrogen explosion can never hurt for you CANNOT DIE. There could be no pain or hurt to
you, for fire could have NO effect. So the natural law of fire burning, of our power
bodies being combustible, might just as well be taken off the books, for it has been made
no effect. Natural law tells us that if we walk out into a body of water far enough we are
going to go under the water and drown. Natural law says we cannot breathe water into our
lungs and live. For all who CANNOT DIE drowning in water had just as well be removed from
the books, for it does not work. It has no effect. If you CANNOT DIE, then you have NO
NEED FOR ATMOSPHERE OR AIR to live, for even without air YOU CANNOT DIE. Nothing can kill
you! If you do walk in air, all well and good. If you are in a place where there is no
air, still well and good, FOR YOU CANNOT DIE. Should you walk through the most poisonous
of gases, you would not be affected, for you COULD NOT DIE. Death would have lost its
power, and not one thing could harm you. If you CANNOT DIE there need be no fear of
anything. You could walk down the middle of the busiest freeway with no fear of being
struck down, for you CANNOT DIE. Should you be run over by an “eighteen wheeler”
you would neither crush nor splatter – or, if you were flattened into the pavement
you would have merely to arise, shake yourself like “Wiley Coyote” in the
cartoons, and continue your journey, for you CANNOT DIE.
For those who cannot die, death has been done away. Therefore there
would be nothing to prevent such a person from going anywhere in the universe. And there
would be no need for any special preparation in the way of oxygen to breathe, spaceship,
etc. Nothing could harm such a person and it would have become HIS OR HER NATURE to live
under any circumstances. The time has come when we must see by the spirit of wisdom and
revelation from God that THIS EARTHLY HOUSE IS NOT OUR HOUSE FROM HEAVEN, this
terrestrial body is not the celestial body , this mortal body is not the
immortal body, this corruptible body is not the incorruptible body, this natural
body is not the spiritual body, and this FLESH OF ADAM IS NOT THE FLESH OF
THE SON OF GOD! Those who walk in the BODY OF GLORY are
those who have been given immortality. The BODY OF GLORY is the BODY OF THE NEW CREATION
MAN, not this bag of bones of the external, visible world. Those who fully "put on
the Lord Jesus Christ," who "put on incorruption," who "put on
immortality," thus putting on the BODY OF GLORY – not one thing has any power to
hurt or destroy these, for THEY CANNOT DIE. Nothing restricts them in any way. They are as
God throughout the universe. They are the living, working, life-giving will of God. They
become so one with the Lord that they are ONE SPIRIT in all things. These are the sons of
God!
This is a presently UNEXPLORED AND UNKNOWN REALM OF LIFE so far as we
are concerned. The natural mind cannot THINK ITSELF into such a realm of life as this by
any kind of confession or positive thinking. It is only by the inspiration of the Spirit
of God that we ever get even a glimpse of a realm so transcendent and glorious. No man
knows the things of God, but the Spirit of God does, and as God wills we are given
understanding. The curtain is beginning to open and some are seeing that which lies before
us to be apprehended, praise His wonderful name!
A CHANGE OF GARMENTS
As we continue our meditation upon the wonderful truth of these TWO
BODIES, these TWO GARMENTS, these TWO TABERNACLES, the natural and the spiritual, the
earthly and the heavenly, I would again draw your attention to the significance of the TWO
TABERNACLES spoken of in the book of Hebrews. "Then verily the first covenant had
also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly (earthly) sanctuary. For there was a
tabernacle made; the FIRST, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the showbread;
which is called the sanctuary. And after the SECOND VEIL, the tabernacle which is called
the Holiest of All. Now when these things were thus ordained, the priest went always into
the FIRST TABERNACLE (the
Christ came down in human form, took upon Him the form of sinful
flesh, God dwelling and manifesting Himself within the limitation of a human body, THIS IS
THE REALM OF THE FIRST TABERNACLE, the
The veil that separates us from a full and complete entrance into the
second tabernacle, the realm of the Holiest of All, is the veil of FLESH. "Having
therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new
and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, THROUGH THE VEIL, that is to say, HIS
FLESH" (Heb. 10:19-20). It is interesting that the veil has two sides, the first
facing the
It is not flesh that is being done away with, merely an exchange of
flesh, our flesh exchanged for HIS FLESH! That the veil is not removed, merely rent, is
further confirmed in Heb. 6:19-20 where we read: "Which hope we have as an anchor of
the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that WITHIN THE VEIL; WHITHER
the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order
of Melchizedek." The side of the veil facing the Holiest of All bespeaks HIS
GLORIFIED FLESH. In order to enter into that tabernacle it is necessary that we pass
through the veil of HIS FLESH and have it CLOSE IN BEHIND US AND UPON US. Thus we
admonished, "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the (earthly)
flesh" (Rom.
Christ Himself is this greater garment, the clothing from heaven. We
must once and for all settle it in our hearts that in all the world there is NO OTHER
COVERING than that which God has provided for us in Jesus Christ. In the two bodies,
therefore, we see two types of wearing apparel, two kinds of garments. With this thought
in mind I would now draw your attention to a most enlightening event in the book of
Zechariah. "Now Joshua the high priest was clothed with filthy garments, and stood
before the angel. And he answered and spoke unto those who stood before him, saying, Take
away the filthy garments from him. And, unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine
iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with a change of raiment. And I
said, Let them set a clean turban upon his head. So they set upon his head a clean turban,
and clothed him with clean garments" (Zech. 3:3-5).
Prior to the crucifixion of our Lord the name "Jesus" was a
common and highly favored name among the Jewish people. The names "Jesus,"
"Joshua," and "Jeshua" are simply the same name spelled three
different ways, and all three names mean "Jehovah is salvation." As we compare
scripture with scripture it becomes apparent that the Old Testament high priest, Joshua,
the son Josedech, is a type of Jesus Christ the great High Priest of God's elect.
In the vision we have quoted above the high priest Joshua appears in
the court of Jehovah, clad in filthy garments, and under the accusation of satan. Now, in
order to understand this vision, we must think like someone from the Orient. The passage
focuses attention upon the GARMENTS worn by the high priest. It is clearly seen that the
garments referred to here are used as an oriental symbol. Something is being said by the
action taking place. This is affirmed by Zech. 3:5 where the meaning of the change has
been explained by the statement: "Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from
thee." The high priest stands in the vision as the Representative of Israel, the
people of Jehovah. Strangely enough it is he, the high priest, and not a sacrificial lamb,
that is seen bearing the defilement of
In the vision, therefore, the “filthy garments” are a symbol
of the whole dreadful realm of sin, darkness and death. The purpose of the vision is to
show the prophet (and us!) that there is a High Priest who is actually Himself the sin
bearer of the people of God, for “He… His own self bare our sins in His own
body on the tree” (I Pet.
"Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood CANNOT INHERIT
THE KINGDOM OF GOD, neither doth CORRUPTION INHERIT INCORRUPTION. Behold, I show you a
mystery; we shall not sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of
an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet (message) shall sound, and the dead shall be
raised incorruptible, and WE SHALL BE CHANGED. For this corruptible must PUT ON
incorruption, and this mortal PUT ON immortality" (I Cor.
The words "put on" in these verses comes from a Greek word
which means – TO BE CLOTHED UPON, to go into clothing, thus our being enveloped and
completely enwrapped, in this case, with incorruption. Paul tells us that before this
mortal can put on immortality or the state of deathlessness, it must lose its
corruptibility, for he tells us that this corruptible must put on incorruption and then
this mortal shall put on immortality. To be corruptible simply means to possess the
ability to be corrupted. Corruption, according to Webster's dictionary, means –
spoiled; rotten; morally debased; evil; depraved; containing alterations, foreign
admixtures, or errors. And all those tendencies exist today and have always existed in
humanity from the day of Adam's transgression and will continue to exist in humanity until
that nature is taken away in the full process of redemption. Every living person has the
ability or the possibility of at one time or another being corrupted.
This ability to be corrupted goes much deeper than just the natural
fleshly body. It is the one living in the flesh body that is corruptible. I care not who
they are, every one born of Adam's race is susceptible to being corrupted or turned away
from that which is right and pure and holy. Religious folk, church people,
tongues-speaking Christians, and saints embracing end-time truth and sonship and all
others need not try to make us think they are not susceptible to this, for they are. So
before anyone can fully put on immortality or deathlessness in the body realm, they will
first have to be made incorruptible. They can never do this for themselves, only God can
do it and will do it and is doing it even now in a firstfruit company, bless His wonderful
name! Every victory you gain in your walk in God, every aspect of your old nature that is
dealt with by the cross, every area in which you truly become an overcomer, each plane of
growth unto maturity to which you attain bespeaks a further establishment of
incorruptibleness within your nature and being. When the processings of God are complete
in all the holy sons of God, though having once been corruptible, they will have been made
incorruptible. They will no longer have the nature to be corrupted. Self and sin will have
passed from their lives never to be thought of again. There will be no word or expression
for it, for it will have passed out of existence. The people I am talking about will have
lost the ability to be corrupted. There will be no such thing as temptation to them. And,
blessed be God! this ability to be corrupted is going to eventually pass from all people,
for the firstfruit company, the sons of God, is but the firstfruits of God creatures!
"Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises,
that by these ye might be made partakers of THE DIVINE NATURE, HAVING ESCAPED THE
CORRUPTION THAT IS IN THE WORLD THROUGH LUST (or, through self-desire)" (II Pet.
1:4). The word "nature" means – the essential character or constitution;
essence. Essence means – that in being which underlies all outward manifestation, and
is permanent and unchangeable. Certainly the DIVINE NATURE includes incorruptibility, it
is INCAPABLE OF BEING CORRUPTED. And this fulfills the scripture: "Whosoever is born
of God doth not commit sin; for His seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin because he is
born of God" (I Jn. 3:9). There is a place of incorruptibility, it is in the fullness
of the DIVINE NATURE already planted deep within the life of the new creature within.
This change from corruptible to incorruptible is not obtained by one
grand leap into the middle of it, for it is line upon line that the Spirit works into us
the divine nature of God, leading us from glory to glory through the transition process.
The climax of this changing process now being worked in us by the indwelling Spirit of
God, is "that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He
is" (I Jn. 3:2). And if we have such an hope of change, then are we also actively
engaged in purifying ourselves, "even as He is pure." "Wherefore gird up
the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought
unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ, "as we read in I Pet. 1:13. Yes, this
corruptible shall PUT ON INCORRUPTION, and in so doing, completely put an end to the
tyranny of sin and death. If there be no sin, there can be no death – the ultimate
harvest of sin. When Christ, the sinless one poured out His life for us, He gave us
an incorruptible seed of life, to dwell in us, work in us, and transform us into its
glorious reality.
RESURRECTION LIFE
Receiving of His life we find it to be a RESURRECTION LIFE. The word
"resurrection" is from the Greek word anastasis meaning – a standing
or rising up. It denotes much more than our English word "resurrection" which we
term to mean the re-storing to life again. The Greek word means THE WHOLE PROCESS OF
ADVANCING AND RISING UP UNTIL THE HIGHEST POSSIBLE REALM IS REACHED, and our goal is
nothing short than full conformation into the image of God that, when He shall appear, we
shall be like Him.
Resurrection is the process of STANDING UP and ADVANCING – it is
arising from the dust and the low realm of the earthy, to bear the image of the heavenly.
Resurrection is the process of having our life LIFTED UP from the earth, to be raised to
the heavenlies, to be joined in one with the fullness of the Spirit of God. The more ONE
we are WITH HIM, the more we will say with Paul, "for our conversation is in
heaven" (Phil. 3:20) The word "conversation" literally means
"citizenship" and MANNER OF BEHAVIOUR. What a revelation to the world when we
begin to manifest the behaviour of that other realm – so foreign to the flesh.
Now, if all our life is of this earthly realm, we need a body to
manifest on that level. But the more our life is lifted up into the SPIRIT, and we have
our manner of behaviour directed and controlled by the Spirit of God, the more it will
necessitate that we begin to be clothed upon with our house (body) which is from heaven,
that we might possess a body in harmony with our heavenly life. So, while it means the
denying and crucifixion of the flesh, there is a "knowing in yourselves that we have
in heaven a better and an enduring substance, an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled,
and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven (the realm of the Spirit) for you, who are
kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last
time" (Heb. 10:34; I Pet. 1:4-5). Rather than clinging to this frail body, this flesh
man, the more our life is taken from the earth, and lifted up into the heavenlies, the
more we find our satisfaction in CHRIST ALONE, and the things of earth become strangely
dim in the light of HIS WONDERFUL GLORY.
There was a day when the disciples were still looking for a
resurrection at the end of an age which would bring forth a harvest of eternal life.
Martha had this same shortsightedness as she stood at the tomb of her brother Lazarus.
"Your brother shall rise again," Jesus told her, to which she replied,
"Yes, Lord, I know that he shall rise again IN THE LAST DAY." Jesus said
unto her, "I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE. believest thou this?" Oh, saints
of God, do you not see that the Father within Jesus was the resurrection? "I live by
the Father," He declared. The resurrection was not some THING that happened to Jesus,
not some EVENT of which He was a partaker, not some DAY marked by the calendar. The
resurrection was and is A MAN! "I AM" – there it is! "I AM the
resurrection and the life." To possess the Man, to put on the Man is to have the
resurrection, for the Man IS the resurrection.
I hope that all my readers are tired of repeating the theories and
doctrines of the resurrection and have come to the place where you want to know the power
of His resurrection working within. We want to experience its power working in us here
and now. Oh that we might know the resurrection in such power and glory as this –
that by HIM who now lives within the seed has been planted and there is a new and
incorruptible life, a new and celestial body coming up now within our beings, for He who
is within proclaims "I AM" – not shall be – "I AM THE
RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE!" Oh that we might put on Christ and have our mortality
swallowed up by His divine life! The more the carnal mind reigns, the more we have of
death. The more Christ reigns, the more we have of life.
Why should it be thought a thing impossible that God should raise the
dead? And why should it be thought a thing impossible that a man should live forever, his
mortality being swallowed up by God's life? Men have come forth with numerous doctrines
and theories concerning the resurrection. With natural minds they have arranged each event
in order. They have debated and fought over whether there is one general resurrection in
which all the dead, good and bad, rise at once, or a first resurrection of saints
preceding the thousand year reign of Christ followed by a second resurrection of the
wicked after the millennium. Some have the first resurrection neatly divided into several
companies, each coming to life either before the tribulation period or during the
tribulation. Others have dead being raised and judged throughout the kingdom age, while
others have resurrection extending out into the ages to come. This is all very interesting
material to the natural mind, but it really doesn't get you very far or bring you any
closer to God. The thing the theologians and teachers have missed in their zeal is the
thing they always miss, – THE MOST IMPORTANT THING OF ALL! In this case they have
forgotten that the resurrection IS NOT A THING, OR AN EVENT, OR A TIME PERIOD, BUT A
PERSON, and that person is Jesus Christ Himself!
Can you not hear that wonderful conversation between Jesus and Martha?
Listen to them as they talk. Said Martha, "If Thou hadst been here, my brother had
not died. But I know that even now whatsoever Thou wilt ask of God, God will give it
Thee." Jesus saith unto her, "Thy brother shall rise again." Martha saith
unto Him, "I know that He shall rise again in the resurrection AT THE LAST DAY."
Jesus said unto her, "I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE: HE THAT BELIEVETH ON ME,
THOUGH HE WERE DEAD, YET SHALL HE LIVE: AND WHOSOEVER LIVETH AND BELIEVETH ON ME SHALL
NEVER DIE. Believest thou this?" She replied, "Yea, Lord, I believe that Thou
art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world."
"Believest thou this?" questioned the Son of God.
"Believest thou this?" He asks today. Let us answer that question with Martha.
Do we also believe that HE IS THE RESURRECTION? The importance of this understanding
cannot be overestimated, for herein lies the great truth of the POWER OF HIS RESURRECTION.
If Jesus Himself IS the resurrection, then to have HIM WITHIN is to have THE RESURRECTION
WITHIN here and now.
Glorious beyond description is the fact that here and now, even as I
pen these words, in the inner realm of our spirit there is being constructed an
incorruptible life, a BUILDING OF GOD, an house not made with hands, a greater and more
perfect tabernacle, not of this creation, eternal in the heavens. Not a mansion in the
sky, not a cabin in the corner, not a white nightgown and wings with which to flit about
over the hills of glory, as the churches so ignorantly portray, but a new life, a new
nature, a new garment, a new tabernacle, a new body, a body of light and glory and power,
a body of CELESTIAL FLESH, a body of incorruption, a body of immortality raised up
and constructed by the mighty working of THE INDWELLING POWER OF HIS RESURRECTION! When
this work has been completed we will not be found naked, even though this present wretched
hunk of corruptible flesh be laid aside!
Chapter 29
THE GARMENTS OF
(continued)
MALE AND FEMALE
The book of Genesis gives two accounts of the creation of man. As I
have studied the Word of God, many things have become very evident, one of which is that
there are two distinct creations, or works of God revealed in chapters one and two of
Genesis. CHRIST is the image of God, the scripture says. I know these words may seem to be
incredible but they are truth – the very first mention of the "image of
God" is applied, not to Jesus Christ, but to our forefather ADAM. "And God said,
Let us make MAN IN OUR IMAGE, after our likeness: and let them have dominion, so God
created MAN IN HIS OWN IMAGE, in the IMAGE OF GOD created He him" (Gen. 1:26-27). As
we consider the wonderful advent of man created "in the image of God" we can
only conclude that this is a SPIRITUAL MAN brought forth out of the very spirit-substance
of God Almighty, and bearing His own divine nature, character, power, and attributes. The
image of God is the nature of God reproduced in man. Thus, man is the true image of God.
Notice now, what God says in Gen. 1:20-25: “And God said, Let the
waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly
above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God created great whales, and every
living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind,
and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them,
saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply
in the earth. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. And God said, Let the
earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and
beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth
after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth
after his kind: and God saw that it was good.” And then in verse 26: “And God
said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…” This says plainly that
the waters brought forth the whales, the fish, and the fowl of the air. Then the
earth brought forth cattle, creeping things, the beasts of the earth. And the record
further states that God made whales after the whale kind; cattle after the cattle kind;
chimps after the chimp kind – but God made MAN after the GOD kind!
That’s what it says! This reveals clearly, beyond dispute, that man is not an
animal! Man was made in the image and likeness of God – in the very form and
shape and substance of God. Man was first and foremost created a spiritual being to
have a relationship to God.
It would, I think, be almost impossible to read the Creation story and
pass unnoticed these words: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God
created he him; MALE AND FEMALE created he them” and “… and blessed them,
and called THEIR NAME ADAM, in the day when they were created” (Gen. 1:27, 5:2). The
man of Genesis One is not formed out of the earth, he is a man from heaven, a
heavenly man, a spiritual man. This man was created. Of what was he created? He as
created of the Word. It does not say that he was formed out of something; it does not say
the earth brought him forth, as it says of the animals; He was created. “And God said,
Let us make man in our image and after our likeness… and God created man in
His own image, in the image of God created he him…” The divine nature image and glory was best and fully expressed
in the man Christ Jesus who shed upon mortals the truest reflection of God and lifted
man's sights higher than their poor thought-models would allow. Jesus revealed to men
their true origin, heritage and destiny. He came to show man what man really is, was
intended to be, and through redemption shall be – THE IMAGE OF GOD. Christ is the
Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. In Jesus Christ
you see man as he was in the beginning and as he ever shall be world without end –
THE IMAGE OF GOD. Of Him it is written, "He is the expression of the glory of God
– the Light-being, the out-raying of the divine – and He is the perfect imprint
and very image of God's nature…” (Hebrews 1:3 Amplified). Christ, and humanity
in Christ, is like a ray of light which comes from the sun-man the outcome of God,
reflects God.
Contrary to popular teaching man has never LOST the image of God,
although the image has been obscured, distorted, marred and corrupted by the usurpation of
the carnal mind, the outer man. A lost image is NO image. The true likeness cannot
be lost in divine reflection. It would be like fire without light. The out-raying image of
God is like the Word of God. To destroy the Word of God you would have to destroy God
Himself, for God and His Word are ONE. To destroy the image of God would necessitate the
destruction of God, for God and His image are ONE. The apostle Paul confirms man 'I', as
God's image in his remarkably significant words to the saints in Corinth: "For a man
indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he I-S THE IMAGE AND GLORY OF GOD"
(I Cor:11:7).
The very fact that the scripture states that Adam “became” a
living soul, reveals that was a process of descending from pure spirit existence,
into a lesser realm. In Gen. 1:26 we see the wonderful advent of man created "in the
image and likeness of God," a SPIRITUAL MAN brought forth out of the very
SPIRIT-SUBSTANCE of God Almighty and bearing His own divine nature, character and
attributes. God first called man ADAM – meaning RED, or SHOWING BLOOD IN THE
FACE – when He created him a SPIRITUAL MAN. In Gen. 2:7 we find that in God's
inscrutable wisdom the dark hour came when the creature was MADE SUBJECT TO VANITY
(Rom. 8:20). Of this man who had been created as pure spirit in the image of God,
it is now stated, "And the Lord God FORMED MAN OF THE DUST OF THE GROUND, and
breathed into his nostrils the breath (spirit, the spiritual man) of life; and man (then)
BECAME a LIVING SOUL." The man who had been spirit now "became" a LIVING
SOUL – manifest in the earth realm. Adam – red, showing blood in the face –
BECAME a living soul, revealing that there was a PROCESS of descending from pure spirit
existence, into a lesser realm.
The point of special interest to us here is the fact that God first
called man ADAM, or RED – SHOWING BLOOD IN THE FACE – when He created him a
SPIRITUAL MAN. Man did not "become" Adam when he was "formed of the dust of
the ground" – it was not the earthly man who was first characterized as red, or
showing blood in the face – but the heavenly man! And this Adam was not formed of the
dust, but was created "in the image and likeness of God." No poet or philosopher
or prophet could possibly describe the glory and eminence of THIS MAN! I have long known
that the "face" in symbolic terms bespeaks of the outward expression and
revelation of the deepest inward parts of man's being – the heart. All that a man
thinks and feels and is inwardly is written and expressed outwardly upon the countenance,
known and read of all men. Blood bespeaks LIFE. To "show blood in the face" is
to show life in the countenance – the OUTWARD REVELATION OF THE INNER CONDITION OF
L-I-F-E!
The
contrast between the heavenly man and the earthly man has been beautifully drawn by Lloyd
Ellefson in his publication THE GOOD SEED: “Before we can
get there, we have to pass through both the created Man (who is… the spiritual
man) and the formed man (who is the carnal or earthly man). We have two men, and
the one in Genesis One we say is created, and the one in Genesis Two as formed out of the
dust of the earth. … In Genesis 2:5 we read that God had no man to till (or to work,
serve, cultivate) the ground. Yet in Genesis One God had already created man. That is the
first difference. The first man was not made to work the soil; he was a heavenly man. The
second man is formed out of the ground, to work the ground, to be earthly, or to produce
an earthly concept of God which is not a correct image, but only a temporary image that
will eventually be done away with. In Genesis One, he was created as an image. In Genesis
Two he was not created as an image. He was formed out of the creation or out of the dust
of the earth. It does not say that about the first man.”
Let us just note a few more of the differences between these two men.
The first man was created from the Word of God; the second man was formed out of the
existing creation. Since the first man was created in the image of God, he must be
spiritual; the second man was from the dust of the earth, earthy. God breathed into him,
and he became a living soul (i.e. he became aware). The same word is used for the beasts
of the field, but it is not said of plants. The first man was created male and female, and
not divided. The second man was also created together, but was later divided.
To the first man God said, “Subdue the earth and have
dominion.” Dominion was not given to the second man. As a matter of fact, he was
restricted. He was put into a garden and told to cultivate it. This is not said of the
first man. The first man was given every plant bearing seed that is on the surface of all
the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed, for food. The second man had a
restriction placed upon him. There was one tree of which he was not to eat. After the
second man was made, it does not say that all was very good, as it says after the first
man was created. Nor does it say that the first man was divided and put to sleep, like the
second man was. The second man was also sent out of the garden.
We see then that we have two humanities in these two chapters. One of
them is the spiritual man. The other is the natural man. So we have here two images of
God. From our present viewpoint in time, consciousness and experience that was not first
which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual (I
Cor.
When the spiritual man was lowered into the form of the earth man, the
scripture explains that “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Gen
2:7). From the Greek the statement reads, “The first man Adam was made a zoe
psuche (living soul)” (I Cor.
It should now be obvious to all who read these lines that when Adam
became a living soul (psuche) he was not only a physical being fashioned from the
dust of the earth, but also a being infused with divine, spiritual, heavenly life. Man is
a “divine” being, “breathed into” by God Himself. He is of infinite
value for he possesses a part of the divine himself. But
there is another significant expression in the Genesis record that we do not want to miss.
“And God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life…” The word
“life” is in the Hebrew plural, literally, lives. The breath of lives!
The moment we understand that man in the beginning was created a spiritual man or race,
both male and female, and that male and female IS the image of God, then we can
understand for the first time the nature of the “lives” that God breathed into
the earthen form.
When he that readeth can grasp the truth that God bears within Himself
both the characteristics of male and female, of Father and Mother, then he can better
understand the divine word spoken “in the beginning” when God said, “Let us
make man in our image, after our likeness: so… in the image of God created He
him; Male, Female. Both Adam. Both man. Both in the image of God! Those who read these
lines should meditate deeply upon the wonder of man’s primordial glory – male
and female – set together in splendor over the works of God’s hands. All
creation being set in order, one was needed to take the headship, to bring the authority
and blessing of God’s Kingdom over all things. “And God said, Let us make man in
our image and after our likeness; and let THEM have dominion… so God created man in
His own image… male and female created He THEM. And God blessed THEM, and God said
unto THEM, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and HAVE
DOMINIOIN over… every living thing that moveth upon the earth” (Gen. 1:26-28).
Universal dominion was not given to the male alone, it was not said, “let him
have dominion,” but “Let them have dominion.” How clear that the
spiritual man was not a single entity – they were male and female! God called their
name Adam. The man’s name wasn’t Adam. The woman’s name wasn’t
Adam. But their name was Adam. They were more than one. And there –
male and female – were ordained to be fruitful and multiply and populate
the earth realm. Can we not see by this that the “lives” breathed by God into
the earthy form were (the male and female spirits in this image of God – the
pre-existent spiritual man!) and is not this the mystery that Moses and Aaron understood
when they fell upon their faces and cried unto the Lord, saying “O God, the God of
the spirits of all flesh…” (Num. 16:22). It is my deep conviction that
every spirit of man inhabiting a flesh body is derived from those primordial spirits of
the spiritual male and female in the image of God.
You were there and so was I…
The seed of Great “I AM”,
We were extensions of Himself
So He called our name “Ad-AM”.
Thus out of God we did proceed,
Projected into time,
In innocence and purity,
A state of bliss sublime.
He breathed us in a body
That He had made of dust,
Male and Female Adam,
Both in body thrust.
- Lora Huston
Thus the spiritual family of man (male and female) was lowered
into the clay form of the earth man. The first image of God was concealed or veiled in the
flesh or the humanity of the second man. I
think that this spiritual man, the spiritual image of God, has been in man all the time,
but concealed or veiled by the fleshly man and his testimony. Our spirits were with God in
the beginning of the creation. Long before we existed in this form of dust, or of flesh
and blood, we were with the Father. To those who can receive it there is a blessed and
divine answer in the New Testament to the question put by the Almighty to Job in that long
ago: "Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth, when the morning
stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?" (Job 38:4,7). O that
men might see that there was a day in which God established in the heavens His great plan
of creation and redemption. In that moment of the early councils of the Elohim there
erupted such an harmonious symphony of rejoicing and praise and the morning stars formed a
celestial choir which broke forth into a rhapsody of song while all the sons of God filled
the unlimited vastnesses of infinity with their shouts of joy and expectation as they with
wonder beheld the end of Father' s glorious plan.
There is a chord far away in the depths of my spirit today that still
vibrates to that wondrous shout of joy. There is no doubt whatsoever in my mind that in
that long forgotten past we were there with Him in spirit, and there is an inward sense of
assurance that much of the truth we now possess was known to our spirits since that early
beginning. The call to sonship was placed within our spirits at that time, for the
scripture with divine certainty testifies that it was those whom the Father FOREKNEW that
He also predestinated to be conformed into the image of His Son (Rom. 8: 29), according as
He hath chosen us in Him BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, that we should be holy
and without blame before Him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of sons by
Jesus Christ to Himself (Eph. 1:4-5). Paul Mueller wrote some time ago that all that has
taken place in our lives, from the cradle to the grave, was at that time programmed into
our spirits, and we are now walking out the path that Father ordained for us in that
pre-dawn hour. To which my spirit shouts a hearty "Amen!"
The truth written in this message is glorious beyond compare, because
it contains the truth concerning the FULLNESS OF OUR SALVATION – RESTORATION TO THE
IMAGE AND GLORY OF GOD that was ours before ever the worlds were framed.
Hans Christian Anderson was a great storyteller. He could spin a yarn
and tell a tale with the best of writers. He also recognized a greater writer, the
storyteller of life. "Every man's life is a fairy tale," he wrote, "written
by God's fingers." When do our tales begin? Many say, "Why, at birth, of course,
when the cord is cut and the child draws its first breath and sees the light of day."
God, the storyteller of life, tells us His "fingers" were busy long before that.
Long before your conception in a physical world, you existed, because you are the children
of the Father in heaven. If you did not exist before your conception, then, my friends,
you have no SPIRIT within you, and God, the Father of spirits, the Father in heaven, is
not the Father of the spirits of all men. The question begs an answer: From whence came
your spirit? From God? From the devil? Did God by a special act of creation form it at the
moment of your conception or birth? Was it pro-created in the physical union of sperm and
ovum? If you did not exist before your conception you do not belong to the family of God,
nor are you the sons of God, nor did Jesus descend from the heavenly realms to redeem you,
and there is not much I can tell you that will do you any good.
I turn to the passages of scripture which with divine certainty relate
this. In Eph. 1:4-5 we find, "According as He hath chosen us IN HIM BEFORE THE
FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love:
having predestinated us unto the adoption of children (placement as sons) by Jesus Christ
to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will." Blessed be God! The apostle
Paul informs us that God chose and predestinated a company of sons BEFORE the foundation
of the world. The word "before" translates the Greek word PRO meaning "to
go before, to precede." Hence, the Father's act of choosing the firstfruit-sons
preceded the laying the foundations of the world. How, I ask, could God choose you IN
CHRIST and predestinate you in that long ago eternity IF YOU DID NOT THEN EXIST? Now,
therefore, when I talk to you, I am talking to a household of God's sons and daughters; I
am talking to a celestial race, a divine household; and these are the people of whom the
apostle spoke when he wrote to the saints in Rome, saying, "For whom He did FOREKNOW,
He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the
firstborn among many brethren" (Rom. 8:29). Yes – the Father in heaven FOREKNEW
YOU, my beloved brother, my precious sister in Christ. And that can mean nothing else but
that He KNEW YOU BEFORE and at that time when He KNEW YOU BEFORE He predestinated you to
enter this earth-experience and thereby be conformed to the image of first, unique, and
preeminent Son, Jesus Christ.
Never were words more sublime uttered by sage or prophet than those
spoken by King David when he lifted up his heart to God in a prayer of thanksgiving and
adoration saying, "Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before
the mountains were brought forth, or ever Thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even
from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God" (Ps. 90:1-2). It is my deep conviction
that every man of Adam's race had his beginning in God and existed in Him in eternity past
before ever we came to this earth to be enriched and perfected by the experience of
temptation, sin, death, redemption and restoration. Our coming to this earth was with the
purpose that through the desperate furnace of trials in this charnel house of sin and
death we should come to the knowledge not only of good and evil and the holiness of God,
but to the sacred understanding of the mystery of godliness – of WHY the wages of sin
is death; WHY when any creature of God sows to the flesh he reaps of the flesh only
corruption; WHY when a man sows to the spirit he of the spirit reaps life everlasting.
Having gained this sacred knowledge of the law of Being we shall not stand in God's image
and glory like robots programmed to function in divine nature inherently incapable of
being anything less, but we are brought to the spiritual appreciation of the principles of
Divine Being and by our perfection in knowledge and experience stand before our Lord at
last in an ETERNAL CHOOSING to abide in a perfection like unto His own.
As poor Job sat on the ash heap in the midst of trial and suffering
the Lord commanded him to stand up like a man and respond to the questions He, the Lord,
would put to him. The Lord then asked forty questions, none of which Job could answer.
Among the questions was this one: "Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the
earth when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?"
(Job 38:7). Job was speechless, for he had no idea where he was in that time of long ago,
but the truth, it seems to me, was that Job was there among the company of the sons of
God, beholding with wonder the plan of God on earth with its sufferings and testiness and
the glory that should follow. These sons of God who shouted for joy on that primeval morn
understood the wisdom of a plan by which they should gain the enlightenment of perfection
by experience instead of perfection by creations guided only by divine instincts, and that
the sufferings of this world are not worthy to be compared to the glory that is to follow
as a result of them, and so awesome was the prospect that they shouted for joy in holy
expectation. We do not shout unless there is something to shout about. The message is
clear--there was a time before the foundations of the earth were laid; there were sons of
God who already existed in that ancient time; and those young sons of God lifted their
voices with the morning stars in contemplation of the marvelous purpose they were to
fulfill. It is precious to know that God's first Son, our own Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ, is named the Bright and Morning Star.
In the ninetieth Psalm referred to above, the prophet David assures us
with great plainness of speech that the Lord has been our dwelling place in all
generations. Even before the mountains were brought forth or God had formed the earth,
from everlasting to everlasting He is God and in Him we dwelt and from Him we came. Our
spirits were with Him before the creation of the earth, for the Father was then our
dwelling place. We were sent to this earthly realm for a wise and glorious purpose –
for testing, learning, instruction, training, discipline, and perfection--preparation for
our part in that magnificent work of deliverance of the whole creation from the tyranny of
darkness, decay and death. The Psalmist said, "Thou turnest man to destruction (this
realm of sin and death, of flesh and blood); and sayest, Return, ye children of men"
(Ps. 90:3). The Lord turned man to destruction, which is to say, He sent us down to this
earth realm of dust, sin and death, and then said to us, "Return! ye children of
men." What a revelation that is!
During our sojourn in this life, we (the firstfruits) have heard our
Father's call to return to Him. And so we are returning in obedience to His call and in
the strength and anointing of His quickening Spirit. I do not believe our heavenly Father
will leave us in this realm of destruction one day longer than is necessary. When He who
in eternal wisdom turned us to destruction sees that all the lessons have been fully and
eternally learned and that destruction's work has been fulfilled, then He says,
"Return, ye children of men," and we return. When our Lord says,
"Come," we come. Matters not how far we have wandered in our sin or how low we
have gone in degradation. When the day comes for the Lord to say RETURN YE CHILDREN OF MEN
He puts into our hearts the desire to return and we return. At the end of our sojourn in
this earthly realm we will have learned the truths Father wanted us to learn and
experienced His ways unto perfection. We began in God, we are walking out our predestined
path in this life, and will return to the Father as fully manifest sons of God, equipped
to set creation free from the curse of sin and death.
Far away in the depths of my spirit today there is a chord that still
vibrates to that wondrous shout of joy before the foundations of the earth were laid,
when, in that long forgotten past we were there with the Father in spirit, and there is an
inward sense of assurance that much of the truth we now possess was known to our spirits
since that early beginning. Because the spirit is burdened down with the earthly and
visible, man has come to the place in his experience where the inner sanctum wherein God
lives in man's spirit is veiled by the flesh and his spiritual consciousness is imprisoned
by this gross material realm. We remember not the things of old – until that
heaven-blest day when Christ comes in quickening power and touches the mind of our spirit,
restoring the memory of those former things. For lack of true understanding we call this
restored memory "revelation". When by the eyes of spirit we see Jesus, crowned
with glory and honor, the powerful attraction kindled in our hearts for Christ and reality
is, in fact, just the beginning of the wonderful RENEWING OF THE MIND to recall again the
things of that high and holy realm from whence we came. The "renewing" of the
mind can be nothing else but the restoration of the mind to a realm of knowledge and
understanding previously enjoyed.
There is an ancient folk-tale about a tiger that was brought up with a
herd of goats. From the day his eyes opened, all he saw was a goat's life so it became his
style of life too. The tiger munched grass with the rest, butted heads with the younger
goats for recreation, and learned to bleat in an odd sort of way a sound that resembled,
so he thought, the goat's voice. Once in a while there was a nagging voice inside him that
said, "You don't belong to this life!" But always he put it aside as a fantasy,
some disturbing intrusion from the world of dreams. If this didn't satisfy him, he just
marked it off as the discontent that always hovers around the edges of any life style. So
he, a tiger, chose to stay with a goat's way of life because he believed that was the way
life had to be. Then one day a tiger came into the clearing. He was all tiger, having
grown up knowing who he was. He looked into the clearing and spotted the goats. He roared
the earth-shaking roar of his species, bounded out and made his kill. The goats fled in
terror and so did the tiger who had grown up with them. At first he wanted to stay. The
roar from the edge of the forest had stirred some lost memory in his soul. He flexed his
great muscles in a kind of automatic reflex to the challenge from the forest edge. For a
moment he could have been a tiger too, but he could not believe in the sound he heard, the
challenge it brought. He couldn't believe in himself, in the instincts that had lain
dormant so long. For a brief moment, he could have been a tiger. He wanted to try, but
then the goat's life was all he knew so he turned and fled. He could have grasped a new
and greater life, but then he fell back to being a goat for the rest of his days. The
tiger at the edge of the forest of your existence is JESUS, unique, divine, glorious and
powerful. He will not fail – He will draw ALL unto Him! He is all you should be. He
is all man was created to be. He is all you were destined to be. He is what God intends.
He is THE SON as you are predestined to be sons and daughters of the Most High. You cannot
avoid Him. You cannot resist Him. Something deep within stirs. Deep calleth unto deep. The
tiger calls to the tiger in you! The God in Christ calls to the God in you!
"But God who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He
loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, and hath
raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus for we
are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath BEFORE
ORDAINED that we should walk in them" (Eph. 2:4-10).
Some glad morning, the dawn of which methinks I now behold, when the
processing's of God in His firstfruits are complete, our eyes will behold with endless joy
the surpassing glory of that celestial realm in which walked Adam, the son of God. Our
eyes, long dimmed by the darkness of this carnal realm, have not beheld such glories as
were there; our ears have not heard its heavenly song, nor have our wildest imaginations
probed the splendors of that realm of life where Adam stood in God's image and likeness
having no sin, no sorrow nor crying, no labor nor sweat, no bondage nor limitation, no
pain nor death; for even now, in this "in part" realm of the firstfruits of the
Spirit, we yet see through a glass darkly.
Lowered into the earth realm, becoming a living soul, man sank even
lower. The bright and glorious spirit ruled in the man and woman of flesh until that
dreadful hour in which they partook of the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and
evil. Then and there their eyes were opened to see their OUTWARD FORMS. The outraying
spirit of glory that had reigned within them dimmed beneath the newly discovered
consciousness of the OUTER and they knew the shame of their nakedness before the Lord.
Truly the "nakedness" consisted in their sense-consciousness of the lack of
reality in the realm of the flesh. In this state they knew the grief of sustaining their
bodies by sweat and travail. Man was lowered from the realm of spirit, into the realm of
the soul; then in disobedience, drawn away of his own lust and enticed down into the
flesh, so that at last God said of man, "He is BECOME FLESH" (Gen. 6:3)He was
lowered from spirit to soul, and fell from soul to "flesh." The spirit of man is
the image of God – GOD consciousness. The soul is the seat of SELF-consciousness, and
the body is the seat of SENSE-consciousness. In spirit Adam was God-conscious. In soul man
was both God-conscious and Self-conscious. But ruled by his five senses, fulfilling the
desires of the flesh, conscious of the outward world about him, seeking his experience,
existence and identity in that low realm, he was a FLESHLY MAN. Having made the transition
from the celestial to the physical, we died to the spiritual and became alive to the
natural, under the throes of the carnal mind, to have "our conversation, in the lusts
of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, by nature the children
of wrath, even as others" (Eph. 2:3).
I would point out, that Adam had already "fallen", as it
were, before he partook of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It was BECAUSE he
had already been lowered from a higher realm that he DID partake of this tree. One of the
outstanding texts which shows this "lowering" of man and his subsequent LACK is
Ps. 8:4-5 wherein we read, "What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? and the son of
man, that Thou visitest him? For thou hast MADE HIM a little LOWER than the angels."
The word "angels" in this passage is from the Hebrew ELOHIM and is always the
Old Testament word for GOD. "In the beginning GOD (Elohim) created." (Gen. 1:1).
The phrase "made a little lower than the angels" would more literally be
translated from the Hebrew text, "Thou hast caused him (man) to LACK FROM
ELOHIM." When God would execute the purpose of the ages He laid hold of His ELOHIM
COMPANY and stripped from them some of that glory, that fullness, that oneness and caused
them to lack, for He subjected us to the bondage of vanity and corruption, emptiness and
nothingness, not willingly on our part, but by reason of HIM who subjected us in hope
– hope, in the words of another: "...that out of all its travail and
processing's would come forth a company that would redound to His praise, that the
inherent glory of our pre-existent state in God, and the acquired glory through the
contact with evil, and the overcoming thereof, would combine their effulgence and the
latter state would be greater than the former; so that all we once had, plus all that is
wrought out through the processing will combine their effulgence, and redemption's glory
will shine out to His praise and all the universe shall throb anew with wonder of the
power and the inworking grace of God" – Gospel Echoes.
But in the meantime we were made to lack, lowered from that pure
spirit existence in the image of God. "Thou hast made Him a little lower than
Elohim," the spirit was lowered it was made to lack from the realm of fullness, so
that some of the counterbalancing qualities which promote order and righteousness were
missing. This immediately made man vulnerable to any temptation that might come his way
and so he fell into the delusion of sin. The very moment the spirit was made to lack man
fell into the power of death. This in turn produced a change in even the body of man and
he became helplessly subject to this realm of gross materialism as we know it now. And so,
when we come to Adam in the garden, when the Lord God formed him of the dust of the ground
and placed him in the garden to dress it, guard it, keep it, and take care of it, Adam was
ALREADY SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD! He had already been lowered, had already
"fallen", as it were, and been MADE TO LACK. He did not have sufficient
resources to fulfill the command of God. And God planned it this way!
The moment you understand this truth, it is a simple matter to grasp
the fact that all sin--with the whole realm of vanity, darkness, evil and death--is the
fruit and manifestation of an IMBALANCE, a LACK, a DEFICIENCY, a FRAGMENTATION.
What is man? Brain, heart, blood, bones, etc., the material structure?
If the real man is in the material body, you take away a portion of the man when you
amputate a limb; the surgeon destroys manhood, and worms annihilate it. But the loss of
some physical member has betimes become the quickener of manhood as in the crucible of
suffering there appear the virtues of humility, thankfulness, patience, compassion, drawn
from the rich resources of INNER SPIRITUAL STRENGTH. The unfortunate cripple may present
more nobility of true manhood than the dashing athlete – teaching us that the man on
the inside is of far more enduring substance than the man on the outside! Take away the
physical and take away the outer worldly elements of wealth, possessions, fame, social
recognition, which weigh not one jot on the scales of God, and in what remains we get a
clearer picture of man as God made him. Let goodness, mercy, justice, purity, health,
holiness and love – the Kingdom of heaven – reign within us and the outer is
found to be of no consequence. The real man is SPIRIT, not dust. The true man is IMMORTAL,
not dying. The inner man is the IMAGE OF THE HEAVENLY, not the image of the earthly as
perceived by the physical senses.
Adam's sin in eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil lay
in his walking after the flesh (sense realm) instead of the Spirit. It consisted in his
making the outer, physical, material, sensual man his center, identity and existence
rather than the inner man of Spirit. The remarkable thing is that he perceived not that
all that pertains to the material world is illusionary, transitory, corruptible. Sensual
treasures are laid up "where moth and rust doth corrupt." Mortality is their
doom. Death breaks in upon them, and carries off their fleeting joys. The sensualist's
affections are as imaginary, whimsical, unreal and short-lived as his pleasures.
Covetousness, fleshly passions, gluttony, drunkenness, immorality, fame, fashion, vanity,
worldly wisdom, political power, military might, envy, hypocrisy, revenge, hate, and so
forth, pass away with the works thereof. Stripped of its coverings, what a mocking
spectacle the flesh is! When the almighty Creator counseled the first man and his wife,
"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 die," He gave precisely the same
instruction in wisdom and prudence that the apostle Paul offered long millenniums
afterwards when by inspiration he wrote, "For they that are after the flesh do mind
the things of the flesh; but they that are after the spirit the things of the spirit. For
to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. For if ye
live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the spirit do mortify the deeds of
the body, ye shall live" (
George Hawtin has eloquently expounded on this thought, and I share a
few of his valuable insights. "Well did the apostle Paul know that the vast mass of
humanity was 'at home' only in the REALM OF THE BODY. They belonged entirely to an earthly
realm where things are visible, audible, and touchable. Their minds seldom mounted higher
than things physical, and when for a few moments they did rise to walk upon a spiritual
plane, they were not really 'at home' there, but waited for the moment when they could
LAPSE BACK to the NATURAL AND NORMAL, for that is where they were 'at home.' So, while men
are 'at home' in the body, they are 'always absent from the Lord' (II Cor. 5:6-7), absent
from the spiritual world of true reality. HEAVEN IS CLOSED TO THEM. Their minds dwell in
the realm where men buy and sell, plant and build, marry and are given in marriage. They
dwell in a realm of eating and drinking, of finding pleasure for the body, amusing their
minds with silly things of the world, absorbing, listening to, or looking at some
fictitious thing that serves only to amuse the natural man, keeping his heart away from
the realm of eternal reality."
My heart burns within me and my spirit is flooded with joy unspeakable
and full of glory as these sacred and wonderful truths find lodging and substance within
my consciousness. With what clarity I see that when Adam stood between the tree of life
and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in that long ago Eden, his future condition
was to be shaped by the tree-identity (consciousness) he pursued. "For they that are after
the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the spirit
the things of the spirit" (
Again I would share significant and enlightening words from the able
pen of George Hawtin. In his excellent paper, THE PASSING AND THE PERMANENT, he explains,
"Now, since the flesh lusts against the Spirit and is at endless conflict with it,
then anything that seeks to make you earthly and fleshly-minded is a great evil. The
things that belong to the realm of the flesh are passing away. Even the flesh itself is
passing away. Anything that is passing away is not real. It is like a bubble that floats
prettily in the air only to burst never to exist again. It is like the darkness that
disappears with the dawn and has no certain dwelling place. It is like a flower in the
field that blooms for a moment and disappears, a vision of the night, a fleeting shadow, a
moment of joy, a passing sorrow, or a sudden pain. When such things have passed by, no one
knows where they came from or whither they have gone. Those, however, who indulge
themselves in the things that belong to the body grow to think that nothing is true or
real but what is bodily and can be touched or seen or eaten or drunk or enjoyed by the
passions of men. Unwittingly they change true riches for false; things that are unseen by
mortal eyes for things that are seen. They exchange things that are spirit for things that
can be touched, tasted, and felt by the body. The soul now begins to think that these
things which belong to the body are real and therefore becomes fleshly minded. The carnal
or earthly mind is an enemy of God and an enemy of all things spiritual.
"It is small wonder then that the natural man cannot receive the
things of the Spirit of God; for all things connected with the natural belong to time and
change, while all things belonging to the spiritual are eternal and changeless. So then
all who would come to know the WISDOM OF GOD, and the REVELATION of the Lord, must turn
their spirit from the realm of the physical and changing, the corrupt and mortal, and fly
away into the realm of the pure, eternal, unchanging, and immortal. It is only there that
rest and truth are found, and, abiding there in the Spirit, even the body itself begins to
be lifted from corruption to incorruption and from mortality to immortality. We said a
moment ago that when the soul comes into the realm of the flesh, it becomes carnal and
fleshly minded because it is dragged into the realm of the body. Inversely then, when the
soul and spirit dwell in the secret place with God, they lift the body till it also
becomes incorruptible, immortal, and eternal. While the spirit and the body are united and
dwell together, one must always be in subjection to the other. Either the body will be
servant to the spirit or the spirit will be servant to the body. One will be the servant
and be ruled. The other will be the master and rule. We cannot avoid this conclusion.
Either the flesh will rule the spirit, or the spirit will rule the flesh. Since, however,
the flesh is like the mortal and changing, and the spirit is like the immortal and
unchanging, then the spirit is the one who should be the master. If the spirit is the
master, it will save the flesh by lifting it to the realm of God and immortality, but if
the body is master, it will ruin the soul by dragging it to the realm of the carnal, the
mortal, the changing" – end quote.
When the Lord God lowered man into this gross material realm man
possessed, by the spirit, the divine potential to overcome the flesh, sanctify it,
transform it, infusing it with the qualities of Life – holiness and incorruption.
Jesus, the last Adam, came and demonstrated for us this very principle. This potential in
man to rule the natural by the spirit is shed forth in Jesus' mighty works – by His
healing the sick, cleansing the lepers, casting out devils, forgiving sins, and raising
the dead--He transcended by His life, words, and actions all the so-called laws of the
material, mortal realm. The great significance of Jesus' mighty works will never ring
clear in our spirits until we understand that He did not perform as a unique, different
kind of man--all His wonderful works were the teaching of what is NORMAL FOR MAN IN HIS
TRUE STATE AS THE IMAGE OF GOD. As the last Adam Jesus demonstrated all that the first
Adam lost--mankind's heritage as the sons and daughters of the Most High. Little wonder,
then, that He confidently and joyfully proclaimed to His disciples, "The works that I
do shall YE DO ALSO; and greater works than these shall YE DO" (Jn.
By the Spirit within (the Father dwelling in Him) Jesus made nature
harmonious--calming the raging of the sea, walking on the water, multiplying the loaves
and fishes, turning water into wine, and making everything in nature, including the human
mind and body, to be servants instead of masters. When a man's life is governed by the
Spirit, his body is in submission to everlasting Life, Truth and Love. Finally, going to
the cross and Himself rising from the dead He demonstrated for all men the wonderful and
incontrovertible truth in the words of the apostle: "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 your mortal bodies by His Spirit which DWELLETH I-N Y-O-U" (Rom. 8:11). The
truth had been lived among men, God was manifested in flesh, the image of God had come
forth in the face of Jesus Christ. But until they saw that the INDWELLING SPIRIT enabled
their Master to triumph even over the grave, His own disciples could not comprehend the
MAGNITUDE OF THE POWER OF GOD IN MAN. After the resurrection, even the unbelieving Thomas
was forced to acknowledge how complete was the great proof of the power of the divine life
in earthen vessels.
By His resurrection Jesus proved the Spirit within to be OMNIPOTENT,
all-conquering, all-sufficient. He met and mastered death itself by the law of the Spirit
of Life. He took no drugs to allay inflammation. He did not depend upon food or pure air
or vitamins or herbs to resuscitate wasted energies. He did not require the skill of a
surgeon to heal the torn palms and bind up the wounded side and lacerated feet, that He
might use those hands to remove the napkin and winding-sheet, and that He might employ His
feet as before. Jesus vanquished every material obstacle, overcame every law of matter,
and stepped forth from His gloomy resting-place, crowned with the glory of a sublime
success, and everlasting victory – the second MAN, the last ADAM--the role-model for
each and every man of Adam's race! Jesus' victory over sin, sickness, pain, limitation,
death and the grave was for the enlightenment of all men and for the salvation of the
whole world. Paul writes, "For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by
the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved BY HIS LIFE (WITHIN).
Rom
Glory be to God and peace to the struggling hearts Christ hath rolled
away the stone from the human door human hope and faith through the revelation and
demonstration of Life in God, the life resident in the SPIRITUAL MAN.
We have come to the most sublime of all truths. The beauty of these
celestial realities is found in the fact that all Jesus did He did "for us"
– not in our place, but ON OUR BEHALF. A musician demonstrates the beauty of the
music he teaches in order to show the learner the way by practice as well as precept. This
was the precious import of our Lord's sinless life and of His demonstration of power over
the whole flesh realm, including death. Our heavenly Father demands that all men should
follow the example of our Lord and Master. In order to enter the Kingdom of the Heavens,
the anchor of hope must be cast beyond the veil of this carnal, dying realm into the
Shekinah into which Jesus has passed before us; and this advance beyond the law of sin and
death must come through the joys and triumphs of a people "led by the Spirit"
who are "the sons of God" as well as through their sorrows and afflictions. It
is by facing the enemy in the crucible of experience and by the authority of the Spirit
that victory is snatched from the jaws of defeat. Each and every test in our lives
is an opportunity to prove for ourselves and demonstrate to those about the triumph of the
Spirit over the flesh. Step by step, battle by battle, victory upon victory we ascend into
the heights of the
The thought the Spirit of God would now emphasize to our hearts is the
fact that both the "created" man and the "formed" man were MALE
AND FEMALE. Of the spiritual man it is written, "So God created He man in His own
image, in the image of God created He him; MALE AND FEMALE created He them"
(Gen. 1:27). Of the manifest man we read, "And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to
fall upon Adam, and he slept: and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead
thereof; and the rib, made He a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This
is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was
taken out of
Long millenniums after Abraham's encounter with God Almighty, El
Shaddai, the "Breasted One," John the Revelator, in exile on the barren Isle of
Patmos, a place of few inhabitants and swarming with pirates, heard behind him the voice
of One who trumpeted into his ears the message, "I am the Alpha and Omega, the
beginning and the ending, which is, and which was, and which is to come, THE
ALMIGHTY" (Rev. 1:8). As John turned to see the voice that spoke to him, with
astonished countenance beheld the wonder of this One "clothed with a garment down to
the foot, and GIRT ABOUT THE PAPS with a golden girdle" (Rev. 1:13). The word
"paps" is the Greek word "mastos" used exclusively in Greek for the
female breast! "And it came to pass, as He spake these things, a certain woman of the
company lifted up her voice, and said Unto Him, Blessed is the womb that bare Thee, and
the PAPS (mastos) which Thou hast sucked!" (Lk. 11:27). On
All the right and natural relationship in which human beings stand to
each other are meant to reveal something in God – some relation in which He stands to
us. He is as a King to His subjects, giving them laws and governing them for their good.
He is as a Father to His children, providing for their needs, training and educating them
in love and service as members of the great family of God. But there is something, if one
may say so, deeper than even this – something that corresponds to the tenderness of a
mother, especially in her gentle power of comforting the weary and wounded spirit of her
child. “Although my father and my mother have forsaken me, yet the Lord will take me
up [adopt me as His child]” (Ps. 27:10 Amplified). This is the testimony of one who
could no longer go home for the counsel of father and mother, he could no longer go home
for home cooking, he could no longer spend time with his parents. This man says that God
became for Him both father and mother. Throughout the scriptures God is presented to us in
the masculine gender – He is essentially God our Father. And a father’s
strength, courage, dependability, and so forth do offer precious insights into God’s
nature. But there are also ascribed to him the tender affections and the loving care of a
mother. “As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be
comforted in
The motherhood of God is seen and expressed through such qualities as
love, purity, compassion and tenderness, mercy, and joy. But none of us are restricted to
knowing or expressing just one part or aspect of God. God is the source of all the
qualities that His sons and daughters reflect. Sometimes we draw from His omnipotent and
never-failing strength and stability. At other times we have a special need to know God
better as Mother – to feel His “mothering” love for us. Even Jesus, though
a Son, revealed this Mother nature when He saw the spiritual condition of
When he that readeth can grasp the truth that God bears within Himself
both the characteristic of male and female, of Father and Mother, then he can better
understand the divine word spoken "in the beginning" when God said, "Let us
make man in OUR image, after OUR likeness: so. in the image of God created He him; MALE
AND FEMALE created He them! (Gen. 1:26-27). This man in the image of God is
destined to have dominion over all the works of God's hands. He is created in God's image,
MALE AND FEMALE, SONS AND DAUGHTERS, to be the revelation of both the strength and wisdom
of God's Fatherhood and the tenderness and sustaining life of God's Motherhood to all
creation. God makes His Sons and Daughters partakers of His own nature, that they, the
firstfruits of Himself, may make others partakers of the same nature. Their separation
unto Him makes them fit for their work, as He says, "Wherefore come out from among
them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will
receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be MY SONS AND DAUGHTERS, saith
the LORD ALMIGHTY" (II Cor. 6:17-18). Sons and Daughters! Male and Female! Thus they
also become "breasted ones" and "pourers-forth". In them is fulfilled
the promise of Jerusalem, that "those who love her may suck and be satisfied
with the breasts of her consolations; that they may milk out and be delighted with the
abundance of her glory" (Isa. 66:10-11).
There is a
great and wondrous reason why the darkness precedes the light in the divine order of
creation. Let us begin with God. It has pleased the Lord to leave great truths obscure and
well hidden from the prying eyes of the curious and the unbelieving. He shrouds His
precious truths in mystery so that none but the earnest seekers who partake of the spirit
of revelation are ever permitted to see beyond the outer shell of the letter, and behold
the unfolding glories which lie concealed within the inner kernel. Perhaps the simplest
yet most profound statement about the nature of God is found in the beautiful writings of
the beloved apostle John. He says, "He that loveth not knoweth not God for God is
love. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he
that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him" (I Jn. 4:8,16). Would that my
tongue were eloquent enough to explain it, or that my mind were great enough to comprehend
it. But neither is sufficient. When we speak of God's attributes we may say that God is a
spirit – infinite, eternal and unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness,
justice, goodness and truth. This is a very beautiful definition; but it largely defines
only God's attributes, whereas the text, "God is love," tells us WHAT HE HIMSELF
IS. This text reveals His nature, His state of being. For instance, in speaking of
justice, we know that God has justice as one of His attributes, but He is not justice; God
IS love. This fact gives us a revelation of GOD'S VERY NATURE. Our poor, lisping,
faltering tongues cannot proclaim the gospel as we would like; but we have God's 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! IS –
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. 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 THEE BELOVED. Love finds its joy in imparting
all that it has, and all that it is, 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 with His love.
Love has
been described as AN ETERNAL WILL TO ALL GOODNESS. This is THE ONE ETERNAL, IMMUTABLE GOD
that, from eternity to eternity, changeth not, that can be neither more nor less, but an
ETERNAL WILL TO ALL GOODNESS that is in Himself and come from Him, so that as certainly as
He is Creator, so certainly is He the blesser of every created thing, and can give nothing
but blessings, goodness, fulfillment, and holiness from Himself, because He has in Himself
nothing else to give.
The words
of the following poem strike poignantly at the deep meaning and sublime purpose of God in
creation and redemption.
Why did God
make the universe, the earth and the sky above?
Scripture gives the answer when it says that "God is love.
Before God
made the universe He worked a master plan,
He knew how everything would end before it all began.
He made
mankind so He could have an object of His love,
But, man was blind and did not see -- it came
from above.
So God
created evil as He had created night,
So man could see the good in Him -- in darkness we see light.
He made the
"blackboard" very black, with evil, sin, and woe.
He made an adversary to be His cunning foe.
He made the
earth to be a "stage" to show the hosts above,
By all of our experiences, His wisdom and His love.
He locks up
all in stubbornness to make His mercy clear;
Lets satan lure all men away, so He can draw all near.
He gives
His only firstborn Son to die and save us all;
Yet each in his own class we read; we're blind until our call.
You ask me
why God made the earth, the glittering stars above!
The scriptures give the answer when they say that GOD IS LOVE!
—
Author Unknown
It is very
important that we grasp the deep message in the words of this inspired poem, because, once
we understand it, we comprehend as never before the eternal mystery of creation and
redemption. It will be a wonderful day for you, dear one, when first your soul becomes
enthralled with the revelation that God, before ever the world began or ever the ages were
formed, looked forth from His temple of wisdom and omnipotence to chart with resolute care
the course and purpose of every age. Your heart will throb as you read the opening
proclamation of scripture, "In the beginning – GOD!" In the
beginning of what? Not in the beginning of God, certainly, but in the beginning of His
creation of all things, in the beginning of time as we know it, in the beginning of the
orderly procession of the divinely destined ages. In the beginning stands God, omnipotent
and omniscient, creating, sustaining and guiding all things and all people and all the
ages of time according to the purpose of His own will. No purpose ordained by God from the
beginning can possibly go astray or be hindered by the efforts of devil or man. Oh, for
the hour when all creation will grasp the beautiful message, "From Him
everything comes, by Him everything exists, and in Him everything
ends!" (Rom.
If God be
the Creator of ALL THINGS, then it must of necessity follow that GOD IS THE SOURCE OF ALL
THINGS. We read the passage quoted above from the Emphatic Diaglott, "because out
of Him, and through Him, and for Him are ALL THINGS, to Him be the glory
for the ages, Amen. All things are out of God, all thing are through Him,
all things are for Him, and all things are unto Him, ending in Him.
The clearest possible rendering is given by Goodspeed, "For from Him
everything comes; through Him everything exists; and in Him everything
ends! Glory to Him forever! Amen." The Bible opens with the simplest and yet most
profound statement ever recorded by human hand. "In the beginning – GOD"
The sweet singer of Israel declared of Him, "Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever Thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting,
THOU ART GOD" (Ps. 90:2). Our God was the great active force, the cause of all that
began to happen "in the beginning." How awesome the thought that there was a
"time" when there was nothing – absolutely nothing – but God! There
was no blue-green orb called earth, no silver-shimmering moon, no diamond-studded heaven
of stars and planets, no angels, no devils, no man – nothing but GOD HIMSELF. There
were not even the 100 elements out of which everything in the universe is constructed
– there was only God. Paul caught something of the sublimity of this eternal and
Self-existent One and wrote, "For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven,
and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or
principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him and for Him: and HE IS BEFORE
ALL THINGS, and by Him all things consist" (Col. 1:16-17).
Let me
emphasize this wonderful and important truth: "He is before all things." This
can mean nothing else but that God is not one of the "things." He is BEFORE all things.
He is before A-L-L THINGS! And just as majestic is the truth that "by Him ALL THINGS
CONSIST." Now let us soar down through the corridors of time to the consummation of
all things. "For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet. The last
enemy that shall be destroyed is death. And when all things shall be subdued unto
Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him,
that GOD MAY BE ALL IN ALL" (I Cor. 15:25-28). GOD ALL IN ALL – this will be the
grand conclusion of the whole vast universe and of Christ's redemption. There will come a
day – the glory is such we can form no conception of it, the mystery is so deep we
cannot realize it – when the Son shall deliver up the Kingdom that God gave Him in
His rulership over ALL THINGS – that God may be all-in- all. ALL IN ALL – such
is the grand goal of our God! But I must point out that before that long-ago beginning God
was NOT all-in-all. He was simply A-L-L. There was nothing else. No "thing"
beside Him. There was not even space – for God was ALL. Oh, the mystery of it!
This raises an interesting and important question. If God was "before all
things," then OUT OF WHAT did He CREATE all things! If there was only God, and
absolutely no thing other than God who was all, what kind of material did
God have at His disposal from which to construct the all things? If you were standing
completely alone, with nothing outside your own being existent, what material would be
available for making something other than yourself? The answer is, of course, NOTHING! YOU
WOULD HAVE TO MAKE THE "THINGS" OUT OF YOURSELF! And friend, this is
precisely what God did. Now we can understand the full import of those words inspired by
the blessed Spirit of Truth through the apostle Paul: "Because BY HIM were the all
things created: and Himself is before all, and the all things I-N H-I-M HAVE
CONSISTED" (Col. 1:16-17).
Now let us
return to the nature of this God who was ALL. We must clearly see that God is
all-inclusive, and that He lacks nothing whatsoever. And God is love – all
goodness. Having said that God is complete and therefore good, we can now go on to
describe the attribute through which we are aware of His existence – His desire to
share. This is the consequence, the effect of His goodness. Some have said, and I have
said it too, that God created man because He was alone and yearned for fellowship –
for creatures of like kind with which He could commune. But this falls short of the
absolute nature of God which is the nature of love. Love does not give because of the
desire to receive; rather, love gives purely out of the desire to bless. The
desire for fellowship is the desire to receive – not give! Now God possesses that
attribute also, as we shall presently see, but God is first of all love – the pure
and unmixed desire to impart. Here we have the first principle of creation –
God's infinite desire to impart led to the creation of a vessel to receive His
blessings. The creation of this vessel (the cosmos) was the beginning and the end of
creation. He therefore created the universe with all the hosts thereof, and this world
with its inhabitants. Thus the Creator could now bestow upon the creation His infinite
love and inexhaustible abundance. God is the Lover, creation the beloved! "For God so
loved the world. "
We have
shown that the Creator's nature is sharing or imparting; however, there can be no sharing
unless there is some agent that can receive. So God's infinite desire to impart implies a
desire to fulfill every possible dimension and quality of desires to receive. Can we not
see by this that God's infinite desire to give demands AN AGENT WITH THE DESIRE TO
RECEIVE! The very nature of God requires CREATION! To impart or share with others,
on any level, can only by considered noble or kind when the recipient desires and
enjoys that which is offered to him. When the recipient rejects the gift yet the donor
continues to insist on its acceptance and finally forces him to accept, one can hardly
consider this an act of giving – much less of love. All who read these lines know by
experience that the mere mechanical act of giving is, in itself, unsatisfactory and
unfulfilling. We do not give advice to the mountains, nor do we offer money to animals.
Clearly there must be a desire to receive on the part of the recipient, a knowledge of
what the gift entails and signifies, before we can say we are truly giving. It follows
that God could never give anything to anyone without an active desire to receive on their
part. So the first step in creation was to bring forth the manifestation of the DESIRE TO
RECEIVE! This desire is inherent in creation, although some are so blinded by sin and
benumbed by death that they seek for the answer to their craving in all the wrong places,
even rebelling against the glorious Giver. But God has a plan for all these, to bring them
to repentance (a change of mind and desire), so that they can desire properly and
discover the true source of life and blessing. "The Lord is not slack concerning His
promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that
any should perish, but that ALL SHOULD COME TO REPENTANCE.'' (II Pet. 3:9).
Armed with
the knowledge that there was only God – and no "thing" apart from Him, God
was ALL – it readily follows that because of His nature to give God must create an
instrument with both the capacity and desire to receive. The only way to accomplish this
was for God to withdraw Himself, to remove Himself, that there would be a place or
condition where HE WAS NOT. God is light, the scripture declares, and in Him there
is no darkness at all. Therefore, let it be clearly known that darkness is naught but the
ABSENCE OF GOD! "And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the
face of the deep" (Gen. 1:2). You will understand a great mystery when you see how it
is that the creation was brought forth in the domain of darkness, the realm from which,
though created by God, God had withdrawn Himself! "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" (Rom.
God's
method in His going-forth cannot be better understood than by the use of a somewhat
uncommon word – parsimony. We may say that God's method of realizing Himself
in creation is by parsimony. To use an illustration – if we desire to understand the
composition of the great white rays of light, we break them up into their constituents and
see them as crimson and purple and gold. To break up the composition of the white light we
hold a portion of it back. This is what takes place when we pass it through a prism
or through stained glass. Part of it is held back and we see the remainder. This is
parsimony. To change the figure, those who love little children often act upon the same
principle. We have to shed a portion of our experience, dispense with a part of our
resources, yield up a measure of what we are, and become children ourselves if we are to
understand and relate to children. We isolate some of our persona, as it were. Your
little boy or girl knows you as father, but perhaps your fellow citizens know you as
professor, banker, lawyer, doctor or proprietor. You have a larger life than the little
child knows anything about, and yet to live your fatherhood properly you have to shed the
other persona in the presence of your child and live as a child. What is this but
parsimony! Part of your nature is dismissed, or withdrawn, or held back, that the other
part lived in the home may become to you a richer experience. Many know me as a man of
God, a preacher and teacher of the
It is not
difficult to see how to apply this to God's great principle of creation. God withdrew
Himself creating darkness and void – this is the self-limitation of Deity; or to
state it in other words, God retained, or held back, His full resources in order that
there could be formed outside of Himself and beyond Himself and yet within Himself the desire
to receive. This is righteous, purposeful, divine parsimony. The desire to
receive is the basic mechanism by which the world operates, the dynamic process at the
base of all manifestation. The desire to receive affects all creation because it is the
basis of all creation. As we view the animate creation we find a remarkable physical
dependence upon the external world for survival culminating in man, who has the greatest
desire to receive of all creation -- not only for physical things, but also for
psychological things like peace, happiness and satisfaction, and above all, the deep inner
craving for spiritual life, the insatiable hunger after reality. When God created man male
and female in His image He revealed that He is Himself male and female in His nature and
attributes. God would never have known the action of giving and receiving had He not known
them as characteristics inherent within Himself. The masculine nature is the nature of the
Giver. Aggressiveness, boldness, strength, valor, authority, power and dominion are among
the traits of the masculine sex. And it is the man who supplies the sperm for the creation
of a new life. Thus, man is the Giver. Modesty, gentleness, tenderness, sensitivity and
dependence are attributes of the feminine sex. And it is the woman who receives the sperm
in the act of procreation. Woman is therefore the Receiver. The realm of her reception is in
darkness – the new life, the new creation, the product of her union is formed in
the seclusion and darkness of the womb – space. In its beginning the new life is
without human form and darkness is upon the face of the deep. What marvelous things are
wrought in darkness! Said the Psalmist: "I will praise Thee; for I am fearfully and
wonderfully made: marvelous are Thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My
substance was not hid from Thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the
lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in
Thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet
there was none of them" (Ps. 139:14-16).
I find
myself too confined to set forth this truth as I should do, but let us request of God's
Spirit the ability to see that it is in darkness that the embryo is created, and in that
long ago beginning it was in a great darkness that creation was formed. God the Giver
withdrew Himself from Himself creating space, and within that space He brought
forth creation – the Receiver. In darkness the Receiver existed in a state of lack,
made to lack a little from Elohim. It was a region of rayless darkness. Deepest night
rested over it. It was without from, utterly shapeless in all its parts. It was void,
that is, unfilled up. It knew nothing of God who was to become its fullness. In
none of its parts was there any reception or filling up. Then the Spirit of God began to
move upon the face of this deep. This activity of the Holy Spirit is called that of
"moving" over the face of the waters. The word "move" is from the
Hebrew RACHAPH and occurs only three times in the Old Testament, the other two being
translated "shake" (Jer. 23:9) and "fluttereth" (Deut. 32:11),
respectively. Some commentators relate the word particularly to the hovering of a mother
hen over her chicks. In any case, the idea seems to be mainly that of a rapid back and
forth motion. In modern scientific terminology, the best translation would probably be
"vibrated." If the universe is to be energized, there must be an Energizer. If
it is to be given life, there must be a Life-giver. The vibrating of God over the
creation in darkness is not unlike the movement of the male at that precise moment when he
inseminates the female with the seed of life. It is most appropriate that the first
impartation of energy into the universe is described as the "vibrating" movement
of the Spirit of God Himself – the injection of His life as divine seed into
creation! This movement is immediately followed by the divine fiat: "Let there be
light!" and into the darkness the light shone. In that blessed moment God and
creation began their long journey into union, oneness. The Giver began to give and the
Receiver began to receive. The heart of the Father was pleased. Now there was an object to
Receive out of His infinite desire to Give! The law of creation was begun.
Think it
not strange, my beloved, when your pathway leads you down, down, down into the experience
of darkness and despair. It is in the darkness that the desire to receive is first
kindled within you. We flounder a bit in our understanding of these things, but as time
passes by and the Holy Spirit takes the things of God and reveals them unto us, we begin
to understand that in all the universe a thing is a thing ONLY BECAUSE IT HAS ITS
OPPOSITE. Good without the knowledge of evil can scarcely be called good at all. Who could
possibly speak of the day if night had never been known! There was no first
light except there was darkness before it. What could we know of life if there
were no death! What would we know of health if there were no sickness? What
would we know of wealth if poverty had not spread its spectre upon the
earth? No man can be trusted until he has been EXPOSED TO THE OPPOSITES, until he has been
moved to desire something beyond his darkness, frustration, limitation and lack.
Myriad have been the men who have inquired why God cast the noble and divine spirit
of man into the earthly, sublunar plane, into bodies built of clay, where they endure
sorrow, temptation, pain, sickness, and the constant trials and ruthlessness which this
body of death imposes upon the soul. He might, preferably, have maintained them in His
heavenly sphere where all spirits rejoice in His presence, where once the morning stars
sang and all the sons of God shouted for joy, where they could merit the ineffable
goodness of the divine splendor which is bestowed upon them. Ah! but first, He must create
in us the desire to receive; second, He must involve us in the grand purpose of the
receiving – to mature us into His image until we have thoroughly learned the great
law of His Being, of His Kingdom – it is MORE BLESSED TO GIVE THAN TO RECEIVE! God
created this world peopling it with earthly bodies through which the soul must labor and
struggle. By experience and travail, through faith and patience we attain His objective of
purification, wisdom, understanding and holiness; without the struggle this necessitates,
we would be nothing more than idle recipients of God's blessing. It has been demonstrated
time and again that that which costs a man nothing is generally unappreciated. The natural
consequence of eating unearned bread, of receiving something for nothing – that is
not earned by labor and travail – is folly and shame. Ah, beloved, there is purpose
in affliction. There is purpose in trial. There is purpose in temptation.
There is purpose in suffering. There is purpose in sorrow. There is purpose
in pain. There is purpose in sickness and infirmity. There is purpose in
light and darkness. There is purpose in limitation and abundance. There is divine purpose
in all the inter-play between good and evil in our lives. One who grows up in a sheltered
environment, who is pampered all his life, grows up a weak, spineless individual.
ADVERSITY builds strength of character. If we were never exposed to trials and
tribulation, we would grow up weak indeed! The more we are exposed to ADVERSE
circumstances, the more we have to wrestle with our environment, the more we are
challenged by the world around us, the stronger we become. Saints, if we would be the sons
of the Most High (the ultimate Givers) we must be strong in the Lord and in the power of
His might! Our Father wants us to be strong, so He has wisely given us strong currents of
opposition so we will become strong. There is a great and magnificent future ahead for the
sons of God, and a great work our Father has for us to do in the age and the ages to come,
and He is preparing us and making us ready for the high and holy place He has for us. Can
we not see that all the opposing forces we now encounter are working together for our good
– to develop the strength, character, wisdom, faith and power we must acquire? Have
you noticed how strangely Matthew and Mark speak of Christ's temptation? "And
immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness to be tempted of the
devil." (Mk. 1:12; Mat. 4:1). What a strange statement! The Holy Spirit of God
drives the sinless 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 this Son to be PROVEN, to be made STRONG, to OVERCOME in these realms before
proceeding on into His glorious sonship ministry and the death of the cross. Truly God
creates darkness and void and uses it, too, for His glory!
You see,
God only makes us Receivers in order that we may become Givers. The woman receives the
seed of life from the man, but in bringing that child into the world she is miraculously
transformed into a Giver! "For the man is not of the woman; but the woman (Eve) of
the man. Nevertheless. . .as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the
woman" (I Cor. 11:8-12). The Word of God bears immutable testimony to this
wonderful truth. Father Abraham heard the call of God and got him out of his own country,
from his father's house and his father's kindred, and sojourned to a land that God showed
him. God gave to him the promise of a seed and that in this seed all the families of the
earth would be blessed. After many years of experience in
The
feminine Receiver in turn acquires the masculine character of Giver. This principle is
seen again in the order of the life-cycle – children are Receivers, everything
provided for them out of the bounty of the parents. In due process, however, the child
grows up and becomes an adult – a Giver. In maturity, out of his nature to Give, the
process of creation is extended. The parent creates, just as God did! a receiver,
a new life, to the end that his desire to Give may find fulfillment in pouring lavishly
upon the child of his love. So in all of nature the law of creation is in wonder beheld
– one Receives to become a Giver; he then himself creates a Receiver in order to Give
– and the process goes on from generation to generation, from age to age. Certainly
this sublime truth is alluded to in the inspired words of the apostle wherein he says,
"For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen,
being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead"
(Rom.
It might
be thought that Giving, the first aspect through which Creator God is known to us, implies
diminishing or loss. At times our experience in this world is that, after we have shared
or given something, we are left with less than we had before. Although we have perceived
it thus, if we are quickened by the Holy Spirit to have eyes to see and hearts to
understand the nature of all things, we will soon discern that this is not truly the case,
since giving is the prerequisite for receiving. "Give, and it shall be given unto
you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give
into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you
again" (Lk.
Brethren,
I deplore the vain prattle that is being preached today concerning so-called "seed
faith." From coast to coast preachers are saying the very opposite of what I am
saying here. They unashamedly tell people that the way to get out of debt and unleash an
abundance of financial blessing is to plant "seed money," to give in
order to get! They persuade tens of thousands of Christians that if only they will
send in their "seed faith" offering to God's servant God will bless and prosper
them, they will soon have all their bills paid, they will have the finest and best of all
the good things the world has to offer, and an abundance of the amenities of life. My
beloved, I do not hesitate to tell you that the only ones being financially blessed and
prospering and getting rich out of this carnal teaching are the slick preachers who are
hoodwinking God's precious people into sending them their hard-earned money. It is
wondrously true – give and it shall be given unto you! But it is a monstrous farce to
teach people to give IN ORDER TO GET. Giving to get is contrary to the nature of God,
contradictory to the law of creation, and runs counter to the principles of the
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 and daughters are of His own
nature. The SONS OF LOVE! The DAUGHTERS OF LOVE! What blessed titles! Little wonder, then,
that the whole vast creation, sold under slavery and bondage to sin, sorrow, and death
groans and travails for the manifestation of the SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF LOVE! To know this
is a wonderful help to faith. It teaches us that to love God, or the brethren, or our
enemies, or the whole wretched race of men, is not a thing self-effort can attain. We can
do it only because the divine love is dwelling in us; only as far as we yield ourselves to
the divine love as a living power within, as a life that has been born into us, and that
the Holy Spirit strengthens into action. Our part is first of all to rest, to cease from
effort, to meditate deeply upon the depths of His love to us, to know that He is in us,
and to give way to the love that dwells and works in us a power that is from above. The
love of God reigns. The Spirit of God still waits to take possession of the heart where He
has hitherto had no room. Love is timeless, eternal, unbounded. God so loved. He
loves still. Though one hundred and sixty billions of men have lived and died and gone to
Christless graves, HE LOVES THEM STILL. He will deal and deal in mercy and judgment until
the desire to receive in them responds to Him as the one and only infinite supply. Oh, my
dear friend, can you believe that? His mercy endureth forever, throughout all ages, and
love will conquer, praise His name! Don't you believe for one moment the hideous lie that
there are vessels created with the desire to receive that somehow will escape God's love
and slip away into eternal death or everlasting torment. Such an idea is repugnant to all
who know the truth and flies in the face of both the nature and wisdom of God the
Creator-Giver.
When God created man in His own image he was ONE, not separated in the
beginning into two persons. Thus he remained until the Lord separated the feminine from
the masculine, making Adam and Eve, man and woman, to exist separately. Within the one
man's nature were both masculine and feminine elements, all the possibilities of male and
female, all the potential of fruit and of power, wisdom and love, strength and nurture.
This spiritual man, being a son of God, possessed that perfect chaste virgin WITHIN
HIMSELF and could have replenished the whole earth with his kind in God's image by a word
of power.
We shall not at this moment consider the process by which God
separated the female from the male, making Adam and Eve, man and woman, but we should
carefully point out that following this separation, though existing in two bodies, and two
personalities, inspiration declares in both the Old Testament and in the New that the man
and his wife were ONE FLESH. Husbands and wives, according to the ordinance of Almighty
God, are ONE FLESH, ONE UNIT, yea, ONE PERSON. The "thus saith the Lord"
concerning the matter is simply stated in these inspired words: "From the beginning
of the creation God made them male and female. For this cause shall a man leave his
father and mother, and cleave to his wife; and the TWO shall become ONE FLESH, so
that they are NO LONGER TWO, but ONE FLESH. What therefore God has united - joined
together - let not man separate or divide" (Mk. 10:6-9, KJV & Amplified).
It was not the burning self-desire of Adam that caused Eve to come
forth, but the purpose of God. It was God Himself who initiated the whole process, for the
record states, "And the LORD GOD said, It is NOT GOOD for the man to be alone; I WILL
MAKE him an help meet for him" (Gen. 2:18). "Meet" is an old English
word meaning "suitable, fit, proper." The whole flavor of the word
"meet" is to fit, join, combine, agree, be in union, be together. No hostility
here! No war between the sexes' And no division. God made a help to fit, join, combine,
agree, be in union, yes, to be ONE with Adam!
When he that readeth can grasp the truth that God bears within Himself
both the characteristics of male and female, of Father and Mother, then he can better
understand the divine word spoken "in the beginning" when God said, "Let us
make man in our image, after our likeness: so, in the image of God created He him;
MALE AND FEMALE created He them!" (Gen. 1:26-27). When Eve had been built by the
skillful hand of the Creator and presented to Adam, he had an immediate name for what Eve
obviously was. Not her given name, Eve, as we term it in English, but what kind of
creature she was. Hebrew is simpler than English, and more plainly explains exactly what a
woman is: ISH is the Hebrew word for man, and ISHA is the feminine form of ISH or man.
Adam said, "Now here is bone exactly like my bone, and flesh exactly like my flesh,
because she was built from what was taken from me, I will call her "isha" –
a FEMALE MAN! Adam merely added a single letter to the word which stood for himself, to
define the quality of difference: sex. And God confirmed Adam's understanding that they
were both exactly alike despite the obvious outward differences: "In the day
that God created man, in the likeness of God made He him; male and female created He
them; and blessed them, and called THEIR name ADAM, in the day when they were
created" (Gen. 5:13). To both God and Adam it was ONE CREATION "in the image of
God."
Ish. Isha. Male. Female. Both Adam. Both man. Both in the image of
God! Isha signifies, no matter how uncouth the sound to our ears, MAN-NESS. So in the old
Latin the word for man is VIR and the word for woman is VIRA – a FEMALE MAN! The
English word "woman" also confirms this truth, for it is a contraction of the
old Anglo-Saxon term "womb-man" – a MAN with a womb! When Adam said that
Eve must be called "isha," it was as though for "wife" one would say
"she-man." God blessed the union of ish and isha, this ONE CREATION HE CALLED
ADAM.
When Eve had been built by the skillful hand of the Creator we read
that He "brought her unto the man" (Gen. 2:22). I cannot conceive of anything
more explicit and meaningful than that wonderful type. I say to every soul reading these
lines, Have you been brought to Christ where Christ is? If you do not know union with the
Christ in your spirit, you will never know union with Him in the sky nor in any heaven
anywhere in all of God's great universe. And know this, oh man, you cannot be spiritual by
effort. Many seek to be spiritual by prayer, reading the Word, devotedness, attending
meetings; but the only pathway to it is to be brought by the Spirit to realize union with
Christ. You are spiritual by union. What was Eve's thought when her eyes first rested upon
Adam? I doubt not that she was completely overwhelmed and immediately drawn by
irresistible cords of love and passionate desire to find union with him.
The allegory of lover and beloved, bride and groom, union of marriage,
gives to us one of the best examples of the ONENESS which we desire to share with Christ,
which we desire within our own selves, the union of soul and spirit. We are weary of the
realm of duality and separation. We are tired of speaking in tongues one minute and flying
off the handle the next. From the time when Christ came into our lives we have battled
this dualness – our mind often pulled to the direction of the flesh, our spirit
yearning for that life from above which alone would satisfy. Thank God! the Spirit of
Christ within is gaining the ascendancy as the soul becomes more and more subdued. But the
prayer remains, "that they all may be ONE."
JOINT DOMINION
When in the distant mists of
There was no inequality even considered. No superiority or inferiority
alluded to. No hint of Eve's being a second-class creation. Differences, yes. But
differences do not make for an inferior or superior individual, they only make him a
different individual. Women can have babies, men can't. That's a difference. Men generally
have a stronger musculature than women – that's a difference. Trying to prove
equality between the sexes by playing the other fellow's game is not wise or logical, does
not make sense - and proves nothing. It is not necessary for women to become mechanics or
soldiers for them to prove their equality. It is not necessary for men to become
homemakers or to bear children and give suck for them to prove equality with women. When
God made Eve – here now was a creature EQUAL WITH ADAM, another PERSON, a SHE-MAN
with whom he could share everything!
"God created man in His own image . male and female
created He THEM. And God blessed THEM, and God said unto THEM, Be fruitful and multiply,
and replenish the earth, and SUBDUE IT; and HAVE DOMINION over every living thing that
moveth upon the earth" (Gen. 1:26-28). My reader will observe the change from
"him" to "them." We are not presented with the actual fact of the
formation of the woman until chapter two; but even here we find God blessing
"them," and giving "them" JOINTLY THE PLACE OF UNIVERSAL GOVERNMENT.
All the inferior orders of creation were set under their JOINT DOMINION. Eve received all
her blessings in Adam: in him, too, she got her dignity and position and power. Though not
yet called into her individual identity, she was, in the purpose of God, looked at as part
of the man. Universal dominion was not given to Adam alone; it was not said, "Let HIM
have dominion," but "Let THEM have dominion." There was no other creature
so near to Adam as Eve, because no other creature was part of himself. What affection Eve
had for Adam! What nearness she enjoyed! What intimacy of communion! What full
participation in his thoughts! In all his dignity, and in all his glory, wisdom and power,
she was entirely ONE. He did not rule OVER her, but WITH her. He was lord of the whole
creation, and she was ONE WITH HIM! THEY were the king and queen of the universe!
Then shall the True Man – the Lord from heaven, the corporate man
composed of "many sons brought to glory" – take His seat upon the throne,
and in companionship with His bride – the New Eve, the cleansed and perfected Church
– rule over a restored creation. This church is quickened out of the grave of Christ,
taken from His riven side, being thus "of His body, of His flesh, and of His
bones." He is the Head and she the body, making ONE NEW MAN, as we read in the fourth
chapter of Ephesians, "Till we all come, in the unity of the faith, and of the
knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of
the fullness of Christ" (Eph. 4:13). And who is this "Perfect
Man"? CHRIST AND HIS BRIDE, CHRIST MALE AND FEMALE – THE LAST MAN ADAM AND
THE NEW EVE!
The sons of God are the
There is neither time nor space to consider the myriad ghastly
consequences of the fall of man, but I would draw your attention to one disastrous result.
The curses reaped CAUSED THE INEQUALITIES BETWEEN THE SEXES so prominent in the history of
the human family. Life became a burden and a struggle. The beauty and equality of man and
woman in the garden of Eden disappeared. Strife, guilt, shame, discord, competition and
pain took over – the way of the flesh held sway!
While the loss of oneness and equality between "ish" and
"isha" was tragic indeed, this was but the sad fruit of DISUNITY WITH GOD which
had already invaded their lives. There is a most enlightening statement by the apostle
Paul, quoted earlier, wherein he admonishes, "But I fear, lest by any means, as the
serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the
SIMPLICITY that is in Christ" (II Cor. 11:3). The whole purpose of the serpent's
beguilement was to CORRUPT THE MIND FROM THE SINGLENESS THAT EXISTS IN UNION WITH THE
SPIRIT. The word "simplicity" actually is the Greek word for
"singleness," from the same root as used in the verse, "When thine eye is
single, thy whole body also is full of light" (Lk.
The dreadful fruit of disunity with God is disunity in every other
realm, for "HE is our peace" (Eph.
Can we not see by this that the headship of man over woman CAME AS A
RESULT OF THE FALL AND AS A PART OF THE CURSE? It is my long considered opinion that there
is actually no particle of evidence anywhere in the whole Bible to support the notion that
Adam had the headship over Eve before the fall. The dreadful sentence laid upon Eve that
fateful day in Eden is if I err not, the announcement of a condition that should occur
with respect to the vast majority of women through succeeding ages and dispensations
– but NOT ONE THAT SHOULD HOLD PERPETUALLY, for God purposed that the day would
surely come when "there shall be no more curse!" (Rev. 22:3).
The same seeds of confusion and duplicity which brought disunity with
God, swiftly brought disunity in the human family, beginning with Adam and Eve, in view of
which the Lord established a LAW to maintain order in the home, pronouncing to the woman,
"Thy desire shall be SUBJECT to thy husband, and HE SHALL RULE OVER THEE." God
allowed women to be brought down into such a place of servitude and subjection to men that
at the period in which Jesus came into the world, women were held in such a low place of
subjection and bondage that in many cases they were not allowed to walk down the streets
beside their husbands or to sit in the same room with their husbands when their husbands
had company. They had been brought into many forms of bondage. In Eastern lands, even
today, we see women the slaves of men, shut away in harems and purdahs. They have no
rights, no privileges. The man is able to marry other women and to divorce his wives at
will, to beat and cruelly misuse them. We see how the rule of man has brought women into a
state of utter misuse and bondage.
That this arrangement was not God's original arrangement nor His
eternal order, is evidenced by the fact that man's domination over woman is strictly
enforced by the law of Moses, of which law Paul by inspiration wrote, "Wherefore then
serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, T-I-L-L THE SEED SHOULD
COME TO WHOM THE PROMISE WAS MADE" (Gal.
The order of things under the fall is not man's normal state. Eve in
Eden was not like the women of today; her state was far better and more excellent; she and
her husband were completely ONE – one flesh, one body, one soul, one spirit, one
will, one mind, one desire, one hope, one purpose, one power and one position. How can one
person rule over the other when the TWO ARE ONE in every way? It is high time for a people
to begin to move out of the "in-part" realm of the church world today, to rise
up and possess that true and eternal and divine order of THE KINGDOM OF GOD. There is a
place, even in this physical dimension, where husband and wife can so become ONE in the
mind of Christ until no headship or dominion of one over the other is necessary or
appropriate.
Under the law women were not independent legal entities. Like the
minor, the deaf-mute, and the idiot, they could not serve as witnesses in court; they
could not inherit equally with male heirs; they could not divorce their husbands; the
husband kept money earned by his wife and owned anything she gained or found by chance. In
short, under the law the wife was THE PROPERTY OF HER HUSBAND and classified as inferior,
being listed together with his other chattels. "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's
house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's WIFE, nor his manservant, not his maidservant,
nor his ox, nor his ass, NOR ANYTHING THAT IS THY NEIGHBOR'S" (Ex.
TRANSCENDING THE CURSE. BACK TO
There are those ministers who insist that it is not God's order for a
woman to have any place of leadership or authority in the Church whatever, and especially
no place of authority or leadership over any man in the Church; no matter how carnal or
unanointed that man might be, or how anointed or how spiritual the woman might be; and
that God will not anoint any woman to any kind of ministry or leadership or authority in
the Church, the body of Christ. Most who have written on this subject hitherto have titled
their articles, WOMAN'S PLACE IN THE CHURCH, but this is by far an over simplification of
the question. For one cannot come to a full understanding of the full answer to this
question without coming to an understanding of woman's place in the progressive unfolding
of the total plan and purpose of God for His creation that we find in the Scriptures from
Genesis through Revelation. Woman's place in the total scheme of God's Divine Plan
has been progressively changing: first, for the worse and then for the better, since God
brought her forth here on this earth out of Adam.
In this connection Paul gives a most significant and important
instruction to the church at
God
Christ
Man
Woman
The first surprise in the chain of command is that Christ is subject
to God the Father. He is equal with God, very God, but He is subject to the Father. In the
It is no shame, no dishonor, for a woman to be under authority, if the
Lord Jesus Himself is submitted to the Headship of God the Father. Position
in the order of headship has nothing to do with the individual’s worth to God or
capabilities in the
The word “covered” is from the Greek KATAKALUPTO meaning
“to cover wholly, i.e. veil, hide” It means to be veiled or hidden
from view beneath a veil. The veil in Eastern culture was a piece of cloth worn by a woman
to conceal her face and cover her head. It was not a mere shawl, hat, or mesh worn upon
the top of the head. An Israelite woman wore a veil at the time of her wedding. When
Rebekah first saw Isaac, she put on her veil and, afterwards, they were married (Gen.
24:65-67). Jacob’s inability to recognize that Leah had been substituted for Rachel
on his wedding night can be explained by the face that Leah was veiled – Jacob could
not see her! Her face was hidden from him. Still today in many Eastern countries the women
wear veils to conceal their faces from the gazes of all men except their husbands. Thus,
the veil is designed specifically to hide, conceal or cover a woman’s face, just as
the veil in the temple was to conceal the glory in the most Holy Place, and the veil on
Moses’ face was to cloud the brilliance of the glory that shown from him.
Various false teachings have arisen out of Paul’s writing about
the woman’s head being covered due to the careless inattentiveness to what the
passage really says, as well as a lack of the spirit of wisdom and revelation from God.
The teaching that all women must be spiritually “covered” by a male or a
ministry is not the only error that has emerged from this portion of scripture. Others
have taken these verses to mean that woman must have her head covered with some
sort of wrap, such as a scarf, hat, bonnet or cap, while she is praying or ministering. In
What is the Holy Spirit’s real meaning in these verses and what
does it signify for the woman’s “head” to be “covered”? We will
be greatly helped in our understanding when we clearly see that the woman’s
“head,” by Paul’s own definition, is her HUSBAND! Is that not what Paul
plainly says? “But I would have you know that… the head of the woman is
the man… every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head (her man,
husband) uncovered, dishonoureth her head (husband).” It means that when a woman
PRAYS (ministers to God) or PROPHESIES (ministers from God) her husband MUST
BE COVERED, HIDDEN FROM VIEW, REMOVED FROM HIS POSITION OF HEADSHIP OVER HER, so that we
move up to the next order of Headship and CHRIST BECOMES HER HEAD. If her husband-head is
not covered, hidden, or removed from his headship over her, then she would be required to pray
through her husband! The prayer would then pass from her husband through Christ (his
Head) on to God. Conversely, if her husband-head is not covered, hidden, or removed from
his place of headship over the woman, prophecy would have to flow from God through Christ,
then through her husband, to her. But having her husband-head covered, hidden, or removed
from his position of headship over her, she approaches God directly through Christ just as
her husband does and she receives divine revelation anointing and ministry directly from
Christ just as does the man.
For, you see, CHRIST IS HEAD OF THE CHURCH! Christ is not Head of only
the men in the church. He is Head of the entire church! He is Head of the children
in the church. He is Head of the women in the church. He is Head of everyone in the church
– male and female. So – in the church, that is, in the spirit man
has NO HEADSHIP OVER THE WOMAN! A woman may be subject to her husband, but she can still
go directly to God through Christ to ask for anything she needs or desires, and get it as
quickly as if she were a man. Hear well what Paul says in Gal. 3:28 “There is neither
Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female:
for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” and when God chooses to speak through a woman He
neither consults the man nor does He channel His spirit to her through the man. Once we
are born into the
To those who can receive it the following words will give help and
light. We must see that there are rules for the fleshly, or earthly man, and there is a
higher order for the spiritual, or heavenly man. In the Spirit, women are equal with men,
and each must submit to Christ as their spiritual Head. In the flesh, in the marriage
relationship, in the mundane things or mortal life, man has a headship over the woman as
long as we are walking after the flesh. But women are never to submit to a man that which
is the Lord’s! Most women of God experience two marriages. They are married to Christ
on one level and to their husbands on another level. In the physical union of man and
woman, God placed man as the head – until that physical union is caught up into the
fullness of Christ. However, in the Spirit each of them is responsible to God. No man can
obtain salvation or any other spiritual ministry or attainment for his wife. Nor does God
respect man’s headship when He chooses to move upon or through the wife. God channels
nothing to the wife through the husband and in her relationship with God that wife
does not channel her prayers, praise, love, commitment, or any other spiritual thing to
God through her husband. The husband is COVERED, CONCEALED, HIDDEN, REMOVED FROM
HIS PLACE OF HEADSHIP IN THAT SPIRITUAL REALM. If a woman’s head (husband) is not
covered, she dishonors her head, making him as grotesque figure, out of the order of God.
And if a man prays or prophesies with his Head (Christ) covered, he dishonors his Head by
coming to God and receiving from God apart from Jesus Christ. How simple is the truth!
God is in the process of gathering all things together into one IN
CHRIST (Eph. 1:9-11). Women can rise above the curse and be restored to their original
position of authority given her in the beginning before the “fall”. That
position was one of equality and joint dominion with her husband. The
command to have dominion over, and subdue the earth was given to both Adam and Eve. They
were to rule together over the Lord’s creation. The very act of subduing something
requires authority, aggressiveness and leadership. And when the woman moves in the Spirit,
under the Headship of Christ – there, in Christ, her and her husband’s equality
and joint dominion are restored!
Before passing on I will mention one other thing, for someone is bound
to ask. When men pray, prophecy, or move in any kind of spiritual ministry they are not to
dishonor their Head-Jesus. Their Head is not to be covered, hidden, or removed. Men
and women alike come to God through Christ Jesus in all things. Any man who aspires to
attain a place in God apart from Jesus Christ has His Head covered and dishonors his
Head. Any man who is submitted to a ministry, an organization, a headquarters, or some
authority other than the Christ has his Head covered and dishonors his Head. And
finally, let us reverently consider the exhortation of the Spirit: “For if the
woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn
or shaven, let her be covered” (I Cor.11:6). The hair is a
symbol of the anointing. Samson’s long hair was the source of his strength,
anointing, and authority. When it was shaved he was helpless, but when it grew back he was
able to pull the great
This age of grace, through which the Church has passed during nineteen
hundred years and more, has been a time when the Spirit of God has been working upon the
body of Christ to bring each elect member of that body to the measure of the stature of
the fullness of the Christ. During this time God has progressively been working to inwork
His full redemption in our very natures, transforming us into New Creation people. With
the coming of Jesus, with his pouring out His life upon the cross, the way was opened for
both men and women to be cleansed and redeemed FROM EVERY EFFECT OF THE CURSE that came
through the fall; so that both men and women might be born again – regenerated,
recreated – and become completely NEW CREATURES with no taint of the curse of the
fall upon them. Ah, dear ones, this is the glory set before the Sons and Daughters of the
Most High, not just to learn how to live and conduct ourselves in this travail under the
curse, but to be made free from the curse, to live and walk tall and strong and triumphant
in the glorious and eternal reality of the Kingdom of God! "Christ hath redeemed us
from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us" (Gal.
Mr. Husband and Mrs. Wife, there is no one grand leap into the ONENESS
of which I speak, no instant perfection, no short cut into the fullness of redemption
purchased by Jesus, for redemption is a PROCESS. Husbands and wives do not automatically
become ONE in mind, will, desire, and purpose because of a salvation experience or the
infilling of the Holy Spirit. Being "born ones of God," indwelt by His Spirit,
we now have the POTENTIAL to ascend into that higher plane of life, to lay hold upon the
reality lost in the fall, and to experience the inworkings of the change which results in
an entirely new STATE OF BEING, making us LIKE HIM, transformed in nature and restored to
the glory we had "in Him" before the world was.
So many preachers and Christians get bogged down with some of the
literal, letter-of-the-Word statements about man's headship and woman's submission, that
they miss the point of God's overall purpose. In the distance it seems my ear can hear
some of them even now hotly contesting these things I am writing, demanding to learn from
me if I do not believe the statements made by Paul and others where it is affirmed that
"the head of the woman is the man," "wives submit yourselves unto your own
husbands in everything," and "let the wives be in subjection to their
husbands." This is unquestionably the order of God for husbands and wives AS LONG AS
THEY ARE WALKING IN IMPERFECTION, DUPLICITY, AND A CONDITION OF VARIANCE AND DISUNITY.
When two are not one, when two are not joined in the mind of Christ in the same spirit,
heart, desire, will and purpose, then it should not be difficult for us to understand that
ONE MUST SUBMIT so there will be peace and order. Even the world understands that you
cannot have TWO BOSSES in any business! The scriptural order for husbands and wives in the
realm of imperfection and carnality is for the wife to submit to her husband in all
things.
The very word "submission" presupposes variance,
disagreement, division, dissention, strife, hostility, etc. Let me illustrate. If the
husband wants to spend the winter in
Husband! If you have received the call to sonship do not rule over
your wife like a tyrant, do not act like she is some servant who must cater to your every
whim. Seek not to rule over her at all, you who would be free from the curse, but in deep
humility seek earnestly in the fear of God to be MADE ONE with your wife in everything.
Wife! You who have been apprehended to the high calling of God in Christ, do not be
resentful toward your husband, do not demand your rights or walk in an independent spirit.
Neither should you see your role as being a sweet little wimpy, mindless, submissive wife.
The Lord would impart to your spirit this high and holy vision of BECOMING ONE with your
husband in the mind and nature of the Son of God! If God cannot perfect such a glorious
work within us then He is not God, we are not sons, and "let us go on to
perfection" is a farce!
Thank God! there is an order for us in our weakness and carnality:
headship and submission. But my soul shouts unending hallelujahs that this carnal realm is
not our abiding place, merely a temporary encampment while we pass through the processings
of God, TRANSFORMED INTO THE IMAGE OF HIS SON. In that blest realm male and female are
UNITED IN ONE to walk once more in the splendor of
I must tell you frankly that I have absolutely no ambition to live
under the curse and RULE OVER MY WIFE, nor do I have one whit of desire for HER to be
subject to ME. Ah, yes, we must yet submit ourselves to one another and, I must not shirk
my responsibilities in headship to love and cherish and honor my wife, making wise
judgments in the home when one must make a final decision in some matter upon which we are
not agreed, and my wife must reverence my position, but this arrangement is but for a
season, according to the measure that we both still find in our natures the working of
carnality with all the old emotions and cravings of self-hood, variance and duplicity. But
the one overwhelming desire which crieth from the depths of my regenerated spirit and
pulsates continually within my breast is not for HER SUBMISSION but for OUR ONENESS. This
has been attained in measure, where HIS SALVATION has been perfectly wrought out in our
lives, in those areas where we have died to self and put on the mind of Christ, our minds
and desires and wills have been MADE ONE IN HIS, and it is joy unspeakable and full of
glory!
It is a great mystery, we know, yet in spite of such divine revelation
and truth as this there comes the monstrous evil of "women's liberation" to
captivate the simple minded. God's blessed provision in
Having mused with awe and delight upon the gracious purposes of an
all-wise God, begun in ages past, unfolding in the present, to be carried to their
ultimate and glorious intention in regenerated men and women who have been transformed by
the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, with what more fitting words could I bring to
close the brief study of male and female than by quoting that blessed epigram of assurance
left by that masterful exponent of God's purpose, who, after reminding us that we are
accepted in the Beloved, chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, blessed with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, and predestinated to placement as sons of the
Most High, avowed that that same grace would continue to work in all men until
"according to that which seemed good to Him, which good thing He purposed in Himself,
with respect to an administration of the completion of the epochs of time TO BRING BACK
AGAIN TO THEIR ORIGINAL STATE ALL THINGS IN THE CHRIST, the things in the heavens and the
things on the earth, in Him, in whom also we were an inheritance, having been previously
marked out according to the purpose of the One who operates all things according to the
counsel of His will, with a view to our being to the praise of His glory." (Eph.
1:10-12, Wuest).
Ah, hear the word of the Lord and take heed, all husbands and wives
who hope to attain to God's high calling, for I declare to you that there is a HIGHER
ORDER of the
Having said all this, let us now apply this beautiful truth
spiritually and internally, to Christ the Bridegroom in our spirit, and to us the bride in
our soul. Spiritually, this means that as long as we walk in imperfection and duplicity
THE SPIRIT IS GIVEN HEADSHIP OVER THE SOUL. The soul is commanded to be under obedience
and is to be subjected under the authority of the spirit. Ah, but the headship of the man
over the woman was never part of God's original order in the heavenly realm of the
The wonderful goal is not just our will, our mind, and our emotions
SUBMITTED to His will and way, but ONLY HIS WILL! In the marriage union of spirit and soul
there is one new creature, Christ, with one mind, one will, one emotion – HIS made
OURS. Blessed union! It is not His mind controlling our mind, but it is our
possessing HIS mind. This is CHRIST IN YOU the hope of glory. It is more than just a
"fill me" with more of God, but a being swallowed up into Him, that henceforth
it is "no longer I, but CHRIST liveth in me" (Gal.
Prefigured by Adam and Eve in Eden, this is the perfect man, man in
the image of God, male and female, spirit and soul dwelling in the Garden of the body,
united in one, given dominion over all things. These are rising from the far country of
sin and self, and from the confusion and limitation of religious
There is one footnote I would add to all I have shared about the fall
of male and female into disunity and their glorious restoration in redemption. As we look
back at the awful sentence that fell upon mankind, observe how the scriptures clearly
reveal that God did not curse Adam. God cursed the ground for his sake, that it would
produce thorns and thistles, causing the man to toil and earn his living by the sweat of
his face. He curses Satan. He said, “you are cursed… and dust you shall eat all
the days of your life.” His existence would be right on the ground right in
earthliness, in the dust of that earth which Adam was. God said that Eve would suffer in
childbirth because she was going to bring forth children. Why should she not suffer
because she was going to bring forth this Adamic man? She would constantly bring forth one
who would minister sin and perpetuate death until Christ put an end to it. God did not
curse Eve,
even though people often call it a curse.
There is a passage of scripture in the New Testament which, though
kept obscure, throws tremendous light upon why God did not directly curse either Adam or
Eve. When Paul was writing his instructions to Timothy regarding the conduct of the
church, he made this most remarkable and enlightening statement, every word of which I
believe. Hear well what he said: “I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp
authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed (the formed man,
not the created one), then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman
being deceived was in the transgression” (I Tim
As you know the story,
after they had eaten and found themselves naked, they attempted to hide from God. But God
found them, or discovered them to themselves, and He called all three, Adam, Eve, and the
serpent, before Him. God asked, “Adam why did you do this?” Adam’s reply
was “Well, the woman you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did
eat.” Of course he ate; and I am glad that he did; I honor him for it, and am proud
of the primal ancestor of the race. It would have been a sorry piece of unmanliness,
disloyalty and unlove if he would have refused to eat and so left the woman to bear the
brunt of her error alone outside the Garden, while he remained within. I have heard
countless preachers talking about Adam hiding behind the skirts of a woman, pointing the
finger and blaming it all on the woman. I have no use for such distorted reasoning. Adam
was actually saying to God, “God, you bear the responsibility for this. You gave me
Eve, you gave me a companion to be with me, and should I not cleave to her? Would you have
one desert her? Did you not sanction the law that a man is to leave his father and mother
and cleave only to his wife? Do with us what you will; we share the consequences together;
and Thou art the One, Thou the Creator, who has put this necessity upon me.” Truly
the cry of Adam’s heart was a cry of deep and unextinguished love. It was,
furthermore, the cry of a broken heart praying for strength, praying for grace and for
help to bear up under the load. Adam’s wonderful and glorious world had suddenly
collapsed around him. Everything that God had given the man and woman in
Paul, writing the deepest truth to the saints at
I have said all this to bring us to the knowledge that Christ knew His
wife, the church, his “other body,” always. He knew her before she sinned, even
as Adam knew Eve before she sinned. There was a time in the realm of Spirit when Christ
knew us in that long ago beginning before man was lowered into this dense material realm,
when once we existed as spirits in the image and likeness of God. “For whom He did foreknow,
He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son” (Rom.
The Christ is able to cleanse, purify and quicken His wife. He can
take away the sin, carnality and death that the first Adam was impotent to do anything
about. Christ Himself has walked in the midst of humanity, not high above us in holiness
and incorruptibility, but in the very midst of our mortality, shame, and need. It behooved
Himself to be made in all points like unto us. And even now He has not gone off and set
Himself down on a celestial throne in some far-off heaven somewhere, saying, “I will
do the best I can for you from a safe distance.” No! He has come to us, yea, within
us, as God hath said, “I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their
God, and they shall be my people” (II Cor.
The woman is the soul of man
That Adam died to keep;
Ordained of God, it was His plan
To save the wayward sheep.
Christ tasted death for
every man
That He might win His bride:
“Church of the Firstborn Son of God,”
And for His church He died.
Adam knew what he was
doing,
He did not believe the lie;
But Eve transgressed because she did…
And so do you and I.
Full well he knew the poison
In the cup upon that tree,
But he tasted it for her sake
‘Twas the Father’s will, you see.
He knew the truth that Christ should be
The ransom for all men;
He knew that he should surely die,
But he would rise again.
He knew the Lamb of God was slain
Before the world was founded,
And on this blessed knowledge
Was the HOPE of Adam grounded.
- Lora Huston
Chapter 30
MALE AND FEMALE
(continued)
"And God said, let us
make man in our image, after our likeness: so God created man in His own image, in the
image of God created He him; MALE AND FEMALE created He them" (Gen. 1:26-27).
Of all the mysteries that have perplexed the people of God throughout
the ages none has proved to be a source of misunderstanding and contention among saints
more than the relationship between male and female. As we pursue this subject I feel it
necessary to point out that all natural things have spiritual counterparts, all physical
things picture and portray higher and greater realities in the spiritual realm. The
shallow understanding of the church system and the superficial teaching of its unspiritual
ministry are the basic causes of the gross ignorance among most Christians of the
transcendent SPIRITUAL REALITIES accessible in the realm of the
By spiritual experience and revelation one can approach God and
establish a relationship with the living God who is Spirit. The one who sees and
understands by the Spirit makes contact with the Creator of all and therefore comprehends
the true nature of all things. Thus, there are two ways of seeing. One is by the natural
eye of observation by which man sees things as they are or as they appear in the physical
world. The spiritual man, however, can see the way things came to be what they are, for he
understands the process of creation., The first way sees the status quo, reality as it is
presented to the physical senses. The other, that of the spirit of wisdom and revelation,
sees beyond that which is manifest to the senses. If a rabbit is pulled out of a hat, it
is astonishing only to those who did not see how he was put in. Those who see the world
only as it appears to them, as the truth and the reality of things are confronted with a
world that seems full of pain, sorrow, struggle, fate, and meaninglessness; to them there
is a world that is real but confusing, and there is a God who is somewhere beyond it. The
eyes of the spirit, however, discerning the mind, ways, and purposes of the Lord of the
universe, is able to see reality in a more transcendent way. They have become aware of
another sort of reality, spiritual reality, which is merely symbolized or figured by the
natural realm.
In the Garden of Eden story many people seem to think that Eve
symbolizes woman as a sex and that Adam somehow stands for men as a sex, but the truth
goes far beyond this. It is significant to note that in most languages of earth ALL THINGS
are classified in one of the three genders: masculine, feminine, or neuter. This means
that not only are living things classified as male or female, but a great number of other
things as well. For example, in the English language a ship is in the feminine gender and
is always referred to as “she” or “her.” In the language of God, which
is the language of the Spirit, everything is classified by divine revelation in one of the
three genders: masculine, feminine, or neuter. For example, in Joseph’s dream of the
sun, moon and eleven stars (Gen. 37) the moon stood for his mother, while the sun
represented his father and the stars his eleven brethren. We learn from this that the moon
in God’s economy is feminine whereas the sun and stars are masculine. In prophecy the
Lord Jesus is alluded to as the Sun of Righteousness, and in the New Testament He is
designated the Bright and Morning Star. In Dan.
With these principles in mind we have a better foundation from which
to understand that in the Garden of Eden ADAM TYPIFIES THE SPIRIT, and EVE TYPIFIES THE
SOUL. How precious and pregnant with meaning every word of the Bible becomes when seen by
the spirit of revelation!
SPIRIT is masculine – the life giving force, essential being,
substance, strength, as typified by Adam.
SOUL is feminine – that which proceeds out of spirit, as in the
Garden we see Eve "taken out of Adam."
The King James version of the Bible says of this momentous event,
"And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and He took
one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and the rib, which the Lord God
had taken from man, made He a woman, and brought her unto the man" (Gen. 2:21-22).
One of the stories which has excited the ridicule of the critics of the Bible is the
account of the creation of woman. If a rib was taken out of man to form a woman, why, we
are asked, is not one still missing? Foolish are such as objection seems on the surface
(for the loss of more important members of the body is not transmitted by generation) it
challenges us to look into any particular reason why a rib should be chosen for this
purpose. Was it really a rib, or may the word be understood of some other part of
Adam’s body? It would be well, for a moment, to consider this word "rib."
It is the Hebrew word tsela which appears forty-two times in the Old Testament, and
this is the only place where it has been translated "rib." In every other case
it has been rendered "side," or "side chamber," or simply
"chamber." It is used of a side of a man, of inanimate things such as the
tabernacle, altar, side chambers, cells of the temple, etc. In Ezekiel 41:9 it is the word
used for the space between the two walls of the temple, intended for these chambers.
Many Hebrew scholars have affirmed that "rib" is a
mistranslation. The idea that Eve was made out of one of Adam's ribs has its origin in
rabbinical lore, and indeed, many, varied, and fanciful are their fables! Paul cautioned
his son Titus: "Wherefore rebuke them sharply. not giving heed to JEWISH FABLES. that
turn from the truth" (Tit.
Let us look at a few examples of how this word tsela is
translated. "And it came to pass that he (Solomon) began to build the house of the
Lord, and against the wall of the house he built CHAMBERS (tsela) round about, the
nethermost CHAMBER (tsela) was five cubits broad, the door for the middle CHAMBER (tsela)
was in the right side of the house, so he built the house and finished it" (I Kings
6:5-9). Tsela is translated CHAMBERS ten times in the description of the prophetic temple
seen in vision by the prophet in Ezekiel chapter forty-one.
The word "rib" does not adequately describe what God took
out of Adam. When we think of a rib we think of a BONE in Adam's side. But if God only
used a rib – a BONE – then when He brought Eve to Adam he should have said:
"This is now RIB OF MY RIB!" or, "This is now BONE of my BONES."
PERIOD! But Adam said, "This is now bone of my bones, AND FLESH OF MY FLESH!"
Therefore, when man and woman are united in marriage they become ONE FLESH, not ONE
RIB or ONE BONE!
The late Douglas Wilson shared some precious insights into this
thought. He wrote, “In Adam’s body we find both the male and the female, but he
was ONE BODY. Medical science tells us that for the first five or six months of the
child’s development in the body of its mother, both sets of reproductive and sexual
organs are present in the child. Beginning at that time, one sex takes predominance over
the other and either a male or female child is born. To us this is strong proof that the
body of Adam in the beginning was a combination of both female and male organs, and he was
a self-perpetuating creature. He was MAN AND WOMAN IN ONE BODY. The word rib is so
translated from the fact that the Hebrew word carries with it a sense of ‘curve’
and thus, we have rib. But it literally means the side, the whole side of a person or
human body. Paul says in I Corinthians 7:4 that the husband nor the wife have power of his
or her own body, and the very fact that the two bodies must be one to bring forth children
is proof that some very vital part of Adam’s body was taken from him to be
incorporated in another body, part of his own, and to be called ‘Eve.’ In other
words, Eve was literally a vital part of Adam’s body. Adam could say of Eve,
‘She is my body,’ and Eve could say of Adam, ‘He is my body.’
“We have a wonderful illustration of this in Abraham and Sarah.
We read in Romans 4:19, ‘And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body
now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s
womb.’ It seems to us that Abraham’s body was dead because Sarah’s body was
dead. Abraham had brought forth Ishmael and he took other wives after Isaac’s birth
and continued to bring children into the world, while Isaac was the only child that Sarah
brought forth. So we can see that it was Sarah (Abraham’s body) that was dead, and
because of that, Abraham’s part of Abraham’s own body, was dead, and could not
have the promised son until God’s time. Such a circumstance is the direct result of
the dividing of the original ‘Adam body.’
“There must have been a wondrous love spring up in the heart of
this first man for this first woman. She was taken out of his own body and presented to
him by the Lord in that simple ceremony and Adam took Eve to himself with a word that
became incorporated in the law of God for man in all time, and for Jesus Christ unto the
ages. ‘Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his
wife and they shall be one flesh.’ This then, was the dividing of Adam’s body to
make of him two bodies and yet they were one flesh. So it was and so it shall ever be as
in Genesis
If you picked up the morning newspaper and saw the headlines,
“Man Gives Birth.” I’m sure you would double check to make certain you had
not picked up THE NATIONAL INQUIRER, STAR, or GLOBE by mistake! Your first thought would
probably be, “But that’s impossible!” or “It can’t happen –
it is contrary to the laws of nature!” Yet God has revealed in His word that such a
possibility actually existed in the genesis of the human race. When God formed mankind of
the dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life they were one, not
separated in the beginning into two persons. Within that one man were all the
characteristics and potentialities of male and female, all the possibilities of fruit.
Still today in the human being are traces of that dual nature in most of the organs of the
body (see The Sandoz Journal of Medical Science, 1967, Vol. 8, No. 2). The angels in
heaven neither marry nor are given in marriage (Mat.
On that glorious sixth day of creation,, when God created them
male and female, God pronounced that all He had made was “very good”
(Gen. 1:31). But after lowering these primordial spirits into the one body of the man Adam
the Lord said, “It is not good that man should be alone.”
Adam could have generated a heavenly kingdom out of himself, without
intercourse or pain… Eve was within Adam as a pure, chaste, virginal power. He could
then generate a virginal state, and procreate by means of his will, and out of his own
substance. The scientific word that describes this state is androgynous from
When God separated Eve from Adam the record states: “And
the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his
ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;” (Gen. 2:21). God could have just
touched Adam and brought Eve out of his side, or spoken one word and she would have
immediately stood there whole at his side, but instead He caused a deep sleep to come on
Adam. Could we not say that this was the first surgery ever performed and that the Creator
Himself was both Surgeon and Anesthetist? This record is one of the most remarkable of the
internal evidences of the inspiration of the holy scriptures. For, you see, this ancient
scene reveals the modern techniques of anesthesia long millenniums before it was
discovered by medical science! My encyclopedia says that local anesthesia is the
loss of feeling in only a part of the body; general anesthesia is a deep sleep
in which there is no feeling at all. Since ancient times, doctors have tried to do
something about deadening the pain during operations. Many kinds of drugs and medicines
were tried. Almost all of them did as much harm as good. Some doctors used to get a
patient drunk before an operation. Others have even knocked the patient out by beating him
over the head with a club. The first real use of anesthesia by which a deep sleep was
induced came during the years 1842 to 1846. These are some arguments as to who were the
first men to use anesthesia successfully. Three names stand out above the others. Dr.
Crawford W Long performed an operation in
Here again
we need to look behind the story of the truth God is seeking to convey to man. When Jesus
died on the cross we read that the Father caused a “deep sleep” to fall on Him,
too – the sleep of death. Just as Eve was in Adam from the time when he was formed of
the dust of the ground, so we were in Christ from before the foundation of the world, and
more especially when He came into this earth realm in human flesh. He came as the second
man, and the last Adam. And just as Adam was a self contained creature, with his wife in
his side, so Christ bore His wife in His side. His body was a very vital and significant
thing, part of which was to become His “other body” the church or the bride of
Christ. Because of this there must come to Him, as to the first Adam, the DIVIDING OF HIS
BODY, that He, the second man, might become two bodies. Eve was in the body of Adam all
the time. God simply brought her out of Adam’s body and gave her a body of her own.
So was Christ’s wife in Him all the time and she must also be brought out of the
Christ and become the church, the bride of Christ. Just as Eve was taken out of
Adam’s side after a deep sleep had been put upon him, so we were born out of the
blood that flowed from Jesus’ side when the deep sleep of death was put upon Him by
His Father. Now today, we see how the words of Adam “This is now bone of my bones,
and flesh of my flesh” are picked up by Paul in his letter to the Ephesians and
applied to the church. “For the husband is the head of the
wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might
present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing;
but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their
own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own
flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: For we are members
of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father
and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a
great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church” (Eph.
As in
Adam’s body the life giving organs were retained, so they are retained in the
Christ’s body – and in all the sons of God who grow up into Him to be the body
of the Bridegroom – and he has life in Himself. And just as the life receiving
organs were given to Eve, so the spiritual life-receiving organs are given to the church,
the bride of Christ. As Eve became the body for bearing Adam’s children, so the
church became the body for the bearing of the children of the Christ (Heb.
And just
as Eve looked forward to the bringing forth of that one particular and special seed, the
Christ, who would crush the serpent’s head and bring deliverance from sin and death
to all of Adam’s race, so does the church, the bride of Christ, look forward to that
particular and special seed which is the manchild, who is to rule all nations with a rod
of iron and bring the Kingdom of God to pass in the earth. As one has written: “In
his great vision on the Isle of Patmos, John the Revelator, as he describes it to us says:
‘I saw a woman clothed with the sun, and with the moon under her feet, and a crown of
twelve stars upon her head, and she brought forth a manchild, who was to rule all nations,
who was caught up to God and to His throne.’
“To
understand John’s vision you must understand that when the New Testament speaks of a
woman, it is not speaking of a natural woman but is always speaking of the many-membered
Woman, the Church. To understand what John meant when he said, ‘I saw this woman
clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet,’ we need to understand the mystery
of the heavenlies, that God had revealed in this end-time move of the Spirit. That is that
the physical heavens in their every aspect are only a type of God’s spiritual
heavens, which spiritual Heavens we are. The sun that you see in the sky each day is a
type of Jesus: just as the sun is the natural light of the world, so Jesus is the
supernatural Light of the world. The moon that you see in the physical heavens each night
is a type of Church: just as the moon has no light of its own, but only reflects the light
of the sun in the earth; so the Church has no light of its own, but only reflects the
Light of Jesus in the earth.
Therefore
when John said, ‘I saw a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her
feet,’ he was not talking about the natural sun and the natural moon; but he was
talking about the True Son, Jesus – and the moon, the old order denominational Church
system. When he said, ‘I saw a woman clothed with the sun,’ he was talking about
a segment of the woman, the Church, in this end-time move of the Spirit; who is at this
hour not being clothed with the light or the truths of the Moon – the old order
denominational Church system; but is being clothed with all the Light and Truth of the
Son, Her True Husband, Jesus. She is being clothed with mysteries and light and Truth that
have never been taught in the old order denominational Church system, the Moon. In fact,
before it is over She shall be clothed with all the Light and Truth that Jesus, Himself,
knew when He was here on the earth; and therefore She is being lifted up to a higher place
in Light and Truth than the Moon, the Old order Church system; and therefore in these last
days, the Moon is going to be under Her feet. Through being clothed with all the Light of
the Sun, She is going to be brought into a spiritual union with Jesus, Her Heavenly
Husband, that will grow us up to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, and
change us into incorruptibility; so that out of this Woman clothed with the Son shall come
forth a many-membered Manchild through whom Christ will rule and reign over this earth
– Who shall have been caught up to the Throne of God, to rule all nations with a rod
of iron.
“Certainly
this Manchild will not be made up only of individual, natural men; but also of those
members of the Body of Christ who wear dresses: but through receiving all the Light of the
Son, Jesus, they will have grown up out of the natural characteristics of their
woman-flesh nature, and will have taken on those spiritual attributes of the Nature of
Christ, the Eternal Man: faith, spiritual strength, agape love of God, patience,
long-suffering, and all those spiritual fruits which are strictly the attributes of the
Spirit – the only Eternal Man – of which all individual, natural men are only a
type.” – end quote.
What God actually did, of course, was to remove from Adam a VITAL PART
of his being, one of the CHAMBERS of his innermost nature, and out of that which was
formerly concealed within man God built an EXTERNAL EXPRESSION AND MANIFESTATION. Eve was
thus "taken out of Adam," from his inner nature, from that region of the heart,
where lies the seat of all that is within man, where the heart's throbs are felt, and the
fount of life wells up, the conceded dwelling place of the appetites, desires, will,
affections, and emotions. From thence, from within the man, came forth the woman, so that
the appetites, desires, will, affections and emotions which lay hidden deep in the inner
recesses of his nature now became revealed and expressed – IN EVE! This is why Eve
was FIRST TEMPTED and first fell. Eve is Adam's inward and invisible constitution,
character, quality, temper, disposition, mood, desire, emotion, mind, will, and affection
BROUGHT FORTH INTO AN OUTWARD AND VISIBLE MANIFESTATION. Ah, yes, Eve is Adam's SOUL! We
need no greater evidence than this of the certainty that Eve represents the soul, as Adam
represents the spirit, for spirit is BEING and soul is EXPRESSION.
For the sake of understanding, the soul can be said to have five
senses just as our physical body has the five senses of touch, taste, smell, sight, and
hearing. The soul comprises your INTELLECT – that is your mind with all its mental
capacity for knowledge, understanding, and reason. Then you have your WILL – the
mental power to choose and the forces directly urging you to action. Then there are the
EMOTIONS – strong forces of personality and passion with many aspects such as love,
hatred, joy, peace, grief, anger, fear, etc. Then come the DESIRES – the ability to
wish or long for, to want or crave something above and beyond what is already possessed or
experienced. Finally, there is the AFFECTION – heart attachments, the power to search
out and cleave to that for which we have a natural feeling, passion, predisposition, or
propensity.
The Greek word for SOUL is psuche, which means MIND. It is the
root word from which we get all our English words dealing with the psychic, i.e. the human
soul, the mind, the mental life. Psychoanalysis, psychology, psychiatry – all these
words come from the same root – psuche. Proverbs
The second part of the soul is the will. Job
The emotion is the third part of the soul. With the emotion there are
many aspects: for example, love, hatred, grief, joy, peace, fear, etc. All of these are
expressions of the emotion. References to the fact that the soul loves are found in
I Sam. 18:1, S. of S. 1:7, and Ps. 42:1. These verses show that love is something of the
soul, proving, therefore, that within the soul there is such an organ or function as the
emotion. II Sam. 5:8 says, "Whosoever getteth up and smiteth the Jebusites that are
hated of David's soul, he shall be chief." This passage shows that hatred is
something of the soul. See also Ps. 107:18 and Eze. 36:5. Since hatred is an expression of
the emotion, these verses also prove that the emotion is a part of the soul. Joy,
an element of the emotion, is also a part of the soul, as seen in Isa. 61:10 and Ps. 86:4.
Then there is the matter of grief, mentioned in I Sam. 30:6 and Judges 10:16. Grief
is another expression of the soul.
The fourth part of the soul is the desire. We read in I Sam. 20:4,
"Then said Jonathan unto David, Whatsoever thy soul desireth, I will even do it for
thee." This verse shows that desire is found in the soul, making it a part of the
soul. See also Deut. 14:26. This verse and many others show desire to be in the realm of
the soul.
The affection is the fifth part of the soul. We read of Abraham's
nephew, Lot, who, though he lived in Sodom, his heart affection was toward the
Lord, and the record states, "For that righteous man dwelling among them, vexed
his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds" (II Pet. 2:8).
There is a
constant interplay between soul and spirit in scripture so that there are
times when the words seem synonymous, although they are not. This same kind of interplay
also exists between blood and breath for the life is in the breath and the
life is in the blood. When either breath or blood depart the body, the life-principle
departs simultaneously. The interchange of terms for man as both soul and spirit
are seen where Job in characteristic Hebrew parallelism says: “I will speak in the
anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul” (Job
On a day in the long ago an apostle by the name of Paul penned these
telling words: "For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused
you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest
by any means, as the serpent BEGUILED EVE through his subtlety, so YOUR MINDS should be
corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ" (II Cor. 11:2-3). In this
significant passage Eve in the garden of Eden is contrasted with two things: the bride of
Christ and the mind. The mind is a function of the soul. The vision of the bride of Christ
pervades the whole of scripture, from
We also read, “And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies
IN YOUR MIND by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled” (Col. 1:21). The final
analysis will shew that all sin originates in the mind. Deeds are but thoughts expressed.
And it was because “God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, that
every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Gen.
6:5), that He sent the flood to bring a halt, a restraint, to this degeneration. In due
time, when again the mind of man was exalting itself with the building of the city and a
tower, God said, “and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from
them, which they have imagined to do.” (Gen. 11:6). So He promptly confounded their
language and scattered them abroad. He knew the power of the mind, the tremendous
capability of the mind to scheme and imagine, and He has to constantly bring restraints
against men, lest there be no end to their ways of rebellion and self-exaltation. So there
is vital necessity of the RENEWING OF OUR MIND to “put on the mind of Christ.”
In that ancient shadow, on the individual plane, Adam stands as a type
of the spirit, Eve is a type of the soul, and the garden of Eden is a type of the body,
which Adam was to "dress and keep." Thus we see our tripartite being
symbolically portrayed in the Adam-Eve-Garden story. The Garden was the earth, the land,
the locale; and Adam and Eve were its inhabitants, in the same way that our spirit and
soul are the inhabitants of the physical body. It is through our "Eve," our
soulical desires, will and emotions, that we who have been espoused to Christ the
Bridegroom in our spirit, can be "beguiled" and turned from our single and pure
devotion to Christ, entering into intimate associations with the flesh, the world, the
spirit of Babylon, and the devil, thus disqualifying ourselves from being presented to
Christ as a chaste virgin. Paul shows that just as Eve was beguiled from her singleness to
God, so those espoused to Christ can be corrupted IN OUR MINDS from singleness to Christ.
Ray Prinzing has written: "The 'spirit of man', leaving the
eternal realms of HIS SPIRIT to become encased in a tabernacle of flesh became 'a living
soul', literally A BREATHING ONE on this earth plane. The MIND is the connecting link
between the spirit within and the flesh realm without. 'They that are after the flesh do
mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
For to be carnally minded (that is, minding of the flesh) is death; but to be spiritually
minded (minding of the Spirit) is life and peace' (
Let us meditate deeply upon the soul-bride that Eve reveals to us. I
must remind every reader of these lines that there is an essential and radical distinction
between the spirit and the soul. God is the Father of spirits, but He is the Former of
souls. I know not why this has been forgotten by the church world, and I know not why men
claiming to be Christian scholars have never told you that the soul is not the spirit, and
the spirit is not the soul. It seems to me a remarkable thing, that that which God has so
clearly revealed, the distinction between the soul and the spirit, men have, through their
ignorance and devotion to a false platonic philosophy, been unable to see. If you read
your Bible carefully, starting with the first chapter of Genesis, you will find that what
the apostle says in the epistle to the Hebrews is true; that the Word of God is living and
powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, dividing asunder, separating soul and spirit.
It is not the philosophy of Socrates or Plato that does this. It is not the philosophy of
Kant or Hegel or Strauss that does this. It is not the philosophy of the Hindu or the
Buddhist or the Transcendentalist that does this, but it is the Word of God that
separates. In the same way that God separated Eve from Adam, the Spirit of God separates
between the soul and the spirit of man.
What is this thing called the spirit? How can we know the spirit? How
can we touch the spirit? To speak of the body is very easy, because we can see it and
touch it. To speak of the soul is also not difficult because we can feel it and know it by
its functions and actions, such as thinking, reasoning, determining, and being pleased,
angry, fearful, sorrowful, and joyful. But it is not as easy to understand and speak of
the spirit.
